Lock it in people- Philadelphia, New York, BOSTON, Jacksonville, DENVER and Los Angeles...
A few weird teams there. Dont think anyone picked Denver. Boston is going from nothing to a lot at speed as well. Forst their new AMNRL team, then a year later a professional team.
And from the looks of it they are looking for expats. Interesting...
The franchise selections are interesting, especially Denver and Boston, and it will be even more interesting to see where the final 2 franchises are located. I guess LA was chosen because it is a big city (2nd or 3rd? in US)and gives the League "national" credentials with a presence in the union's most populous state, California. Also there is a large Aussie, Kiwi, Pcific Islands and Pom ex-pat communities in California, who may provide a viewing market and even player base for this franchise. I would think that it may be easier to attract Aussie and Kiwi professionals to relocate to LA than perhaps the East Coast. Denver, I think is a major airline transport hub, and I believe the city is a relative "stronghold" for the union code.
Boston is also a big? city and gives the League a wide spraed along the East Coast. So where wil the 2 final franchises come from? Presently the AMNRL "stronghold" is based in Connecticut and Philadelphia. I would think that Norwalk and New Haven Ct are perhaps a bit small to have their own franchise, although maybe a bit too far from New York to act a s feeders for the NY franchise. So maybe a franchise for Ct's largest? town, Hartford? I think the final franchise should be located in the nation's capital, with the DC Slayers and Fairfax Eagles to cat as the feeder teams. I know that the franchises do not necessarily have to be loated where the current AMNRL teams are located, but i would think taht those teams sholud at least be able to act as feeder teams, and to do so would need to be in reasonabkle proximity to the franchise team.
I really hope this gets off the ground, and if it does I'll be looking at getting over to Philly again to see the inaugural US National Rugby League Championship Final.