URLA · Sponsor & Investor Lunch · Year-round

Sponsors decide where URLA goes next.

Monthly, year-round. URLA's sponsors are also URLA's investors — they're the people deciding which tournaments we sponsor, whether we send a team to the NRL Vegas 9s, what an off-season 9s comp looks like, and who travels on the URLA team. The lunch is where those calls get made.

RSVP for the next lunch What's on the table
Before May 31

The pre-deadline lunch — last call for jersey spots.

Jerseys go to the printer on June 1. The first lunch of the season is timed right before — late May, all five teams represented, sponsors on the fence get one last look at the kit before placements lock for 2026. If you're considering a jersey spot and haven't pulled the trigger, this is the room to be in.

Date and venue posted as soon as they're confirmed — get on the list to be notified first.

What it is

One hour. One room. Every URLA sponsor, every month, every year.

Most rugby leagues run sponsorship as a one-way transaction — you pay, your logo goes on a kit, the season ends. URLA runs it as a partnership. Sponsors fund the league. Sponsors get a vote in what URLA does with the money. We meet monthly, year-round, to debate and decide.

The format

An informal hour-long lunch — small food provided, networking on either side. Team presidents drop in to give updates. League leadership shares what's coming. Sponsors weigh in on the bigger calls (Vegas trip, off-season tournament, traveling team) and trade notes with each other.

Who's invited

Current URLA sponsors (auto-invited as a sponsorship benefit) plus businesses considering sponsoring — bring a colleague who might be interested. All five teams in one room: Broncos, Rabbitahz, Roosters, Seagulls, Raiders.

Cost

Free for current URLA sponsors and invited businesses. Bring yourself, bring your business cards. Small food covered by the league — adds up to ~$360 in lunches a year for every sponsor.

When & where

Year-round, every month. Rotating venue around the Salt Lake / Utah County area, picked to be central for that month's confirmed attendees. Off-season lunches (Nov–Apr) are when the strategic calls get made.

No-brainer math Lunch value alone covers your sponsorship

12 lunches a year × $30 each = ~$360 in covered meals.

URLA sponsors get one free lunch every month, year-round. That alone runs about $360 in food per sponsor per year — enough that most team-level sponsorships either net positive in lunch value alone or break even after the standard tax-deduction. Then add in the networking, the eyes on your business, the weekly content slots, and the marketing exposure. Those are bonuses on top of food you've already broken even on.

$100
smallest team sponsorship · $360 in lunches returns 3.6× the spend in food alone.
$310
covers a player's full registration · $360 in lunches still returns more than the sponsorship cost.
$500
mid-tier team package · ~$380 net after tax-deduction. Lunch value covers nearly the full spend.
$1,500
jersey-front placement · ~$1,140 net after tax. Lunch trims it to ~$780 in real outlay.

Math: 12 lunches × ~$30/lunch = $360. Tax assumes 24% effective business rate. Confirm with your accountant.

What's on the table

Where URLA goes next is decided here.

Every initiative below is driven by sponsor & investor input at the lunches. Funding it = backing it. Backing it = voting on what it looks like.

Vegas

NRL Vegas 9s sponsorship & trip

URLA travels to and sponsors a slot at the NRL Vegas 9s. Sponsors who back this trip get logo placement on the URLA squad jersey at one of the highest-profile rugby league events in the US, plus a seat at the table planning who travels and what the squad looks like.

Tournament

URLA off-season 9s tournament

A short-format URLA-hosted tournament that fills the November–February gap. Keeps players active off-season, gives sponsors more match-day reach, and creates a second annual sponsorship cycle. Sponsors & investors decide whether we run it as a single weekend, a multi-week series, or invitational.

Traveling Team

Utah traveling team

A URLA representative side that competes at out-of-state US rugby league fixtures and selected international invitationals. Sponsors fund the trip; the trip drives URLA's brand outside Utah; players get higher-level reps. Sponsors & investors weigh in on selection criteria, schedule, and gear.

New initiatives

Whatever URLA takes on next

New tournaments, partnerships with other US leagues, junior pathway expansions, content series — URLA's growth roadmap is set with the sponsor & investor group at the lunches. If you want a vote, this is the room to be in.

Sponsor & investor calls are advisory + collaborative — URLA's board sets final policy, but no major initiative ships without the lunch group's input.

What you get out of it

The actual reasons to show up.

