As the 2009 collegiate championship field solidifies this weekend, structural problems are again evident.
Though the format has been modified over the past decade, playoff teams can end up traveling as much as Super League clubs in terms of airline mileage and on shorter notice. They are subject to the performances of year-ago qualifiers and yet entirely responsible for their own expenses. This year's form is irrelevant to seedings, and some students may cross the country twice in three weeks.
Travel burdens -- air and ground transport, lodging, and meals -- cannot be mitigated by regionalizing the qualifying rounds, because the approach skews comparative local strength. Last year's attempt at centralization took the competition off school campuses, where fan bases have been growing.
One way for USARFU to alleviate the 'tyranny of distance' would be to subsidize travel, as mainstream sports do. Since the union aims to commercialize the championship for its own benefit, it would treat transportation as an event cost.
Then too, college students pay a large proportion of dues and so could make some claim on growing expenditure beyond free jerseys, which do not seem to have spawned any sort of boom. As it stands, kids pay to play in the regular season and then pay again to participate in the postseason tournament.
Subsidizing travel is a burden that only Boulder can afford, which makes it worthy of a national governing body. The idea has been floated as long ago as Ian Nixon's administration, but despite advertised revenue gains Boulder has not made any moves in this direction, preferring to expand 'high performance' spending.
Forget that it would be saving the kids money. This would be HUGE for college club development. Nationals travel is by far the biggest expense every year. Imagine that money going towards facilities, recruitments, equipment, etc etc etc etc etc.
Invest in college rugby boulder! it is our best product to offer the mainstream american sports fan!!!
Great idea Kurt. Push hard on this
Posted by: college rugby!!! | 03 April 2009 at 10:19
Important in this discussion is separating the commercial product/events from the non-commercial.
USAR holds championships in D2 Men and Women. These teams pay just as much on average, but there is no hope of commercial income to be generated. This event should be held separate from D1 and keeping the expense minimal and the school days lost minimal should be usar's goal.
After this is done USAR should at the least pay all team expenses for the D1 comp. The fact they exploit the event for their own purposes and leave the expenses to the teams and host is wrong.
Its as simple as this, the teams are paying hundreds of thousands in event expenses, for USAR to make hundreds of thousands in sponsorships, a million from the NG. Which they spend on high priced labor and the Eagles. This is as wrong as it gets.
We don't want to hear any of those USAR employees bragging about what a great job they are doing without acknowledging that 100% of the cost of the event is borne by the teams.
16x$20k and more is what the teams are spending.
Posted by: dirty little secret | 03 April 2009 at 11:18
"I am from USA Rugby, and I am here to help".
Good grief...
Posted by: skinner | 03 April 2009 at 11:42
Here's what we've spent over the last 6 years for the national tournament:
Year/Amt/Location
2004 $21,000 CO
2005 $24,000 CA
2006 $11,000 NY
2007 $9,000 PA
2008 $18,000 NM
2009 $4,000 GA
Should be day come when we are fortunate enough to advance to the semifinals, I'm not sure how we'll pay for it.
Just so I don't get accused of compaining without offering solutions, here it goes...
Expand the tournament to 32, continue to push to regionalize the early rounds by playing the first two rounds regionally and then subsidize the travel of the teams that make the quarterfinals and beyond. Seems so simple.
Posted by: Marty Bradley | 03 April 2009 at 12:14
why are we competing for a national championship?
lets make the national championship "un important".
regionalize everything!
"all star" squads are the way of the future.
Posted by: IrishMurphy | 03 April 2009 at 12:56
The school I worked with last year had a good portion of the costs picked up by the school. More than 50%, is this the case for all programs?
Posted by: Craig | 03 April 2009 at 13:02
IrishMurphy is hilarious. He doesnt understand the american sports landscape at all. Learn USA sports, go back to ireland, or be quiet.
Posted by: college rugby!!! | 03 April 2009 at 14:33
Should use the NBA as a model. Have a west champ and an east champ play for the championship. Granted like the NBA the second best team (and often the third and fourth best) will often also be from the west. It does not make sense though to send BYU and the #3 Pac coast all the way to Atlanta while sending Minnesota and Bowling Green all the way to Berkely. As has been pointed out all that money could be better spent on coaching and other "infrastructure".
