The CEO of World Rugby and the N.Y. financier who built an American professional rugby competition fell into disagreement about how best to grow rugby in the U.S. Brett Gosper, the CEO of World Rugby and Doug Schoninger, CEO of PRO Rugby, were at odds over whether having overseas teams play in the U.S. would help drive interest in rugby. The pair were speaking on a panel session at the World Rugby Conference in London on Monday. Earlier this month, Ireland recorded its first-ever win over reigning World Cup rugby union champions New Zealand in front of a record American crowd for rugby of 62,300 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Gosper: "American audiences want to see the best of the best. We know the Americans, the second they sense there is a world champion in the room they will go and see it. That is what the All Blacks does.” However, Schoninger said, "I don't think you are going to get people to care about foreign teams [in the U.S.]. There is no brand of rugby. For rugby to be successful in America it needs to be Americanized."
STAND ON ITS OWN: Schoninger said that for PRO Rugby to establish itself in the fabric of U.S. sporting culture, it needed to develop its own identity. "We are not trying to look like New Zealand rugby," he said. "We want to look like American rugby. What does that mean? We are not 100 percent sure. We know it's kind of a composite of rugby, some traditional, something new, taking advantage of social media, borrowing a little bit from the NFL. It's really importent to be fluid."
GROWTH MARKETS: Gosper, meanwhile, pinpointed Germany and Brazil as among the key markets where he thinks that rugby can grow in the coming years. He said, "Some of the key markets we are looking at the moment are Brazil, where we see broadcast possibilities, and Germany, where there is a huge growth in number of spectators during the Olympics and the World Cup. They are two markets that are particularly strong." China was also cited as a country with huge potential by Gosper following World Rugby penning a $100M, 10-year deal with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba earlier this year to spark playing numbers and bring major events to the country. The deal between the world governing body and Alisports will see Alibaba's new sports division broadcast exclusive rugby content, create online rugby stores and invest in World Rugby's grassroots program.
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
