After an 11-week regular season, the league\u2019s top four teams will advance to a single-elimination tournament. The semifinal round will match up the league’s No. 1 and No. 4 teams and the league\u2019s No. 2 and No. 3 teams in a Sunday Night Rugby doubleheader, with the winners advancing to the championship the following week.<\/p>\n
\u201cChicago has consistently proven itself as a premier host for historic rugby events \u2014 from the 2023 MLR Championship to massive recent international matches \u2014 while also boasting a rich and proud grassroots and club rugby tradition,\u201d said Alex Magleby, Co-President of Major League Rugby. \u201cSeatGeek Stadium offers arguably the best playing surface in our league, making it the perfect stage for a championship moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith multiple fields surrounding the stadium for additional rugby activations in the lead up, this will be a true tent-pole weekend for North American rugby, and we look forward to announcing a series of exciting events in the coming weeks \u2014 all culminating in a Father\u2019s Day MLR Final on Sunday evening. It promises to be electric \u2014 an opportunity to bring together MLR supporters and rugby fans, new and lifelong alike, for a remarkable celebration of our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
SeatGeek Stadium hosted the 2023 MLR Championship, welcoming more than 10,000 fans to an action-packed final. The New England Free Jacks overcame a four-point halftime deficit to upset the San Diego Legion, 25-24 for the Free Jacks\u2019 first MLR Shield.<\/p>\n
In addition to being the home of the Chicago Hounds, SeatGeek Stadium, located just outside of downtown Chicago, also hosts the Chicago Stars FC of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of MLS Next Pro. The 20,000-seat venue will be celebrating its 20th year of providing world-class entertainment for the community this June.<\/p>\n
During last season\u2019s thrilling final in Pawtucket, R.I., the New England Free Jacks became the first team in MLR history to win three straight titles, doing so with a thrilling victory in the first major championship sporting event in Centreville Bank Stadium history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled and honored to bring the Major League Rugby Championship Final back to Chicago this summer,\u201d said James English, CEO of the Chicago Hounds. \u201cChicago has consistently proven itself as the destination for rugby in the U.S. With its unmatched energy, vibrant summer atmosphere, and passionate fans, there\u2019s simply no better place to be than Dawg Town on June 21.\u201d<\/p>\n
All 2026 playoff matches, including the 2026 MLR Championship, will be broadcast on ESPN2, ESPN+ and around the world.<\/p>\n
Additional information on ticket sales and event updates will be shared later in the season, and fans can register below for presale information about the 2026 MLR Championship. <\/p>\n
RELIVE THE 2023 MLR CHAMPIONSHIP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After an 11-week regular season, the league\u2019s top four teams will advance to a single-elimination tournament. The semifinal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-490967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}