With the success of Canada’s first professional rugby league team and talks with more sides to join the English rugby league ranks, rugby union is looking to try and do one better.
The vehicle for this is the formation of Major League Rugby, which is due to kick off in April of next year with seven teams: the Houston SabreCats, Utah Warriors, Seattle Seawolves, San Diego Legion, Glendale Raptors, New Orleans Gold and Austin Elite Rugby.
The 15-man code has already attempted a pro comp in the United States with the failed Pro Rugby in 2015. Many lessons were learnt from the previous attempt, one being not to have an entire competition owned and operated by one man.
This time around, all teams are privately owned and operated. Each team had to pay a $500,000 US bond to secure their spot in the newly-formed competition, and detailed business plans have been created to ensure sustainability for the next three years.
Rugby league has looked to take a more conservative approach by joining the existing and already-successful English leagues. So far this has already yielded success with the Toronto Wolfpack after they gain promotion to the championship and an average home crowd of 7000.
It raises an interesting point of debate: should rugby in America attempt to join an already-established competition? Or is Major League Rugby the way forward?
Either way, it’s an exciting time for both codes as they look to expand into the biggest sporting market in the world. The question is, will both codes be able to co-exist? Or will the continuing code war reach the shores of Uncle Sam?
lao.hu
Guest
hopefully. MLR will reach financial sustainability soon after launch it would be. the top of the player pathway. pyramid. and increase the quality. and quantity of .the player pool. avaliable to the national team
Working Class Rugger
Guest
So, New York have announced that they are in for 2019 and will officially launch their team in the New Year. The Arrows are also considered a lock for 2019 and depending on how the league plays out could very well be joined by a Vancouver team as well.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
The West Point Military Academy has extraordinary rugby facilities.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Have you ever watched any NFL or College Football? Their most popular sports league(s). Not exactly the simplest of games. Highly strategic. Stats driven. And runs for 4 hours for an hour of 'play' and only 11 minutes of actual ball movement. I agree with you on not buying in with the whole 'short attention' span schtick but I would also warn against the assumption that simplicity ensures success.
kasi apuula
Roar Rookie
We shall see. Rugby has the advantage of a well establish high school and university programs along with strong domestic club scene. I see what you mean by a more simple game. League is similar to America football however that could be a disadvantage as they may see it as just another version of their sport without the pad. So nothing new or different. But hey we will see
clipper
Guest
Not to mention the GF didn't sell out, FTA audiences are down, Crowds continue to decline, although don't think the NRL are almost broke as yet.
clipper
Guest
Seeing they struggled to get 2k to ESL games with the London Broncos, can't see them doing much better in New York
swamprat
Roar Pro
Less blokes on the pitch and easier rules to understand make League a better fit than Union in the USA. We shouldn’t pander to stereotypes about American Attention spans etc though . Saying that though they did elect Donald the donut for President and no smoke without fire.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
http://www.mrscienceshow.com/2011/06/there-more-is-kicking-in-union-than.html Granted it is from 2011 but it finds that the overall difference in the amount of kicks in both games is actually negligible. With the difference being on .2 (Avg in the NRL 19.5 per team per game. Avg in Super Rugby 19.7 per team per game) kicks. Kind of disproves the hypothesis that there's more kicking in Rugby in comparison to League.
In Brief
Guest
I was being a bit cheeky tbh - you don't get this crap much in Australia any more which is good
John R
Roar Guru
I thought League stopped everytime someone was tackled so they could roll the ball between their leagues? Before they inevitably kick it away after realising that running into three blokes and hoping for a linebreak wasn't the most effective strategy.
kasi apuula
Roar Rookie
2.4mil at one world cup - 300k at the other. choice is pretty obvious.
kasi apuula
Roar Rookie
Second rate? lol. What does that say about league when even in a rugby league strong hold it fails to sell out its own World cup final. Rugby is making plenty of inroads and is growing year on year. Not bad for a sport thats only been professional since 1996. But keep telling yourself that the NRL is great yet crowds are down, teams are running at massive losses. Didn't the NRL lose 53 million last year and the NRL are almost broke. Yeah great comp champ!
In brief
Guest
Kick and clap, leather patch brigade, fat private school boys, elitist boring game vs fast, skilled non stop action played by tough, fast, skillful supermen- what choice is there?
tc
Guest
HaHaHa, that's a desperate statement. That's like me saying, BP is a second rate oil refiner because Exxon dominates the USA.
Bakkies
Guest
'Yes but it still has the number one club rugby competition in the world with the NRL and the biggest club with the Brisbane Broncos.' Australia and Australia only is not relevant to putting sides in the US and Canada or creating a competition from scratch. 'When rugby gets to be the number one sport outside of countries such as NZ and Fiji then it may make some inroads. Until then it will be a second rate sport in nearly every market that it is played.' I am not sure what you are getting at given that the opposition is Soccer and the NFL.
Bakkies
Guest
That's a bit of a risk and the other thing is that the stadium is not even in New York. Yes the two NFL teams play in East Rutherford, NJ however that is in their biggest sport and there aren't a lot of home games in that competition. The GAA ground/Polo Fields would be a better starting point.
TingoTango
Guest
Yes but it still has the number one club rugby competition in the world with the NRL and the biggest club with the Brisbane Broncos. When rugby gets to be the number one sport outside of countries such as NZ and Fiji then it may make some inroads. Until then it will be a second rate sport in nearly every market that it is played.
Terry Tavita
Guest
one million is a fraction of a percent for china..given that it's a communist country, those lofty plans are likely achievable..
RobC
Roar Guru
yes, reach 1 million players in 10 years. Some plans: - 10,000 universities and schools. - Develop recruit train 30,000 coaches, 15,000 match officials by 2020 One of the effects of making Rugby an Olympic sport. Looks like China sees it as a way to be dominant in a global contact sport. Especially one that USA and Russia is relatively poor, at