I know this would stink for most of the west coast who would probably rather loose to Cal in the finals as opposed to the semi finals, but in the long run they have a better chance of building a program capable of consistently competitive with Cal if 90% of their budgets were not spent to play 1 - 4 games in April/May.
Posted by: Craig | 03 April 2009 at 15:29
Marty is once again correct.
Most of the programs that have been adopted or altered by our leadership would work out fairly well in a state the size our uncle's England (New York) or our stepfather's New Zealand model(Colorado).
What our leadership lack in foresight they make up for in hubris.
Eventually we will get around this failed model. While it is better than the previous hugs and ribbons model, it is a long way from what could be.
On the current path (if not changed within the next season) it is evident that this regime will lose Collegiate and High School Rugby. This is the best thing that could ever happen to rugby in America.
USArFU still has one final gasp... catch that pack of mange infested dogs. Give them a haircut, de-louse them, sell the hell out of it as a new breed of animal and sell the heck out of it. If that fails, double the tag rugby dues and call Dublin for another line of credit to hire Eddie Jones.
Posted by: Let them eat cake | 03 April 2009 at 15:48
current playoff struction is a waste of money.
usarfu is run like a country club, I would guess three out of four players on each rugby club has no idea of the hierarchy.
they are just told to pay and when to play.
pro sports "franchises" in the US are fundamentally different than the usarfu model....
remember usarfu squashed "major league rugby" ...partnered/tookover RSL ...
however, in the history of NBA, NFL there was competition from startup leagues...
I think we are missing opportunities to create / have new competitions that we want/need....
at the various levels...
Posted by: cheeseheadrugger | 03 April 2009 at 16:13
Craig-
Prior to 1996 a club would play through regional championships to get to the final four, one club from the four TUs. Problem arose, like you suggest, some of the best clubs weren't advancing. I don't know what the solution is on this one.
Posted by: roosevelt peatross | 03 April 2009 at 17:08
Just for giggles...
32 teams - 16 from East and 16 from West.
On a sunny weekend in April each pool of 16 meets to work it down to 4. Then a couple of weeks later those 8 teams meet in one location. 4 from East play the 4 from west - that way two teams from the same side of the country can make the finals. Winners meet to work it down to two teams for the finals. Championship match the next weekend so that a team doesn't have to play the most important match of their lives on a single days rest. Give each of the final 8 up to $10k in travel per diem. Give the final two teams up to $20 because they will have to arrange travel on short notice. Total cost is $120k (with the National Guard kicking in the trophies for free, of course) with the only real issue being that the final match would probably work its way towards final exam of some schools.
Now remind me how much did the National Guard pay USAR? Surely there is a sponsor out there that would pay $100k to have their name attached to this competition. Heck the other $20k can come out of dues...
Posted by: Marty Bradley | 03 April 2009 at 18:41
I say disband the "playoffs" taking a quote from Jim Mora...
play your local comps...
have challenge matches...
have tournments that pay...if I remember correctly, 10 years ago aspen but up $5000 cash to any team (all star or not) that could beat them at thier ruggerfest tournament (to the winner of the tournament).
build a great club...
let the players play...
Posted by: cheeseheadrugger | 03 April 2009 at 18:56
What doesnt work with the East vs West scenario (let me put my kevlar on first) is that just like in the RSL, the west is far superior in play than the east is in rugby. West Coast rugby teams for some reason are just a step ahead of east coast rugby right now. Life is the only team out "east" that is a dominate force and now they are in the RSL.
As far as the playoffs go, I like what the guys from ARN said when they recommended to get rid of the back to back match days for the playoffs. Even NCAA basketball gets a rest day in-between games and they are a 100th as physical as rugby is. Whatever the answer is one thing we DO need is ONE season. It should either be in the Winter or Spring.
Posted by: David C. | 03 April 2009 at 20:38
Yeah, rugby as a winter sport. That makes alot of sense.
Posted by: Great idea | 04 April 2009 at 05:47
There is no kevlar needed. There might be some D2 zealotards, or members of USA Rugby hierarchy that might argue about it.
