San Diego and Seattle finished first and second in the regular season, respectively, and advanced to the final after defeating New York and Toronto in the semifinals. The Seattle team was the defending champion, having won the 2018 final. Seattle defeated San Diego 26–23 in the 2019 final to take their second championship title.
Background
The 2019 Major League Rugby season began in January 2019 with nine teams all playing each other home and away. The Seattle Seawolves won the previous season's championship, defeating the Glendale Raptors at Torero Stadium in San Diego.[1]
Seattle and San Diego played each other twice during the regular season, ending in 17–13 and 28–22 victories for the Legion.[2]
Venue
Torero Stadium, home field of Major League Rugby team San Diego Legion, was selected as the venue for the final after the team finished as the top seed in the regular season.[3] The stadium with a seating capacity of 6,000 on the campus of the University of San Diego is also home to the various athletics teams of the university.[4]
Broadcasting
The match was broadcast nationally on CBS.[5] It received a rating of 0.34 (510,000).[6]
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
Elgan Williams (Wales)
Television Match Official: Davey Ardrey (United States)
Post-match
The defending champion Seattle Seawolves was once again awarded the "America's Championship Shield", which was changed to a 20-pound (9.1 kg) metal shield in the shape of the MLR logo. Seawolves scrum-halfJP Smith was named the MLR Championship Series "man of the match".[citation needed]