Major League Rugby 2025: Start date, how to watch, live stream and playoff dates
Major League Rugby has signed a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN.
North America’s top professional club rugby competition will be shown on ESPN after a major rights deal was signed to cover the 2025 season.
Major League Rugby (MLR) will feature 11 teams split between a Western and an Eastern Conference, with each team playing eight home and eight away matches before a cross-conference playoff to determine the winner. The final Championship game will be played on June 28, where teams compete for the MLR Shield.
Current champions New England Free Jacks will be aiming to secure a third consecutive title win. They will be joined by last year’s finalists Seattle Seahawks and new team Anthem RC in the line-up for the tournament.
The full list of team for the 2025 season is: Anthem RC, Chicago Hounds, Houston SaberCats, Miami Sharks, New England Free Jacks, NOLA Gold, Old Glory DC, Rugby LA, San Diego Legion, Seattle Seawolves and Utah Warriors.
Nic Benson, Major League Rugby Commissioner, said: “During our 2024 campaign we grew our viewership by more than 25 percent year over year. We are hyperfocused on increasing our audience and introducing rugby to more American sports fans every year. This relationship with ESPN will give us an opportunity to supercharge that growth. Given the depth of talent across the league, I’m confident we’re headed toward our most exciting season yet. This strategic agreement will enable more of our fans to tune-in for some best-in-class rugby action.”
How to watch the MLR
The MLR will be shown on ESPN+ after the service secured the rights to the 2025 season. ESPN+ is available to watch as an add on to the Hulu app. You can subscribe here.
ESPN+ will begin live coverage for the opening round of fixtures from Saturday 15 February. The opening day will include five matches from 6pm E.T. Fans will be able to watch every game of the season on ESPN+ with some of the games chosen for ESPN2.
There will also be replays of every match available after a 72-hour delay on The Rugby Network.