By putting its players' needs first, Women's Elite Rugby wants to be the next big thing in pro sports
'I think we knew as leadership — and honestly, as someone who played in this country for a very long time — that this needed to be the next step if we wanted to compete on the world stage,' said Ruiz, an assistant coach at Brown and the head coach of the WER's Boston Banshees. 'We really need to have something in this country where our athletes are able to focus on honing their craft. We knew that this needed to happen, and that it was the only logical next step.'
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Born out of six of the top WPL clubs in cities from Boston to the Bay Area, WER begins its first season this weekend as the Boston Banshees travel to face the New York Exiles on Saturday at 3 p.m. All games will be available for free on streaming platform DAZN.
Other teams competing in the league include the Bay Breakers, Twin Cities Gemini, Chicago Tempest, and Denver Onyx.
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Though discussions about the future of women's professional rugby in the US started decades ago, planning for a professional league got serious in 2022 with the launch of a campaign called 'Ignite the Change.'
A WPL external advising board was formed and met for the first time in April 2023, and one year later — almost to the day —
In the months that followed, the league announced that six existing WPL markets would become the founding cities for WER, debuted branding and logos for all the teams, hired coaches and staff, and selected rosters of the top 15s rugby players in the US.
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It's been a whirlwind process, per WER president and co-founder Jessica Hammond-Graf, but the timing was intentional.
For one, players conservatively estimated they spent about $5,000 per WPL season on travel, insurance, gym memberships, and other fees, and Hammond-Graf wanted to remove that financial barrier as quickly as possible.
Many WER players are also preparing for the 2025 Rugby World Cup, which will take place in England from August 22 through Sept. 27, and WER hopes to offer a dedicated training and competition space to help World Cup hopefuls prepare.
'Our goal is to continue to elevate and provide these elite-level opportunities for rugby players and give them a space to do it on US soil,' Hammond-Graf said. 'So many of our high-level athletes go overseas to play, and they've been doing that for a number of years, and we want to bring them home.'
Boston Banshees coach Kittery Ruiz.
Greg Sabin/Courtesy of the Boston Banshees
Until recently, many American-born players had to seek out opportunities abroad if they wanted to compete for a spot on Team USA. While some played in the WPL, others relocated to Europe and Oceania, where women's rugby has historically had more funding and support.
The league saw an opportunity this summer to capture national attention, announcing three of its inaugural six markets the day after Team USA
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'It was just a catalyst, right?' Hammond-Graf said. 'That was an amazing game — the success has really catapulted rugby in that way.'
WER is funded through private investors and venture capital firms, beginning with a pre-seeding funding round in April 2024 that raised $500,000. The league is now wrapping up its seed round, which had an initial target of $3 million, and will embark on a series A round in the coming months.
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The pay structure for players was not disclosed, though the league confirmed it will cover all travel costs and provide players with accident insurance.
Most players plan to retain their day jobs, knowing they won't make a fortune on the rugby pitch — at least not in the league's early years — but they see the professionalization of their sport as a huge step forward.
'To have the WER formed and to take the administrative worries off of players' shoulders, take the financial burden off of players' shoulders, it is, as a player, so incredibly freeing that I just have to focus on being the best player that I can be,' said Caitlin Weigel, a Banshees prop who played at Harvard.
The biggest concern — for the players and the league as a whole — is sustainability.
A men's professional league called PRO Rugby cropped up in 2015 and by 2017 had folded completely. Five teams from Major League Rugby, which uses a franchise model, have folded since the league's inception in 2017.
WER wants to avoid the same fate.
'The players deserve that sustainability,' Weigel said. 'The players deserve to know that they can keep playing here for years and years to come.'
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