First American professional rugby competition set to launch

Anyone know when the third team will be announced?

None have been officially confirmed but the general consensus from those with connections is; San Franscisco Sacramento Denver Philadelphia and, New York. There's still a 6th location to be decided upon but they've stated they want a 2-2-2 split. Two in the East, two in the Rockies region and two in the West. Now while that may change if they go with that reasoning then A Utah based squad seems likely. As above they wanted a Houston based squad but couldn't find a spot on the stadium schedule for next season (booked up) so are looking to bring it online in 2017. The placement of these squads also tends to line up with where the game is strongest both competitively and in terms of participation and support.

What are the likely teams? New York Los Angeles San Francisco Texas? Chicago Boston That'd be my go.

Get Bill Clinton to be chair or president or whatever the title is for the symbolic head of this US competition. Or (gulp!) George W (double gulp!!) Both played rugby at university.

I would imagine this is certainly the plan. Looking past that, it would be good if Argentina could also field a couple of sides with the eventual aim of playing all their 'SR' in their own timezone.

They could enter at least three that would be very competitive from day one. Thanks to the Canadian Rugby Championship teams located in Vancouver (BC Bears), Calgary (Prairie WolfPack) and Toronto (Ontario Blues) could easily enter PRO Rugby. They could even look to add another a little further down the road in the Atlantic Rock.

They did want a Canadian franchise to be part of the inaugural season (likely Vancouver) but RugbyCanada opted out of 2016 with an eye on 2017. There was also an attempt to get a Houston franchise going playing out of BVAA Compass Stadium (the location of the Italy and Ireland Tests) but the stadium is fully booked for 2016. Wouldn't surprise me if at least one Canadian squad and Houston come online in 2017.

If they do end up expanding into Canada then they really need to include two Canadian teams. Local derbys could do wonders for local support.

This is really exciting news. Hope it can grow accordingly and incorporate Canadian-based teams soon-enough too..

they have the players and they're gonna get very good very quickly..the US has a huge Pacific Island community in California and Utah..plenty of Samoans, Tongans and Fijians there..

IIRC, and I may not, USAR is a not for profit and can't be directly involved in a professional game under US rules. Somehow setting up a separate organisation that is owned/part owned gets around it. I don't imagine the players are contracted through the central organisation.

Good So NRFL can set up a opposition and create a East Cost competition and wouldn't it be great to have 2 conferences , which would lead to a play off Super bowll!!

This is great for American rugby fans and for rugby worldwide. Hope they can draw a couple of ageing marque players to boost the league's profile -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.

If USA Rugby don't have a stake or some control in PRO Rugby then their position to control the future direction of professional rugby in the USA will be at best very limited. Also, I do believe that player insurance is a huge factor and one of the primary reasons USA Rugby had not formed a professional rugby competition in nearly 20 years since international rugby went down the professional path in 1996. The sad aspect to all this is the game in the USA will probably develop professionally similar to how it's in France or England. There the rugby club owners have a greater say over their contracted players particularly those who have ability or potential to play for their national team as the players' first allegiance and playing availability will always be to the club that pays them and not to their country. Anyway, I do look forward to seeing PRO Rugby games televised next year after the competition kicks off in April 2016.

Just to clarify, In Brief. ProRugby is rugby union. They use the term league as another word for competition. They are not talking about rugby league (which the Axemen are)

USA Rugby have only sanctioned the competition. They don't actually have a stake in it. The initial buzz was that they were involved but that has since been rectified.

It is great to see over the years just how rugby in the USA is increasing in popularity and certainly no more evident then 60,000+ fans filling Soldiers Field in Chicago to support the Eagles vs All Blacks test match last year. And most recently RWC 2015 superbly showcased to those fans across the length and breath of USA and the world for that matter just how rugby is such an exciting, multi-layered game to play and to watch. Now with the advent of professional rugby about to start in the USA under the PRO Rugby Org., are we witness to the awakening of what could be the next rugby giant? Well, I suppose only time will tell won't it if we are to see professional rugby expand the game significantly in the USA to produce a world class rugby team!? For rugby to grow; USA Rugby knows they need to market the game professionally. This of course will start with PRO Rugby teams domiciled in cities where rugby has a strong base of fans already and who will no doubt support their home PRO Rugby team. Indeed the challenge for USA Rugby is to accelerate the game's popularity, exposure and viability from the existing amateur base (in what arguably is the most overcrowded, sporting landscape on earth) to generate significant public support & commercial interest for PRO Rugby to firstly survive and then secondly to expand. What I find exciting is the many opportunities for young talented rugby players, experienced coaches and administrators there and from other parts of the world to potentially go and ply their skills in the USA. Our hats are off to you USA Rugby and we wish the best of success to your PRO Rugby competition in 2016 and beyond.

Top talent will earn $40k for a four month season while most will earn $25k. They plan to run squads of 30 so I'd imagine they will have salary caps of between $700-850,000 a season.

It's likely going to broadcast via Rugby International Marketing (USA Rugby Corporate arm) new internet based Rugby Channel. Hopefully they'll avoid any of the geo-blocking issues that seem to arise.

In Brief, No. The USARL isn't professional. It's not even semi-professional. At best they don't pay to play.