Is there ever likely to be a professional rugby league in the USA ?

The Northern Lights

I know at present in America they have the Rugby Super League, which is semi-pro, but do you think they will ever have a full time professional competition ? Even taking into account the popularity of the traditional American sports their population is so big that they should be able to sustain it.

CouchSmart

Maybe some day. Money's going to be pumped into the game now that 7's is in the Olympics. That should increase interest in the 15 man code and then who knows. The country's just so big that the main problem is just the logistics involved. I remember EOS mentioning how difficult it is getting the full squad together because of the large distances some were required to travel.

Fight_Night

Honestly I doubt it. Soccer will be lucky if they can break through, can't see rugby getting anywhere. They already have the NBA,NFL,NHL,MLB and more recently the MLS. USA is a big country but that is a lot of sports. In highschool basketball and football teams attract all the best athletes because of potential college scholarships and social incentives. Can't see that changing. Maybe if rugby got a hold of a few other parts of the world and gained a bit of momentum but again I don't see that happening for quite some time.

Amazotheamazing

Hard to predict the future but tbh I think the real hope for rugby at minute has to be the pro league in Russia. America promises a lot but it'll take a massive grassroots effort for rugby to really take off there whereas there's a few strongish rugby countries near Russia.

ormond lad

hard to predict the future but there is a huge number of high school/ college american footballers who dont make it and many of them could be converted to play rugby. if they do that and ensure there is good coaching, then america would be a real force internationally

skregs

Its more likely that American Football will take off in Ireland & the UK than rugby taking off in the states

Zuffer

I don't think so, not in the next 50 years. NFL take up the equivalent 'space' in the USA, in terms of the hearts and minds of the general public. And NFL is huge in the USA, it's not going anywhere.

wonton

Fight_Night wrote: »

Honestly I doubt it. Soccer will be lucky if they can break through, can't see rugby getting anywhere. They already have the NBA,NFL,NHL,MLB and more recently the MLS. USA is a big country but that is a lot of sports. In highschool basketball and football teams attract all the best athletes because of potential college scholarships and social incentives. Can't see that changing. Maybe if rugby got a hold of a few other parts of the world and gained a bit of momentum but again I don't see that happening for quite some time.

soccer has already broken through from what I see, they are a competitive team now, their league is growing and has regular high attendences, and also in womens soccer they are the best in the world.
I think it is quite accepted over there that soccer is a serious sport,

it might get slagged abit(maybe in the same way rugby is here) but seems to be doing quite well and if rugby could get tot that level i would be happy

[Jackass]

bah, I think people are being slightly unfair to the Americans and sport on this one...

Football (soccaarrr) has got great following in the united states, with a pro league and some of the greatest footballers and biggest names to play the sport have graced their league (Pele, Bebeto, George Best, Beckham to name but a few) and the standard of their national team has made them one of the best teams in the world (in terms of regular appearance at the world cup, and not bad performances, surpassing Ireland's achievements at the world cup iirc, they've got a semi-final before, knocked out England, and if I'm not mistaken made it to a quarter final in recent times?).

Rugby will never be a major american sport, it will never compete with the big 4, nor will soccer, but in the context of world rugby, USA and Canada are major emerging nations.

The olympics will also mean that a large chunk of funding will be made available by the American Olympic commitee to have the sport played in high schools and colleges throughout the country, which will massively boost american playing numbers, and a pro-leauge in just about any sport is sustainable in the United States, a tiny tiny portion of the overall sporting interest in the USA is more than enough to support pro sport, such is the money available and fan base available. Remember, pro-soccer leagues have been sustained where crowd numbers are little more than a couple of thousand here and there in soccer.

Also, interestingly enough, rugby union was an olympic event many many moons ago. And who was the last winner of a gold medal in rugby at the olympics? The united states of america. (1920's)

And here's the kicker, this tiny sport in America has 88,000 registered players. That's more than Australia, Italy, Scotland or Wales, just to name some top tier nations.

Major investment in the game in the United States could make them a serious force in the sport, but of course, it requires early development, superb facilities and expert training, which takes time, playing numbers alone don't make things happen, but over the last 5 years, 20,000 people have taken up the sport in the states. That's unprecidented growth, and there's zero doubt that there will be a pro-league there in the not too distant future.

In terms of competetiveness against the top nations, it will take a while, and if rugby has one major flaw, it's embracing nations into the the game (Romania a prime example of a nations Government making Rugby a national obsession by policy, and the rugby world failing to grasp it, and once that Government collapsed, the rugby world left it for dead and now that chance at breaking Eastern Europe will never come as strong again) and the failure, for so long, to accept Argentina into the elite rugby ranks, they had to go and nearly win the world cup before anyone would listen to them or take them seriously, and even Italy, eventually accepted into the six nations when growth was resisted for decades, it took a long time for them to be accepted into a competetive league, and the first season they're in one, they go and beat the reigning grand slam champions.

If history is anything to go by, it may not be in ou lifetime that USA are a world class rugby outfit, but there's no doubt they'll develop and the sport will continue to boom west of the Atlantic.

While we're at it, we can lump Canada in that equation too, with 25,000 people playing the sport and a healthy rivalry with the united states, the quality of Canadian rugby has improved vastly over the last number of years, and if proper competetive structures can be put in place (don't hold your breath) and investment and interest is grown in these countries, Canada too could be involved in a North American pro-league without a shadow of a doubt.

mikemac

Some high profile NFL players played rugby to a high level
Haloti Ngata from Utah played on the high school team that won the national championship

But once the NFL get their current difficulties out of the way he's in line for around a 6 year 60 million dollar contract. And he got a college scholarship.
Little wonder the best athletes go for the sports with the best rewards

A picture when he was young, number 5. He's far bigger and stronger now.


So the USA can produce top players. With training I've no doubt Ngata could make an impact on an international rugby team, a freak of an athete

Piliger

Personally I believe that the big mistake Rugby makes, like football, is trying to create a Nationwide structure.
They should limit development to regions, one at a time. They should chose five States close to each other than invest on developing players and competition and rivalry within that zone. Then when they make progress with that zone, move on to another.

Fight_Night

Piliger wrote: »

Personally I believe that the big mistake Rugby makes, like football, is trying to create a Nationwide structure.
They should limit development to regions, one at a time. They should chose five States close to each other than invest on developing players and competition and rivalry within that zone. Then when they make progress with that zone, move on to another.

Yeah thats probably the way to go. New Mexico, Oklahoma and Nebraska don't have any major league teams, which essentially means they don't have a pro team for any of the big 5 sports. Utah only has 1, an NBA team too. All of those states are in very close proximity of each other and have a population of 2 or 3 million so there is definitely a good chance that they could develop a local league there.