Major League Rugby Down Two Teams for MLR 2026 Season

Major League Rugby is officially down two teams for the MLR 2026 season. Tumultuous back-to-back days have brought changes with one team now continuing beyond the 2025 season and two others merging to create a new franchise.

ARN’s Bryan Ray reported:

“Sad day for NOLA fans. Players were informed today that the Gold are out of #MLR2026“

The New Orleans Gold was founded in 2017 and competed in the rookie MLR season in 2018. The rookie season involved eight teams while expansion saw the league reaching a peak of thirteen teams for MLR 2022.

The NOLA Gold had their best MLR season in 2024. The team lost the Eastern Conference Semi Final 45–21 against the Chicago Hounds. In the recently completed MLR 2025 season, the NOLA Gold finished fifth in the Western Conference during the regular season with a record of 4 wins and 12 losses.

In addition to NOLA Gold’s departure, MLR will also have a second reduction for the 2026 season. Two teams are merging to form a new one: the San Diego Legion and RFC Los Angles will compete as the California Legion in the 2026 season. The club will play home matches in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County.

The San Diego Legion was competitive in MLR 2024; yet, finished bottom of the Western Conference. The San Diego Legion were Semi Finalists in the inaugural MLR season and beaten finalists in 2019. The team were also finalists in MLR 2023.

RFC Los Angeles finished third in the Western Conference of MLR 2025. While playing as Rugby ATL, the franchise won the East Conference Final in MLR 2021 but lost the MLR Final against the defunct Los Angeles Giltinis.

A summary of former MLR competitors is as follows:

Austin Gilgronis competed in MLR 2018-2022.
Colorado Raptors competed in MLR 2018-2020.
Dallas Jackals competed in MLR 2022-2024.
LA Giltinis competed in MLR 2021-2022.
Rugby New York competed in MLR 2019-2023.
Toronto Arrows competed in MLR 2019-2023.
Rugby Atlanta competed in MLR 2020-2023; and relocated to Los Angeles for MLR 2024-2025.
NOLA Gold competed in MLR 2028-2025.
San Diego Legion and Los Angeles merge to become California Legion for MLR 2026.