Major League Rugby begins in 2018 (hotels, home, transportation)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

They’re really trying to make this major. First season, only 7 teams including Houston, Seattle, New Orleans, Austin and a few others begin. But NYC is announced to start next year and Chicago and DC are rumored to join in with them. How big can this get? Maybe MLS level?

[projectmaximus]

Can you share a link? Is this rugby sevens format? Or Union? There has already been an ok semipro association for Rugby League for the past decade or so. Russell Crowe was part of launching that.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

Can you share a link? Is this rugby sevens format? Or Union? There has already been an ok semipro association for Rugby League for the past decade or so. Russell Crowe was part of launching that.

https://www.usmlr.com

Here’s the official website. I don’t know a lot about the league. Just that they’re trying to make this a premier US league.

[MustermannBB]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

They’re really trying to make this major. First season, only 7 teams including Houston, Seattle, New Orleans, Austin and a few others begin. But NYC is announced to start next year and Chicago and DC are rumored to join in with them. How big can this get? Maybe MLS level?

With some of the image issues the NFL had last year, this would be the perfect time to market it.
But in all reality I don't see it becoming big at all, not even near MLS level. I don't see a big enough market for it anywhere in the US.

[projectmaximus]

Ah ok, they must be doing "real" rugby which is rugby union. Good luck to them. That is the format that the US is the worst at lol.

The semi-pro league I'm aware of is the USARL, which is rugby league and not union. I have a number of friends who play for the Jax Axemen, one of the teams in the USARL. League is a little bit more like American football, although the US isn't that great on the world stage either.

Rugby Sevens is by far my favorite version of tackle rugby and I think if there were any format that could transcend into mainstream American viewership it is this one. It is certainly the most appealing version to American sports fans who enjoy watching football. It is fast-paced, exciting, and probably the easiest to understand. And also very importantly, the US is now one of the best teams in the world. We have the type of athletes who can dominate.

Anyway, as far as whether they will succeed or not and at what level, it's hard to speculate. They have a very hard road ahead. It has been growing quickly in the US and is on a similar tier as lacrosse and ultimate. So you can use those sports' pro leagues as somewhat of an indicator. Who knows...it is entirely possible that in 20-30 years rugby is perceived the way soccer is now...and thus a league could be moderately successful. But that's far in the future and hard to project. Plus it's hard to imagine this league lasting that long if they don't become more popular quickly.

just my .02

[mapleguy]

Although they play in Toronto.....The Toronto Wolf Pack is a unique team. They play their home games in Toronto, but their away games in the UK, in the 3rd division. In the 2017 season their record ( in a 23 game season ) was 20 wins . That result got them moved up to the second division for 2018.


The Wolf Pack started with only a few hundred fans in their first home game, but by the end of the 2017 season they were drawing 8 to 9 thousand fans per game. And they have a national sports TV network that covers all of their games, both in Canada and in the UK.


With a large British expat community in the Greater Toronto Area ( population six million people ) they are well on the road to a being a major team in the Toronto market. For those that don't know.. Toronto has established pro sports teams in MLB, NBA, NHL, CFL, MLS, and now Rugby. The Wolves play in the same stadium that Toronto FC plays in with a 30,000 seating capacity.


A unique ticket offer.......One of the Wolves major sponsors is an international airline Air Transat . They offer a 14 day fly and game ticket package, to attend Wolves games in the UK..... All in, flight. hotels. meals and transportation . And a massive free swag bag of team goodies. That is a unique offer in the sports world I think. Air Transat also offers similar deals to UK team supporters that want to come to Canada to watch their team play here.


For a first year professional team to win 20 out of 23 games... that's a sure indication of the caliber of players that they have. The team provides all housing, meals, training facility, and city tours while in Toronto. And they pay top money to their players.


link to the Toronto Wolf Pack website. https://www.torontowolfpack.com/news-updates/


This is what professional rugby league looks like in Toronto now.


XXX.