USA Rugby and Major League Rugby formalize strategic agreement

• USA Rugby and Major League Rugby (MLR) finalize strategic agreement and sanctioning between union and men’s professional league.
• Agreement emphasizes cohesive working relationship to foster success of professional rugby and high-level talent in the United States.
• Professional Advisory Board: Committee to streamline communications and action items, ensuring alignment and development of professional standards.

Houston, Texas; April 15, 2019: USA Rugby and Major League Rugby (MLR) today announced a finalized strategic partnership centered around the shared goal of developing the game of rugby in the US. Having worked closely through the league’s first season and a half, MLR and the national governing body formally established a framework for collaboration on key areas of mutual interest including: driving rugby’s growth as a participation sport; high-performance pathways to ensure that MLR and the USA Rugby Men’s National Team are capturing the best available talent; and initiatives to propel rugby’s visibility and relevance in the North American sports landscape.The execution of the sanctioning agreement is the first milestone in what both sides expect to be a long-lasting partnership. The agreement creates an initial framework for the collaboration and addresses a number of areas of mutual interest such as  conduct of competitions, player welfare and safety, international releases and other logistical and administrative interactions between the two organizations, shared marketing initiatives and working high-performance partnership designed to build connections between MLR Teams and the US Men’s National Team.

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