To establish the Toronto Arrows as the newest franchise in U.S.-based Major League Rugby, club president and Bill Webb and the rest of the eight-person ownership team paid an expansion fee Webb describes as “a few million dollars.” And he says navigating the club’s first MLR season, which kicks off next month in New Orleans, will cost “a couple million” more.

At a Tuesday news conference formally announcing the Arrows’ launch, Webb made clear the club likely won’t break even for a few years.

But he says a breakthrough is overdue for pro rugby union in Toronto. Last spring and summer the Arrows went undefeated in three exhibition games against MLR competition, including a 40-14 win against the Glendale Raptors, who reached the league final.

And where those games showed the Arrows already have an MLR-calibre on-field product, Webb says the competitive local pro sports market is ready to welcome the team. Season tickets don’t go on sale until next week, but the club says it has already received more than 200 deposits.

“We’re not modelled to make money in the first year, but we’ll try really hard,” said Webb, chief investment officer at Waypoint Investment Partners. “Coming from an investment background, I’m a free-cash-flow guy. We know what the economics look like. We’ve had consultants working with us. We have a pretty good idea.”

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For the past two summers the Toronto Wolfpack, who play in the UK-based Rugby Football League, have drawn decent-sized crowds to home games at Lamport Stadium. In October a franchise record 9,266 showed up to the team’s 4-2 loss to the London Broncos in the RFL’s “Million-Pound Game.”

Where Wolfpack play 13-a-side rugby league, the Arrows play the 15-on-15 rugby union game featured in the Rugby World Cup and played in local schools. Those are important distinctions to hardcore fans, and they allow each franchise to claim truthfully that they’re Canada’s “first” fully professional rugby team.

But Arrows’ leadership recognizes mainstream sports fans with a casual interest in rugby might not favour either version of the sport, and realize their job is to deliver an entertaining product, regardless of how many players line up.

“It’s going to be hard-hitting, fast-flowing and athletic,” said Chris Silverthorn, the Arrows’ director of rugby. “The athletes in rugby are top of the world … It’s a full-on 80-minute sprint.”

Where the Wolfpack made their Liberty Village location a selling point, the Arrows played home exhibition games at York University, and plan to travel to several home fields in year one. Either way, the Arrows says the Wolfpack’s marketing success proved that there’s a local appetite for pro rugby, especially when packaged with an engaging game-day experience.

But from a business standpoint Webb says the Arrows also have parallels to Toronto FC because both clubs play in leagues featuring centralized ownership and local operators who buy the right to run a franchise.

In 2005 Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment paid Major League Soccer $10 million for TFC, which began play in 2007. By the summer of 2007 TFC’s value had ballooned to $280 million, according to Forbes magazine.

Webb isn’t predicting growth that explosive, but says early support from sponsors and solid attendance during the exhibition are promising signals.

“With minimal advertising and not being a professional team, we were attracting 1,500 to 2,000 people,” Webb said. “With a little bit of advertising and a pro team, we’re very hopeful.”

While MLR has a broadcast deal with CBS in the U.S., the Arrows will announce a Canadian broadcast partner later this month. And with Canada set to play in the Rugby World Cup next year, Arrows players and executives say MLR has arrived in Toronto at the right time. It also provides Canadians rugby hopefuls with a domestic professional option, a factor Canada’s rugby leadership has long identified as crucial to the country’s international success.

Silverthorn likens MLR to triple-A baseball, where young domestic stars can showcase themselves for higher-paying overseas leagues, and where major European clubs can send players to gain experience. English-born flanker Jack Nay is under contract with Saracens of the English Premiership, but the 21-year-old will spend 2019 on loan with the Arrows.

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And Arrows back row player John Moonlight says the club gives elite Ontario-based players a path to the national team. In the past, he says, players had to move to British Columbia, where the national team is based, then join a local club and hope coaches would notice them.

Where Moonlight is a retired national team player and full-time firefighter playing part-time with the Arrows, he says younger players will have a chance to play their way into national team consideration without moving across the country.

“If we can get three or four guys who maybe weren’t on the radar for the national team, and develop their skills for the national team, I think that’s a successful year,” Moonlight said.