Bradford's Strategy to Turn Their Las Vegas Adventure into a Break-Even Success After Home Match Initiative

EMBRACING life as a Super League club has led Bradford to dream of starring in Las Vegas.

And Jason Hirst believes the Bulls can break even.

Bradford chief executive Jason Hirst believes the Bulls can break even when they face Leigh in Las Vegas next year – and revealed it was their idea for it to be their home game. Credit: SWPIX.COM

The next home league fixture with Leigh will be at a slightly different location than Odsal, Allegiant Stadium in Sin City.

Many may sneer at a club in its first season back in the top flight after an 11-year stint that saw it fold and reform, stepping up to play in Vegas.

But chief executive Hirst has revealed they were the ones who asked for it to be their home match, something which seemingly put off Hull FC and St Helens.

And the impact of the announcement is already being felt off the field.

He said: “We’d heard, not officially, but we’d heard on the grapevine that it was likely to be Hull FC and St Helens.

“But we thought if you don’t buy a lottery ticket you don’t win the lottery, so we wanted to put our name forward.

“Neither of them wanted to be the home team, whereas we were not only open to being the home team, it was our preference to be the home team.

“We feel that it gives better brand awareness and marketing opportunities. You get the rights to the LED board and things like that, so we felt that the advantages outweighed the cons.

“This is all about marketing opportunities, promoting our brand and gaining potential additional commercial revenue streams for us.

“To let people know the Bulls are back in the Super League and we don’t just want to make up the numbers and be fighting at the bottom end of the table.

“And we believe we can break even. We’ve spoken closely to clubs who have been there before and we believe that we can tweak what they’ve done.

“We’re going to do things differently and since we announced we’re going, commercial revenue has gone through the roof

“People want their names and their company’s names on shirts, they want it on LED boards. So we’re very confident that we can make it wash its own face.”

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont’s side will next play Bradford away in a league match in Sin City. Credit: SWPIX.COM

First up is today’s clash with Leigh, who have led the spirit of making matches into events.

Bradford have themselves followed suit and indie legends Embrace will be performing before kick-off.

And Hirst believes more will look to make an 80-minute match into a day-long experience.

He added: “We’ve looked at Leigh and taken note of what they’ve done. Their rebrand to Leigh Leopards was met with scepticism.

“But they did it brilliantly and we’ve recently had one in terms of a new badge.

“In the last couple of years, they’ve been at the forefront of match day entertainment. They’ve branded it the greatest show on earth, with bands like Scouting for Girls and the Lottery winners playing.

“We deliberately picked Embrace for this game because of that. They are the perfect team and the perfect club for us to play in Las Vegas because we feel the clubs are very closely aligned in terms of what we think matchday entertainment is all about.”