Lodi, CA: Women’s Elite Rugby To Follow The Success Seen In Obetz
As followers of this blog would know, I reside in the North State region of Northern California (the ten most northern counties of the state east of the coast), and because of that the closest professional rugby team to me was the Seattle Seawolves. They’re located two states north of me. Yes, Seattle, Washington is closer to me than Los Angeles or San Diego, California. This has made cheering for Major League Rugby (MLR) teams difficult because, like most Northern Californians, I love to actively root against teams from each of those regions. I find myself in the same predicament as the once unfortunate New York fans when they were stuck with New England and DC being their closest teams. That was until now, that is!
Thanks to Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) there is once again a professional rugby team in the northern half of the state (and also in New York), is the Bay Breakers! Being originally from the South Bay, I have no qualms with attaching myself to Bay Area teams. Like most fans in my circumstances, my mind was a flurry after the announcement wondering where the team would be located. After all, the Bay Area is rather expansive. San Francisco was the first place that came to mind because… duh? There were other good choices, though, such as Berkeley, San Jose, Oakland, etc. Then, after all the speculations, they finally announced the venues for each of the Original Six franchises. The home venue of the Bay Breakers is the Grape Bowl (never heard of it) in Lodi, Cali… errrr do you want to try that again? No? You’re good with that? Okey dokie than…
For those not familiar with California’s geography, Lodi is not part of the Bay Area. It is actually inland near Stockton and Sacramento as part of the Central Valley region. It is also part of our wine country (which explains why it’s called the Grape Bowl). Now, it may very well have been a financial decision to play in Lodi with the Bay Area consisting of some of the most expensive places to live in the nation, but playing in Lodi may end up being a very smart decision. “What makes you say that?”, you might ask. Simple, the Ohio Aviators and Obetz.
If you’re a new fan to rugby thanks to USA Women’s Olympic 7’s team winning bronze, or even if due to MLR, you may have never heard of the Ohio Aviators, and chances are you probably haven’t heard of Obetz, Ohio. The Aviators played in the inaugural (and only) season of the now defunct PRO Rugby (Professional Rugby Organization Rugby… still a dumb name). PRO Rugby played in 2016 and really laid the groundwork for MLR (possibly more on that in a later piece). Obetz is a suburb of Columbus, and many people had the same reaction to that announcement as I did about Lodi. As it turned out though, Obetz became one of the only success stories that came out of that saga of American rugby.
By the end of the season the Aviators had a strong and loyal fan base made up of almost entirely new to rugby people. Fan engagement and support was so high that a 6,500 seater stadium (not bad for a place with a population of only 6,971) was built using public funds with grand plans of it being the home for youth to professional rugby (and lacrosse). There are several parallels that suggest Lodi could be the WER version of Obetz.
Even though Lodi is not a suburb and boasts a population almost ten times that of Obetz, it is similar in that they don’t have any sports teams to call their own. Where the people of Obetz only had to travel about 20 minutes to Columbus to watch professional sport; Lodi citizens had to travel about an hour to Sacramento to their closest professional sports teams.
If we look at said professional sports teams, we will see similarities between the would be completion. Columbus has the Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS) and then there’s the Ohio Machine of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) that calls Obetz home. Sacramento has the Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) will call the city home for three seasons, and Sacramento FC of the United Soccer League (USL). If the Aviators managed to build a strong enough fan base to warrant the construction of a brand new stadium that could seat almost the entire town with an NHL and MLS teams just 20 minutes away(not to mention the MLL team in the same small town); I believe there’s no reason why the Bay Breakers cannot do the same.
Another piece to the puzzle that these two have in common is the fact that there’s really not much else to do. Having grown up in suburbia, like Obetz, I can tell you the number one thing to do is go somewhere else. Again, Lodi is not a suburb, but they have a lack of entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, there are things to do there. With it being wine country there are lots of wine tasting options; plus there’s a lake to kayak, swim or paddle board on. There’s also a science museum, but that’s pretty much it though. The Breakers have a chance to become the attraction for the city, just like the Aviators were becoming of Obetz.
It’s not like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco where a team would literally have to compete against every kind of entertainment imaginable. There’s no Broadway, runway shows, art expos, historic shopping districts, or world renowned restaurants. There are some bars and clubs that represent the nightlife of the city, but those are for after the match anyway!
Whether international or due to financial circumstances, WER might just have found a recipe for success. By placing the Breakers in an area without professional sports teams of its own, and few main attractions, they are poised to capture this community. In doing so, potentially creating a new hotbed for our beloved sport.
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