No, wasn’t quite like that Legends. I’ve read a similar article from around 5 years ago.
It was more that people in the NSWRL were simply baffled by the proposal put in front of them.
They just couldn’t piece together a connection in their heads, between an American singer, who probably hadn’t even seen the game, or even knew what it was, and a sport that was an intertwined part of quintessential working class Aussie culture. And without the benefit of hindsight, it would have seemed a pretty obscure and far fetched, not to mention expensive and high risk.
What they were missing however, is that those proposing the campaign were trying to balance connection to the traditional audience with attracting a wider audience also. Suffice to say, history tells us they seemed to succeed very much so, in walking that bridge.
High risk, high reward, yet visionary.