Major League Rugby

[Mellsblue]

Perry Baker has tweeted that he wants a move to 15’s. I presume in time for a run at the World Cup squad. Either he’s ignorant of when the European season starts or he’s looking at MLR.

[Puja]

Perry Baker has tweeted that he wants a move to 15’s. I presume in time for a run at the World Cup squad. Either he’s ignorant of when the European season starts or he’s looking at MLR.

I saw that. The Utah Warriors GM has already tweeted him asking to have a chat.

Nice to see that 15s still has a draw amongst the Olympics-focussed Yanks, but I'm not sure he's got the build or game for 15s. Speed kills, but so does getting monstered by a nasty flanker.

Puja

[Puja]

Interesting summary on how the squads are shaping up for next year: http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2018/0 ... ter-moves/

I think Houston could be in trouble. They were a disappointment last year and have lost a few of their pack without any new imports announced. Hopefully the new stadium will get a good crowd and atmosphere and drive the existing players to greater feats.

Rumour has it Psalm Wooching (of "I rejected NFL because i wanted to play rugby, but so far I've got nothing more than a couple of US caps and a Viadana contract to show for it" fame) is signing with an MLR franchise. Good news; he's got name recognition in Yank country.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Always worth a read just for the American names. Love the line that RUNY have more foreign stars lined up. Can’t wait for the fixtures to come out so I can organise a trip over to watch......assuming the long suffering Mrs Mellsblue gives the ok.

[Mellsblue]

Boston are in for 2020. Love that place. Great reason to visit.

[Puja]

Good grief, that came out of the blue. Last I heard Boston had two of the local clubs each trying to get the funding arranged to sort out a franchise and one of them, Mystic River, has been playing exhibition games against MLR sides, but it looks like this new franchise is coming from a new group who are completely unaffiliated with any of the existing clubs and who hadn't even been rumoured before. With Washington also in for 2020, NY up for 2019 and Toronto in for 2019 as soon as the lawyers sort out cross-border comp issues, that's a nice cluster of local (for certain values) derbies in the North-East.

Not sure about the franchise name though - apparently the Boston Freejacks. Hmm.

Atlanta's also a bit startling, although welcome. It's another big market for MLR to be getting into. The moneyman appears to be the guy behind the Atlanta Rhinos semi-pro rugby league team, which makes me wonder if he's switching codes rather than expanding and whether a few of the Rhinos might look to do the same. In terms of their pool of players, Atlanta will have uncontested draw over the South East of the country, so I'd imagine they'll be able to put together a solid squad.

Good news all round - that makes 12 teams for 2020, with LA and Vancouver having also paid money for exclusive negotiating rights, without having got everything officially official yet. Very impressive.

Puja

[Puja]

Heavy rumours of mismanagement and unrest at Utah Warriors. Talk of paycheques not coming, broken promises, sponsors withdrawing because they're wondering where their money has gone. Just rumours at the moment, but a shame if it's true - they were getting good crowds and drawing a lot of interest.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Links, please.... I thought wages were via the union?

[Puja]

Links, please.... I thought wages were via the union?

All rumours and "my sources say" at the moment. It looks like the basic wages are paid by the league and the disputes are over the "additional payments" for things like sponsored appearances, "coaching", etc that are just under the table ways to evade the salary cap.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Thank you for the above. Which site is that screenshot from?

In other, positive, news, Toronto confirmed for 2019 - still no fixtures - and Washington DC for 2020

[Puja]

Thank you for the above. Which site is that screenshot from?

In other, positive, news, Toronto confirmed for 2019 - still no fixtures - and Washington DC for 2020

It's from reddit - if you click through it'll lead to a discussion of it. All very much rumours, but enough people with similar stories to make me worried.

Just beat me to the Toronto and DC news. I think the former rebranding from Ontario is a good plan - allegedly, it's because the average American doesn't understand the concept of Ontario, but knows what Toronto is. That puts us at the 12 teams planned for 2020, with Boston (who appear to be going the other way and branding as New England, for some reason), DC, and Atlanta joining the existing 9... as long as Utah sort their sh*t out and don't go down the pan.

The league said they wanted to keep the league at 12 for 2020 and 2021, so where that leaves Vancouver and LA (exclusive rights, but no membership yet), or Chicago and Dallas (founding associates, but not members yet) is unknown. Guess it depends on if all 7 of the originals keep going. Rumours also of building Ohio and Sacramento bids.

Puja

[Puja]

Fixtures now due to come out tomorrow.

New York have finally announced their stadium - MCU Park in Brooklyn. It's a baseball stadium, which isn't ideal, but it does have 7,000 capacity, is proper central New York with decent transport links (it's in Coney Island), and has history of being used for American football and football. Found a picture or two of how it would be set up:




Puja

[Mellsblue]

Cheers for the info. Time to start planning my next trip!

[Mellsblue]

https://www.usmlr.com/schedules/

[Puja]

Seems pretty sensibly laid out. Glendale (Denver) don't play at home till March 3rd, New York before March 15th and Toronto before April 7th, so there'll be fewer issues with snow. In return New Orleans don't play at home after May 18th to avoid their summer (and it looks like the two Texas teams have limited home games after that too).

