Wigan Warriors will not get to defend their world title in a rematch with Penrith Panthers because they are both going to Las Vegas. Yes, the World Club Challenge (WCC) is off because the two teams in it will be in Sin City together … playing against other teams. Very rugby league. But the NRL’s increased interest in the British game should see the WCC soon given a suitable stage.

While it is unfortunate two teams heading to Vegas went and won the NRL and Super League titles (again), it brought an elephant to the room. The WCC has been axed in 2025 because Vegas is a vastly bigger proposition. And it is the club and leagues’ own fault.

Rugby league has had 30 years to grow the WCC into a prestigious and valuable event, a property that should be looked upon with envy by other sports, but nobody has got hold of it. Whatever the NRL and RFL say, it is down to the two champions whether to make it happen or not.

Regardless of St Helens and Wigan showing they were a match for the world’s best, as the NRL’s off-field strength has grown, the need to drag the Britons with them has diminished. Frankly the NRL does not need to travel 20,000 miles and take a week out of their pre-season for what they consider a glorified friendly. As sports historian Prof Tony Collins said, rugby league never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

It says plenty about the code’s organisational skills when it takes their best player – the Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary – to point out the only other logical option: play the WCC at the NRL Magic Round in Brisbane, something which has been feasible since the Dolphins became the 17th team last year.

That seemed a simple solution, until the Penrith CEO, Matt Cameron, said that while fine in theory, contracts are signed and deals done for certain clubs to give up home games for Magic in exchange for facing specific opponents. It is certainly an obvious option for the next few years however, as the NRL appears to have downed tools on its expansion programme, playing hard ball with all eight franchise bidders.

The NRL chief, Andrew Abdo, can see the WCC’s potential. “We’re turning our attention to working with Super League and what it looks like in 2026” and “looking innovatively at what other options are available in later years”. Assume a toss-up between Magic or Vegas.

Despite the NRL champions being beaten in three of the last six contests, it is easy for Australian fans to dismiss the WCC as a frivolous inconvenience. But last year we were one try each way from Catalans Dragons v Brisbane Broncos, rather than the parochialism of Wigan v Penrith. The financial and marketing potential of a Catalans v Brisbane showdown in front of 30,000 in Barcelona is somewhat different from being ambushed at a heaving Robin, Langtree or Craven Park. To cut through and trigger serious revenue requires a major event. Saints fans getting soaked on the grassy knoll at a Panthers pre-season friendly is not that.

A renamed WCC should be the main event of opening night at Vegas, a headline-grabbing curtain-raiser for the big NRL season launch. That would fit the NRL’s current grooming of the British game but require compromise and vision. This year the Vegas combatants were announced in early July. Neither league will know their champions until three months later than that, but they could confirm four in July and leave spaces for the champions. If they were already going, hand that place to another club.

If the English really do bring the gigantic fanbase the NRL hope – Wigan and Warrington are expected to take 10,000 between them in March – the event can expand to two days and six games, with three Super League clubs (two confirmed mid-season). Abdo and the fellow NRL chair, Peter V’landys can be flexible when they wish: see this week’s decision to bring next year’s Ashes to the UK instead of Australia, as the NRL’s influence on the British game moves up a gear.

Knowing international growth takes gargantuan long term commitment, the NRL is targeting Britain and the US’s west coast. Jacksonville Jaguars win over New England Patriots on Sunday was the 39th regular season NFL game held in London. That has taken 17 years. With the current six international games soon increasing to eight, the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell would like that to double. In other words, if all 32 teams agree to head abroad once every two years, there could be an international game every week.

And the NFL are – as you would expect – being logical and investing heavily to make it work. They extended the season by a week, ensuring every team still has eight games in their own stadium. The 17th game just might be abroad. Most clubs have signed up to the NFL Global Markets Program which grants international marketing rights in 19 countries. Of the six teams awarded UK access, four played in London this month and have racked up 32 appearances between them. Jacksonville, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins can all hop across from the east coast. Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers have considerable support among middle-aged Britons who grew up watching Walter Payton and Joe Montana on Channel 4 in the 80s. Minnesota Vikings are throwing themselves into the UK scene with movie ads on giant screens at Euston station to Flag Football Leagues in London schools.

Climaxing in two games at Tottenham, with a well-staffed London office and PR company driving an all-year media presence, the NFL’s investment has been enormous. But so too has Jacksonville’s, who are committed to staging an annual home game at Wembley. The club promotes dozens of projects with a community foundation department doing development work worthy of any Super League or EFL club, all to broaden the appeal of an unsuccessful team.

The NRL have taken note. The Vegas PR machine has kicked in and Wigan and Warrington are doing their bit next month. Perhaps the NRL can learn most from the Jags – and Vikings. Only five NFL teams have lower revenues (the Jaguars and Vikings brought in around $568m last year, the NRL $460m). All three have saturated markets of several million hemmed in by rivals or water.

But the crowd at Wembley was like Challenge Cup Finals used to be: blocks of seats were multicoloured pixel mosaics of every NFL team jersey, the roars greeting each special moment suggesting most were there for their annual taste of a sport they love, showing their allegiance to the code rather than the Jags. They were young and happy to spend silly money. Wembley sold out in minutes and fans queued to buy Trevor Lawrence jerseys at £105 a pop, the Jags banking around £10m. That pays for a lot of flights, hotel suites and truck hire.

The NRL needs Vegas to make financial sense quickly. That means selling all 65,000 seats and an uptick in viewing figures to outweigh the travel costs, stadium hire and hassle. With TV deals already in place to cover every game, these events need to be added to the calendar or severely souped up to make money.