Pro Rugby North America Launches

Professional Rugby Organization (PRO Rugby) North America officially announced this morning that their competition will launch in the Spring of 2016. Officially sanctioned by USA Rugby and World Rugby, the competition will launch with six teams. The season is set to kick off in April and run through July with each team playing home/away for a total of ten matches per team.

PRO Rugby is headed up by New York Businessman Doug Schoninger and he has tabbed Old Blue Head Coach Stephen Lewis as their Director of Rugby Operations.

“Rugby is a natural fit for our country,” said Schoninger. “Participation and interest in the sport is at an all-time high and the demand for a professional competition is clear.”

The teams are going to be owned by PRO Rugby and players are expected to be centrally contracted. USA Rugby will be involved in helping place players in the competition. The emergence of the high performance National Tracking Camps appears to be one of the vehicles that will be used to identify potential talent for the competition. Organizers also plan to work with the rugby community and clubs to help in identifying, developing, and promoting talent.

USA Rugby Chairman Bob Latham added, “As the fastest growing team sport in the USA, it is the time to have a sanctioned professional competition. We are very happy to partner with PRO Rugby in taking this step to popularize the game, to inspire Americans to fall in love with rugby, and to show the rugby world what American players can do.”

While the competition has the blessing of USA Rugby, Canada has opted to sit out the first year of the competition. However, they expect to get involved in 2017 with the placement of at least one Canadian-based team in the competition.

Rugby Canada GM of Rugby Operations Jim Dixon said, “Rugby Canada looks forward to working with Pro Rugby on sanctioning the competition in Canada for the 2017 season and beyond.”

The venues and coaching staffs are expected to be announced starting this week with organizers tabbing the Northeast, California, and Rocky Mountains in their official release. Playing rosters are being compiled and will follow shortly after.

With those locations in mind, it is highly likely that New York, Denver, San Jose, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Philadelphia or Boston could be the initial six teams. That would provide two teams in each of the named regions and begin to build some natural rivalries from the start of the competition. As previously reported, venues in Houston had scheduling conflicts for 2016 and are expected to join the league in 2017. Along with the addition of at least one Canadian team, the competition could grow quickly in the first few years.

Unlike many of the prior professional rugby attempts in the United States, PRO Rugby also has the blessing of World Rugby.

“We welcome North American teams into the international rugby family,” said World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper. “With PRO Rugby in place, US and Canadian players will be able to train year round and play in elite competition, something that has been sorely missing from rugby development in North America.”

The launch is very significant for a North American playing base that has struggled to build an elite competition that allows players to focus solely on rugby. Aside from the Eagles that have overseas contracts, domestic players have struggled with the work/rugby balance as the demands of playing international rugby have increased significantly in the past ten years.

Eagle pool players stand to benefit the most with the addition of the Americas 6 Nations tournament, Pacific Nations Cup, and Fall tours alongside the PRO Rugby season. Those players will have to be contracted year round. Players looking to break into the Eagles squad will likely work within the club rugby system to continue their development during the Fall. Changes to the club rugby season and structure have been rumored as part of integrating a high performance pathway from club to professional rugby.

The battle to get professional rugby on American soil has been a long and hard one. It is also one that is far from over. The early years could be very difficult for the upstart PRO Rugby efforts. Stay tuned over the coming weeks as Americas Rugby News explores the effects of PRO Rugby on the American rugby landscape. We’ll have analysis, interviews, and coverage of all the latest PRO Rugby news.