Puja

[Mellsblue]

I’m sure those consideration were trumped by the need to have RUNY’s first home game near my birthday.

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear Mellsblue
Happy birthday to m..

“What’s that Mrs Mellsblue?”

“No, no. You’re right. That would be too much like fun. I’ll stay at home.”

[Puja]

And with it being a derby against Toronto as well! For shame, Mrs Mellsblue, for shame!

Interestingly, if the rugby league keep the same fixture structure as last year, there will be no direct fixture clash between Toronto Arrows and Wolfpack - Arrows home season runs from April to start of June and Wolfpack's from mid-June to August. With a following wind, being first out of the blocks will mean that Arrows will be able to pick up a lot of Wolfpack fans who went there because it was the only rugby game in town. Mind, I'd bet they're looking at it and hoping to pick up Arrows fans when the season ends.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

Turns out Mrs Mellsblue Snr put the kibosh on it by having the temerity to book a holiday for then and therefore not be able to help with child care. I’m therefore now looking at the match on the 24th.
I did a bit of research and asking around whilst in NY last week and rugby is bigger in the area than I thought. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it’s a very popular sport. RUNY also seem to be doing this the right way - lots of work at community and schools. I hope it’ll really take off. Especially with the location they’ve secured. I did have a drive past the GAA stadium in the Bronx and it’s a complete dive.
As for them picking up NFL fans, both the Giants and Jets are having bad seasons. I went to see the Giants whilst out there and they were woeful, plus you could tell the crowd have had enough. If RUNY start well on the road they might fancy watching a team that has a chance of winning. Interestingly, they have released a promo video for the announcement of stadium and fixture list and the first bit of action on the video is a big dump tackle. No subtlety about which market they are targeting!
As for Toronto, you’d hope there is a latent following from Canada’s former glory days who just want to watch some rugby where they might not be the shambles that is the national team.

[Puja]

https://munsterrugby.ie/2018/11/09/muns ... es-in-usa/

Boston are gearing up for their MLR entry in 2020 by playing an exhibition series against the A sides of the Irish provinces in March and April next year. Each province will play 2 games: one against the Freejacks and one against another province, which makes 8 big games to draw Bostonians into the sport. And lets face it, every beggar there thinks they're part Irish, so they'll love it. Good work by their marketing department and hopefully they'll have a stadium sorted so it'll be in their permanent home.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

That is a brilliant idea. I think it’s clever to play on the Irish connections. RUNY’s Irish owner has signed a few Irish, made a famous Manhattan Irish pub their official pub and marketed heavily at the Irish ex-pats, 2nd/3rd generation etc. Plus, the rumoured ground share with the GAA at a brand new stadium. Those green dollars will be rushing in to the tills.
As will my red, white and blue dollars on 24th March. Flights booked. God bless America.

[Mellsblue]

RUNY’s kit for the coming season. Far better than the one for the exhibition season.

[Mellsblue]

[Mellsblue]

As to our previous conversation about €50 tickets being expensive. My brother has just booked us tickets for the Giants this fall. Yes, fall. I am now €300 poorer. Top tier, front row on the 25 line. I know it’s THE NY team, playing THE US sport but it shows just how expensive sports tickets are compared to the U.K.

Yes, I’ve quoted myself.

Tickets for RUNY are on sale: $45, $35 and $20. Seriously cheap for NY sports tickets, even given the fact it’s a minor sport and a brand new team. For comparison, I’m going to watch the Knicks on the Friday evening beforehand, in average seats, and it’s $130 for the ticket, and that shambles can’t even buy a win.
Buying a jersey on the other hand.....$100. No thank you.

[Puja]

Well, I'm not going to quote you. Just seems to encourage you.

New York have a reasonable sized stadium to fill at 7k. If they can get 4k, then I'd count that as a massive win. Apparently they've been conversing with Seattle about how they built their crowd with interacting with local businesses for discounted tickets. Good people to learn from - Seattle have sold out (4.5k) for their opening game against Glendale, are almost sold out for the season already, and are looking at bleachers to expand capacity.

The league could do with a bit more of that this season. Average was 2159 last year, which is respectable for an inaugural season, but really needs to be more 3,500 this season to start reducing the operating losses and offer a promise of future profits.

Puja

[Puja]

Heavy rumours of mismanagement and unrest at Utah Warriors. Talk of paycheques not coming, broken promises, sponsors withdrawing because they're wondering where their money has gone. Just rumours at the moment, but a shame if it's true - they were getting good crowds and drawing a lot of interest.

You've got me doing it now!

There's been nothing further coming out about this. They've not made huge signings in the offseason (and have lost Morath, Tameilau, and Lasike), but there have been some, including repatriating US international Gannon Moore from NZ and signing Brazilian international Josh Reeves. So hopefully not the signs of a sinking ship. Still fancy them to finish bottom though.

Puja