NFL News: $10m deal in works to get Jarryd Hayne, 49ers to play at Sydney's ANZ Stadium
The National Football League is plotting to stage a US$10 million (approx. AU$13.8 million) event in Sydney next year that will feature Jarryd Hayne and the San Francisco 49ers in a preseason match.
John York, billionaire chairman of the 49ers, has revealed he is interested in the idea of bringing Hayne, along with the rest of the club, back home to Australia next August for an official NFL preseason trial at ANZ stadium. However, it is undecided yet which NFL side will come with the 49ers. The deal, which is being negotiated by NSW Premier Mike Baird, would be the biggest sporting event in Sydney since the 2000 Olympics, claimed ANZ Stadium boss Daryl Kerry.
“The stadium has hosted some of the biggest sporting brands in the world in recent years, including Manchester United and Chelsea FC, and the prospect of welcoming the 49ers would be exciting for everyone who appreciates world-class sport,” Kerry told the Daily Telegraph. “So seeing the Hayne Plane back at the Stadium with the San Francisco 49ers would be as big as it gets.”
Baird and executives from ANZ Stadium have been holding negotiations with the NFL management for weeks. Baird believes that it would be great to see Hayne and the 49ers in Sydney after it missed out on other major events, including the Formula One cars and golf’s Presidents Cup, which were won by the Victorian Government.
Hayne has earned the admiration of fans around the world after an impressive preseason with the 49ers that led him to secure a slot in the club’s 53-man roster. Despite his remarkable run before the 2015-2016 NFL regular season, Hayne has failed to live up to the hype the media created around the Australian rookie.
In the 49ers’ 20-3 loss against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 7 of NFL, Hayne was inactive from the team’s 46-man squad. Many believed the Australian rugby league star did not suit up on game day due to the errors committed early in his rookie season, recording a second fumble in as many as six games.
Despite the setback in his young NFL career, Hayne has accepted his benching as part of the learning curves in his adjustments as an American footballer. "I enjoy challenges,” Hayne said, reports Stuff. “Obviously one of those is to be active again."
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