A Look at A Ready Market
Why Professional Rugby Will Thrive in TN
Tennessee is a vibrant market ready for a new professional contact sport franchise. See below why Major League Rugby would thrive in Tennessee.
Growing Sports Market
While Tennessee has proven to support professional franchises, the market continues to grow and reach new fans.
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Has franchises in 4/5 of the major US sports leagues
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2.12 million fans attended a Tennessee major league professional event in the last complete full-capacity season (More than the Miami, Minnesota, San Francisco, and Washington DC markets with the same sports)
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1 major league franchise was created since 2018
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2 minor league franchises were created since 2018
Growth of MLR
Since its first season in 2018, Major League Rugby has drastically grown in the following ways:
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League has grown from 7 to 13 teams
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7 of the top 10 Nielsen media markets have a franchise
League Assets
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The Rugby Network - Free live-streaming platform for all league matches - over 45,000 subscribers going into 2022 season
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League Wide Sponsors
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Guaranteed Rate
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American Airlines
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Geico
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USA Rugby Partnership - Working with Youth & High School Rugby to strategically grow the game as well as develop future players for the national team
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Other Assets - App, Podcast, Social Media, Collegiate Draft
SOURCE: COMSCORE, CISION, SPROUT SOCIAL
Source: Memphis Inner City Rugby
Rugby Community
Tennessee has deep rugby roots and a growing community.
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4 Major League Rugby drafted collegiate players
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50+ men's, women's, and youth clubs
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33+ high school college signings since 2020 (boys and girls)
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Nearly 50 years of organized rugby played in state history
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Contributed many players to USA Rugby South team - an organization that combines a number of unions in the southeast states for competition
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Touted with some of the best inner city youth programs in the country (Memphis Inner City Rugby Documentary)
Source: Major League Rugby
Cultural Ties
Rugby is popular in many nations outside of the United States. These foreign cultural ties are strong in Tennessee and can be used to rapidly grow the team's fanbase.
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23,144 Tennessee residents were born in Tier 1or Tier 2 Rugby Nations (Source: Datausa.io)
- United Kingdom - 4,980 residents
- South Africa - 3,190 residents
- Japan - 2,280 residents
- Italy - 1,330 residents
Source: Music City Irish Fest
Source: Business Airport Intl.
Rugby World Cup Exposure
The World Rugby Council approved the United States to start an exclusive Targeted Dialogue phase to accelerate planning for a U.S.-hosted Men's Rugby World Cup in 2031 (USAbid.rugby)
Nashville is one of the bid's potential host cities. With a MLR franchise in place, the World Cup (hosting & viewership) would accelerate love of the game, youth participation, and the franchise's commercial interests.
Numbers from the 2019 World Cup held in Japan.
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1,837,000 tickets sold
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857,280,000 TV viewers
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2,040,000,000 social media views
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242,000 spectators from other countries
Impact Beyond 2019 Program
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6,616 local elementary schools adopted flag rugby
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1,180,000 new local rugby participants
Tourism Potential
With a new rugby franchise, Tennessee will see more opportunities to attract tourists from current and new markets. The team will also benefit from the state's growing tourism industry.
Sports Tourism Accolades
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Nashville: America's Best Sports City 2019 - Sports Business Journal
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Knoxville: Sport Tourism Organization of the Year, Population Under 500,000 Award - Sports Events & Tourism Association
Other Tourism Numbers
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Record high $23 billion in domestic and international travel spending in 2019 for the entire state (5.7% increase)
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Tennessee outpaced the nation in all travel areas: expenditures, employment, payroll, inducing tax revenue.
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Tourism generated over $75 million in new state and local tax dollars (2019)
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Tourism revenue generated saved each Tennessee household $748 in taxes.
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Nashville International Airport has direct flights to London, England (Tier 1 Rugby Nation), and Toronto, Canada (MLR Franchise City)
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44% of people visiting Nashville in 2018-2019 specifically came for sights, attractions, and events
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8/13 MLR team cities are in the top 20 tourism feeder cities for Nashville
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Top 4 states in Nashville's Top 10 Feeder States do not have MLR franchises for their rugby fans to root for.
Source: Travelocity
Source: Michael Cooper
Sister Cities Connection
Sister Cities Program
This program seeks to bring cities from different countries together for student exchanges, cultural programs, events, business, trade, and community development. With connections to Tier 1 Rugby Nations, these sister cities can be a great source of fan, player, and sport development for the franchise.
Nashville Tier 1 Rugby Sister Cities: Belfast, Northern Ireland, Caen, France, Kamakura, Japan, Mendoza, Argentina, Tamworth Australia
Knoxville Tier 1 Rugby Sister Cities: Neuquen, Argentina, Muroran, Japan
Chattanooga Tier 1 Rugby Sister Cities: Tono, Japan
Event Potential
With a new franchise the following events will host fans, generate revenue, and develop the community:
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8 Regular Season Home Matches
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1-3 Preseason Home Matches
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4-6 Academy Home Matches
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1-2 Potential Youth or Club Rugby Tournaments
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Other Team Marketing and Community Events
Source: Utah Warriors Rugby