In Donald Trump’s America, dealmaking has been elevated to a highly public art form – and so it was at the NRL’s Las Vegas launch, where potential competitors for the league’s next broadcast rights deal were on full display.

Sir Len Blavatnik, the British-American billionaire owner of UK-based streaming service DAZN, was rubbing shoulders with the NRL’s top brass on the field and in the league’s special VIP box at Allegiant Stadium.

James Packer in the NRL’s special box at the season launch in Las Vegas.

DAZN bought Foxtel for $3.4 billion last year. The NRL’s television deal with Foxtel and Nine Entertainment – the owner of this masthead – expires next year, and a competitive race is expected for the rights to Australia’s most-watched TV sport.

Blavatnik, who was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, is worth $US30 billion ($42 billion), according to Forbes magazine’s latest estimate. He is vice chairman of Warner Music Group, in which he owns a majority stake through his investment firm Access Industries.

The 68-year-old was happy to talk and be photographed as he returned from doing the coin toss at the start of the Cowboys-Knights clash, but was reined in by an insistent minder.

James Packer was in the NRL’s special box at the season launch in Las Vegas.

“I love Australia, you can quote that,” Blavatnik said as he was shepherded away. “I love Foxtel.”

Love was also in the air upstairs in the NRL’s VVVIP box, where another billionaire, Australia’s James Packer, was seated at the entrance in full view of those in the public bar.

The part-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs was deep in conversation with Brisbane Olympics president and former Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris, who is on a world tour to raise sponsorship to cover the increasingly steep cost of the Games being “distributed” around Queensland.

© Brisbane Times