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USA Rugby and Grand Prix Entertainment hope to take advantage of the sport's return to the Olympics.
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USA Rugby and Grand Prix Entertainment have extended their exclusive U.S. sanction and licensee agreement for the next two Summer Olympic cycles, with an aim to take advantage of the rugby sevens debut in the Rio Games as a springboard to grow the sport in the U.S.
Under the agreement, Grand Prix Entertainment will hold the exclusive right to own, operate and globally broadcast USA Rugby-sanctioned professional rugby sevens matches, leagues or tournaments. Grand Prix has held these rights since 2005.
To further those efforts, which also will see the 2018 Sevens World Cup hosted in the U.S. for the first time in San Francisco, GPE also has signed an equity partnership with Chicago-based sports and entertainment agency W Partners. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
GPE Chairman Bill Tatham said that with W Partners’ involvement in the project, the goal will be to launch a U.S.-based rugby sevens tournament featuring the world’s best teams in 2017, aiming to harness the momentum around the sport in the country with these two big tent-pole events.
“The first time I saw a rugby sevens match, I thought that it had tremendous growth potential here in the U.S. — it looks and smells like football, it’s a short, fast game and appeals to a number of demographics,” Tatham said. “Now is the most opportune time yet to showcase this sport and the great teams when we’re able to put together the event in 2017.”
W Partners will play a key role in commercializing that effort. It’s currently seeking partners in regards to exclusive worldwide broadcast rights, digital rights, corporate partnerships and licensing around the events, as well as capital partners who share in their vision on the sport’s potential in the U.S., said W Partners CEO Wally Hayward.
“We’ve seen how other sports have been able to capitalize on events like the World Cup or the Olympics, and there couldn’t be a more perfect time to be launching another big rugby sevens event here in the U.S.,” Hayward said.
Hayward said that the firm has had preliminary conversations with a number of brands in different categories to gauge the corporate market, and while no deals have been struck yet, he has been pleased with the excitement around the sport.
Further details on the 2017 event, such as location, venue and broadcast partners, are still to be worked on. Hayward said they are aiming to announce full plans for the tournament later this year.
“When I first started working with USA Rugby [in 2005], we talked about [rugby sevens] being accepted into the Olympics and the massive growth we could see around the sport in the future, so the good news is we saw it ahead of its time, but the bad news is that we saw it ahead of its time, too,” Tatham said. “But we took our time to do it right, and now we’re going to be able to launch this event at the highest level possible.”
