Post by lamaina on Jul 22, 2006 9:53:40 GMT -5
AMERICAN RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE LAUNCHES $1 MILLION TOURNAMENT
Exclusively Sanctioned by USA Rugby—a Historic First—and Hailed as a Perfect Fit for Today’s American Culture, RFL Rugby Football O.ers 7 - Man Teams Playing Fast-Paced, Hard-Hitting 14-Minute Games on Hi-Tech Television, Live from Las Vegas, Nevada.
NEW YORK — The American Rugby Football League (RFL), founded by California attorney William Tatham, Jr., and headed by an all-star cast of America’s leading sports and TV executives, announced the creation of the first-ever professional Rugby Football venture in United States history.
Granted an exclusive sanction by USA Rugby—the sport’s governing body in the United States—the RFL is protected from any other start-up professional Sevens competition in the United States while it essentially introduces to American sports fans the internationally popular game of Sevens Rugby, the fast-paced version of the “World’s Contact Sport,” which has drawn capacity crowds and large television audiences around the globe.
Ultimately featuring $2,000,000 in combined player prize money, the new league will launch in 2007 with made-for-television regional and national championship events in Las Vegas, Nev., the “Entertainment Capital of the World. The first year will be capped with the staging of the RFL “Las Vegas 7s” $1,000,000 Tournament in September, 2007.
RFL Telecasts Will Introduce “Video Game Look” to American Viewers
Under their direction, RFL telecasts will feature a low-angle, “video game” look and feel to each telecast, utilizing cutting-edge camera and audio technology, and innovative graphics and animation elements. The league also will enlist the wizardry of sports television’s high-tech guru Jerry Gepner, the man who introduced such innovations as the super-imposed yellow “first down” line in football and illuminated puck in ice hockey telecasts.
RFL Rugby Football Features the Intensity of the NFL’s Two-Minute Drill…Without Pads Returning to football’s origins when players did not wear helmets or pads—and the forward pass was prohibited—Rugby Football will promote courageous play, continuous scoring opportunities and sudden death intensity from start to finish. The new professional version of Sevens Rugby, the RFL is played by seven players per team in 14-minute games consisting of seven-minute halves.
The RFL will be played on an indoor field 60 yards long by 40 yards wide (approximately 50% larger than the AFL’s smaller playing surface). It will be a fast-paced, physical game that will resemble the running of the option offense in American football, the fast-break excitement of NBA basketball, and the continuous play and drama of the NFL’s two-minute drill.
RFL Games Are 14 Minutes of “Wide Open Option Football,” Reminiscent of Cal’s 1982 Play While Rugby Football does not allow the conventional forward pass of American football, Tatham points out that, in actuality, this new indoor version will feature the ball in the air “at least 10 times more often than football.” In fact, due to the propensity of lateral passing inherent in the new sport, every Rugby Football game will resemble virtually 14 minutes of the famous final five-lateral play of the 1982 Cal-Stanford football game that remains one of the most popular and memorable single sports moments of the 20th Century.
Mirroring the incredibly successful Hong Kong Sevens tournament, the RFL’s Phase One three-year “Smart Start” will officially launch in September, 2007, with the introduction of Rugby Football in the inaugural Las Vegas 7s $1,000,000 Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The RFL’s Director of Tournament Operations and 2003 Rugby World Cup manager, Nick Jordan, will oversee 16 teams from around the nation and world which compete in over 50 games in just four days of the physical sport to crown the RFL’s first champion.
In years two and three of Phase One, 2008-2009, the RFL will expand the Las Vegas 7s to include a preliminary “open qualifying” tournament. Open to players and teams from around the world, this RFL Open qualifying event is predicted to attract over 200 teams from around the world.
Competing over two weeks in Las Vegas, ultimately 16 finalists who will move on to compete in the immediately proceeding Las Vegas 7s $1,000,000 Tournament.
RFL’s Phase Two Calls for U.S. Expansion into Regional Tournaments in 16 U.S. Cities The RFL is currently in the process of selecting RFL Franchise Directors who will serve on the RFL Board of Directors and partially own and operate the RFL’s national event, the Las Vegas 7s. In addition, at their discretion, they will oversee their respective major market’s “local” regional tournaments, each to be selected out of the top 16 major U.S. television markets. Each of these 16 regional qualifiers will host the RFL Phase Two’s Regional City Championship qualifying tournaments beginning in 2010. Currently under consideration is each of the nation’s Top 24 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Orlando, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Portland and Baltimore and of course, Las Vegas.
Phase Three Contemplates International Expansion Finally, subject to obtaining international sanctioning approvals, the ultimate goal of the World RFL, the Tatham Group’s wholly owned and independent company, is to expand its American RFL tournament model into countries where rugby already enjoys widespread popularity.
The RFL will conduct game development mini-camps and exhibitions in the upcoming months, with the initial team rosters primarily comprised of Americans. Rugby hotbeds such as Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, South Africa and other European and Pacific Islands countries may also be a source for elite athletes in 2007 and future years.
