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Recent developments here in the USA have created a unique and timely opportunity for rugby to really advance the game in America.
The American National Football League (NFL) has been unable to reach a new agreement between the teams’ private ownership and the player’s union representatives. The main cause of the breakdown is how to split the $9 billion dollars of annual revenue between player salaries and owners expenses beyond those salaries.
While to the average person millionaires arguing with billionaires seems childish and unnecessary, it has created a situation where the players union has decertified allowing individual players to sue the team owner for fulfillment of their contractual payments should the owners “lockout” the players. This will surely lead to a court room battle that will drag on for many months.
With this in mind it is highly likely there will be no NFL season this year, or it certainly will start late at best (opening weekend is usually the first weekend in September). With the rugby World Cup in September and October and the 24-hour sports networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports looking to fill air-time, rugby can put its best event on display in millions of American homes every weekend in prime-time viewing hours.
Americans don’t understand rugby, but they know of the game. I regularly meet people that comment on rugby and have profound respect for the commitment required to play.
Even the most diehard NFL fan respects rugby for the body contact aspect as well as the endurance fitness required to play the game. While the rugby scenes weren’t great in the movie Invictus, the movie did a great job promoting the game of rugby.
No matter how well the USA soccer team does in the World Cup it will never take a strong foothold in America because of the lack of body contact that Americans are used to seeing in the NFL each week. Without pads and helmets, rugby’s body contact and continuous nature will look like gladiators on a battlefield, or to use a modern analogy, a 15 on 15 UFC bout with a ball thrown in the middle.
The All Blacks are known worldwide, even in America, as a great rugby team and rugby nation. Most Americans associate the All Blacks as rugby. It’s like other teams don’t even exist as even in their mind they assume New Zealand is the best team in the world.
The fact the World cup is in New Zealand this year will only increase that association and allow other countries to cause a stir and, therefore, increased publicity by beating the All Blacks on home soil.
Most major American universities have a rugby team and even some high schools now have a team. The problem America has is these kids aren’t exposed to the game and therefore the fundamentals until their late teens, making learning the basic skills that much harder. However, they still enjoy the game immensely, which has led to local leagues being established so people can continue to play after leaving university.
Taking advantage of the timing this year of no NFL season to really show off rugby’s showcase event would expose the game to many younger people and create much interest. Both the NFL and the NBA (basketball) have played in season games in London in the last six months, so the IRB has seen firsthand that the US sports leagues will play and promote in other markets (and therefore take advertising dollars away from local traditional sports such as rugby). At the very least rugby should look to return the favour in the American market.
I am sure there are people within the IRB and various countries’ governing bodies that do not want to see America take a hold of rugby for fear of what American sponsors and promoters might want to change in order for the game to be successful in their market (such as timeouts to increase their advertising opportunities), however I think their fears can be overcome.
Advertising on jersey’s and on the field are places Americans don’t normally look at as advertising locations, because their sports teams are privately owned and do not allow promotional spots on a sleeve or across the chest. Perhaps they don’t want to see America dominate yet another sport, however I believe that day is a long way off, but for the good of the game it needs to be expanded into newer markets.
With consistent promotional games in the US such as a Bledisloe Cup match, as has been played in Hong Kong and Tokyo, or a Six Nations game on the US east-coast in the years following the World Cup, the game can continue to increase its exposure. Support for USA Rugby from the IRB and other governing bodies helping promote the game via coaching clinics, training camps etc would all increase the game’s profile in America.
Eventually the US might be able to even host a rugby World Cup as soccer did here back in 1994. That World Cup provided soccer a huge boost locally and led to the start of Major League Soccer, the US domestic professional league which still exists today and has David Beckham playing for the LA Galaxy.
There are almost 300 hundred division one colleges in America with an American football program each containing over 50 players. That’s 15,000 athletes, there are also many division two and three universities with football programs. Less than 250 of these athletes will be picked (drafted) to play and/or try out for an NFL team.
Add to this the many other college athletes that play basketball, track and field or the myriad of other sports each university offers and you have an unmatched talent pool of athletes 99 per cent of which have no professional sporting career option available to them. Other than the top swimmers or track and field athletes, the rest also have no chance to represent their country.
The 2011 rugby World Cup is going to be a great event. I hope the US team does well and I hope the IRB recognises the opportunity before them to expand the game in a new market.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.