Could the Rugby World Cup being held in the US break Rugby Union America?

When Roc Nation Sports International first opened its London office in 2019, it had no intention of going into rugby.

However, intrigued by the commotion surrounding England’s run in the tournament, a curious Yormark caught a glimpse of that year’s Rugby World Cup in the back of an executive car while heading north to meet Manchester City midfielder and Roc Nation client Kevin De Bruyne. Watched the World Cup final.

Yormark heard a victorious Kolisi speak about the relationship between South Africa and the Springboks. He read about Kolisi’s township upbringing, when the future flanker’s favorite toy was a brick. He was confident. A few weeks later, Kolisi signed with Roc Nation.

Roc Nation uses star power from other parts of its business to shed light on such stories: Kolisi spent time with NBA legend Kevin Durant, while Itoje spent time with superstar producer DJ Khaled at his Miami home. Is.

However, convincing rugby stars to promote themselves as aggressively as artists from other fields has proven to be a challenge.

This often falls to Paul Adesoye. Roc Nation’s rugby chieftains must overcome a entrenched culture that prioritizes dressing room collectivity above individual empire building, even if the example of United States sevens player and social media superstar Ilona Maher has changed the approach.

“Here, people are a little more reticent to do it,” Adesoye said. “To be honest, they are also a bit nervous about the reaction of their teammates and their clubs. But that is slowly changing.

“Danny Carey has launched a vlog and done a podcast – admittedly he’s towards the end of his career, but that’s becoming common in the game.

“I think it will eventually go in the same direction as it has in the United States where you have current NBA players doing podcasts during the season, telling their story firsthand. It’s about time.”

However, the question is whether the time will come for a massive push westwards for rugby.