Anyone doubting that the sale of a 28 percent slice of the business to CVC private equity house, the addition of four South African former Super Rugby franchises, and the change of name to ‘United Rugby Championship’ [URC], is not the catalyst for a step-change in the way the league formerly known as PRO14 will be marketed going forward needs to spend five minutes listening to Michael Yormark.
The fast-talking American – who is CEO of Roc Nations Sports – admits to being a rugby novice but says that he was so inspired by hearing Siya Kolisi speak moments after lifting the World Cup in 2019 that he jumped on a plane to South Africa from his base in London and had the Springbok captain signed up to be represented by his global management firm within two weeks.
Roc Nation is a one-stop-shop for the entertainment business – with offices in New Yark, LA, London and Nashville – set up by American rapper and record executive Jay-Z in 2008.
Yormark is in charge if the sports arm of the business and has moved quickly to grow its stake in rugby since Kolisi came on board. Several other leading South African players are now also on the books, as is Maro Itoje – arguably Europe’s most high-profile player – and Roc Nation has also taken a stake in the Sharks franchise, one of the four South African teams competing in the URC this coming year.
And they are not stopping there, because an introduction with URC Chief Executive Martin Anayi, facilitated by CVC executive Nick Clarry, led to Yormark signing up Roc Nation as strategic partners with the league. It is not exactly clear how this will play out at the moment, but it is safe to say that we can expect a fair bit more American glitz.
“After learning about the sport through our players and gaining an understanding of where it needs to go, how it needs to be modernised, we wanted to lean in and assist,” explained Yormark.
“Rugby has an opportunity to be cool,” he continued. “There was an article appeared in the media in Ireland earlier this week where the URC, the NBA and Jay-Z appeared in one headline – who would have ever thought or imagined those three things would be talked about together.
“So, that’s where we have to take this sport. We gotta make it cool, we have to make it youth orientated, we have to develop heroes and stars and personalities, and most importantly, we have to be brave doing it.
“We can’t be married to the old traditions and to the history. We have to respect those things but also understand that we have to take a step forward and it starts with the collaboration between the clubs, the players and the URC.
“The leadership of the URC are so committed to this and so passionate about this that there was never a choice between this league or another – this is the league that will change the game.”
All very exciting, but what – on a practical level – does all this mean?
“How do you make it cool? Well, you know what, you’ve got a story to tell,” replied Yormark, without missing a beat. “You have to build the stories of these players off the field, because a lot of these players are cool, and their journeys are so impressive.
“We also need to look at the live experience, so when fans are going into the stadiums, they need to see something a little bit different. We’ve got to understand that rugby is entertainment and people are not just there to see a rugby match, they are investing two and a half hours of their time, and they want to be entertained and they want to have fun, so it needs to be a cool experience.
“You can make it a cool experience through so many different touch points. Music is a great example, fan engagement opportunities are a great example, the whole concept of turning the sport truly into a show creates coolness – so these are all things that the URC is working on behind the scenes, that we are going to start see slowly but surely being rolled out week by week.
“And, by the way, not everything will work. It is a trial and error. But we have to be committed to changing the way people see the sport of rugby and we can obviously make it cool one step at a time. We at Roc Nation are just super excited to be part of the process.”
It's going to be an interesting few years.
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