Rugby is a Spring sport.
Split seasons are silly.
The playoff system and structure is silly.
There is nothing wrong with the "second best" team losing losing a championship. If they have a problem with it, the top teams can be "seeded" in the other regions as the 1 seed - let them travel, if they have a problem with it.
You need 48 to 72 hours to recover from a rugby match. If the object is to produce good and safe rugby. If the object is to save money (play back to back), why do we have the current playoff system?
Thus, the dichotomy of USArFU. The mutually exclusive country club, where turning something into nothing and making nothings from somethings are standard.
Posted by: Who's on first? | 04 April 2009 at 05:55
Great Idea- exactly my point. Rugby is a SPRING sport. I'm originally from the west coast and currently overseas and am dumbfounded after watching the Guinness Premiership matches postponed time and again due to a frozen pitch this past winter. Alex, can I get a clue for $200? The east coast teams must go thru similar things during their winter seasons I'm sure.
Who's on First- You and a couple other posters are on the right track. The players need recovery time after a match, there needs to be common sense when scheduling these events. The college programs need the funding in order to get their programs to these matches, increasing, interest and popularity with a growing fan base. I consider college rugby like minor league baseball, as they are both in my opinion grassroots in nature. The teams are embraced by their community. The games are still played for the love of the game. The ticket prices are still reasonable and its good entertainment for all the family. What more can you ask for? The sooner USA Rugby gets this same mindset, the sooner college and all levels of rugby will be embraced by more and more people.
Posted by: David C | 04 April 2009 at 06:45
The College game needs a College Czar. But first we need a mole and a plan. Don't waste a man like Marty Bradley for the mole job. Use someone of absolutely no value, like a current employee or member of congress.
Ok, mole infiltrates USArFU and smiles a whole bunch for the 1st 12 months. During the build-up to the WC get fired for doing something stupid like setting up a tournament in New Mexico. Now the mission begins. Rifle through documents at the Boulder office and forward information to the IRS, the Rainbow Coalition, ACLU, FBI, Barney Frank, Barney Fife, and Barney.
Send out a nasty computer virus.
You will be working alone, so it is critical that you fit in with crowd. Have a disheveled appearance, liken to Scott Johnson.
Commandeer a USArFU van and pick up 600 homeless people and storm the gates of the Collegiate Championship with picket signs, trumpets, and cowbells.
Go into hiding for two weeks and have extensive plastic surgery.
Pose as a high ranking USArFU official and meet with the NCAA, ESPN, Harley Davidson, Gatorade, Bank of America, etc, etc. and hammer out about 10 million in sponsorship and television deals that week.
Take a few days off and recover.
Re-emerge with a knockoff Eagle costume at the Ireland match. Have a few cocktails and pick a fight with Paul O'Connell. Pull of your mask and reveal your identity on the jumbotron...
Posted by: man with the plan | 04 April 2009 at 07:44
Marty, guys,
Before we make a plan based on having zero budget whilst trying to pull off a national championship tourney, we should look at our potential.
We need to be careful to not let where the Boulder commonwealth club has set the college bar from becoming our vision.
We can have a fully sponsored national college competition comprising our top 16 teams (playing in two east-west divisions, regular season plus post-season, late Feb/March-May). This will be a TV product capable of funding itself in the main. None of the participants will get rich, but expense-free participation should be expected.
The other teams fighting for promotion and those not interested or capable should play in more expense and academically friendly competitions.
The College Rugby Super League for lack of a better name is almost too easy. We need to erase Melville and Roberts from our minds and just get on with the work. USAR's leadership doesn't have the skills or vision for this type of undertaking, so we'll need to do it. Maybe the worst part of their leadership is they have us now looking at our shoes trying to dumb down our plans to suit the current no-budget allocation. Like Johnson telling the Eagles they were no good, now we have the CEO telling us times are tough, sponsorship shouldn't be expected. If ever the phrase: lead, follow or get out of the way was needed, its now.
Well yes, times are tough. Companies need cost effective methods to advertise their goods and services. We can cut them a great deal for the demographic they're after. The NFL should worry about the economy, not the cost-effective, solid bang for the buck we would be. We need a million bucks, from one to four companies, too easy.
