Major League Rugby’s 2021 season saw the addition of the star-studded LA Giltinis side. The Dallas Jackals were also planning to enter the league for this season, but lingering effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic meant that the Jackals had to defer their entry to the 2022 season.

2021 saw the same regular season structure as was planned for the shortened 2020 season, with each team facing each other team within their conference both home and away, and each team outside their conference either home or away to create a 16 game regular season. The regular season was followed by a 3-week Championship Series, starting with the Eliminator round which pitted the #2 & #3 seeds from each conference against each other, the victor advancing to face the #1 seed in the Conference Finals. The Conference Finals saw teams fighting for a place in the Championship Final, contested by the champions of each conference.