  • Direct face time with all five team presidents. They know their teams' players, their teams' social reach, and where your logo will land. If you sponsor one team, you can talk to the others. If you're undecided, you can ask all five at once.
  • Networking with the URLA sponsor roster. The sponsors at this lunch are local business owners and operators — same room as your potential customers and referral partners. This is the table.
  • Mid-month league updates. Where we are on the season, what's coming, where we need help. Sponsors are the league's first audience, before any public announcement.
  • A growth & operations segment from Ghost Zero Marketing — short, practical content for local business owners (lead-gen tactics, ad approaches, ops shortcuts). One topic per month. Skip if you're not interested; stay if you are.
  • A real reason to be in the room with players + presidents outside of a game day. Sponsors who attend lunches end up with deeper relationships with their team — better testimonial videos, better photo ops, better stories.
Sponsorship buys you the placement. Lunch buys you the relationships that turn one season into five.
Year-round schedule

One lunch per month. Every month. Year-round.

Confirmed dates and venues post here as soon as they're locked. Sponsors on the RSVP list get notified directly the moment a date drops.

Jan

Vegas NRL 9s recap + Traveling Team kickoff

Vegas trip recap · 2026 traveling-team selection opens · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Feb

Pre-season strategy + jersey design preview

New-season planning · jersey artwork sneak peek · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Mar

Sponsor + investor onboarding

New sponsors close before kit production · onboarding for 2026 partners · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Apr

Early jersey-deadline call

Six weeks before the May 31 print deadline · last quiet window for jersey placements · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
May

Pre-deadline jersey lunchFeatured

Right before the May 31 jersey-print deadline · all five teams · last call for jersey spots · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Jun

Season-opener lunch

First lunch of the in-season run · meet your players · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Jul

Mid-season check-in

Halfway through the season · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Aug

Try-of-the-summer lunch

Highlights, recaps, what's coming · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Sep

Pre-finals lunch

Championship preview · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Oct

Season wrap + 2027 first-look

End-of-season analytics report shared · 2027 sponsorship first-right-of-refusal opens · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Nov

Off-season 9s planning + Vegas trip prep

Off-season 9s tournament strategy · Vegas NRL 9s trip planning · date + venue: TBD

Notify me
Dec

Year-end + 2027 traveling-team intent

Annual review · 2027 traveling-team selections begin · sponsor first-right-of-refusal closes · date + venue: TBD

Notify me

Schedule is a placeholder until each month's date and venue lock in. Pattern: one lunch per month, generally mid-month, year-round.

RSVP

Get on the list.

Tell us you're in and we'll email each lunch's confirmed date + venue the moment it locks. Current 2026 URLA sponsors are auto-added — this form is for businesses on the fence and friends-of-the-league.

Email instead

FAQ

Quick answers.

Why both "sponsor" and "investor"?

Most months you'll just hear "sponsor" — that's the standard term. We use "investor" alongside it because URLA's bigger-picture initiatives (Vegas 9s, off-season tournament, traveling team) are decided at these lunches by the sponsor group. You're not just buying a logo placement — you're funding URLA's growth and you get a vote in where it goes. Same person, same money, two ways of describing the role.

Do I have to be a sponsor to attend?

No. The lunch is open to current sponsors, businesses considering sponsoring, and friends-of-the-league. If you're curious about how URLA works or you want to see what an investor seat looks like before committing, this is the easiest way to find out.

What's it cost?

Free. The league covers the food. Bring yourself, bring your business cards.

How long is it?

One hour, lunch-time. Show up, eat, ask questions, network, vote on what we're running next, leave. We respect your work day.

Where is it?

Rotating venue across the Wasatch Front — picked each month to be central for that month's confirmed attendees. The location lands the moment we have ten or more RSVPs for a date.

Can I bring a colleague or potential business partner?

Yes — please. The whole point is sponsors meeting other local business operators. Bring whoever you'd want to talk shop with.

What if I can't make a specific month?

No problem. There's a lunch every month, year-round. Skip the ones that don't work, come to the ones that do. The big strategic decisions (Vegas, traveling team, off-season 9s) get debated across multiple lunches — you won't miss your shot to weigh in.

What's the "growth and operations" segment?

A 10-minute talk from Ghost Zero Marketing on a single tactical topic for local businesses (lead capture, ad copy, ops shortcuts). Optional — skip the segment if it's not for you.

Who do I contact? Email sponsors@utahrugbyleague.com.