Major League Roller Hockey (MLRH) is a professional roller hockey league with offices in Alexandria, VA. MLRH is the world's only full-contact roller hockey league operating primarily in North America with additional sanctioned events and team affiliations in the UK and the Czech Republic.
Beginning with it's 2009-10 season, MLRH introduced additional non-contact leagues, allowing the league to offer a total roller hockey program including paid professional leagues as well as amateur league play.
History
MLRH was founded in 1998 by Bill Raue, Virginia entrepreneur with fourteen teams based in the United States and six in the United Kingdom. While the league operated successfully in its inaugural years, attracting 10,000 fans at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim for it's championships, the league fell victim to the demise of a rival league (Roller Hockey International) and was caught up in the financial fallout. "There were so many bad feelings when RHI folded with $40 million in losses that it was virtually impossible to operate at the professional level in that economic climate,"
said Raue.
The interim years
In the "ought years," MLRH played primarily with amateur players but on a world-wide scale. North American championship teams regularly traveled to England or the Czech Republic to play in MLRH's Euro Cup World Championships. "I will always be grateful to the players who traveled literally thousands of miles to keep our version of the sport alive," Raue added. "These guys didn't get much money but they got to see the world for free playing roller hockey and that had to be a good thing."
MLRH today
In 2009, Bill Raue returned to MLRH in an active capacity dedicated to elevating the profile of the sport with the MLRH Pro Tour and the introduction of the made-for-TV CO-ED Slamm Hockey series. Many of the games were carried on the world-wide broadband TV and the MLRH brand continued to grow. The Slamm Hockey series became a cult favorite and showcased the role of women's roller hockey.
Coming soon from MLRH
Following the completion of the MLRH2, AAA and AA league play in March, MLRH will introduce an expanded six-week Slamm Hockey series beginning in mid-April and a summer pro league featuring the best players from the MLRH2 league plus college ice and roller hockey players with teams permitted to include minor-league pro players on their rosters. This league will include broadband TV coverage.
