Colorado Raptors pull out of MLR

[Puja]

Apparently they are still looking to run a professional team and have "exciting opportunities" to announce shortly.

On every level, this strikes me as bananas. Unless they are joining an overseas competition (and I can't see either Super Rugby or Pro 14 expanding to Denver of all places, even if they were looking to expand) or defecting to league (unlikely as they don't have the money to act like the Wolfpack and get promoted rapidly and they do cite developing US players for RWC 2023 in their announcement), there's nowhere for them to go. They could start their own competition, but they'd be starting at a massive disadvantage with MLR already in the marketplace and would need to get sanctioned by USAR (assuming there's anything left) and get IRB approved referees to get insurance, etc.

Apparently they're mardy at MLR for letting some teams flaunt the salary cap and for some of the decisions taken by the board (and, probably most notably, because they're not winning everything like they expected to), but I can't see how this strop will help anyone.

Puja

[Mellsblue]

https://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/us ... witter.com