3 years later, back in Providence Park with a niche sport in front of a record crowd

It was Rugby City, USA on Sunday as Portland hosted some of the biggest global stars back from the Paris Olympics with the Premier Rugby Sevens All-Star Tournament at Providence Park🏉🇺🇸🏟️

What a day.

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A huge moment and celebration as American rugby embarks on a new reality. The build toward 2028 starts now

If 2024 was this great, just wait for 2025… ⏳👀 🏆 Rugby on the Big Stage 🏉 All-Star Tournament 🥇 23 Premier Rugby Sevens Players Medaling 🚇 Launch of Locals Academy #SevensNewHome

I’ll refrain from a longer take on this but this is a) obviously not good and b) so fixable

I try to keep it positive here all the time but the scheduling “own goal” here is shocking and unfortunately unsurprising

“Extensive stakeholder consultation process” - to be clear, that did not include pro competitions. And apparently also did not include the players.

It doesn’t have to be like this

Seeing what's happening globally as a result of the mismanagement of the sevens circuit is heartbreaking. A refusal to innovate or think critically has led to devastating outcomes for players that will continue shrink the game globally. It doesn't have to be this way.

A union led effort to develop the game in the US will be catastrophic. Under-financed with any cash generated removed from system, little market knowledge, specularly high costs and a top down strategy apparently singularly reliant on a US men’s XV ‘31 performance

It’s the international sevens series, with 5x the cost. What could go wrong?

International entities for a sport seeking to establish itself firmly in US mainstream using strategy of flooding the market with low importance, live event IP is unsuccessful. What lessons can be learned here?

Foundations and roots of RISE are growing!

There is so much to say about the state of rugby in the US. Drafts and drafts of tweets in the filing drawer. The interest of being constructive is always a priority but sheeeesh

This feels like it has a relevant parallel

So if you’re following along with the American rugby saga, this is on the same week that World Rugby had indirectly announced a $250m commitment to growing the sport in the US market. Seemingly incongruous…but actually maybe not

I’m not here to defend the business model of R360, but it deserves to be given the opportunity to exist based on its ability to draw 1) financing and 2) fans. Unions blocking or competing with new competitions is outrageous and the biggest problem for global rugby’s viability

Heartbreaking stuff for those who want to see sevens succeed