Argument for NW ProRugby, and other spots

The one market I would love to see this league go to in the next few years would be the Pacific North West. A area that so badly wants to show USA Rugby that they can support a test match and other major events. Rugby in the NW is one of the fastest growing markets in the US. With Seattle leading the charge there is great men's and women's club games, college level is well represented on the national stage, with the NCRC becoming a well run conference and model other collegiate conferences should fallow, even the youth system has its act together and is pretty easy to fallow, with Washington and Oregon constantly having teams ranked nationally in both single school and multi school rankings. Both have tremendous All-Star based teams , and how can we forget ATAVUS being located in Seattle and doing amazing works around the country.

 I do believe that ether a Portland or Seattle team could draw fairly well in a good size venue given the chance and marketed well through out the area. there is no reason as to why this team cant draw fairly good numbers each week, especially WHEN a Vancouver team comes on board it should be a given to place a team in the PNW and see both teams create a heated rivalry that will surely have big number of fans from both sides of the border crossing and supporting the teams well. The only issue is venue locations of course. Portland is limited on locations as is Seattle but not as bad. The only two venues that could support a PDX based team would be Providence park and Merlo Field . Providence park could work and with all its nice amenities would make for a great game day atmosphere, along with easy access from mass transit and close to downtown this would be a prime location, the only draw back is both men's and women's professional soccer teams call the stadium home, so squeezing in  rugby games granted it'll just be 5 games, for now, could become more hard then people think so if this team happens it'll have to almost have some form of connection with the front office of the MLS team to pull it off. The Merlo Filed is a nice little stadium that seats just under 5,000. located on the campus of University of Portland this venue sits north of downtown and to the west of PDX, so traveling fans and teams could easily leave there hotel down town, head to the game then just head 20 minutes east and catch a flight home. But being on a college campus there goes the chance of any Beer being sold during the games, plus it doesn't look very good for a Pro Team to play on a college facility and not there own or a Professional venue. upside is the team would only have to battle it out with the timbers 2 of the usl for field time versus two Professional teams on one field.

 Seattle would be a nice match to pair up with a Vancouver based team, would only be hours away from each other and would provide a great rivalry from the get go. Seattle's main issue like Portland would be lack of stadia. I am not a native of the area, my grandfather does live in Oak Harbor so I have been to Washington plenty of times, but my only knowledge of a few suitable locations would be Memorial stadium at the Seattle city center which is where the Space Needle is located. The stadium is quite old and would also need some upgrades to the facility. The location is great and parking from understanding is not a big issue. the only main tenants to the facility right now are the Seattle Reign of the NWSL. they them self's did upgrade the locker rooms but mainly to suit there needs so I am sure there would have to be some other work done to suit two rugby teams. the facility seats about 12k but could have seating restrict to one side to have 6k seats available for games like the Reign do already. seating is also a issue that the team could get away with for a while but would have to down the road make some investment into upgrading some of the old bleachers. the other issue that the stadium has is the football and soccer lines already on the turf and would have to constantly paint over them every game.

 If any team does play there they would have to get the field sanctioned or help pay for a new field, even though the stadium poses more cons then pros it could still make for a great home and easy to sell to the area as Seattle's Team, during the season in which Pro Rugby is looking at there really is only the Reign to compete with for field time so there shouldn't be that much of a hassle to get playing Time. Also I read that a while ago the city and the school district that actually owns the stadium agreed on renovating the entire area and would also essentially turn the whole field and rebuild the stadium to a smaller more suitable size I think 5-8k and in the summer months the city would take over events held there while during the school season the school district would handle the facility, but then again that was from some time ago and haven't seen anything more recent since they last agreed upon the deal. The Last location that comes to mind is the Starfire stadium, which sits south of Seattle to the east of Sea-Tac Airport. It is a wonderful small facility that seats about 4k and could prove to be a nice home field with great sights for fans to watch games, closer to the action . recently got a nice upgrade for some of the seating's, the stadium its self is not that old and from all accounts did a wonderful job a few years ago for the national 7's tournament. the down side is like I said it sits quite a ways away from Seattle its self, I am not familiar with the area so I don't know where about a majority of the rugby clubs sit in Washington and around the Seattle metro area. From my understanding when reading info online is that the Sounders minor league team calls starfire home for games and the US Open cup matches for the sounder are primarily held there also, so scheduling could provide a bit of a issue.

