NEWS

Major League Rugby Releases MLR Rising Trailer

Trailer kicks off campaign leading up to feature release and 2024 MLR Draft

DALLAS – Major League Rugby, the premier professional rugby league in North America, is proud to announce the release of the trailer of “MLR Rising,” an original feature that chronicles the inaugural MLR Rising held in July. The trailer can be viewed here.

Held at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Va., MLR Rising brought together 50 of the top North American college prospects for four days of practices and workshops that culminated in matches that spotlight these players. The full feature will be released on The Rugby Network (TRN) at 8 p.m. (ET) on Aug. 21, one week before the 2024 MLR Draft on TRN.

“MLR Rising was a resounding success, this program allows the future of North American rugby to display their talent in front of dozens of team and league representatives as part of their pathway to MLR,” said Nic Benson, CEO and Commissioner of MLR. “For the first time, we let cameras behind-the-scenes for a fully immersive experience showcasing these players, and we are thrilled for the feature’s release.  You’ll see how American rugby is growing, the talent pipeline of the future, the tenacity and journey of tomorrow’s stars and the challenge with which MLR Rising tasks these players.”

The feature release precedes the 2024 MLR College Draft Show, which will premiere on The Rugby Network at 8 p.m. on Aug. 28. The show will unveil the selections from all three rounds of the 2024 draft, highlighting each player as teams make their picks. This is the fifth edition of the MLR Draft and features the deepest talent pool yet. The teams’ order of selection will be based on the round of playoffs reached and each team’s regular season record.

MLR Rising and the MLR College Draft are two of the league’s programs to build and cultivate talent in North America. Twenty-seven participants of the Collegiate Rugby Shield, an earlier iteration of MLR Rising, were selected in the MLR Draft in the past two seasons, and a number of MLR Rising participants are expected to be selected in this year’s draft. Through the years, the MLR College Draft has seen selections from a number of prestigious universities and top-tier rugby programs, including the University of California-Berkeley, Brigham Young University, Central Washington University, Kutztown University, Lindenwood University and Life University.

For more information on MLR Rising, visit majorleague.rugby/rising/. 

For more information on the 2024 MLR College Draft, visit majorleague.rugby/draft/.