The top professional rugby league in the United States will now be shown on ESPN.
Major League Rugby, the twelve-team pro rugby league founded in 2017, has reached a multi-year media rights deal with ESPN, the network announced on Thursday.
The deal will stream all regular season and playoff matches live on ESPN+, with a select number of matches to also air on ESPN2. Fans will be able to access replays and match highlights on The Rugby Network 72 hours following the completion of matches.
“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,” Tim Bunnell, ESPN SVP of Programming and Acquisitions, said in the announcement. “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.”
Nic Benson, the commissioner of Major League Rugby, said in the announcement that the league had grew its viewership by more than 25% year-over-year in 2024. Last year, Fox aired select matches nationally on FS1 and FS2.
The 2024 Championship Final, which aired on the Fox broadcast channel, drew just 200,000 viewers, a record-low for the property. The highest final on-record came in 2019, when the league drew an audience of 510,000 viewers on CBS. Viewership for the Championship Final has declined every year since.
However, the exposure of ESPN platforms could bode well for the league. William Mao of Octagon, the consulting firm who advised the league on its new deal, said in the announcement, “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 U.S. ahead of the 2031 Rugby World Cup.”
