I watched the Super Bowl last month because my city's team was in it for the first time in my whole life. Two things came out of this. I remembered how much I don't like football. But it also made me want to find a way to start watching rugby, which football was born from and which I played in high school. But I hadn't kept up with the sport in years.
Turns out there is a league in North America now called Major League Rugby which started a few years back and has grown to 13 teams. The league is trying hard to grow the audience for the sport, which is where this recommendation comes from. Matches are FREE to watch on The Rugby Network, which is a streaming app/channel available on basically every device in existence (I have it on my phone and Roku stick). I've been having a blast. It's the first time in years that I've gotten this into watching sports and it's fun to help out in some small way in growing a sport that isn't as popular as I'd like in the USA.
I feel like this league is doing it right. They have a great app (
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.publisherstoolbox.mlrapp&hl=en_US&gl=US) for keeping tabs on match times and standings, they show the matches free on The Rugby Network (
https://www.therugbynetwork.com/) as well as highlights and some rugby-related shows, they have good Rugby 101 content to help new fans, and they're doing a lot of outreach with high schools, colleges and youth leagues to build the player base at a grassroots level.
I don't know how long TRN will remain free, but check it out while it is and enjoy.
I am not affiliated with the league or its apps. I'm just some dude.