To move out of the NW briefly there is one club or place that could be ready to join in right away, and another area in So-Cal could host a team. The Kansas City Blues already have a relationship with Sporting Kansas city of the MLS and plays its home games at the training facility of the team known as swope park. seating is only 1,500 but when looking at the facility there is room to bring in more seats to make it larger. there is potential and could help close the gap in the Midwest with a Chicago team and fill in the space between the west and east coasts. I know everyone wants to know when a LA team will be added but I also would like to say instead of LA why not San Diego ? There is no NHL, no NBA or MLS teams to worry about with potential for overlapping of leagues but just the MLB Padres. With just 1 major league team in the city there lies a market sitting ready to be tapped into, plus with the threat of the Chargers Bolting to LA, The city of SD will be looking for another team to support and to call there own.

Thus far the league is stating that teams would only play 10 games during the season which means 5 home games but this is just this first year, those numbers could rise when more teams enter so 10 games could turn into 14 or 18 which means more homes , the higher the number the more of a struggle it may be for these two locations, Seattle and PDX , may have in securing playing field. But I remain optimistic and excited , this area of the US does get looked over for major rugby events and I hope to one day see a test match played somewhere here in the near future with a Pro Rugby team calling some where home. (if I missed another location let me know , Eugene could be tossed in here but the only stadium that would of fit burnt down some months ago , it'll be years before the stadium can be rebuilt if it would be. prior before plans where in place to turn the old ball park into a nice 5k stadium for the minor league soccer team in the area)

Pro Rugby Ramble thus far 2/13 (12:12 pm PT update)

Having a team in Sacramento and playing at Bonney field is actually a smart move, its a Temp Stadium that has done very well in drawing fans over the last two years for test matches ( I was there last year for the Canada win and loved the stadium , there are some game day atmosphere things that could be added to make it more enjoyable but those can be done later). with Bonney field expanding this past year to 11k I cant see how the team cant pack the stadium a few times through out the year. Plus the fact that this is a temp stadium you have to think that if the team keeps pulling in good numbers of fans that when ever the USL soccer team does move up to MLS and gets there real stadium built that this team wont move with them, and if not then they have a nice 11k stadium to them selfs that they can do what ever they want with it.

Now I am a bit disappointed that San Jose didn't get the 2nd California team, especially since the team has been very open about hosting rugby matches at the stadium and I've heard nothing but rumors and maybes for the past few years that the Quakes where eyeing buying into what ever pro rugby league may come. that said I am happy the Bay Area did get a team in general and I can still see Avaya stadium hosting Rugby matches down the road, such as USA test matches, maybe the Pro Rugby final and of course the 7s World Cup in a few years. with that said I am disappointed if rumor is true that Boxer Stadium will be home of the San Francisco based club. a stadium that only seats in the 3k ball park will most likely be the smallest venue in the league. Built in the 50's that stadium has concrete seating and only has one side of seating. very limited parking around the stadium with fans having to park quite a ways away in the nearest parking structure. lets hope this is just temp. for the first year if so, if not then I hope this team does put some money in to upgrade the place. Kezar would of been a better fit, yes it is much older but the place did just get a upgrade on seating's and sound system. add in the addition of 1,000 seats from historic candlestick stadium Kezar could of easily been sold to potential season ticket holders. The one major draw back to playing in SF is the lack of parking and mass parking lots near ether stadium. Boxer does have a good size parking lot close(ish) but you'll have to walk across a college campus, and a walk bridge over a freeway to get to the field.

 *That all said I am happy the Bay Area does have a team and like many we as a rugby community need to get behind our local Team and support them because there success will help push rugby into the mainstream, there failure will doom rugby in America for another decade or so. I look forward to getting my hands on some merch and hopefully one day during a trip back home able to catch a game.

Well it is official, San Francisco is now the 2nd team for Pro Rugby with home field being Boxer stadium. The league did state that there will be some renovations done to Boxer Stadium but whether that means renovating seats or sound system, and so on we don't know yet. There is no word yet on when or if there will be a press conference like there was in Sacramento for the San Francisco team yet, although there should be if they want some media attention and people to know about the team. As of now 11/20 there has been no mention on any of the media outlets in the Bay Area, news papers, news channels or local small town papers. SF has a coach in Paul Keeler

Announced from Pro Rugby them self's and TIAR San Diego will be the home of the 3rd team with some changes to the number of teams for year 1. instead of 6 teams the league will only have 5. even though 5 is still a odd and small number lets not be to quick to pass judgement. first off we should be happy that this league is still going to happen and not fade away like the others, 2ndly this is all being funded from one major person so for them and us it helps to lose one team and free up more resources to assure that the first 5 clubs will be healthy enough to survive year 1 and this league will go into year 2 with the main focus on landing owners and exploring markets. The league has said via TIAR that there will be a mountain west club located somewhere and he other to the east. so if and when this league does expand you can rest assure that they will expand by 3 clubs ( I am guessing ) to the east to help have a healthy balance of even coastal teams. Now what is being stated is that 1 of the two locations has been rumored for a while but that the 2nd location is a wild card. if one of the teams is to be in the mountain area I would have to say ether Salt Lake city or Denver/Glendale. which would mean that possibly maybe the Philly team isn't happening and I would go with the a club placed in the Carolinas somewhere, ether north or south has both very good and WR field approved facilities, now the real wild card may be Pittsburg.

