Exclusive: Saracens back Premiership rugby games in USA, league supportive
The Gallagher Premiership could host matches overseas again after Saracens backed the idea of taking English top-flight rugby back to the United States.
Premiership clubs have not played a match in the US since 2017, when just 6,000 fans watched Newcastle Falcons take on Saracens in Philadelphia.
But Saracens’ new chief executive Mark Thompson has thrown his weight behind the idea and Premiership chiefs are understood to be open to the proposal.
“Yes, if the circumstances were right,” he told City PM “And if we could see a commercially viable way of audience building and expanding our game then we should always be looking at those options.
“If that was on the table then we certainly would look at that.”
Premiership Rugby is believed to be receptive to Saracens’ enthusiasm for playing abroad, even though a four-year deal to stage matches in the US signed in 2016 spawned just two matches. It would not consider moving the final.
The league’s title sponsor is American insurance giant Gallagher, which has previously supported taking fixtures overseas.
Damp squib
The last Stateside game, which took place at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania – 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia – was widely described as a damp squib, however.
“We’ve got to find another 8,000-10,000 people who are going to follow rugby in the next 12 months,” the then-chief of Premiership Rugby Mark McCafferty said at the time. “But that’s not the difference between having a viable and sustainable strategy in the US.” Premiership Rugby is yet to return to the East Coast.
“Taking the full rugby squad over the ocean does cost a lot of money,” added Thompson, who joined Saracens from Championship football team Burnley earlier this year.
Saracens open to States
“It is an incredibly cluttered sports market which becomes difficult, but if it can work, and the right structure around it was put [in place] to ensure there was some lasting benefit, if it was a business case and it was not made a one-off, then we would love to explore that.
“[But we must be] making sure in the context of chasing things that have no immediate return that we’re not taking our eye off the ball of actually engaging with a more rugby-interested audience.”
It comes as European club football moves closer to staging domestic league games overseas for the first time.
Spain’s LaLiga has pushed to stage games in the US and still hopes to do so by 2026 after world governing body Fifa dropped its outright opposition.
Saracens today confirmed that the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would continue to host their Showdown match against Harlequins until at least 2028.
Bristol Bears will host Bath Rugby outside of England when their derby match is hosted by Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.