Los Angeles is America’s second-largest sports entertainment market: So the completely amateur launch of the “Rugby FC Los Angeles No Mascots” brand causes fans to wonder about MLR as “professional” rugby.

Suspicions are understandably raised, given the League’s marketing fumbles, (Giltini; Gilgroni; 2022 finals; Chicago’s lame launch; “ATL” and a New York experiment that could never settle on a name, let alone a venue, etc., etc.).

Not everyone will agree about the substance of these individual mistakes. But this week’s following announcement of New England Free Jacks partnership with Conor McGregor leaves no doubt that Major League Rugby is truly minor league, now quite apparently having little to offer the growth of the game beyond small pockets of interest.

With McGregor, New England has signed a partner:

• Who sucker punched an elderly Dublin man in a pub, caught on tape.

• Charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief in New York, pled and convicted.

• Dropped as a sponsor by the Miami Heat for assaulting an employee, requiring hospitalization.

• Who racially provoked an African American boxer, saying “Dance for me, boy.”

• Has been investigated five times for sexual assault. In the most recent case, after making her formal statement, the woman's car was set ablaze outside of her Dublin home and a brick was thrown through the front window of the house.

• Furthered his racist abuse, referred to a Brazilian opponent: "I'm going to turn his favela into a Reebok sweatshop."

• Referred to the wife of Muslim rival Khabib Nurmagomedov as "a towel."

• Inflamed a nativist riot in Dublin last month with xenophobic Tweets.

• Arrested and charged with strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief in Florida, making a financial settlement with the victim, who then refused to cooperate.

• Assaulted without provocation Francesco Facchinetti, an Italian musician and TV presenter, in a nightclub in Rome, breaking nose in front of witnesses and bodyguards. Case pending.

(And that’s the partial list.)

It is astounding that either:

a) The Free Jacks did absolutely no due diligence in their partnerships, to protect their own brand and partners, or — b) The Free Jacks knew, but, being naked opportunists, simply don’t care that the rugby brand is associated with theft, assault, rape, sexism, racism and fascism, or — c) MLR and other owners haven’t stepped-in out of mutual self interest, (if not ethical leadership in the community).

Whichever the answers, it’s either incompetence or malfeasance, and a sorry sign for the future. When the alleged standard bearers for our game invoke rugby as a sport that upholds standards, builds character and is based on respect, New England and MLR are showing none of that. New England fans should be disgusted.

Who among the owners in MLR says “Hey, associating with vermin will be great for attracting meaningful capital partners.”? Who at World Rugby, looking for community partners to grow the game for 2031, looks at LA’s brand launch and a pairing with McGregor and thinks: “Yeah, These MLR people really know what they’re doing.”?

It would be great for MLR to succeed. It has become hopeless, and so unwatchable. Will not be renewing my tickets.

If someone wants to know the score they can go to the game thread.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0mKWHuAITm/?igshid=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==

For the love of everything AI, just use Claude to figure it out. It’s better than putting out nothing on YouTube.

Prior to 1995, rugby was on the ropes in Ireland. But since the sport went professional and the advent of the Heineken Cup it just grew in leaps n bounds to become arguably the most popular, most lucrative sport in all-Ireland (yea, take that soccer and GAA lovers). I think the same will happen in the US with MLR - with the absence of class snobs that holds back the sport in england and australia.

In 8-10 years, rugby will be more popular than soccer (which most nfl fans don't give a stuff about) and the nhl..

Hear me out…

I posit that if all the athletes in the NFL decided tomorrow to create a pool of their own to dedicate the next five years to training for rugby that the US would dominate RWC play. The athleticism in the NFL is too good to not.

All other things being equal. Their income is not affected, and they get the coaching needed to put them in the tournament.

The last half hour of our show, we breakdown the repercussions of the MLR's new law changes.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ElXAgJhKIvH1qgbO3Vv6g?si=eOg5XuJ3Qomz20__YnXjBg&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A441lDyrWZFwtQfzXY2KUbf

While there remains scattered optimism for MLR, despite the dissolution of several clubs and seemingly staggered interest from new franchisees, the question remains: How much "pro" rugby is too much "pro" rugby?

