Sports technology organisation Catapult has announced a deal with Major League Rugby (MLR), North America’s premier rugby union competition, which will see all 12 of its teams incorporate the company’s technology for the upcoming 2020 season.
Kicking off on 8 February, MLR has a 17-week regular season and follows a league-plus-knockout format where teams play 16 regular season matches for a chance to advance to the playoffs.
This upcoming season will see the league enter its third campaign in which time it has evolved from a seven team contest to 12, featuring 11 outfits from the United States and one from Canada.
MLR Commissioner George Killebrew, who previously used Catapult’s technology when working for the Dallas Mavericks, discussed how the league-wide deal could enhance the development of the MLR’s athletes.
He stated: “I’m pleased to be partnering with Catapult once again to utilise their top of the line sports technology capabilities. I know the difference that their products can make for professional athletes and I feel this partnership is crucial for continued development of our athlete’s training, and our league analytics.”
As well as the partnership with the MLR, Catapult has also completed multiple high-profile deals in the US in the last month, including ones with Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays and Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls academy.
Will Lopes, Catapult CEO, added: “League-wide deals are extremely important for us as a business because they validate the importance that our products bring to athletes and teams in helping them reach peak performance and stay healthy.
“They also allow us and our league partners to work on opportunities like fan engagement applications that don’t present themselves in a team-by-team setting.
“Being able to announce DIMAYOR and Major League Rugby in the first few weeks of 2020 is a compelling reason for why we’re excited for the future of Catapult as the leading sports performance platform.”
Catapult’s deal with DIMAYOR, which was signed earlier in the year, has seen the Australian company provide both the Liga BetPlay DIMAYOR and Torneo BetPlay DIMAYOR with wearable and video technology.
At the time, Matt Bairos, Catapult chief commercial officer, concluded: “Our presence in LATAM has been organic and exponential, and we have a great team on the ground which is delivering rapid market education and technology deployment. This is our second league-wide deal in the region and it cements our position as the chosen performance partner for the best teams in North and South America.”
