Al Guido, the president of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers, has declared that he is considering buying a stake in an NRL team after the success of the two season-opening games in Las Vegas.
Backing the NRL's push into the United States market, Guido spoke at the NRL's Business and Sport conference the day before the two games were played in Las Vegas and made some stunning revelations.
Whilst revealing he would like to buy a part of an NRL club, he also wanted the NRL and ARLC (Australian Rugby League Commission) to consider playing games at Levi's Stadium outside of San Francisco within the next four years.
Recently, the 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group took ownership of the English football team Leeds United and are looking to add more sports teams to their multi-sport ownership group.
“I don't want to comment as to what's ongoing at the Niners,” Guido said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
"But we like to be thought of as multi-sport ownership. And again, it's not a new concept. Fenway Sports Group has bought multiple franchises.
“We will look at anything that has a passionate fan base because, to us, it starts with people coming through the gates and supporting it. The reality is you have a pretty good commercial opportunity [in the NRL]."
Despite coming off a loss to Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the 49ers President is looking to do something similar with an NRL club that Robert McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds did the Wrexham AFC.
Aiming to buy a stake in a team, Guido is hoping to make a Netflix docuseries about the team and the NRL competition, allowing the game to be exposed globally.
“If you look at what Ryan Reynolds and the team have done with Wrexham,” he said.
“People love live sports. It's always been strong. Some argued when live sports came back online post COVID that it was the COVID bounce.
"And I don't think it was, I think what COVID did is it didn't necessarily change anything. It accelerated everything.”