Hey, tell these fools to keep all that IRB welfare to spend on the Eagles, but just get out of our way and we'll build a real college comp in a year.
Posted by: too easy | 04 April 2009 at 08:31
Who's on first? said that rugby is a spring sport. Rugby for midwest, northeast and mid-atlantic college students (and clubs as well) is when is the weather OK to play and when am I in school.
I went to college in NE Ohio. We started fall matches about two weeks after school started, usually 2nd or 3rd Saturday in September and played until mid-November. In the spring we played from mid-March to early May. This gave us about 12-14 games because we could not always play each weekend due to school breaks or other events.
Only on the west coast and the south can you really have a winter-spring season that will give 12-16 weekends in a row of rugby.
Posted by: HRCJR | 04 April 2009 at 09:15
" Rugby is a SPRING sport. I'm originally from the west coast and currently overseas and am dumbfounded after watching the Guinness Premiership matches postponed time and again due to a frozen pitch this past winter."
You're watching rugby in the game's foundry and claiming it is a spring sport? Where in the world is it played primarily in the spring?
The meat of the rugby season in both Europe and the Southern Hemisphere has always been in the winter. Because of the length of the season the start has always been in autumn with the end in the spring, but rugby is a winter game. That it can be played primarily in the spring on the West Coast (though it really isn't, since winter only ended about two weeks ago) is because the seasons are so short compared to older rugby playing countries.
Posted by: Flynn Hagerty | 04 April 2009 at 13:23
Flynn, If you read what I agreed upon, it was that COLLEGE rugby should be played late winter/early Spring.
I understand since the 1800's rugby's been played as a winter sport all over Europe. What I was talking about was that even the media over here were starting to throw around more ideas about how the Premiership and Magners Leagues could improve upon these games from being continually postponed due to frozen conditions. It was a mental side bar of my own, I wrote out loud I guess you'd say. Will it ever change? Of course not. You and I both know that.
My main focus was that of when the college season should be. Now if what HRCJR said works, where they have a fall and spring schedule, great. But I think we need to get one schedule for all teams, so new fans of the sport know when to follow their team and not wonder why the east coast teams have played 12-13 games already, while their west coast teams havent even started yet. Some kind of uniformity with all the schools, if its possible.
Posted by: David C. | 04 April 2009 at 20:50
Damn, hit post by mistake. Bottom line the schedules should all match up so that all teams are strong going into the college Championships. We all want to see a great showing from all the teams there. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it seems the teams that start in the fall arent as fresh after their longer schedule going into the playoffs and the other sides that start in the spring are gaining strength. Is that the case?
Posted by: David C. | 04 April 2009 at 21:02
The NorthEast has always suffered due to the weather, although the massive growth of FieldTurf facilities is really helping teams start their seasons earlier. I refereed 13 matches in March, and the only one on grass was in Utah, everything in the NorthEast was on plastic.
Posted by: Nick | 05 April 2009 at 05:50
Rugby is a Spring sport in the USA (College and club).
The playoff season is a total drag. Mirror the Super League season.
Play 6-8 quality League/conference matches.
Win your league and move on.
Have the regional playoff as the last fixture scheduled during Spring semester.
Play the final 16 and beyond after school has finished in June.
It's Quality vs. quantity! will make the game successful. Compete against lacrosse and baseball, roll right into 7's and use the Fall for high performance.
Do what the top clubs are doing, stop devaluing rugby.
Posted by: quality vs. quantity | 05 April 2009 at 08:25
It is the first weekend in April and many leagues have already decided the winners of the League?
How does a fan know when the games are or when the season begins or ends?
Why do athletic directors think that rugby is a social sport. No wonder it is still a club sport. Get with the program already!
Posted by: quality vs. quantity | 05 April 2009 at 08:28
I wonder if "quality vs quantity" had to work his way through school, or even went to college. I had to be out earning a living in the summer doing construction work in order to pay my tuition. Many/most college kids can't play in the summer, since they're off at jobs that are critical to their education. Until rugby players get scholarships, they're going to have to work as much and as often as they can, and a summer playoff won't work.
