this makes me laugh, seems a bit far fetched eventually rival the National Football League in its ability to maximise franchise values, ticket sales and other related revenue streams. http://www.planet-rugby.com/News/story_37798.shtml plus it hasn't been reported anywhere else. Proposed club locations and club names for Global Super Rugby are as follows: Argentina Jaguars, Australia Swagmen, Canada Icemen, England Knights, France Revolution, Ireland Shamrocks, Italy Gladiators, Japan Samurais, New Zealand Rams, Pacific Warriors, Scotland Highlanders, South Africa Tribe, USA Fighters and Wales Wizards
Sounds like a load of crap to me, I can't see it ever happening. It would be much better to expand existing international competitions such as the Six Nations and Tri-Nations. Or even create new competitions where it's not feasible for nations to join these events. Couldn't an Americas Tri-Nations for USA, Canada and Argentina home and away every year be a first step here? Couldn't there be a second division of the Six Nations for Spain, Romania, Georgia and the like to play in with promotion/relegation to the main championship? Couldn't the stronger smaller nations in Asia and the Pacific Islands such as Japan, Samoa and Fiji join the current Tri-Nations championship making it a six team affair? These would be better first steps to promoting the sport globally rather than a franchising idea which is alien to those outside of the US and which I don't think would generate much support.
I agree with the "crap." The fact that they'd pick team names already and exploit ridiculous local stereotypes point to this. There is a second level Six Nations. They do not promote. I think a team with the best long-term performance should be the "6th" top Euro team. The fact is that Italy is the 6th team among 5 other competitive teams, over the long term. I think you start thinking promotion when you have 8 or so teams able to compete at the same level. There used to be a PacRim tournament with Japan, the islands, Canada, and the US, but it failed for financial reasons. If the finances won't work, you have to find some generous person to bleed the money for you. I think things turn around the highest ranked country NOT in any multi-national setup, and that is Argentina. Argentina as part of TriNations and S12 seem attractive to me.
USA Fighters? Thanks a lot President Bush. BTW, I'm voting for him, so I don't need the politics. Seriously, fighters? What the heck is that? That's lame. I got some better ones for them: USA World Leaders USA Dominators USA Liberators USA Global Empire ... or here's a thought... how about USA Eagles?
The Pac-Rim Tournament was a financial burdern on a lot of the RU's that competed. Hong Kong was in to start but pulled out when the burden was too much. There's has been rumblings about wanting a new PacRim Cup (likely bi-annual) that would involve Australia and New Zealand as well. There is a PARU Tourney that involves Canada, USA, Argentina, and Uruguay. It played on a bi-annual basis in one of the the countries mentioned. The European Nations Cup has pro/rel from "6Nb" going down. Portugal won the 2003/04 edition while Spain got relegated. One thing I would like to see is an Americas touring side that would play the bigger nations.