Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
This afternoon PRO Rugby North America officially announced San Diego as their third team location, even though Southern California wasn’t in the initial plans for PRO. When the competition officially launched in November, organizers stated their would be two teams in three different regions… California, Mountains, and Northeast. PRO were quick to announce deals with San Francisco and Sacramento, but they ran into a hitch as issues arose with finalizing deals on venues. Soon thereafter, rumors began to swirl that San Diego was now a strong candidate and would replace one of the initially planned locations.
The San Diego team will play at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego. An announcement on the Head Coach is expected in the coming days.
PRO Rugby has also confirmed that the competition has been pared down from six teams to five teams for the 2016 season. Organizers cited level of play and management concerns as the reasons for dropping a team from their initial plans. The five remaining squads will now play a 12 game schedule over the course of 15 weeks. With only two teams left to announce, the question now turns to what cities will get the teams.
Fans that have been clinging to the edge of their seats waiting should have an answer in the next week as PRO is set to name two non-western based teams.
PRO Rugby via Facebook:
The remaining non-western based teams will be announced in the coming week. The selection of team cities has many components, many of which are out of our direct control. Issues range from playing field surfaces, scheduling, venue availability, existing rugby infrastructure, and individual state’s workman’s compensation insurance rules. These and many other issues played into the choosing of the host cities for the Inaugural year. As rugby in the USA transitions from amateurism to professionalism there are many unknowns, obstacles, and opportunities, all which make the journey fun and exciting to us and hopefully, to all our supporters. Given the above, PRO Rugby has decided to launch our Inaugural season with five teams. Though some might find our decision disappointing, starting with five teams allows PRO Rugby to both maintain a higher level of on-field play and allow for a more manageable game day operational environment. Each team will now play 12 games over a 15-week schedule. Information on how each game will be broadcasted will be announced shortly.
PRO Rugby is set to launch their initial season in April of 2016. The current lineup of teams includes San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, and two yet to be named teams.