Ohio is in- Obetz will be the home of the 4th ProRugby club, still with in the metro area of Columbus this placement of a team even though mentioned very earlier on still was some what a surprise as others where hoping for Philly or even Atlanta as landing a spot. Now word is that the team will play out of the Columbus Crew practice facility and will bring in temp. bleachers to have a capacity of 3-4k. on top of that there will be press boxes and others amenities brought in to create a game day atmosphere.

Colorado,Glendale- Still to be unconfirmed by ProRugby but heavily rumored should be announced most likely this coming week.

* What was pointed out is that with both Colorado and Ohio clubs that most likely they will not have the city names attached to them so that they can brand them self's as a Club representing that state. Colorado RFC & Ohio RFC


Broadcast-  Who really knows till word gets out. one path the league could take is the proposed RIM channel that should launch sometime in the next few months, I am assuming the Americas 6 nations will probably be one of the first games to be shown on it, if viewer ship has some steady numbers year #2 could be the year a major network picks it up. I would go with #1 NBC ( sports network) #2 Fox Sports and #3 ESPN. ESPN is last only because as great as espn is there is already so much content on the network as is that its hard to see them dedicating one to two days a week to just Rugby plus aside from showing any games there's the chance the during espn news hours and sports center that any news about teams or the league will even get mentioned , just ask MLS or the AFL . ESPN shows games from both leagues but how many times do you see them even report on news from ether league unless its a signing of a major player or a championship won. I would rather have Fox Sports show the games and have them speak about league news during there segments because lets face it, they are playing catchup with ESPN and being able to tap into the Rugby fan base that is still growing in America would be a plus for them and a give them a one up on there network rivals. That said, if this first season presses on with out any major networks involved I wouldn't be shocked to see the semifinals or the Grand Final being shown on one of the networks.

*Nigel just confirmed to me that the RIM channel will be available for the ROKU device, and other platforms are still in the works. xbox, playstation, & apple tv I am sure will be made available as the months go on. he did not say when the channel will be up and running but just that they are still working things out.

What we know so far- teams that the league has officially added are 1- Sacramento, 2- San Francisco, 3- San Diego, 4- Ohio . 

Canada is sitting out year 1 to add teams in year 2, most likely with Vancouver and Toronto coming in the same time. all games will be streamed through the RIM channel that so far will be on Roku, the idea is to show major networks the subscription value rugby can pull in and negotiate a good deal with any network.

Rugby MEXICO

Hace unas cuantas semanas envié un par de preguntas más que FMRU que eran lo suficientemente amable para responder. Ha sido en algún momento, ya que donde enviados de vuelta y me disculpo por el retraso, pero debido a problemas personales imprevistos que han planteado una que me ha retrasado. pero con un vistazo más-por aquí está la breve Q & A, espero seguir contando con más Q & A con México rugby como los años continúan. Francisco Echeguren es el Presidente de FMRU y fue la de responder a las preguntas

LLR -7s equipo femenino terminó segundo y el tercero acabado de los hombres hace unas semanas en el partido de clasificación NACRA olímpico, ¿cuáles son los planes para preparar los dos equipos para el resto de este año y el próximo año previo al torneo final de clasificación

FE -Nos quedan algunos torneos de preparación para ambas selecciones pero sobre todo la idea es abrir la oportunidad a los nuevos y nuevas jugadores que vienen demostrando grandes aptitudes y que quieren pelear por un lugar en la selección por lo que estamos trabajando fuertemente con la selección varonil de M22 y con una nueva camada de mujeres que harán una mayor competencia en los equipos.

LLR -qué inversiones ha hecho FMRU para aumentar los programas para jóvenes de todo el país?

FE -La FMRU sigue empujando en todo el país que se conozca y se juegue el rugby a través de los 6 Oficiales Nacionales de Desarrollo que tenemos y sobre todo a través del programa GET INTO RUGBY con el cual hemos llegado a muchas escuelas, comunidades y deportivos en donde la idea es que los jóvenes tengan un primer contacto con el rugby de manera segura y a la edad más temprana possible
 

LLR - Tienes que preguntar, con la emocionante noticia de un Americas 6 Naciones está desarrollando, hubo mención de una segunda división también se miró donde dentro de 5 años "no habría promoción y regulación entre el tanto por lo que países como México pueden obtener su oportunidad de jugar los gustos de EE.UU. y Canadá. ¿Se ha implicado la FMRU en ninguna de las conversaciones, ¿hay nuevos detalles que se puede compartir con nosotros en este momento?

