‘Seismic shifts will happen’: US pro rugby league MLR loses teams but looks to future

Alex Magleby, CEO of champion New England Free Jacks, says Toronto and New York will be missed as the show goes on

At the end of 2023, in little more than week, Major League Rugby lost two teams. First the Toronto Arrows, the sole Canadian team, then the New York Ironworkers, champions in 2022, ran out of money and options.

For Alex Magleby, a US Eagles flanker turned co-founder and chief executive of the New England Free Jacks, the reigning MLR champions, losing Toronto and New York proved traumatic".