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Major League Rugby unveiled its regular season schedule for the 2020 season late last month. Among the most notable features of the season are a series of games in February listed as venue ‘tbd’. Americas Rugby News has now confirmed that multiple fixtures are set to be hosted in Las Vegas, including the Rugby United New York game against the Austin Herd on February 15 and the Toronto Arrows match against the Houston SaberCats on February 16.
The league will expand by three teams in 2020 with Rugby ATL, Old Glory DC, and the New England Free Jacks all joining but there are already plans for further expansion in 2021. Dallas has been confirmed as a full member by the league and is expected to join the next expansion phase, while a group in Las Vegas is also understood to be in advanced negotiations to bring a franchise to Nevada. Talk of a team in Los Angeles – the second of two groups to launch a serious bid in the city – has since cooled.
After initially announcing the 2020 start date as the second week in February, the new season will instead begin on February 8. It remains two weeks later in the year than the 2019 season kicked off but will still see scheduling challenges with teams located in the north-east unable to host matches until late March at the earliest. The ‘home’ matches played in Vegas earlier in the season will allow those teams to break up the large stretches of consecutive hosting seen in 2019.
Several teams will be playing at new venues in 2020. The newly renamed Austin Herd will return to Round Rock Multipurpose Complex; the NOLA Gold have shifted their home field to ‘The Gold Mine’, formerly known as Zephyr Field; and the Toronto Arrows have been eyeing the renovated York Lions Stadium though potential games at the venue are still to be confirmed.
Rugby United New York has listed MCU Park as their home turf once again but are also expected to play at multiple venues. A game against the Toronto Arrows on March 22 in Buffalo has been mooted, and they are also reportedly eyeing Staten Island as a possible future home for a new rugby-specific stadium.
The home venues for the expansion sides have also been confirmed. ATL will play at Life University, Old Glory at Cardinal Stadium, and the Free Jacks have agreed a deal to develop the Union Point Sports Complex in Weymouth. The Atlanta side is the only team yet to play any matches – both DC and New England undertook spring exhibition campaigns.
A complete schedule of the 2020 season as it stands can be seen on the official Major League Rugby site.
