Chris Price is an award-winning journalist and public relations principal. When he’s not writing, he’s avid about music, the outdoors, and Saints, Ole Miss and Chelsea football. Price also authors the Friday Sports Column at BizNewOrleans.com.
With Minor League Baseball gone from New Orleans’ spring and summer schedule, Major League Rugby is hoping to take its place — figuratively and literally.
When the AAA team formerly known as the Zephyrs, then the Baby Cakes, packed up and left the Big Easy for Wichita, Kansas, local attorney and owner of the NOLA Gold rugby team Tim Falcon saw the perfect opportunity for a score.
The Gold are one of the founding teams of Major League Rugby, the highest level of professional rugby in the United States, which launched in 2018 with seven inaugural teams. Since then, the league has expanded to 12 teams across the United States and Canada, will add an expansion team next year, and hopes to grow to as many as 32 teams in the future.
“We built a business model, which was about sustainability and understanding that to bring it to the next level we’d have to educate a lot of sports fans in America on how dynamic rugby is and [how to] enjoy it,” Falcon said.
The Gold played at the 3,000-seat Joe Zimmerman Stadium at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero for two years before moving across the river to Metairie in 2020 to take residence at the former Zephyr Field, formerly lovingly referred to as the “Shrine on Airline” and now dubbed the “Gold Mine on Airline.”
The baseball field was converted to a rugby pitch, with one sideline running roughly along the former left field line and a goal line running along the former right field line.
Falcon said the move fits perfectly with MLR’s current business plan.
“This stadium seats around 10,000 people, has 14 suites, and can hold an overflow crowd on the levee that’s out in former center and right field,” he said. “So, we have plenty of room to grow, and that’s the business plan for MLR over the next five, six years — to increase to 7,000 up to 10,000 person crowds for each game.”
Falcon said the Gold’s core base are people already involved in the game who love it with a passion.
“They’re our backbone,” he said. “But it’s not big enough to sustain us. We have to go beyond that.”
To that end, the Gold and MLR are following a blueprint similar to those laid out by Minor League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
“They are very creative in the ways they do different events to engage fans. And that’s something we certainly want to learn from,” Falcon said. “We’re willing to learn from anybody and everybody to try and make this a better experience and to grow the sport and the business.”
Major League Rugby Commissioner George Killebrew said the NOLA Gold have been at the forefront of the league’s launch and growth.
“There is something for everyone in New Orleans, so there is a lot of competition for entertainment dollars, and they just have done a really great job,” Killebrew said. “They’re in one of our smallest markets, but that really doesn’t matter because their grassroots approach to the NOLA Gold is starting to pay dividends. The fans are engaged. They put on a good show and have grown year over year. That’s what it’s about. That’s really what we want. It’s not about necessarily being in the biggest market. It’s about being a great operator in the market you’re in. For new expansion teams that come into the league, they’ll be able to learn from the New Orleanses of the world.”
A major part of the league’s marketing plan and investment has been finding broadcast partners to help more people be able to access the game and learn more about it.
“We’ll have 35 matches on national television this year,” Killebrew said. “Our final will be televised live on August 1 on what I like to call ‘Big CBS.’”
Falcon said raising awareness and drawing crowds is the next step to further success.
“We want to grow the sport, to get bigger sponsorships and better TV deals, and fill the stadiums that we have. When the fans come and you fill the stadiums, then the sponsors come and then the better broadcast deals come.”
The Gold’s 18-week regular season runs through July 17. Their final home game is scheduled for June 5. MLR playoffs will kick off at the close of the regular season and conclude with the Championship Final.
