Like most big pieces of MLR news, the announcement of the Supplemental Draft was made via a relatively brief press release.
No pomp and circumstance. No fanfare. Not even advanced warning.
In a way, this makes sense. MLR remains a largely semi pro league. The Supplemental Draft itself proved that (more on that in a later piece). While the league office is made of full time, hard working staff, it lacks the media arm of established pro leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB, all of which have their own media networks. Even the major college conferences, like the B10 and SEC, have media outlets. For many reasons, MLR’s ability to keep us informed is admirable.
What stands out is what wasn’t announced: draft results.
Saying that teams with be making announcements in the future doesn’t make much sense. Are they trying to build suspense? Respectfully, Dallas was an expansion without too much in terms of huge names. Sure, we’re all intrigued to see where Conner Monneyham lands, but there’s not much to wait for after that.
Even stranger, we don’t know exactly who was in the draft pool. Four players opted for severance. Which four? How do you even know which sixteen had full time contracts making them eligible? The Dallas roster identifies Developmental Players, but makes no attempt to clarify who is full time. Who are the six college students that received waivers?
None of these facts will impact the product on the field. But as the league grows, so does the number of highly engaged fans. They can’t watch games every day, but they can chew on news. If the league wants to deepen the engagement of the core fan base, it needs to make the fans aware of the drama off the field with as much clarity as possible.
RugbyFootballTalk 
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