With an NRL player strike seemingly moving closer and closer with each passing day, it has been revealed that USA Championship Rugby League have made an offer to the NRL to keep the sport going.

The competition, which is due to start at the end of January, is made up of eight teams located in three states, all on the western side of the country, being California, Nevada and Utah.

The eight teams are the San Francisco Savage, East Palo Alto Razorbacks, Sacramento Immortals, North Bay Warriors, Las Vegas Islanders, Provo Steelers, Salt Lake City Spartans and Utah Saints.

The competition, which features players from all over the USA and has approximately 160 players, has been running since 2019. It was originally the California Rugby League, but expansion outside the state saw a name change. America has a number of other competitions, including the USARL and American National Rugby League, both of which have been running for longer.

The USA at one point was scheduled to co-host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup alongside Canada, however, financial implications saw the tournament shift to France.

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According to The Daily Telegraph, the boss of the competition has made an approach to Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'Landys to ensure the NRL continues even if players currently contracted refuse to play.

โ€œI have spoken with our players today and we have 160 ready to go to Australia if the NRL players go on strike,โ€ Championship Rugby League president Tom Stevenson said.

โ€œToday, I reached out to the coaches to get confirmation before calling Peter V'landys and all our coaches said their players would drop everything and be on the next flight over to Australia.โ€

While it still seems unlikely a strike would ultimately occur in the NRL, the collective bargaining agreement has been on the negotiation table for over 14 months, and the deadline - October last year - is now three months in the rear-view mirror.

Peter V'Landys and Andrew Abdo have stopped at nothing to keep the game running previously during the coronavirus pandemic, relocating the Warriors to Australia and then moving the whole competition into a south east Queensland bubble.

The NRL attempted to announce a revised and increased salary cap last year, only to be shut down by the RLPA hours after the announcement, suggesting no such figure had been agreed upon.

Negotiations have since seemingly gone backwards, with protest action now taking place at clubs, who have abandoned promotional media commitments for the season ahead, which is scheduled to kick-off in the first week of March, but currently holds no guarantees.

The stalling of CBA negotiations have come at the worst possible time for the NRL, who were attempting to latch onto the momentum of a 17th club - the Dolphins - into the 2023 season.

It's unclear if players in the NRL will commit to playing trial matches, including the NRL All Stars game, in the coming weeks, without a signed CBA and agreed salary cap.

Regardless, the offer from the USA was met with laughter on social media, while some other national bodies have already pulled out of making a similar offer.

Rugby league in the USA took a hit recently, with the Tomahawks failing to qualify for the Rugby League World Cup, instead, falling to Jamaica in the qualifiers.

America's next shot to qualify for the 2025 World Cup kicks off later this year.