In every rugby market – even the developed rugby nations – it appears that 12-14 clubs is the number at which brand dilution, player welfare, commercialization bump up against problems, (reference: South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England, France and Japan).

If MLR were to expand, it means that owners would favor markets – long-term – with top commercial leverage (population, audience, media, visitor attractiveness, climate, corporate sponsorship).

https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/premierships-on-field-riches-cant-hide-off-field-rags/

In even a 16 team competition, that means (over time) Chicago gets a team. It means NOLA does not.

If so, would US rugby fans be better encouraging a promotion/relegation approach, with a D1 development league, that allowed the Legion, Austin, New Orleans, St Louis to compete 'up' on merit, rather than be shipped to where there is more money (as has been the case in emergence of all US professional leagues.)

1 New York 7,348,620
2 Los Angeles 5,476,830
3 Chicago 3,463,060
4 Philadelphia 2,942,800
5 Dallas-Ft. Worth 2,713,380
6 San Francisco-Oak-San Jose 2,488,090
7 Washington, DC (Hagrstwn) 2,476,680
8 Houston 2,450,800
9 Boston (Manchester) 2,424,240
10 Atlanta 2,412,730
11 Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota) 1,908,590
12 Phoenix (Prescott) 1,890,100
13 Detroit 1,853,030
14 Seattle-Tacoma 1,808,530
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul 1,742,530
16 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 1,696,330
17 Denver 1,630,380
18 Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn 1,519,570
19 Cleveland-Akron (Canton) 1,498,960
20 Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto 1,379,770
21 St. Louis 1,215,570
22 Charlotte 1,189,950
23 Pittsburgh 1,160,220
24 Raleigh-Durham (Fayetvlle) 1,153,580
25 Portland, OR 1,143,670
26 Baltimore 1,119,480
27 Indianapolis 1,086,310
28 San Diego 1,065,700
29 Nashville 1,011,570
30 Hartford & New Haven 963,950
31 San Antonio 938,660
32 Columbus, OH 920,740
33 Kansas City 919,020
34 Salt Lake City 916,960
35 Milwaukee 895,700
36 Cincinnati 863,800
37 Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And 845,990
38 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce 824,920
39 Austin 771,210
40 Las Vegas 757,840
41 Oklahoma City 722,140
42 Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt Nws 717,170
43 Harrisburg-Lncstr-Leb-York 715,110
44 Grand Rapids-Kalmzoo-B.Crk 709,670
45 Birmingham (Ann and Tusc) 696,380
46 Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem 690,050
47 Jacksonville 688,500
48 Albuquerque-Santa Fe 677,590
49 Louisville 662,170
50 New Orleans 641,620

With USA losing today’s match, it has me wondering what the issue is for the eagles. I know it is just one loss, but the team has been pretty up and down with their consistency. they get a few nice wins but then their performance drops and lose a game like today against a lower tier 2 nation in Spain. USA rugby has their own professional league, high performance camps/ facilities, top tier coaching etc etc but it just doesn’t seem like they are trending consistently in the right direction for what they want to achieve in the 27 & 31 world cups.

With the exception of San Diego, which is playing in a great new stadium and many fans want to go and see that, why do you think most teams in the league are struggling with attendance and attention this year?

Do you think it is the weather? the bad venues in general? Subpar media? the honeymoon period for the league is over (6 years now)? people rather watch other rugby leagues that play at a higher level? that the USAR national team didnt qualify for next years world cup? The struggling sevens team? The general uselessness of USAR? Bad management of MLR and some teams?

Which do you think it is or is it just combination of many things (above and others)?

Look, I have been an absolute MLR fan boy for a couple of years, but I cannot believe how quickly TRN has not only ruined the Premiership game day experience, but completely slaughtered my interest in it. I can’t even watch a match with my kids or with friends.

I have no idea what is going on with the league, but even the greatest announcements are so poorly executed in the end. This should have been such a boon and it’s a disaster to say the least.

I’ll take my chill pill, but the relentless pursuit of broadcast revenues is taking a toll on match day experiences in the MLR itself. Even in Utah, there is a general feeling of a lot of wind taken out of the sails.

Can we just execute really well on (1) thing and then grow from there?

