Utah Warriors CEO: Losing 2 teams hurts, but Major League Rugby's growth continues
Utah Warriors co-founder and CEO Kimball Kjar wrote a letter to fans of the club, and Major League Rugby, following the withdrawal of league members Toronto and New York from the competition.
Losing two teams ahead of Major League Rugby’s seventh season of competition isn’t ideal. But the decision of the New York Ironworkers and Toronto Arrows to depart — coming on the heels of Rugby ATL’s relocation to Los Angeles — does not mean the end of the league, either.
Utah Warriors co-founder and CEO Kimball Kjar wrote a letter to fans of the club, and Major League Rugby, acknowledging the disheartening conclusion but pointing toward better days in the young league’s future. The letter has been republished here with permission from the club.
Warriors Nation,
My professional background is and has always been in startup companies. While they are exciting, they are also hard.
With Major League Rugby’s recent news regarding New York dissolving, and in context of Toronto’s unfortunate and saddening situation with Bill Webb’s passing, I can’t underscore enough that this is one of those “hard” moments that all startups face.
Despite the two teams’ reasons for withdrawal from the MLR being wholly separate and unique, we acknowledge that this puts a lot of lives in some very rough spots and we hope to support any and all players and staff from Toronto and New York where and however we can. We also know these teams built and were a part of two amazing rugby communities and we feel for you at this time.
All professional sports leagues face these “early days” startup challenges. The MLS, the NBA and even the juggernaut of the NFL saw growth, contraction, dissolution of teams and everything in between during their respective formative years. To think that the MLR would be any different would be foolish.
The Utah Warriors, along with the other ten amazing ownership groups and teams in the MLR, are committed to growing this amazing professional sports league in the world’s most exciting and competitive sports and entertainment market of North America.
Although today is a hard day for everyone within the New York organization as well as in Toronto, we owe it to those players and the many who have carried the standards for both these teams for these many years to remain focused on the MLR’s path ahead.
The MLR has seen so much growth and success since our inception in 2018 and we, as one of the league’s founding members, look forward to continuing to build on this growth and success for many years to come.
Go Warriors! Go MLR!
Kimball Kjar
Utah Warriors Co-Founder & CEO
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