New York City Rugby League


New York City Rugby League is the tentitive name of a proposed professional rugby league team. The team plans to compete in the Rugby Football League's League 1 in 2021 and would be the first American professional rugby league club. They will play home games at Red Bull Arena.

History

It was first reported in October 2017 that a New York consortium were seeking to is to join the Rugby Football League's League 1 in 2019. Earlier in 2017, Canadian side Toronto Wolfpack became the first transatlantic team to join the league.
On May 20, 2019, the Rugby Football League released an statement on the two prospective overseas clubs. Ottawa had been accepted in principle to join League 1 in 2020 while New York had a change in ownership structure and without existing operations was encouraged to work toward entry in 2021. As Ottawa Aces were accepted for entry to RFL League 1 for the 2021 season, it was decided that adding 2 North American teams to a semi professional league would add extra pressure to current teams. So New York City Rugby League are now likely to be accepted into League 1 for the 2022 season.