Major League Rugby: What Can We Expect in 2021?
With the giants of Gallagher Premiership, Super Rugby, Top 14 and Pro 14 often stealing headlines, the USA’s top-flight league, Major League Rugby, often doesn’t get a look-in.
Whether you’ve heard of it or not, you’re in the right place to find out all about it as we speak to MLR fans in the USA and Canada who try and sell it to the rest of the world.
What is Major League Rugby?
Major League Rugby is North America’s top-flight domestic league competition which was born just two years ago in 2018 and now have 13 teams across the US and Canada competing in the league. It’s a top-down effort from World Rugby to increase exposure of rugby union in the United States. World Rugby boss Brett Gosper outlined it as a key initiative for the sport.
But with an already crowded marketplace of sports in the US like NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and of course NFL, is there room?
For this game to work in the States, it needs to have appeal, bring something different to the fans and to get the community involved. At the moment, the attendance at games averages at around 3,000 fans, peaking in the 2019 Final at 6,000. On the face of it when you compare it to the Gallagher Premiership in the UK where averages are 5x that, it looks like there’s a lot of work to do.
However, to attract even 3,000 to a game that is barely 2 years old is not a bad feat and it does seem promising. We speak to some fans in the US and Canada, asking them to ‘sell it to us.’
“We are part of something big”
What stands out first and foremost is what made rugby great in the UK many years ago – accessibility. MLR is new, comparatively small and trying to open up to a new audience, meaning there are no divas, players interact with fans after the game and tickets are cheap.
You can easily pick up a ticket for around $20 USD (£16, $28 AUD), and even cheaper with a season ticket. When you compare it a $100 ticket to the NFL, it soon starts to appeal to families for an entertaining day out.
And you don’t have to be a die-hard rugby fan to watch a game. One fan explains how during the match, the announcer helps explain some of the rules of the game, an idea that has been long overdue and even needed in the UK and Australia, especially for fans who only tune in to the 6 Nations or the World Cup and have a hard time understanding some of the more intricate laws of the game.
After the game is just as inclusive and accessible, with fans flocking onto the pitch to take pictures and speak to the players. “I saw one of the players and asked if he'd take a picture with my sons. He we so cool. He then went on and introduced us to two other players and we had a chat together.”
Source: Major League Rugby
‘Like a sprinkle of FA cup action with every fixture’
You might think, “ok the tickets are cheap, but the quality of rugby is poor.” Well, think again. Fans love seeing incredibly athletic US players go toe-to-toe with rugby powerhouses of Ma’a Nonu, Mathieu Bastareaud, Ben Foden, Digby Ioane and now the incoming Chris Robshaw.
These players have not signed huge, multi-million-dollar deals either, so the appeal for them moving Stateside means they’re probably thinking of being part of something much bigger. After all, even if you’re a seasoned international, there is still more than enough demand for you to go to Japan and earn big money for a year or two.
“I think the biggest appeal for me is watching players like Nonu up against athletic US guys who have played maybe 50 games total in their lifetime” explains one fan. “I don’t think there are many leagues or events in any sport that can match that, at least not on a regular basis. It’s like a sprinkle of FA cup ideals in each game, which makes for some interesting match ups! It’s not watching Super Rugby for sure, but for a fan used to premiership structure or Southern Hemisphere tactical nuance, it’s a different spectacle.”
What about the history?
There’s something to be said about supporting a team whose roots go back many decades and have built culture, history and reputation – but conversely, is being part of something brand new a bad thing?
“We are witnessing the start of a new league in the professional era,” says Stu Hardy, an MLR fan. Unlike Premiership or Top 14 clubs, that have at least a few decades of history behind them, MLR is brand new. There's minimal - if any - connection to the amateur era. Like the US itself, there is no history to this league to support itself on, meaning reputation alone cannot allow any of the teams to get by and it will have to be entirely on merit.”
With the ever-increasing number of big-name players joining teams, more ‘tier-one teams’ are starting to take notice.
“We're watching the start of something big. Yeah, the playing quality is more on par with Welsh Premiership than English Premiership, but it's been improving year on year, and it can only get better as time goes on. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch...”
So yes, whilst history and prestige for a club is important, so too is an open mind and the warm welcoming of new teams. And from watching highlights and reading comments of fans online, it’s a bloody fun game! You do get glaring errors, dropped passes and knock-ons, but from those come golden nuggets of quality rugby and adds an air of unpredictability to a fixture. So give it a go when the season restarts in 2021, as one fan proclaims “MLR sounds like an absolute banger”.
MLR’s Official YouTube channel archives all the previous games as well as highlights, interviews and updates so check it out for yourself HERE.
And we at W RUGBY are doing our bit too for the game. For every rugby ball sold, we donate another into grassroots rugby - Won For Won
W RUGBY would like to thank the MLR fans on reddit who helped us answer our question “Sell me MLR” to help write this article.
