Women's Elite Rugby (WER) is an annual

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

women's rugby union Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's r ...

club competition at the top level of the United States rugby union system. It is contested by six clubs, owned by the league and operated by investor-operators, who play two round robins for spots in a championship-determining

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

tournament. It began play in the 2025 season, superseding the

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

Women's Premier League (WPL). The league was founded by WPL executives in 2023, as the final stage of their efforts to professionalise American women's rugby union. A growth in the game was anticipated ahead of an Olympic tournament and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

to be hosted in the United States, which the league sought to capitalise upon by offering a professional league to American players that would otherwise take on professional opportunities abroad, such as in England's

Premiership Women's Rugby Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run b ...

. All

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front offic ...

staff are paid full-time wages, while players are paid monthly

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

s. The league's matches are

livestreamed Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- live ...

worldwide by

DAZN DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...

History

Foundation and development

Having deemed its

pay-to-play model as "no longer sustainable", the Women's Premier League (WPL), an iteration of the top-level women's rugby union club competition in the United States founded in 2009, embarked on its "Ignite the Change" campaign in 2022 that sought to professionalize women's rugby union in the United States. The campaign led to a

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

being formed in mid-2023 to establish a for-profit professional league, to capitalize on the perceived rise of professional women's sports, and both the 2028 Olympic rugby sevens tournament and

2033 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2033 Women's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the twelfth edition of the women's Rugby World Cup. The tournament will be held in the United States. This will be the second Women's Rugby World Cup to be held in the Americas. The previous on ...

to be hosted in the United States. A retention of American players and an expansion of rugby union's reach into the American sports market were also touted as goals for the new league; twelve of the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

2024 Pacific Four Series The 2024 Pacific Four Series was the fourth edition of the Pacific Four Series, an international women's rugby union tournament that serves as one of the principal qualification routes for the top two tiers of the 2024 WXV and the 2025 Women's ...

squad played in England's semi-professional

instead of an American league. The league was publicly unveiled as "Women's Elite Rugby" in an April 2024

press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

, announcing that its inaugural season will be played the following year, and that it'll seek to be profitable by its third season. A pre-seed

funding round A securities offering (or funding round or investment round) is a discrete round of investment, by which a business or other enterprise raises money to fund operations, expansion, a capital (economics), capital project, an acquisition, or some oth ...

that same month raised $500,000 for the league through

SAFE A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

s with the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm Chasing Rainbows, and former

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

executive Deb Henretta, along with other unnamed

family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...

s and

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

s. In May, the league embarked on a

seed round Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggest ...

that lasted until March 2025, which aimed to raise $3 million, and are planning a

series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

in mid-2025. Amid this, the national rugby sevens team's surprise bronze medal win at the 2024 Olympic tournament sparked a surge in player registrations for

USA Rugby USA Rugby (formally the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugby ...

-sanctioned women's clubs – dubbed the ''"

Ilona Maher Ilona Delsing Rosa Maher ( ; born August 12, 1996) is an American rugby union player. As of December 2024, she has signed for Bristol Bears in the Premiership Women's Rugby league and began playing for them in January 2025. She won bronze with ...

effect"'' – which the league's marketing campaign sought to benefit from, despite Maher playing for the

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

. During an open call in September to October, the league received applications from 385 players expressing interest in signing for a WER team.

First seasons (2025–present)

In the months leading up to the start of their inaugural season in March 2025, the league promoted its launch with publicized unveilings of each team's

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

ings, co-designed by the league and British

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

Matta;

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

es; and first five signings, referred to as the teams' "Foundational Five". They included Rachel Ehrecke, McKenzie Hawkins, and

Maya Learned Maya Learned (born 1 January 1996) is an American rugby union player. She plays at Prop for the United States women's national rugby union team, United States internationally and recently joined Denver Onyx for the inaugural season of 2025 Women's ...

, who all signed for the Denver Onyx. The first ever WER match was played on March 21 at The Stadium at Memorial Field in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...

– a New York Exiles home game loss to the Boston Banshees, during which Misha Green-Yotts scored the league's first try.

Organization

Women's Elite Rugby's

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

is former national rugby sevens team player Jessica Hammond-Graf, and its

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

legal historian Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...

and information specialist Katherine Aversano, while former

Dallas Jackals The Dallas Jackals were a Major League Rugby team that began play in the 2022 Major League Rugby season, 2022 season as an expansion franchise. They were originally going to join the MLR for the 2021 Major League Rugby season, 2021 season, but on ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Phil Camm is its executive adviser. Stacy Carone, Koma Gandy, Jenny Houlihan, and Hallie Martin also sit on the league's

alongside Hammond-Graf and Aversano. The league and its teams'

staff will be paid on a full-time basis.

Format

In Women's Elite Rugby's

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, consisting thirty games in total played from March to June, each team plays a double round robin to earn spots in a playoff tournament that determines the league's champion. The format of the playoffs are yet to be finalised.

Teams

Women's Elite Rugby's six charter

franchises Franchise may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Media franchise, a collection of related creative works, such as films, video games, books, etc., particularly in North American usage * "Franchise" (short story), a 1955 short story ...

– the Bay Breakers, Boston Banshees, Chicago Tempest, Denver Onyx, New York Exiles, and Twin Cities Gemini – are based in the locations of the seven clubs in the preceding WPL, chosen their "unique, storied history with the sport of rugby." An expansion to eight teams or more within its first ten seasons is planned. Each team is run by investor-operators with shares in the WER itself, with the league itself retaining a degree of control over the recruitment of players and personnel. Up to thirty players can be signed to a team, with each player compensated with monthly

s throughout the season. While players benefit from travel cost and

accident insurance Accident insurance is a type of insurance where the policy holder is paid directly in the event of an accident resulting in injury of the insured. The insured can spend the benefit payment however they choose. Accident insurance is complementary to ...

coverage, the exact amount of pay players receive has not been publicly disclosed by the league.

Broadcasting

Women's Elite Rugby's 2025 season is

worldwide by the

streaming service Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

, who provide WER matches as one of its free-to-watch offerings. The global broadcasting deal with DAZN was made to "create an entertaining rugby product for Americans", according to Hammond-Graf, while gaining exposure for the league among rugby fans outside of the franchise markets, and among women's sports fans in general. The value of the deal was not publicly disclosed.

References

External links

Official website
{{Major women's sport leagues in North America 2024 establishments in the United States Professional sports leagues in the United States Rugby union leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2024 Women's rugby union competitions in the United States Women's rugby union leagues Women's sports leagues in the United States