This week has seen a massive amount of buzz around the newly announced Pro Rugby North America, which has seen what many agencies are suggesting as the first real chance to see a professional rugby programme implemented in North America.
Pro Rugby North America’s Director of Rugby, Stephen Lewis, is part of the team looking to bring this long held dream to fruition. A man with a strong history within the rugby community, coaching at Old Blue of New York and the NYC 7s, Lewis brings also brings with him a solid business acumen, as part of the New York Rugby Business network. I spoke with Stephen today to get a further insight to Pro Rugby North America, ahead of their team and venue announcements due in the near future.
One of the overarching themes of the conversation was the philosophy with which Pro Rugby is operating, looking at a realistic and considered approach to this launch. “We’re not going to be as glamorous or ambitious as Super Rugby. We’re looking at a four month season, six teams, ten or eleven games this first year, so kind of a soft opening. “
Looking at the difference in philosophy between Pro Rugby and other organisations who have made similar attempts to launch rugby in the North America previously Lewis acknowledged that there was a distinct difference “We believe you need to take a bottom up, not top down approach [to establishing rugby ]. You’ve got to go establish a team in a rugby community build that brand and grow the game. Once that’s been done, then you expose it to the non-rugby public.”
“We’re going for average crowds of three to seven thousand in the first couple of years, that’s what I mean by realistic. We also understand that as much as we expect support from the rugby community, it’s a two way street. We want to work with the rugby communities, we are sanctioned by World Rugby and USA Rugby and we believe it’s in our best interests and USA Rugby’s best interests to cooperate with the national governing body, national team coaches, age grade team coaches and so forth.”
Lewis also agreed that being sanctioned by both USA Rugby and World Rugby pointed to an increased level of credibility, pointing out “Players aren’t going to sign up for something that jeopardises their chances to play for their country.”
There has been some media speculation around locations and teams for the launch, with one agency suggestion Sacramento as a possible location, Lewis addressed this saying “We’re not announcing the venues quite yet.” However there has already been consideration given to how Pro Rugby will relate to existing clubs in the communities, Lewis saying “How we interact with clubs is a key question, and to a certain extent that’s why I came on board.”
“We understand that we need a robust club competition and strong clubs. We see [Pro Rugby] as another layer of the game, placed between the clubs and the national team. That’s the gap that has existed in American rugby for some time. This is a significant piece of the performance puzzle that had to be addressed.”
There are still details to iron out around scheduling and ensuring all the [parties get the most benefit from this system, however initial responses from club level seem to indicate a good level of go ahead. Alongside the scheduling of course is the sheer geographical size of North America. “You’re not just talking about a country, you’re talking about a continent and that brings its own challenges in terms of seasonality and weather.” Lewis points out, the key focus for Pro Rugby is to provide a real and credible step up for players as they progress into a more professional discipline of rugby.
With regards to communicating this vision, Lewis discussed the plans to get the game out to the public to view, indicating a strong sense of accessibility for fans who want to experience the sport on their terms “We’re definitely looking at a non traditional approach. The big issue in The States is that you have to pay to watch rugby, it’s all largely pay per view, or go to a bar and pay $20 just to get in the door. We are determined to make the game visible. We will disseminate the content for free, we want people to experience the game, to watch the game and be involved.” Which also means that international fans will be able to access the games quickly and easily. “There’s been a lot more sporting content off TV than on it recently, there’s plenty of non traditional ways to attack this.”
There is still a lot of information on the horizon, with teams and venues due to be announced soon. One thing appears certain, there is a real sense that not only will this get off the ground, it also look very much like Pro Rugby North America has the potential to really open the market up to a whole new legion of fans. Personally I for one am very excited to see this develop.
For more information about Pro Rugby North America be sure to connect with them on their website and Facebook pages, and we’ll keep you updated with all the releases as they come through.
My thanks to Stephen Lewis for his time today.
