The lone Canadian entry in Major League Rugby has failed to find a new owner and will cease operations immediately, the league confirmed.
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The news is rarely good in Canadian rugby these days, but this one still comes as a shock: the Toronto Arrows, the only professional rugby squad in Canada, is folding.
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Late Monday afternoon, Major League Rugby confirmed what sources had been telling Postmedia since the morning: the Arrows would cease operations immediately
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The league said it and the Arrows “explored all avenues in an effort to maintain the club’s presence in the league. Unfortunately, after exhausting all options, Toronto was left with no choice but to voluntarily withdraw from the league.”
Arrows GM Tim Matthews told Postmedia via text message he was focused on helping his players, staff and the team’s former ownership.
“My focus right now is solely on doing right by our players, staff and the Webb family – won’t be providing further comments until those fronts are covered,” he said.
“Appreciate anything you can do to inform folks that that is where the focus is at this point in time.”
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The Arrows had played in the U.S.-based Major League Rugby since 2019. They played as an independent team in 2018.
The team finished last in the 12-team league at 1-13-2 after an injury-plagued 2023 season.
The team, which was originally built out of the Ontario Blues provincial program, had been bankrolled by Toronto financier Bill Webb. Webb died at 59 this summer and it’s understood team management had been searching for new investment ever since.
Webb’s passing proved too much to overcome, Matthews said.
Losing the Arrows is a big blow to Rugby Canada, as a solid number of men’s national team players have played for the Arrows — five starters for Canada in their recent match versus Brazil were Arrows players — or have come through their academy.
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Players were informed of the decision to wind up the franchise in a call with the team Monday.
They were told “funding was not there this year. Some things fell through and they’re not going to be able to go ahead with the 2024 season,” a source who was on the call told the Canadian Press and granted anonymity because the decision had not been announced officially.
All contracts in Major League Rugby are held centrally by the league. Teams have folded in MLR before, with players assigned to new teams via a dispersal draft.
MLR CEO Nic Benson indicated a similar process would unfold with the Arrows players.
“While this news is unfortunate, and we feel for all individuals associated with the Arrows organization, the health of MLR remains strong and we look forward to exploring options to bring a team back to Canada in the future,” he said.
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One supposes a new operator for a Toronto team might emerge, though given the difficulty Arrows management apparently have had in finding a new investor since Webb’s passing this seems unlikely.
No schedule for the 2024 MLR season had yet been announced, though the league has traditionally kicked off in mid-February. In August MLR officials announced the team that had been based in Atlanta would be relocating to Los Angeles, but no further details on that move have been revealed.
The league, which had seven teams in its inaugural 2018 season, operated with 12 teams in 2023 with the expansion Miami Sharks slated to join the fold next season.
— with a file from the Canadian Press
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2023-11-28 01:41:15Z
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