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Gallagher Premiership and Major League Rugby announce landmark deal

Owen Farrell of Saracens lifts the Gallagher Premiership trophy. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Premiership Rugby and the United States’ Major League Rugby (MLR) have announced today that they have signed a two-year exclusive rights deal for Gallagher Premiership Rugby matches to be televised on MLR’s over-the-top (OTT) platform The Rugby Network (TRN).

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The Premiership season gets underway in October, and now fans in the United States will have full access to all 93 matches across the season.

MLR CEO Nic Benson said after the deal was announced: “Bringing Gallagher Premiership Rugby to U.S. fans on The Rugby Network showcases our commitment to delivering more world-class rugby content to our fans.

“The Gallagher Premiership showcases some of the best and most exciting rugby on the planet. We can’t wait for the season to kick-off October 13th.”

Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby CEO, added: “The U.S. has a huge rugby following with more than 30 million fans of the sport so we are delighted to have agreed this landmark partnership with Major League Rugby.

“We also know that tens of thousands of them already engage with Premiership Rugby, so this is a great opportunity for both new and existing fans.

“The Rugby Network’s growing audience will be able to enjoy the unmissable entertainment of Gallagher Premiership Rugby as the game in North America enters a really exciting period of innovation and growth.”

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The Rugby Network already shows of Major League Rugby, international matches, collegiate rugby, highlight shows, and commentary, and it will now add English rugby to that list.

The new season is set to begin on October 13th.

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j
jb 7 minutes ago
‘Gloating at opponents should never be part of rugby’s fabric but devilry can have an allure’

I appreciate its just puff journalism and what it seeks to do is playfully re-imagine a future fan-zone characteristic for the game bound up in the digital hype of social media…no context…just click-bait for eyeballs…in the vain hope that a new generation of paying fans will save the fortunes of a professional game that really should be better paid and paying. But this is a fundamentally dishonest way to present the characteristic of the game. Its as if the advertising gurus have been turned to in desperation to deconstruct the gladiatorial nobility of our wonderful sport reducing it to ‘beef and gobbing-off for clicks’ as if it was the only option to hit pay dirt. And no surprises, they’ve settled on the lowest common denominator of the artificial playground scrap, invoking the mob mentality. Perhaps this is what the algorithm tells them to do - corrupting rugby into a WWE-esque ‘Kafabe’ (Kayfabe - Wikipedia) where players are characterise as ‘Faces’ (Heroes) or ‘Heels’ (Villains) to whip up the crowd and suspend disbelief? Perhaps we are trapped interminably into this dystopian reality? But is this the only way…to sell-out the game’s soul to shallow scripts? Lets hope and pray that new-age fans ‘Crave Depth’ and can be welcomed in with quality content combining technical, tactical insight and some anthropology of how and why the game’s all-important code of values are what makes it distinct ALL OVER THE WORLD. I have been privileged to play, coach and watch rugby across the world…and it’s no coincidence that the intergenerational values of respect, teamwork and sportsmanship are writ large in every club house from Inverness to Dunedin and everywhere in between. I sincerely agree with Ernie Elwood, an old friend, that this is just a fad and that these exciting players can become famous for their brilliance, not their pantomime Kafabe.

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