The MLR, North America’s Newest Professional League, Enters its Second Season

Rugby is a rapidly growing sport, with professional leagues spanning across the world in Europe (Premiership Rugby, Top 14 Rugby and Pro 14), in the Oceanic region, Africa, Asia, South America (Super Rugby) and now, North America.

Major League Rugby (MLR) is set to begin its second season this weekend after a successful inaugural year in 2018. The league is entering the upcoming season with a total of nine teams, including the original seven from 2018; the Glendale Raptors, Seattle Seawolves, San Diego Legion, Utah Warriors, Austin Elite Rugby, NOLA Gold and Houston SaberCats along with two new 2019 additions, Rugby United New York and the first Canadian based team, the Toronto Arrows.

This however, is not the first time Rugby has tried to break into the American professional sports scene. PRO Rugby, was the first attempt at launching a professional Rugby league in North America. It kicked off in April 2016 and lasted only one season, officially being shutdown in January 2017.

How is the MLR going to do what PRO Rugby couldn’t? What makes this time different?

There are three key factors to the MLR’s apparent success; timing, financial structure, and accessibility. 

Timing is Everything.

The MLR could not have been established at a better time.

Popularity of rugby in the United States and Canada is on a sky rocketing trajectory.

According to a study, the number of participants in rugby in the United States from 2006 to 2017 has increased by over 1 million.

Find more statistics at Statista

The MLR looks to continue building momentum and capitalize on the growing popularity of Rugby in North America.

On top of this, the addition of the sevens variation of Rugby into the Olympics has also made a significant impact, growing the exposure of rugby to the public.

“Having rugby in the Olympics gives a legitimacy and an overall awareness that we haven’t been able to get,” then Rugby USA CEO and current Rugby Americas CEO, Dan Payne, told CNN in 2017.

This in turn, has increased the amount of funding entering the Rugby USA program. Towards the build up and after the Rio 2016 Olympics, USA Rugby has been able to raise an increased amount of funding into the program, exceeding the $1 million barrier four years straight (2015 – 2018).

Since the increased funding, the caliber of homegrown talent here on US soil has rapidly improved. Rugby USA has jumped in the fifteen’s world rugby rankings from 16th to 12th passing notable rugby countries such as Samoa, Tonga and Georgia.

A Resilient Financial Structure.

PRO Rugby operated under a financial structure that was set up for failure. One owner controlled the entire league and all five of its teams and players making it susceptible to financial collapse.

The MLR does not make this mistake and follows a more sustainable model using a structure that is currently used by Major League Soccer (MLS). The league is structured as a “single-entity” which means all team owners buy into the league and own shares of Major League Rugby. These owners run the franchises that are part of a bigger whole. So, instead of being reliant on one single stakeholder, the league is a collection of many ownership groups that makes the league financially resilient.

Accessibility is key.

MLR has also made themselves more accessible to the mainstream sports audience. They have better established themselves with stronger broadcasting agreements than PRO Rugby.

Pro Rugby streamed its games for free on its league website and on cable through ONE World sports (recently shut down due to financial difficulties in March 2017). Unless, you were an avid rugby fan aware of PRO Rugby, these matches failed to reach a significant audience and more importantly, lacked the ability to attract new viewers.

The MLR has excelled in this area by reaching agreements with more notable broadcasters such as ESPN, CBS Sports Network and SNY in addition to other smaller providers such as GameTV (Canada) and ROOT Sports while also streaming some games live on Facebook.

There is no question that this is a much stronger broadcasting arrangement that will provide current rugby fans more access and reach new viewers in attempts of attracting them to America’s newest professional league.

“I honestly believe that America is the next sleeping giant in rugby,” former England international @ben_foden, who has moved to the US as a player-coach with @rugbyunitedny, tells @AmandaDCNN.https://t.co/TGAxKLDw2o pic.twitter.com/dHGpdk8JK7

— CNN Sport (@cnnsport) January 22, 2019

Rugby is not only becoming increasingly popular, but the quality of talent in the US that will be showcased in the MLR is rapidly improving. This along with the league making sure it does not waste this great opportunity by maximizing its accessibility and financial stability is a perfect mix for a league trying to break into the professional sports scene. The MLR makes it convincing that the break through of rugby in North America could be on the horizon.

“We gave the clubs a mandate to go out and recruit elite North American talent that makes fans sit up and take notice, and they’ve done just that,” said MLR Commissioner Dean Howes in a Major League Rugby news report. “The quality and the depth of these rosters is truly impressive. Our original teams are stronger across the board, and Toronto and New York have shown they’re here to succeed immediately. Top players competing together week-in, week-out can only be a good thing for the future of rugby in North America. The game is gathering momentum here and MLR fans are in for some sensational rugby. We can’t wait for kick-off.”

The MLR leads the rugby frontier in North America at a time when Rugby has never been more popular. America’s newest professional league has so far shown it is taking full advantage of the opportunity. Only time will tell but America’s newest professional league looks promising heading into it’s second year in existence with no signs of stopping.