North America’s Major League Rugby (MLR) has brought in heavyweight sports broadcaster ESPN as a major rights partner.
Through a multi-year deal, ESPN will cover all the league's regular season games, and the post-season playoffs, through its ESPN+ streaming service, while a select number will air on the linear ESPN2 channel.
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In addition, full replays, highlights, and other content will be shown on The Rugby Network, the streaming platform run by MLR, albeit with a 72-hour delay.
The deal will also see MLR from the 2025 season – the league’s eighth – made available across sub-Saharan Africa.
Last season, 18 regular season MLR games were aired live domestically on the Fox Sports network, with The Rugby Network also providing coverage.
The 2025 MLR season, featuring 11 teams, begins on February 15.
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By GlobalDataNic Benson, commissioner of Major League Rugby, said: “During our 2024 campaign we grew our viewership by more than 25% year over year. We are hyper-focused on increasing our audience and introducing rugby to more American sports fans every year. This relationship with ESPN will give us an opportunity to supercharge that growth."
Tim Bunnell, ESPN's senior vice president of programming and acquisitions, added: “Major League Rugby has built a strong foundation as the premier professional rugby league in North America, and we’re thrilled to be part of its next phase of growth. As MLR continues to establish itself on the North American sports landscape, we look forward to bringing the league’s dynamic competition to an even wider audience.”
William Mao, senior vice president of media rights consulting at Octagon – which was involved in the deal as an advisor to MLR – also commented: “Already the most-watched professional rugby league in the United States, MLR is the primary vehicle pushing the sport forward in our market. And now with a presence across ESPN platforms, the league will be even better positioned to fuel rugby fandom in the US ahead of the 2031 Rugby World Cup.”
The 2031 men’s World Cup, as well as the women's edition two years later, will take place in the US.
In terms of other rugby union media rights in the US, the Six Nations European national team tournament – taking place currently – is available on Peacock, the streaming platform of NBCUniversal.
The 2023 World Cup was also shown live by NBC Sports.
The Rugby Network, meanwhile, also shows action from the English men’s and women’s Premiership competitions.
Meanwhile, the Rugby Canada governing body has agreed a long-term broadcast deal with TSN, the Bell Media-owned sports network, through 2029.
The deal will see TSN enhance its rugby content, building on last year’s coverage of the HSBC SVNS series and international women’s and men’s test match rugby.
This year’s rugby coverage started in January on TSN+ with HSBC SVNS Perth. The action now switches to Canada’s west coast for the HSBC SVNS Vancouver between February 21 and 23.
There will be complete tournament coverage on TSN+ and more than 13 hours of live, linear television broadcast.
The HSBC SVNS series will conclude in the spring with tournaments in Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles.
Coverage of the Pacific Four Series and other international test matches for the Canadian women’s rugby team will be available on TSN, as preparation continues for the Rugby World Cup 2025 in England.
Canada’s men’s team will also return to TSN in July, with summer test matches to be announced. These will lead into the Pacific Nations Cup in August, also on TSN, where Canada will open the tournament against the USA in a match that will double as a first qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2027.
