The Miami Sharks are out of Major League Rugby. Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed that the team informed players this morning they would not be taking part in the 2026 campaign. It’s a crippling blow to MLR, who have also watched founding members NOLA pull the plug and its two Californian franchises merge in recent days.
While there is no suggestion the league itself is in imminent danger of folding, its undeniable that public confidence in leadership has crashed after seeing team numbers fall by three since the Championship Final just over a month ago. The drop-outs come after CEO Nic Benson recently told the Sports Business Journal that the league was pleased with how the season had gone.
Miami’s decision to pull out after just two seasons has left fans both disappointed and confused. The Sharks were backed by Marcos Galperin, an Argentine business man of extraordinary personal wealth, and appeared to be enjoying healthy attendance numbers at home games. They reached the postseason for the first time and CEO Milagros Cubelli was just this week named ‘Executive of the Year‘.
It’s a different situation to NOLA, who only reached the playoffs once in their eight seasons (one opportunity was lost due to COVID) and had passionate but inconsistent support at home games. New ownership came in this past season and greatly expanded the budget, only to see sponsorship and stadium deals fall through in recent weeks.
Meanwhile another founding team, San Diego, has merged with LA to create the ‘California Legion‘. The second iteration of Los Angeles had been rocky since relocating from Atlanta, but San Diego were seen as one of the more stable entities in the league. An initial release indicates the team will play at three different venues next season. Nonplussed supporters were similarly unconvinced by a recent appearance of the team’s Marketing Director on a local news channel.
At this stage the league has eight teams heading towards 2026, the lowest number since its inaugural 2018 campaign and well down from its high of 13 in 2022. New teams do not appear to be on the immediate horizon though Indianapolis is among cities tipped as a potential addition further down the road. The league has also in the past expedited new franchises in Chicago and Charlotte, so it’s not out of the question another emerges before the start of what will be MLR’s 9th year in existence.
With just two weeks to go before the league’s annual College Draft, prospective players suddenly have significantly less opportunities to see game time. All of this comes with World Rugby desperate to maximise the game’s exposure in the US ahead of the 2031 World Cup. The timing could hardly be worse and it’s anyone’s guess as to where the story takes us in six months time.
