Kansas City to get a PRO Rugby team?

Is Kansas City to get a PRO Rugby team? The mid-western U.S. city appears to be one of the two remaining locations for the inaugural PRO Rugby city, joining the Californian cities of Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco.

Inside Rugby Pro Management has advertised opportunities for the recruitment of rugby players to play professionally in Kansas City. The commercial states that the U.S. club is seeking players for this season with March-June 2016 being listed as the period in question. PRO Rugby has previously declared that their competition will be played from April-July but this may be altered now with the reduction from six to five participants.

The Kansas City outfit is advertising for the required positions of loosehead and tighthead prop, back-row, halves, fullback and centers. It is doing so for the stated reasons of being an ambitious club, looking to continue to compete at the top competitions across the country.

The stated criteria for applicants is to either be eligible for a U.S. Work visa or a USA passport holder. Players are suggested to submit video footage, although it is not essential.

The package for successful applicants includes accommodation, job assistance, potentially flights for the right candidate. The salary is listed as being in the range of $500-$1,200 per player with this depending on the number of players, where they are flying from and caliber of player, etc.

Should Kansas City indeed be the location of the fourth of five PRO Rugby team for this year’s competition the it is likely to be the  furthered away from the west coast. Though it is yet to be confirmed Denver, Colorado has been widely tipped to have a team and for it to be based in Glendale.

Additional teams are expected to join in 2017, possibly from Texas, the East Coast and Canada.