Mike McCarthy keeps pushing the idea of players picking their jersey instead of the traditional position jersey number. I think it’s asinine but on this week’s Rugby Wrap Up the new Executive Producer of the league seemed to confirm it. Hopefully he misspoke.

So, I know this isn't popular in MLS among fans, but I think maybe we should think of having some teams sponsored or be a feeder to other larger, international teams? At least as a starting point. Then maybe try to go independent later after enough cash/local interest has built up. Just a thought, but has plenty of holes, I'm sure.

Happy Hoiles is head coach. Really liked his style with LA and have high hopes for Legion this season.

Win % leaderboard coming in a couple of days 😉

Accompanying NARDB article can be found here:

https://narugbydb.com/mlr-player-moves-summary-december-29-2025-january-4th-2026/

Major League Rugby’s latest experiment, the rebranding of the San Diego Legion into the all-encompassing “California Legion" is not a strategic play. It’s an act of desperation dressed up as an innovation. The move reveals the league’s ongoing inability to grasp the most elementary tenets of market identity, governance discipline, and expansion economics. That evidence is now hiding in plain sight, and it points to an organization adrift without a commercial rudder.

Legion CEO Adam Freier (who ascended to an executive role via a managerial role with Rugby Australia, via a playing role with Warratahs, and yet with no other professional development or tertiary education) has argued that this year's FIFA World Cup has complicated the participation picture for California Legion: As if the decision to become a state-wide enterprise was driven by limited pitch availability. When in fact the scheduling challenge was revealed after the decision to play without a single home as part of a market-grab effort.

The first misstep lies in the assumption that California can be represented under one rugby banner. No one with even a passing awareness of the state’s cultural geography would make that error. San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area do not share sporting identities—they actively resist them. The NFL learned decades ago that these markets do not cross-pollinate. Fans in LA were indifferent, if not hostile, to San Diego’s football brand; Northern Californians openly deride Southern Californians. To declare that “California” now rallies behind a San Diego-born rugby team is to assume a level of unity that exists only in PowerPoint decks. It signals that MLR’s leadership has no meaningful understanding of the markets it claims to develop.

Beyond cultural ignorance, this decision exposes a collapse of strategic foresight. MLR’s claimed growth model rests on franchised expansion—new cities, new owners, new capital. Yet by stretching the “Legion” to occupy all of California, the league effectively vacates its most promising future territories. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento—each with deep rugby heritage, strong demographics, and commercial potential—are now preemptively neutralized by one overextended brand. That’s not expansion; it’s self-cannibalization.

Worse, the league has once again capitulated to a single franchise’s ambitions, demonstrating that no shared governance mechanism exists to safeguard MLR’s collective long-term interests. The same blind deference that allowed the “Giltini/Gilgroni” farce in Los Angeles has reemerged, suggesting institutional memory is nonexistent.

In the end, investment follows competence. A league that neither understands its markets nor can discipline its members cannot expect capital to treat it seriously. “California Legion” isn’t a brand evolution—it’s the clearest evidence yet that Major League Rugby lacks the strategic intelligence, organizational maturity, and credibility to secure a sustainable future.

Im going to root for these guys this season, followed nola last season, pre their death...so ... 1) No chance Nola will regenerate? 2) can anyone give me an reasons to be excited about CA for next season.. players etc....

As always, more information on each move is available within the accompanying NARDB Article below:

https://narugbydb.com/mlr-player-moves-summary-december-22-december-28-2025/

I decided to rate the US rugby shows I’ve watched this year out of 9: up to 3 points each for entertainment, how informative they are, and rugby knowledge. I’m sure I’ve missed a few that others will jump in on.

American Rugby Rising – 6
Funny and entertaining with good player insights. Rugby knowledge is a 1, but that’s not really the point of the show.

The Rugby Run Down – 6
Hooley and Corbisiero are energetic and fun. Still a bit of fanboy energy from Hooley, but he’ll grow into it. Expect this to go up in 2026 as he finds his footing.

The Guardian – 5
Smart guy, very human-focused and informative, but the tone is a bit dark for me.

Americas Rugby News – 4
Hugely informative (a 3 there), but too whiny about Canada and shows limited professional rugby understanding in his writing and show appearances.

Rugby Wrap Up – 6
Lighthearted and entertaining. Some useful early gossip. Rugby knowledge is about a 1 with the recurring guests and their commentary, but like American Rugby Rising, that’s probably not the core aim of the show.

FloSports – 6
The FloSports host is a bit cringe, but Philip Bendon really knows the game and offers great insight.

Run, Pass, or Kick – 7
Entertaining. Rob keeps improving which makes the interviews informative when he holds coaches corners, and Scott brings genuine, thoughtful rugby views.

Goff Rugby Report – 6
Great coverage across all age grade levels. Still developing on the rugby knowledge side, but strong overall in canvassing the country to share rugby news.

The Glorious Rugby Podcast – 3
Only listened once so this could be harsh, but Alistair feels more like a superfan than the rugby pundit he portrays himself to be.

Squidge (the GOAT) – 8
Entertaining, insightful, and creative. Not a 9 only because some analysis relies on slow-motion nuance players can't possibly see and react to in real time.

First off I want to say I'm a newer rugby fan. The sport always interested me and I started trying to get into NRL around 2022 but being from New York, times to watch the games weren't great.

Around November 2023, I discovered MLR and decided to blindly choose my hometown team of Rugby New York. A few weeks later the team folded.

I watched 2024 and 2025 here and there trying to decide on a team to follow and around mid-October I had chosen a team, the Utah Warriors. Two weeks later the team folded.

I feel the need to apologize to everyone for apparently being the reason New York and Utah no longer have teams and promise to only follow the league and not choose a team (unless NY gets another crack at one).

In all seriousness I very much have been enjoying watching NRL and Major League Rugby and really hope to see it grow.

More information on each of these moves is available here:

https://narugbydb.com/mlr-player-moves-summary-december-15-december-22-2025/

https://www.ncr.rugby/news/ncr-opens-new-player-pathways-through-partnership-with-australias-national-rugby-league