SAN JOSE, Calif. – PayPal Park, home of the San Jose Earthquakes, will host the Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) Western Conference Finals on Saturday, July 15. Premier Rugby Sevens is North America’s top-tier women’s and men’s rugby sevens competition.
With plans to host five tournaments in 2023, each PR7s event will boast a party-like atmosphere with bands, DJs, games, and contests. Tickets for the Western Conference Finals at PayPal Park are now available here. Additional dates and markets will be announced in the coming weeks.
PR7s also announced the name of their new Bay Area franchise: the Golden State Retrievers. The Retrievers will host an open tryout at San Jose State University on Sunday, Jan. 22.
“As our league grows, it was important for us to have a franchise to represent the Bay Area, which has had a tremendous rugby fanbase for many years,” said Owen Scannell, CEO of Premier Rugby Sevens. “We hosted a very successful tournament at PayPal Park last year, and we’re thrilled to return in 2023. The Golden State Retrievers will be part of the Bay Area community throughout the year and highlighted as the hosts of the Western Conference Finals on July 15.”
PR7s tournaments will include a series of eight 14-minute games, rotating between the men’s and women’s competitions on the same day. Each event will crown a men’s and women’s winner. The season-long competition will build towards the 2023 Championship Tournament, where one franchise will take home the 2023 PR7s United Championship – an unprecedented prize that combines the men’s and women’s results. Additionally, the last men’s team standing will take home the A. Jon Prusmack Cup, and the winning women’s team will receive the Kathy Flores Cup, honoring two major pioneers in American rugby.
Before the season, each franchise will run PR7s Open Trials in their home markets to search for talent in their region. On Jan. 22, the Retrievers will host its first Open Trials at San Jose State University located at 1278 S 10th St, San Jose, CA 95112. At Open Trials, franchises evaluate male and female athletes to compete to make a roster alongside Olympians and national team players. The local franchises will have the right of first refusal to draft these players in the upcoming expansion draft. The professional league offers pathways for players to have opportunities to also play internationally.
As a league, PR7s doubled in size this year with an elevated competition format. The top two teams from each conference will qualify for the 2023 Championship tournament. The following is the PR7s conference breakdown:
Eastern Conference
Texas Team
New York Locals
Southern Headliners
Western Pennsylvania – name to be announced
Western Conference
Northern Loonies
SoCal Loggerheads (licensed by Rhinos Rugby)
Rocky Mountain Experts
Golden State Retrievers
Last year, the PR7s 2022 season included over 30 matches through tournaments at the MLS stadiums in San Jose, Washington, D.C., and Austin. The Southern Headliners took home the first United Championship, led by Team USA Olympic co-captain Abby Gustaitis for the Headliners women and U.S. national team player Adam Channel for the men’s team. The Headliners women also took home the Kathy Flores Cup. The men of the SoCal Loggerheads were awarded the A. Jon Prusmack Cup as they were led to victory by U.S. Olympians Martin Iosefo and Matai Leuta.
About Premier Rugby Sevens
Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) is a groundbreaking professional sports league in North America that debuted in 2021. With a focus on accessibility and entertaining content for fans, the league showcases the electrifying sport of rugby sevens through a touring format in cities across the United States and Canada. PR7s is the first sports organization of its kind, with four women’s teams and four men’s teams under one umbrella with equal pay. To learn more about Premier Rugby Sevens, go to PRSevens.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About PayPal Park
PayPal Park, home to Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes, is an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium located on Coleman Ave. adjacent to the San Jose International Airport. The European-inspired building is the first cloud-enabled venue in MLS and is among the most technologically advanced stadiums in the world. The stadium features a canopy roof and the steepest-raked seating in MLS to provide the best possible fan experience. Additionally, the north end zone houses the largest outdoor bar in North America, a two-acre fan zone and a double-sided video scoreboard. The suites and club seats are located at field level, giving fans a premium experience unlike any other in professional sports. The stadium has hosted numerous non-MLS regular season events since its inaugural season in 2015, including the International Champions Cup, numerous U.S. Women’s National Team friendlies, the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, the 2016 Major League Soccer All-Star Game against Arsenal FC and a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier for the U.S. Men’s National Team. For more information about PayPal Park, visit www.sjearthquakes.com.
