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Major League Rugby intends to kick off its fourth season on March 20, the league announced on Tuesday. The date is the latest start since the inaugural 2018 season. 2019 began in late January with this past season beginning on February 8 of this year.
Indeed the original target had been the second weekend of February, 2021, but the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the start by five weeks. MLR has also earmarked February 15 as a start date for training camps league-wide though many players will opt to join their clubs much earlier.
The announcement confirms a 13-team season following the withdrawal of the Colorado Raptors and the failure to come to terms with a potential Hawaiian franchise. Despite being slightly unbalanced, the league will continue with its East and West conference system.
Both expansion sides – Los Angeles and Dallas – will compete in the West, the latter becoming the third Texas team following Austin and Houston. Each team will play 16 matches across an 18-week regular season, including two bye weeks.
As was intended in 2020, the season will conclude with conference finals followed by a Championship Final to be played on August 1. Though this appears to clash with the July test window, international rugby is unlikely to return in North America until the Americas Rugby Championship in late August.
A complete schedule and broadcast specifics have yet to be unveiled but the league has confirmed that CBS will again carry the Championship Final with CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports 2 featuring a series of televised games. Both were part of the 2020 lineup along with ESPN+ and TSN in Canada.
