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Major League Rugby has confirmed the locations of its two playoff rounds and plans for expansion for 2019 and beyond. League commissioner Dean Howes revealed the news while speaking to media at a San Diego Legion launch event last week.
The two Semi Finals are set to be a double header hosted at Glendale’s Infinity Park on June 30. The inaugural MLR champion will be decided a week later in the Final at Torero Stadium in San Diego on July 7. The dates were briefly published in a Utah Warriors online release last month before being removed.
Expansion plans were also discussed in detail. Joining Rugby United New York will be two further US-based teams. Neither are explicitly revealed in the video but speculation is that Dallas and Chicago will be the locations.
Both teams were original partners in the league but opted to withdraw for the 2018 season. Dallas have retained Mike Ford as Director of Rugby while Chicago are constructing a new multi-field facility in East Garfield Park.
A group in Boston affiliated with Mystic River Rugby Club is also pursuing a franchise and will play exhibition matches against the Ontario Arrows and RUNY in the spring.
Set to join in 2019 pending ongoing negotiations are two Canadian teams – Vancouver and Toronto (Ontario). The Arrows opened their 2018 exhibition campaign with an impressive draw against the SaberCats this past weekend and will soon reveal their home field for this season, a modern facility located in the Greater Toronto Area.
Meanwhile two bids have been entertained by MLR officials for the Vancouver franchise. Karl Harrison’s group – who announced their intentions publicly in early January – traveled to Salt Lake City last week. The progress of a second group with ties to the BC Rugby Union appears to have stalled.
Should the two Canadians teams not join next season the league will proceed with 10 teams. Presumably the door will still be open for the Canadian teams in 2020 but otherwise MLR will stay the course for two seasons at which time they will add two more teams with a target of 16 teams beyond that. Finding interested parties will not be difficult – quality assurance is the priority.
Howes also confirmed an impending ‘OTT’ deal that will see games streamed live over the internet though he did not reveal who the service provider would be.
The launch video in its entirety can be seen below.
