Last year, when the founders of Major League Rugby were planning their inaugural season, the group that would be running the San Diego Legion confidently volunteered to host the first championship game.

It seemed something of a no-brainer, given San Diego’s weather compared to most of the country in July, and the city’s penchant for doing big events well.

There was one other dream, of course: That the Legion would be playing in the match on their home turf at USD’s Torero Stadium.

The Legion were a single half of 40 minutes away from that goal last Saturday, but the Seattle Seawolves overcame a seven-point second-half deficit to beat San Diego and advance to the title matchup against the Glendale (Colo.) Raptors that will be played here on Saturday at 6 p.m.


“I wore black for four days afterward,” Legion General Manager Matt Hawkins joked dryly.

The San Diego group has pressed forward, still wanting to put on the best show possible.

“My confidence in hosting the final was because we felt like we had the best back-room staff to put on the best event,” Hawkins said. “We have the best stadium in the league, and the best (grass) surface to showcase the final.

“Regardless of how it plays out, we really wanted to be a part of creating history, of putting our marker in the sand.”


The championship match marks the conclusion of the first season that went into planning only 14 months ago. Between May 2017 and the season opener in late April, MLR put together seven inaugural franchises, negotiated the rights for a national TV deal with CBS Sports Network, and put together local cable TV packages for every squad.

The schedule consisted of eight regular-season games, and the league had to contend with the absence of domestic and foreign players who left for their national teams during the spring’s international slate.

MLR got an enormous welcome in suburban Seattle, where the Seawolves drew standing-room-only crowds to their 4,500-seat stadium in Tukwila. There were more tepid responses in other markets, such as San Diego, where the Legion’s announced attendance ranged from 1,500 to 3,000.

“I would say that the things that really showed what we could do this year are also the areas that we need to keep our focus on and continue to improve,” MLR Commissioner Dean Howes said on the phone on Thursday as he prepared to travel to San Diego to prep for the title match.


Howes, 65, is the Utah-based former chief executive officer of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer and former managing partner of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues.

He said he held reasonable expectations in areas such as TV ratings and revenues, while keeping in mind a broader, long-term view of the future. With expansion plans for possibly 10 teams and a longer (January to June) schedule in the works for 2019, the league apparently won’t disappear quickly, as did its 2016 predecessor PRO Rugby.

Outlining the areas he sees can be improved, Howes said, “We need to work on players. We need to work on a media deal. We need to make it stronger, better. We need to attract more sports fans and not just rugby fans.

“We need to have rugby-specific homes if we’re going to be sustainable as a league, overall. Torero Stadium is an absolutely beautiful place, but in a major-league sport, you have to control your own venue.”


The model for MLR remains MLS, which took many years to gain the kind of professional foothold that rugby is only beginning to get in America.

“We need more 8- to 12-year-olds playing rugby, and out of that comes the elite athlete who shows up at 15 and 16, and you keep them in the system,” Howes said. “We’ll get there.

“It’s almost the opposite of soccer. Soccer had every young kid in America playing, but the trouble was they stopped after 12 years old and went on to other sports. We need the youth playing because we’ve already proven ourselves at the high school, college and club ranks. Rugby is very successful as a middle-of-the-pyramid sport. Our aspirations are for the crown of that pyramid.”

In San Diego, Hawkins said he saw a mix of fans at games this season: rugby diehards, families new to the game, and younger adults who partied in the beer garden.


The team delivered at home, winning all four of its matches. The Legion lost three of their first five games, but recovered to win three straight to finish third (5-3) and reach the four-team postseason.

Likely no team in MLR experienced more adversity. At one point, Hawkins said, the Legion had 14 players unavailable due to injuries or service with national teams. A total of 51 players suited up during the season – the most in MLR.

“Consistency at this level is so key,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said some of the best feedback he got was from fans to new to the game.


“Year one was about creating our brand, and I think we got a good foothold,” Hawkins said.

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MLR Championship

Glendale (Colo.) Raptors (8-1) vs. Seattle Seawolves (7-2)

Saturday: 6 p.m., USD’s Torero Stadium


TV: CBS Sports Network

Tickets: $15.50-$36.50, usmlr.com

Outlook: The top two teams from the regular-season standings face off in the inaugural title game. The Raptors, whose only defeat came at San Diego, won both of the previous meetings with the Seawolves, prevailing 19-15 at Seattle and 33-11 at home. Those were Seattle’s only two losses. Glendale placed three players on the All-MLR first team: Harley Davidson, Ben Landry and Zach Fenoglio; Seattle had four: Mat Turner, Phil Mack, Vili Toluta’u and Tim Metcher.


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tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutleonard