'It's no secret that USA Rugby have been financially f***** for years'
A Major League Rugby board member has hailed the bankruptcy of USA Rugby as a positive step forward for the growth of the sport in America – and for the country’s 2031 World Cup bid.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy declaration last Monday by the American union sent shockwaves around the rugby world about the precariousness of the business of rugby in challenging times worsened by the economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, James Kennedy, the majority owner of MLR club Rugby United New York, claimed the writing was on the wall for a very long time for the Colorado-based organisation.
“It should have happened at least a year ago, if not two years ago when Dan Payne was leaving,” said Kennedy to RugbyPass. Payne quit as USA Rugby’s CEO in April 2018 for a similar role at Rugby Americas, the governing body for 23 national unions in that area.
“They were always fighting a rearguard action. There is plenty of me on the record on this, so it’s not Monday Morning Quarterback. Bankruptcy is what they needed to do.
“It was no individual’s fault, as there was chopping and changing personnel. It was a system that was just built to fail in a weird way. It was chronically underfunded and because it was underfunded it wasn’t able to get the money it needed.
“If they got their membership policies right they would be the wealthiest union in the world, but they couldn’t even do that because they didn’t have the money or the resources.
“This needed to happen. I feel bad for vendors that are owed money, but to say the bankruptcy is because of Covid is a bit disingenuous.
“It’s no secret that US Rugby have been financially f***** for years. They overspent at the last World Cup (in Japan) and they messed up at the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco.
“They forget to factor in the cost of hotel rooms. Not just the price, they forgot to negotiate with the hotels before they were awarded the World Cup.
“They were awarded the World Cup and then went to the hotels. The hotels were, ‘Well you’re coming here anyway, we’re not giving you a deal’. Stuff like that year on year crippled it.
“Bankruptcy will just clean that up and it will make the (2031) World Cup bid process easier. I don’t want to say any names, but the void will be filled with competent people and competent organisation.”
This has been a long time coming for USA Rugby…https://t.co/stGXDLewwx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 30, 2020
USA Rugby’s demise should also offer Major League Rugby – a completely separate entity – the perfect opportunity to accelerate the growth it has enjoyed since its inaugural season in 2018.
Kennedy has already been talking to local districts that had been operating under the wing of USA Rugby and the hope is they will now row in behind the MLR in the same way the NBA, basketball’s professional league, wields so much influence on that sport in America.
“The US is broken into a raft of unions. The New York union is New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which is called Empire Geographical Union. I will be talking to them about absorbing them for a while, taking over their membership and how we set it up. DC are trying to do the same down with their union. San Diego the same.
“It’s a natural progression. If we rule our provinces we are fully motivated to expand the game, grow the game, gets fans at clubs, at colleges, at high schools, in our women’s programmes… it’s in all our financial interest to do that and then what I would see is a feeder model.
“Take USA Basketball (USAB): they have men’s and women’s teams in the Olympics and various World Cups etc, but it’s a five-person office in Colorado because the NBA and the NCAA does everything.
Coming to the French league in 2020/21 after a taste of the Big Apple https://t.co/6z4vCa7W34
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2020
“These (USAB) people just book a few flights every now and then because the grassroots is done by the NBA and the colleges. The country is too big for an organisation (similar to USA Rugby) to do something like that.
“It [USA Rugby’s bankruptcy] is a good thing. I say that with respect to people that have lost their jobs, people that are not getting paid, but it’s a good thing for rugby in the US ultimately.
“If it cleans up the World Cup bid which is going on right now… anything without US Rugby involved is a better situation than having them at the table where they swear they are good when everybody knows they are not good. This is a good opportunity.
“It will be a good chance for MLR to get out in the press and explain to the rugby public and the non-rugby public that US Rugby and MLR are separate entities and always have been for exactly this reason.
“We are the ones expanding the game. Like, we were launching a women’s professional team this year which we have now put off until next year. It’s all pretty good stuff basically.”
WATCH: Ben Foden chats to Jim Hamilton in the latest episode of The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments