Pro Rugby Sevens League To Break Usa
Rugby Sevens is set to form a new competition in the United States in a bid to showcase the sport ahead of its debut as an Olympic sport at Rio 2016, after Grand Prix Entertainment confirmed the country’s first professional rugby sevens league, to be known as the Grand Prix Rugby Football League.
The 16-team competition, which will be abbreviated to the RFL, is designed to showcase rugby sevens ahead of its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games in Rio.
USA Rugby agreed a contract with the RFL that will run until 2018, and includes exclusive rights to own, operate and globally broadcast the professional sport of rugby sevens.
No start date for the competition has been confirmed but, according to an official press release, the RFL will kick off with a Phase One championship Tour that pit four founding franchises against ’20 of the world’s great teams in the world’s richest sevens championships’.
RFL financial advisor Eric White, added: ‘The RFL represents the greatest major market sports franchise opportunity in the last 50 years. Name the last time New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles franchises were all available.’
