The Rise of Rugby in America

Super Rugby fans would be familiar with Yank Todd Cleaver

As eluded to in stuff.co.nz, Super Rugby is considering including the USA and Canada in possible expansion plans. It is a sign of the times that rugby is quite keen to grow in one of the biggest untapped markets in the world and should be taken as a very positive thing for the game.

But I just wonder if having a San Francisco or New York team playing the Crusaders or Blues in the same competition is necessarily a good idea for the players or fans and the competition itself.

Highlanders and Stormers - geographically as far apart as your could get right now

After all, when it comes to travel distances, Super Rugby is by far and away the leader in that respect with players often spending a day or two on the plane to get from one place to the other to play their games. The recent expansion of the competition by dint of number of teams and length of competition has certainly seen the demands on players increase - it has resulted in Super Rugby squads fielding bigger teams to cope with the increased likelihood of injuries.

To add more teams would certainly not be popular with SANZAR's current partners as we've already seen with the much heated controversy over South Africa wanting an extra berth so it could fit both the Southern Kings and Lions.

Carl Hayman - symbol of the Northern Hemisphere's monetary strength over the Southern Hemisphere

However, Super Rugby or rather SANZAR does have an opportunity to really take control of the game by having some say in the governance of rugby in the USA and Canada, i.e. via the establishment of a competition with similar designs to Super Rugby but based exclusively in the USA and Canada. In effect, it would be a feeder competition to Super Rugby and it could possibly provide an answer for the SANZAR unions to combat the power of the Northern Hemisphere club sides in dragging their players over to play for them due to higher wage possibilities.

NHL's Alex Ovechkin - one of the highest paid athletes in the world

Make no mistake, there is plenty of money in professional sport in the USA and Canada - professional athletes over there are amongst the highest wage earners on the planet and far outearn even the most well paid of Premier League footballers.

AIG's involvement with the All Blacks is testament to America's growing interest in rugby

Super Rugby could possibly adopt some of the ideas used by the Indian Premier League and create a franchise based competition with plenty of corporate sponsorship from the wealthy American and Canadian companies - and they are still unbelievably wealthy even after the longest recession in recent memory - and fanfare.

This would be highly attractive for aspiring Pacific Island rugby players as well as New Zealand, Australian and South African rugby players who are in their mid-20s, just on the fringes of national selection and would have gone to Europe to finish off their careers. And of course, they would be playing alongside the Americans and Canadians who would improve significantly by playing alongside players from the more established rugby nations.

Could Rodders have finished his career in San Francisco rather than Japan?

Perhaps the SANZAR unions could possibly agree that players playing in this USA/Canada competition could be eligible to play for their home countries albeit limited by a specific quota. This would mean this competition would run concurrently with Super Rugby - perfect as that would keep it away from the big 3 pro sport leagues in North America, i.e. NHL, NBA and NFL, with only Major League Baseball and Soccer to compete with during the season - and it would somewhat stave off the loss of players to the Northern Hemisphere sides.

This could be a carrot for getting Argentine players to play at the same time as their Rugby Championship counterparts and could be beneficial in the long run for Argentina's chances of success in that competition if they didn't want to play in the Super Rugby itself.

So what should the format of this competition be? Well given the size of USA and Canada, it should adopt a East/West conference system like the big 3 pro sport leagues over there. This could be the initial lineup of the franchises:

Can rugby crack the already saturated New York sports market?

Eastern Conference
New York
Boston
Washington
Chicago
Toronto
Montreal

Western Conference
Vancouver
Calgary
Seattle
Denver
San Francisco
Los Angeles

Whatever happens, this is certainly exciting times for rugby as a global sport.