About

The Miami Sharks are a professional rugby union team in Major League Rugby (MLR) based in Miami, Florida. The team was founded in 2023 and began play during the 2024 season. Their home stadium is AutoNation Sports Field in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the training grounds of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF. History On February 8, 2023, Major League Rugby announced that the Miami Sharks would be joining the league in 2024. Owned by Argentine businessmen Ronaldo “Kony” Strazzolini, Alejandro Macfarlane, and Mercado Libre chairman Marcos Galperin, the team appointed former Toronto Arrows executive Mark Winokur as CEO, Mariano Marco as COO and former Argentina U20 manager José Pellicena as head coach. Pellicena has also previously served as an assistant with the Argentina national team under Mario Ledesma and former Super Rugby side Jaguares under Raúl Pérez. On April 26, 2023 the Sharks announced the signing of Argentine international scrum-half Tomás Cubelli, the first player's signing of the team. The same day, the team held a launch party in Miami with a few Argentine company directors and personalities like tennis player Juan Martín del Potro, model Claudia Albertario and former Argentina international player Juan Martín Hernández who's one of the franchise's ambassadors. In July 2023 the Miami Sharks parted ways with CEO Mark Winokur and hired Mariano Filippini for the position. Filippini previously played as a flanker for Club San Andrés and more recently was an executive for Univision and HSBC Bank Argentina. On September 15, 2023 the Sharks announced that a partnership with Inter Miami CF would allow them to play home games at the AutoNation Sports Field, their training facility in Fort Lauderdale. The stadium capacity would be expanded to include up to 5,000 spectators.