North American Rugby Database

Preview

SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL plays host to the 2026 Major League Rugby Championship Game between the hometown Chicago Hounds and the California Legion. This is the 2nd MLR Championship Game to take place in Chicago, following the 2023 Final between the New England Free Jacks and San Diego Legion.

The Chicago Hounds come into this game as heavy favourites in front of a home crowd. They dominated the regular season with a 10-0 record and the maximum possible points total of 50, before demolishing Old Glory DC in the semifinals, 59-22 to earn their spot in their first ever Championship Game. The California Legion are also in their first Final in their current iteration, although their namesake the San Diego Legion featured in two finals, losing the 2019 Shield to the Seattle Seawolves, and the 2023 Final to the Free Jacks as mentioned above. The Legion had a trickier time getting to this final. They finished the regular season with an even 5-5 record that included a pretty comprehensive loss to the Seawolves in the final week in the regular season, before avenging this loss with a strong victory over Seattle the following week in the Semifinals at the formidable Starfire Stadium. Unsurprisingly, the undefeated Chicago Hounds swept the regular season series between these two teams, defeating the Legion 48-24 in this very stadium back in Round 3, before taking a closer, 26-36 victory on the road at Saint Mary’s Stadium in the Bay Area in Round 8.