Only Nine Canadian Players Left in MLR in 2026 Down 80% from 2025: Five Canadian Players Get Game Time Over First Two Weeks

In 2025, MLR was an 11 team North American league. In 2026, it is a six team American developmental league. Following Canada’s 34-20 victory over the Eagles last summer, the rules changed, the borders closed, and the 46-player Canadian contingent from 2025 has been reduced to a mere nine. Only Chicago now has a significant Canadian presence with four players, Seattle and New England have two, and Old Glory has one. California and Anthem have zero. Over Week 1 & 2 only 5 Canadian players saw the pitch. Last year we kept a 46 player spreadsheet of Canadian players, this year it doesn’t merit documentation.

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Utah Warriors Announce They are Suspending Club Operations: MLR Down from 11 Team to 6 Teams for 2026

Utah Warriors announced they are ceasing operations for the upcoming MLR season, that leaves 6 teams remaining from the 11 that competed in 2025. The future of the league looks to be on shaky ground.

The concern from Canada is how that will affect Canadian players, they were already impacted by the announcement earlier by MLR that imports would be limited on teams in 2026 and for the first time Canadian players would be counted as imports. The reduced opportunities to play professional rugby have taken another hit.

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Major League Rugby Announces Focus on USA Rugby Qualified Players: What That Means for Canadian Rugby

There was a bit of hand wringing by Canadian rugby fans and pundits last week when Major League Rugby announced that they “will take steps from the 2026 season to increase the game day spaces available to USA Rugby qualified and pathway players to a minimum of 16 and rising from there”. It appears Canadian players will have to compete as imports for one of the 7 non-USA roster spots in 2026, and that number may decrease in future years.

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MLR’s 2026 Season: What Two Team Dropouts Mean for the League

It’s a bit of old news now but New Orleans have announced they won’t compete in MLR 2026 and the two California franchises LA and San Diego have merged to form the California Legion, so down from 11 teams to 9 teams as it stands now. There doesn’t look like there’s any activity on a possible BC based franchise and how will potential investors react to the recent news. As a side note we heard the South America semi-pro league Super Rugby Americas has a buy in of less than $500K, compare that to the purported $10M buy in for MLR. Rather than hash over what’s already been written, we just threw the question to Grok for its “thoughts”, its analysis below

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New England Claim 3rd Consecutive Title: Brock Webster Player of the Match – Video Highlights

It was a team with 7 Canadians in the roster vs a team with no Canadians, and the good guys won. New England had Andrew Quattrin at hooker, Piers von Dadelszen in the second row, Ben Lesage at outside centre and Brock Webster at fullback. In the reserves for New England were Foster Dewitt #16, Josh Larsen #19, Ethan Fryer #20.

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New England and Houston Advance to MLR Final: 15 Canadians in Semi-Finals

The 2025 MLR season comes to a close next weekend when New England and Houston compete for the title at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It’s a 10,500+ stadium that is home of the Rhode Island FC, of the USL. It will be a contest between a team with the most Canadians in the league, New England, against a team with no Canadians, Houston.

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MLR Quarter-Finals This Weekend: 23 Canadians Playing – New England, Chicago, Utah and Houston Into Semi-Finals

There are 23 Canadian players taking part in the MLR quarter-finals, 4 of the players aren’t on the Canada extended list Guiseppe du Toit, Reegan O’Gorman, Seth Purdey, Josh Larsen with Ethan Fryer listed as Injury Pending.

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Final Week of MLR Regular Season Wraps Up with 29 Canadian Players in Action: Three Teams Eliminated, Playoffs Start Next Week

This was the final week of the regular season. It had the most Canadian players in action this season with 17 starters and 12 in the reserves. Next weekend the playoffs start, in the West #1 Utah hosts #4 Seattle and #2 Houston hosts #3 LA. In the East #1 New England will host #4 Miami and #2 Chicago will host #3 Old Glory.

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MLR Round 16 Roundup: 28 Canadian Players in Action, Utah Tops West, New England Leads East

There were 28 Canadians in action in Round 16, 15 starting and 13 in reserves. There’s one week left in the regular season, four teams from each conference go to the playoff round, so in the East NOLA and Anthem are out, in the West it will be either Seattle or San Diego depending on Round 17 results.

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MLR Week 15: Houston and Utah Tied in West; New England Leads East – 25 Canadian Players in Action

With 2 weeks of the regular season left, Houston and Utah are tied for points at the top of the West conference and New England tops the East conference. There were 25 Canadian players in action, 14 starting and 11 in reserves. Noah Flesch made the MLR Team of the Week for Chicago.

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