Can Rugby Go Mainstream Courtesy Of Olympics?

Stop the NFL betting for a second and let's examine the other game that looks like it's played with a football. No, not the CFL. I'm talking about the other professional game played with a ball that looks like a football.

Rugby, along with Golf, looks like it might be joining the Summer Olympics at some point in the near future. My guess is virtually 1 in 5 North Americans know what Rugby is and 1 in 30 could pick it out of a lineup of sports.

And 1 in 10000 know that EA Sports has a rugby video game.

But in all seriousness, Rugby has some potential in the Olympics but does it have any potential in the United States?

While the US Team will probably have their souls handed to them by teams from, say, New Zealand—and that's if the US even qualified, the exposure of the sport might be the kick start that it needs in the US.

Or not.

Rugby isn't a new sport, it has been around for a long time and people in the US care about it as much as they care for Chris Katan's career.

There is betting on Rugby, just like there is in all the popular major sports here and there is blood, guts, courage and excitement.

Rugby is more physical than any of the four major sports in North America but it appears to be too disorganized for fans on this side of the lake to like.

But, people used to say the same thing about mixed martial arts.

MMA was too bloody, too unruly, too hardcore, but now it's the next big thing.

Rugby won't ever rival the four major sports in North America and it's hard to envision Kansas City or Baltimore getting their own Rugby franchises in a North American Rugby league, but maybe adding Rugby to the Olympics gives it the exposure to plant this seed in North America.