Exclusively Sanctioned by USA Rugby—a Historic First—and Hailed as a Perfect Fit for Today’s American Culture, RFL Rugby Football O.ers 7 - Man Teams Playing Fast-Paced, Hard-Hitting 14-Minute Games on Hi-Tech Television, Live from Las Vegas, Nevada.
NEW YORK — The American Rugby Football League (RFL), founded by California attorney William Tatham, Jr., and headed by an all-star cast of America’s leading sports and TV executives, announced the creation of the first-ever professional Rugby Football venture in United States history.
Granted an exclusive sanction by USA Rugby—the sport’s governing body in the United States—the RFL is protected from any other start-up professional Sevens competition in the United States while it essentially introduces to American sports fans the internationally popular game of Sevens Rugby, the fast-paced version of the “World’s Contact Sport,” which has drawn capacity crowds and large television audiences around the globe.
Ultimately featuring $2,000,000 in combined player prize money, the new league will launch in 2007 with made-for-television regional and national championship events in Las Vegas, Nev., the “Entertainment Capital of the World. The first year will be capped with the staging of the RFL “Las Vegas 7s” $1,000,000 Tournament in September, 2007.
RFL Telecasts Will Introduce “Video Game Look” to American Viewers
Under their direction, RFL telecasts will feature a low-angle, “video game” look and feel to each telecast, utilizing cutting-edge camera and audio technology, and innovative graphics and animation elements. The league also will enlist the wizardry of sports television’s high-tech guru Jerry Gepner, the man who introduced such innovations as the super-imposed yellow “first down” line in football and illuminated puck in ice hockey telecasts.
RFL Rugby Football Features the Intensity of the NFL’s Two-Minute Drill…Without Pads Returning to football’s origins when players did not wear helmets or pads—and the forward pass was prohibited—Rugby Football will promote courageous play, continuous scoring opportunities and sudden death intensity from start to finish. The new professional version of Sevens Rugby, the RFL is played by seven players per team in 14-minute games consisting of seven-minute halves.
The RFL will be played on an indoor field 60 yards long by 40 yards wide (approximately 50% larger than the AFL’s smaller playing surface). It will be a fast-paced, physical game that will resemble the running of the option offense in American football, the fast-break excitement of NBA basketball, and the continuous play and drama of the NFL’s two-minute drill.
RFL Games Are 14 Minutes of “Wide Open Option Football,” Reminiscent of Cal’s 1982 Play While Rugby Football does not allow the conventional forward pass of American football, Tatham points out that, in actuality, this new indoor version will feature the ball in the air “at least 10 times more often than football.” In fact, due to the propensity of lateral passing inherent in the new sport, every Rugby Football game will resemble virtually 14 minutes of the famous final five-lateral play of the 1982 Cal-Stanford football game that remains one of the most popular and memorable single sports moments of the 20th Century.
Mirroring the incredibly successful Hong Kong Sevens tournament, the RFL’s Phase One three-year “Smart Start” will officially launch in September, 2007, with the introduction of Rugby Football in the inaugural Las Vegas 7s $1,000,000 Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The RFL’s Director of Tournament Operations and 2003 Rugby World Cup manager, Nick Jordan, will oversee 16 teams from around the nation and world which compete in over 50 games in just four days of the physical sport to crown the RFL’s first champion.
In years two and three of Phase One, 2008-2009, the RFL will expand the Las Vegas 7s to include a preliminary “open qualifying” tournament. Open to players and teams from around the world, this RFL Open qualifying event is predicted to attract over 200 teams from around the world.
Competing over two weeks in Las Vegas, ultimately 16 finalists who will move on to compete in the immediately proceeding Las Vegas 7s $1,000,000 Tournament.
RFL’s Phase Two Calls for U.S. Expansion into Regional Tournaments in 16 U.S. Cities The RFL is currently in the process of selecting RFL Franchise Directors who will serve on the RFL Board of Directors and partially own and operate the RFL’s national event, the Las Vegas 7s. In addition, at their discretion, they will oversee their respective major market’s “local” regional tournaments, each to be selected out of the top 16 major U.S. television markets. Each of these 16 regional qualifiers will host the RFL Phase Two’s Regional City Championship qualifying tournaments beginning in 2010. Currently under consideration is each of the nation’s Top 24 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Orlando, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Portland and Baltimore and of course, Las Vegas.
Phase Three Contemplates International Expansion Finally, subject to obtaining international sanctioning approvals, the ultimate goal of the World RFL, the Tatham Group’s wholly owned and independent company, is to expand its American RFL tournament model into countries where rugby already enjoys widespread popularity.
The RFL will conduct game development mini-camps and exhibitions in the upcoming months, with the initial team rosters primarily comprised of Americans. Rugby hotbeds such as Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, South Africa and other European and Pacific Islands countries may also be a source for elite athletes in 2007 and future years.
