The second season of Women's Elite Rugby kicks off this weekend with fresh capital, venue upgrades, and a clearer sense of what it takes to build a professional women's sport in America. The semi-pro league launches Saturday with matches in Massachusetts and Illinois as the organization sets its sights on the 2033 World Cup coming to US soil.
Dr Jessica Hammond-Graf, the league's president and chief sporting officer, came to rugby late and somewhat by accident. An Army kid who played soccer growing up, she tried Ultimate Frisbee in college at the University of Connecticut before a dormmate suggested she try rugby. She showed up to her first game already placed at fly-half, a position that requires directing play from the field.
"Someone was running by me and was like, 'Where am I supposed to go?' And I'm like, 'I don't even know where I'm supposed to be. So like, let's just figure this out, right?'" she recalled.
That kind of deep-end plunge was once the American way in rugby. But the game has evolved, and so has Hammond-Graf. She spent decades coaching at Temple University and the Naval Academy while playing for teams including the DC Furies and the New Orleans Half-Moons. By 2022, when the US won the hosting rights for the women's World Cup, she had stepped away from rugby entirely. The league's leadership approached her about joining an external board specifically to professionalize the operation.
Season one launched last March across six cities: Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis-St Paul, Boston, and New York. The Denver Onyx won the inaugural championship, but more importantly, the league gathered hard lessons about what it takes to operate as a professional entity.
Finding and securing the right venues proved brutally difficult. Hammond-Graf said the league realized quickly that it could no longer depend on park and recreation fields.
"We talk about elevating. You don't want to just play on the parks and rec fields any more. We've all done that, and we're now women playing in stadiums," she said. "But we don't need 20,000-seat stadiums to capture an audience."
For year two, the Bay Breakers moved to Heart Health Park in Sacramento, a venue the US national team recently used to play New Zealand. Chicago switched to Benedictine University, which offers better training facilities.
Season two also brings new money. Grammy-winning singer Meghan Trainor joined as an investor and was announced with considerable fanfare this week. The visibility matters as much as the capital in a sport fighting for mainstream attention.
Hammond-Graf sees the path forward split between establishing parity on the field and expanding geographically. Last season, Chicago finished winless in 10 games while Denver won nine of 10 and crushed New York Exiles 53-13 in the championship. Lopsided contests, she noted, don't build devoted audiences.
"We know fans will stick around for exciting matches," she said. "With tight games, people stay involved."
The league also plans to push south and west. Most current rugby development in the US clusters above the Mason-Dixon line, but Hammond-Graf sees talent scattered across DC, North Carolina, San Diego, and Los Angeles that could feed expansion teams.
That talent pipeline matters enormously as the national team builds toward 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2033 World Cup. Five players from Women's Elite Rugby suited up for the Eagles' recent matches against Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Many top American players still ply their trade in England's Premiership, but Hammond-Graf is working to make sure WER can compete for the best homegrown talent, including from college ranks.
Working alongside Jamie Burke, the league's director of rugby and a former Eagles prop, Hammond-Graf eliminated combines to lower barriers for tryouts. The league sent scouts to college games and cast a deliberately wide net during the recent declaration period.
Continuity matters too. Five of the six head coaches from season one return for year two, with Chicago bringing in Kristin Zdanczewicz partway through last season.
Hammond-Graf recently attended Senior Day at Dartmouth College, long a powerhouse in women's college rugby. When one graduating player announced she planned to play professional rugby, Hammond-Graf said her heart swelled.
"Whether it's in the US or whether it's overseas, that desire, that recognition that this is possible now," she said. "This is something young players can see as a pathway forward."
Author James Rodriguez: "A pop star investor and better venues matter, but Hammond-Graf's real insight is that parity sells better than dominance, and building a professional league requires thinking like a CEO, not a coach."
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