[3] In 2012, the American Professional Rugby Competition was reported to be exploring a launch of a ten-team league for 2015,[4] but nothing came of it.

[7] On November 9, 2015, PRO Rugby made an official announcement outlining its plans and a framework for the competition.

[10] Though teams were scheduled to have coaches by the end of 2015,[11] the uncertainty caused by the open position for head coach of the U.S. national rugby team led to PRO Rugby announcements being put on hold.

[14] PRO Rugby announced on February 9, 2016 that the league's fourth team would be based in Columbus, Ohio.

PRO Rugby officially announced on February 26, 2016 that Denver would be the competition's fifth team.

[18][19] The inaugural PRO Rugby Championship was decided in the last game of the season on July 31, 2016, with the Denver Stampede clinching the title by gaining a bonus point despite losing away to the Ohio Aviators 32–25.

It was later reported that Lewis claimed PRO Rugby and Schoninger owed him unpaid salary and expenses; Lewis filed a claim in court, went to the New York state labor board, and also filed a grievance with USA Rugby.

[24] Expansion had been anticipated to include Canada in 2017, with PRO Rugby close to agreeing to place teams in Toronto and Vancouver.

To recover some of their lost income, some players filed claims with their local labor commissioner offices.

[36] The following foreign PRO Rugby players have earned caps for a Tier One nation: PRO Rugby also signed several US-capped internationals who had been playing professionally overseas: Matches were available to stream through prorugby.org or on cable through ONE World Sports.

[38] The league signed a deal with Time Warner Cable to provide streaming of games from Ohio on April 28, 2016.