FE -La idea del América 6 Naciones es muy buena y México estará ayudando y promoviendo para que se haga y que se consiga hacer también un torneo de 2da y 3era división y posiblemente una de 4ta división en donde todos los países del continente puedan jugar pero por el momento no sabemos si se podrá llevar al cabo verdaderamente esta idea o no.

LLR - este último año hemos visto el lanzamiento de Rugby liga en México, la gente que maneja la liga de rugby, dijo que están abiertos y animan a los jugadores a jugar tanto la unión y el rugby liga. El FMRU Ha tenido alguna discusiones con la gente más en México Liga de rugby, es tener jugadores que juegan ambos códigos algo FMRU no está de acuerdo con el?

FE -Esto es TOTALMENTE FALSO, la FMRU no ha dicho NADA sobre este tema ya que nosotros estamos totalmente enfocados en seguir creciendo el rugby en México y absolutamente todos los jugadores que son parte de la FMRU pueden jugar cualquier deporte o modalidad que quieran sin problema alguno. Ese rumor no sé quien lo haya dicho pero no es cierto y no existe una sola prueba que diga lo contrario

LLR - Como siempre, ¿cómo puede la gente de barbecho y apoyar rugby en México, ¿hay algún vendedor de mercancía en línea ese lado aficionados al rugby fuera del país puede mirar a, comprar y mostrar su apoyo a México Rugby?

FE -Estamos dispuestos a recibir apoyo de todos lados por lo que cualquier persona o empresa que quiera apoyar al rugby mexicano siempre será bienvenida y buscaremos que haya un beneficio para las 2 partes.

Mexico Rugby

Quite a few weeks ago I sent a few questions over to FMRU who where gracious enough to answer. its been sometime since they where sent back and I do apologize for the delay , but due to unforeseen personal issues that have a raised it has delayed me. but with out further-due here is the brief Q&A , I hope to continue to have more Q&A's with Mexico rugby as the years continue on. Francisco Echeguren is the President of FMRU and was the one to answer the questions.

 

 

LLR- the women’s 7s team finished 2^nd and the men’s finished 3^rd a few weeks ago at the NACRA Olympic qualifier, what are the plans to prepare both teams for the rest of this year and next year leading up to the final qualifying tournament

FE - We still have some preparation tournaments for both teams but especially the idea is open ,  new players are showing great skills and want to fight for a place in the team so we are working hard with the men's team of the opportunity U22 and a new breed of women who make more competition in teams.

LLR- what investments has FMRU done to increase the youth programs throughout the country?

FE - The FMRU continues to push across the country to know and play rugby, through 6 National Development Officers and especially through the GET INTO RUGBY program which have reached many schools, communities and sports, in where the idea is to give young people a first contact with rugby safely and the earliest possible age.

 

LLR- Have to ask, with the exciting news of a Americas 6 Nations being developed, there was mention of a 2^nd division also being looked at where in 5 years’ time there would be promotion and regulation between the both so that countries like Mexico can earn their chance to play the likes of USA and Canada. Has the FMRU been involved in any of the conversations, is there any new details that you can share with us at this point?

FE - The idea of America 6 Nations is very good and Mexico will assist and promote what needs to be done to be achieved, also a match of 2nd and 3rd division and possibly a 4th division where all countries of the continent can play, but we do not know if it will really take off for  this idea or not.

LLR- this past year we saw the launch of Rugby league in Mexico, the people running the rugby league said that they are open and encourage players to play both union and league rugby. Has the FMRU had any discussions with the people over at Mexico Rugby League  , is having players playing both codes something FMRU does not agree with?

FE - This is totally false, the FMRU has said nothing on this issue because we are totally focused on continuing to grow rugby in Mexico and absolutely all the players who are part of the FMRU can play any sport or form they want without any problem. Do not know who has said what but is not true and there is no single test that says otherwise

LLR- As always how can people fallow and support rugby in Mexico, is there any online merchandise seller that rugby fans out side of the country can look to, to purchase and show their support for Mexico Rugby?

FE -We are willing to receive support from all sides so any person or company that wants to support the Mexican rugby is always welcome and find that there is a benefit to the two parties

 

*the Spanish translation will be uploaded at a later time.