Posted by: Feldspar | 05 April 2009 at 09:28
Summer playoffs are an awful idea. Nothing will capture campus interest better than the meat of the rugby season being at a time when the campus is empty.
Posted by: Flynn Hagerty | 05 April 2009 at 13:30
Feldspar, quality vs. quantity means limiting the rugby season to the Spring and creating real league interest in the matches (see all of the top club models in this country). Why do we have so many comps and stupid hockey playoffs?
Those who want to play social club sports can play all year round. and your University AD will laugh when he hears that you want to use of one of his "real" fields. Go ahead, play all year round, play at the park like the frisbee team.
If you win your league, you play a couple more games then school is over. Just like the way it used to be. Just like College Football.
You and the Hugs and Ribbons Committee are busily competing against Frisbee Football. Maybe you shouldn't have learned how to wait on tables so well while in College?
Posted by: quality vs. quantity | 05 April 2009 at 14:19
Flynn,
Many Colleges have already sorted out there playoffs. It is the first week of April...
Nothing creates more interest than actually playing rugby matches. Finishing the season during the season means there are one or two home games this Spring for many clubs in this country?
That's stupid.
If you regionalized the whole playoff system (like Marty alluded to), you would be playing more home matches in the Spring, generating interest on campus and legitimizing the sport.
A great league competition (home games) is what your "fans" want to see. The could give a rats ass if you traveled to Tulsa to beat a team from Utah to finish 23rd in the country.
Look, all legit sports have a competitive league season. Try that first, save the hockey playoffs and sweet sixteen stuff when you get a TV deal.
Posted by: quality vs. quantity | 05 April 2009 at 14:35
quality vs. quantity, your barely coherent. are you saying eliminate the national playoffs? that would be the joke.
Posted by: college rugby!!! | 05 April 2009 at 16:52
just re-read my posts, I could hardly understand them.
My point was to stress the local competition, in a distinct Spring season. Only those who win their league move forward, that cuts out two weeks of the season. Then, move on to what Marty was talking about, regionalizing the playoffs to cut costs. Have 1 or 2 wild cards per region (total of 4 regions), who play travel to play 1 seeds from conference winners.
That tournament (or something similar) played in three days is the culmination of the Spring season/semester.
Those teams that are realistically are a top 10 club, can still be in the playoffs, but it will cost them in travel.
The top 8 (or whatever # you choose) move forward and play two weekends during the summer.
The Spring season and organization is far too valuable to be sitting idle in April. That should be the meat of the season with home matches, not some weird double elimination,crossover competion.
I went for quantity instead of quality with my postings today.
Posted by: Hugs and Ribbons police | 05 April 2009 at 18:00
Rugby is a winter sport in Europe because the North Atlantic Drift keeps the climate more moderate than other locations at the same longitudes. The amount of snow that england, france, scotland, ireland, etc. etc. get in the winter is minimal. Therefore, who gives a crap what the traditional season for the sport is. If it's not playable in the winter in the USA it isn't a winter sport. Just like in other countries the pathway is through academies and high performance where as the path in the USA is college and high school (theoretically) it is a totally different landscape. The geography both human and physical makes us a unique rugby region. The season should be the same across the country. It's not geometry.
Posted by: tackle coach | 05 April 2009 at 19:20
latitudes not longitudes.
Posted by: tackle coach | 05 April 2009 at 19:21
I think this is a good discussion, but can we take the Melville/Roberts bashing out of this? They did not set up the current structure, it was here before them, however I do believe that the college game should be governed by college people. I dont care if this is part of USAR or not.
There should be 4 collegiate regions like the 4 old TUs. All colleges should pay their LAU/TU dues to their college region (conference?). This would allow each region to pay for a fulltime administrator to run the conference. Within the conference there is a premier (Div 1) division that involves and then lower local competition. The Div 2 championship goes away until rugby is run well enough to split by school size (small schools can compete with the big schools if they get organized).
From these 4 regions we have the top 2 go into quarterfinals. Unfortunately I dont see being able to play every game with rest in between. Beyond the travel, it would require thurs-sat games because of BYU which is really a week off school. Also it is much more expensive to produce TV with a day in between. However the National Championship should be 1 game on the weekend.
