WCR, have they only confirmed Sacramento and San Francisco as teams so far? With the proposed teams that you understand to be in it, what's the travel like? Is there a reasonable player base in these areas to recruit from or do they need to hire in talent from around the country?
Officially, yes they have only confirmed both Sacramento and San Francisco. But the likes of Denver and Philadelphia are essentially considered to be locked in for teams. As is likely a New York based squad. The only issue that may slow the announcement of locations is venues. Philadelphia is pretty safe in PPL Park but there are questions as to where the New York squad will play as Red Bull Arena recently stated that they weren't an option. In regards to Denver its more a question of who to go with. On one hand you have Dick's Sporting Goods Park that seats 18,000. On the other you have Infinity Park the premier Rugby facility in the country but only seats 5,000 at present. Honestly, in my opinion Infinity is the way to go at the beginning. The city of Glendale has always been very supportive of Rugby and I'd imagine they'd be willing to grow the facility alongside the team.
The 6th location is still a bit of a mystery but from a tidbit from someone connected via the US Rugby media scene after a conversation with Steven Lewis (ProRugby's Director of Rugby) there is some suggestion that Buffalo may be an option. That's right out of left field. There's some suggestion that with the lack of Canadian involvement in the first year and Buffalo's proximity to Ontario that it may be placed there as a proxy for them.
As for recruiting players. ProRugby are planning to hold a draft early next year. Likely January or February. I can see this draft being made up of the combined domestic based members of the Eagles and Canadian national teams. Perhaps even some on the fringe of the Eagles 7s training group but its unlikely with the Olympics we'll see any of the OTC guys. So probably between 45-60 odd guys. From there they'll likely recruit from the local D1 Club and College programs within each area. NorCal is probably the strongest Rugby region in the US. As above in the Sacramento region there are 8,000 odd active players. Would likely be very similar in the Bay Area if not more. Colorado has a strong and growing scene particularly at the youth level and along the Boston to DC Corridor there are heaps of teams from across the spectrum.
Add to that they will be holding an open combine for anyone who falls outside of those regions to press a claim.
