Major League Rugby Is Set To Kickoff This Month | The Odyssey Online
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Major League Rugby Is Set To Kickoff This Month

Can MLR make a splash this summer?

Joshua Clayton
Apr 05, 2018
University of Mississippi
257
Major League Rugby Is Set To Kickoff This Month
Joshua Clayton

Major League Rugby, America's first large scale professional rugby union league is set to kick off its inaugural regular season this month.

The startup league was founded in 2017 and will feature 7 clubs from Austin, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle and Utah. An eighth club from New York is set to join the league for the 2019 season. The teams will compete in a ten week regular season from April to June, followed by a semifinal playoff round and the championship on July 7.

This new league is part of a small rugby renaissance currently happening in the US. Rugby was formally reintroduced to American sports fans when it was added as an Olympic event in Rio 2016 for the first time since the 1920’s.

Since then, rugby has become one of the nation’s fastest growing sports on the youth and collegiate level. However, it took a while for networks to pick it up and when there were live games on, it would be at a random times and rugby enthusiasts were been left searching YouTube recordings or obscure online streaming to watch games.

This is no longer a problem. Major League Rugby is not only a way for fans to physically attend matches, but also provides a concrete start and end to a season with a television schedule similar to top leagues like the NFL or NCAA football.

CBS Sports has agreed to broadcast a game of the week every weekend along with the playoffs and championship game. ESPN also picked up MLR and will show the remaining 18 matches on the ESPN+ streaming service which will launch April 12 for $4.99/month. Espn will also provide coverage and analysis on ESPN.com.

The MLR season falls at the same time the MLB and NBA and NHL playoffs take over sports, but Major League Rugby is looking to capture a niche of new rugby fans in their inaugural season.

There has never been a better time to be a rugby fan as alongside the new MLR seasons, the Rugby 7s World Cup tournament will be held in San Francisco this summer and the USA has proved itself as a contender this year in international play.


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