Those that think this can be fully funded by sponsorship are kidding themselves. The money is not there because the audience is not there. Maybe local expenses can be covered, but that is it. It costs about $20k/day to televise rugby before you even start. The way to reduce the funding burden is to help colleges develop their alumni base. This is another place that USAR could do a better job, sharing best practices between colleges.
Regional conferences, paid administrators, college people making the decisions. USAR sets this up then steps away like they are doing with HS SBOs.
Posted by: Former HS Coach | 06 April 2009 at 06:00
Where does this "rugby is a spring sport" idea come from? I'd like to hear some reasons why. I'm not saying it's BS, but where does it come from (other than the West Coast guys...)?
Here on the East Coast, we can't realistically get outside an start training until the beginning of March, and that's really a crapshoot. Could be 65F or could be 25F with a foot of snow. So, we're looking at the month of April for consistently decent weather for playing matches. Then college players are out of school in mid-May, with finals starting the first week of May. So there's about a 1-month playing season. That doesn't really help anyone. Unless you're in the national playoffs, spring rugby is kind of a joke.
My own opinion is that this East Coast split season is a main factor in East Coast teams underperforming.
And frankly, I don't think we want to model our game after the British, playing boring rugby in ankle-deep slop most of the time.
Posted by: DaTruth | 06 April 2009 at 07:48
Very hard to "take the Melville/Roberts bashing out of this". They're our leaders. Melville is on $275,000 of mostly college kid dues money. 65% of CIPP dues come from college kids. If Melville wants to live off this tax he should create some business plans around taking college rugby to the next level. How else is he going to get a raise? Not on the Eagles performance or the corporate sponsorships he's bringing in.
College rugby shouldn't be "governed by college people", it should be governed by pro's. Professional sports administrators. Certainly having experience with US university sport would help, but this can be said about every facet of US rugby.
We are being let down at the highest level, by our Board and CEO. USAR, the organization, is underachieving at every level and painfully underachieving at the university level.
A sponsor funded university premier league should be our goal. First the CEO needs to say this. Then he needs to create and distribute the plan and time frame for accomplishing the objective.
This should have been a first 100 day item. Now here we are 3 years later, with Melville thinly blogging on the topic. While other ask us not to "bash" our most expensive CEO in our history about why nothing has been done.
Why do we create expectations for our best players, non-professionals mind you, and not for our high-priced executives?
Posted by: standards | 06 April 2009 at 08:13
great post standards.
Posted by: college rugby!!! | 06 April 2009 at 08:48
speaking of weather issues.
right now as it relates to mens DIV one playoffs and RSL playoffs..
http://www.denverhighlanders.org/Highlanders.Net/Announcements.aspx
http://www.denverbarbarians.com
Posted by: cheeseheadrugger | 06 April 2009 at 11:37
I have got to make a point about Rugby being a "Spring" sport. Today, April 6th, it snowed outside and we had practice. Its kind of hard to play matches in February and March when its snowing outside and the fields are closed so the grass can grow. Btw, i am in pittsburgh, and classes are done in 24 days. Kind of hard to only have a spring season that way.....
Posted by: Mario | 06 April 2009 at 21:48
That's my point exactly, Mario. And do you play a "league" season in the Spring, or just "friendly" matches?
Posted by: DaTruth | 07 April 2009 at 06:16
It's also shitty in November in many snow locations.
Spring isn't perfect, its just the best from a weather and other sports calender standpoint.
Posted by: whatever | 07 April 2009 at 10:03
Why are we wasting 6 weeks during the meat of the season (late March, April) on some weird double elimination playoff?
Regional Championship the first weekend of May. 6 local league games in March and April.
Play some friendlies South in February. If you are one of the best teams and you want to play for a National Championship, play two weekends in June. Wasting the Spring will forever prove that rugby is nothing but a club sport managed by the disorganized.
Why should a 3rd or 4th place team in a league of 6 get to make the playoffs?
Play meaningful home/away matches in April and soon people may notice.
April is far to nice to sitting around idle. Thi is one thing that the Super League got right - maybe the only thing.
Posted by: Super League fan | 09 April 2009 at 19:47