The rumor of London getting an NFL team has persisted for years, but there’s a greater chance of sports crossing the pond in a different way. A consortium out of New York is planning to launch a rugby league team in the hopes of entering the British Championship in 2019.
New York is getting a rugby league team and they’re trying to play in the British league
This has the potential to be big.
Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Representatives of the New York club told the BBC they’ve already secured $10 million in funding to launch the venture, with plans being set in motion to follow a path the Toronto Wolfpack did in 2016. The group believes they can have a fan base of 10,000 in the first year, with plans to build further after that.
Toronto entered the British League 1 in 2016 and immediately made an impact. The Wolfpack won the league in their inaugural year, earning promotion to the Championship, the highest level of rugby league in England.
The plans being set in motion now give the team plenty of time to grow its following and improve the visibility of rugby league in the U.S. before the 2025 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the USA and Canada. The prospective New York team would play in the 25,000-seat Red Bull Arena, meaning the infrastructure is already in place to host games.
One of the common questions that arises when discussing the NFL in London is how players will adapt to different time zones, as well as the cost to teams needing to travel. The consortium out of New York is planning to offer full reimbursement to teams traveling to the U.S. to play, alleviating those concerns.
If the New York team is successful, then it could signal and unprecedented boon to the growth of rugby league in the United States.
“We want to grow the sport in North America and increase the pool of players which would ultimately increase the chances of success for the USA national team,” said the club’s other co-founder Ricky Wilby.
Rugby league isn’t to be confused with rugby union, which most people associate with the game. League is played with similar rules, but rather than a free-flowing ruck and maul based on possession, teams only control the ball for a series of six “tackles,” which operate like downs in the NFL. A team has six attempts to score, before possession transfers. This code will be naturally familiar to a U.S. audience, and easier to understand for fans.
The plan for New York would be to enter League 1, just as Toronto did and play up into the Championship. That puts the team on a clock to perform from its inception to reach the highest level in time to garner interest for 2025. That will be the most interesting thing to watch, and a determining factor whether rugby league can catch on.
See More:
