Big Changes Coming to MLR After Huge Deal With Catapult

• Major League Rugby and sports tech company Catapult signed a major deal.
• The MLR is heading into its third season beginning February 8, 2020.
• Commissioner George Killebrew used technology from Catapult during his time with the Dallas Mavericks.

SALT LAKE CITY – While rugby fans are gearing up for the forthcoming Major League Rugby season beginning February 8, big moves are being made with the MLR signing a major deal with sports tech company Catapult. This deal will see Catapults products being utilized by all 12 of the MLR’s teams.

Catapult is a sports analytics, technology, and performance company that provides products to over 2970 teams spread across 39 sports in 137 different countries. With the new MLR deal, Catapult is gaining more validation as a premiere asset to team sports.

The person that seems to be the most excited about this deal is newly appointed MLR commissioner George Killebrew who has used Catapult’s performance technology during his tenure as the Dallas Mavericks Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer.

MLR Taking A Step Forward

The MLR announced George Killebrew as their new commissioner on December 9, 2019. Killebrew was handpicked after an extensive search across the globe to find the perfect person for the commissioner role.

Killebrew is coming from 27 years with the Mavs where he gained experience in cooperate activation, ticket sales, arena management, sales and marketing that made him more than qualified to lead the league moving forward.

The MLR has seen great success so far in its first two seasons and now with Killebrew at the helm and expanding to 12 teams this upcoming season, the league is expected to show real growth not only for the league itself but rugby as a whole.

States with legal sports betting have also taken note and offer betting lines for MLR.

Part of that growth is to come from the deal with Catapult. When announcing the deal, Killebrew stated “I’m pleased to be partnering with Catapult once again to utilize 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.”

Catapult’s Growing Success

The deal with Catapult signifies the importance of Catapult as a company. Catapult, all puns intended, catapulted on the scene in 2006 with the hopes to improve athletes and sports with technology.

The company offers video analysis, wearable technology, and athlete management for sports teams and athletes who wish to perfect their games. The deal with between Catapult and the MLR will see those technological advancements be implemented on all 12 teams.

This is to hopefully produce a better product going forward for all parties involved. This is the second major deal Catapult has signed this year already, with Catapult signing a deal with DIMAYOR earlier in the year.

Catapult CEO Will Lopes is extremely excited about these league-wide deals, believing they are crucial for the future of the company. Lopes expressed his excitement by saying “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.”

We will get to see how Catapults technology impacts the world of rugby when the season starts on February 8, 2020.

News tags: Catapult | George Killebrew | Major League Rugby | MLR | Will Lopes