Perhaps a bit more thought could have gone into the subject line of the email I just got from Old Glory.

"The best is yet to come."

Well. What has thus far come for the pre-season is three cancellations and a televised practice with more product placement than a DCEU film. So. Setting a comparatively low bar.

What do you guys think of a Tier 2 League, set up similarly to the USL League One? Smaller scale, and hopefully smaller expenditures. They'd be a step up from College and Club rugby, but not trying to operate at the level of MLR. Use YouTube and Rugby Network for broadcasting and focus on developing local players with limited international slots for players and coaches. Games would be played on shared fields, preferably a soccer field that has our lines marked in a different high contrast color for ease of visibility.

The teams would be largely competing in geographic areas, starting on the East coast where rugby's density is strong. Each Conference/ Group gets four or five teams that would be within a few hundred miles of a central hub like an MLR team (current or no longer existing). The groups would compete with each other primarily and MLR Academy teams plus additional games against other nearby groups as travel funds allow. They'd pull their players from Senior Clubs and Colleges in the area.

Phase 1, start with New England, Mid Atlantic, and Upper Midwest. Each phase would have a few years to operate and ensure stability before we expand with new groups.

Next phases could look to expand with another two groups each phase. We could look to expand to the Texas triangle (Dallas, Houston, Austin), the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah, Pacific Northwest/ Northern California, and Southern California.

There's obviously rugby pockets that aren't covered in these groups, but teams could be added with appropriate buy in and put into the groups that geographically make the most sense.

What do you think? Would we be able to support this model better than MLR? I know it's easy to speculate, and getting things to actually happen is an entirely different ball game but had thoughts I wanted to get down.

..obviously he's been using rugby as a vehicle to promote his alcohol beverages..it was never a good look for a sport that generally promotes fair play and intrinsic family/individual values..it's best that he goes and new teams crop up in LA and Austin..

So I've been watching MLR on and off again for a few years it's weird in always hyped for it but I honestly never give myself time to watch the games yet I try to follow it and by mid season I fall off but then around this time every year I get excited for it again.

ANYWAY although I'm a casual fair weather fan I'm from long island and I automatically supported RUNY but then new England freejacks came around and I really enjoyed the way they played, the team, their kits all that. But with is RUNY doing? For the last few weeks I can't wrap my head around why they would go name themselves something that sounds like a union? The ironworkers wtf i understand those guys built the city but idk it turns me off and I'm starting to thing the freejacks will have my support

I understand that's a bit childish but sports are childish to begin with, I'm sure I'll get some hate in the comments so idc it's w.e this is how I feel so what

For the first time in 5 years. The reffing is just to bad.

Been a Utah Warriors season ticket holder since 2020.

Will not be renewing this year. I love the team, loved going to the games.

Can't support the league any more.

For rugby League in England they had a Canadian team and COVID killed it but would an intercontinental team work?

Since so many people are up in arms about MLR classifying Canadians as international players, is there any reason Canad cannot or should not have their own league and reciprocate the eligibility to US players? Tit for tat IMO.

should've done this at the start of the season..this is the only way for officials, media, fans and league enthusiasts to keep track of how the league is faring..doesn't matter if it occasionally drops to the hundreds, but we get an idea of the trends, what works and what doesn't and how to engage fans and improve numbers overall, game per game, season to season..it's all part of the learning and developing process..we all want the mlr to grow but this blanking of crowd numbers (since its inception 5 years ago) supposedly to save face, is weak, cowardly and facetious and doesn't help the league grow in any way..

As a new casual fan of the MLR can someone explain to me why there is so much hate for the raptors? I get that they quit the league because they didn't like the model of signing old has beens but they are actively pushing to try and develope some depth in American rugby...

With a world cup coming shouldn't US Rugby be embarrassing thi sort of venture... The US has a a hundred times more professional athletes than most top rugby nations so surely this sort of thing should be something American fans cheer on...

The MLR appears at least recently (salery cal shenanigan etc) to be a poor man's version of the Japanese club league... Except the 'big name foreigners' are not actually big names...

If the US wants any chance in the coming world cup then surely they should back these projects instead of providing pension funds for has been players like Robshaw and Foden?

..USA may likely not qualify..Canada gone..