Does rugby want superstar names to challenge the global market?
For a moment, everything changed, never falling. When he believed lionel Messi would leave Barcelona, in what would be the wonderful division of a football union par excellence, panic began to grow.
There were trapped, oh, there were trapped. There was vertigo, too. As for the departure, there would be an excellent arrival at a new football club. Would he be dressed in sky blue?Could we all follow him?
And as soon as the panic increased, she subsidized herself. He stayed.
You can feel that way about football. Some scenarios leak into the larger consciousness, such as the smoke of a bar in your overall (the 90s were a very different time), but it also shows the strength only of the world’s largest sport, but also of the sport’s most important names.
Football isn’t the only one here. In basketball, there are numbers that everyone leans on. On a recent vacation to the United States to see the LA Sevens, an assembly with Bryan Curtis, editor-in-chief of The Ringer, the verbal exchange turned to NBA star LeBron James and what happened when he replaced Cleveland with California.
“When LeBron moved to Los Angeles, he brought with him,” Curtis said of the icon’s trade to the Lakers. “What’s so fascinating, right? It’s like LeBron creating content.
“There’s a story or ten in his locker every single night. So when he came here, he brought a great center of gravity here, and then when Kawhi Leonard came here too last summer (to enroll in the LA Clippers), he brought another means of gravity. So all of a sudden, you know, come here, there’s a story in their lockers every single night. Why wouldn’t you be there?”
These stories not only stay in the United States, they succeed in enthusiasts from Shanghai, Santo Domingo or Sheffield.
However, as everyone in the game tries to chart a course to get out of this devouring pandemic for business, with so much uncertainty to come, how fortunate it is that some leagues, some games, have stellar and profitable names to sell. you ask: is rugby doing enough to make marketable stars their most productive talent?
There’s a feeling you’re going to need.
“There’s no doubt that players with a sharp spearhead is the right decision,” says sports marketing representative Tim Crow on rugby opportunities. “Especially if you need to recruit the younger generation. They stick to celebrities, stick to players.
“I saw him when Beckham moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, while I was running with sponsors from both clubs. And Real Madrid reported a massive influx of enthusiasts from all over the world. We saw the same thing with Cristiano Ronaldo moving from Madrid. “Juventus Juventus has attracted a lot of fans on social media.
“At the end of the day, rugthrough doesn’t have a world superstar. There are very, very big stars in your country and in the game. But is the game transcending right now? I don’t think so. And transcending the game, I mean, if you walk down a street in any country in the world, would a decent number of other people stop you?
“At that moment, if Jonah Lomu walked down the street anywhere, many other people would have identified him. “
When it comes to big shots in rugby, Jonah is the whale. His legacy as rugby’s first megastar is guaranteed, yet Crow suggests that no existing player has the same global appeal, the genre that crosses barriers between sports, at least now. .
Consider the video game Jonah Lomu Rugby, released in 1997. A historic component of rugby culture in the wake of professionalism, Lomu’s heartbreaking vision of poor pixelated defenders has been etched into the memory of many, along with the observation of Bill McLaren. . and Bill Beaumont.
Crow remembers a verbal exchange with a game developer when the name came up. According to the sports marketer, the developer said: “We would never do something like this again, with rugby the way it is now, because there is no one big enough for it. ” Before adding himself: “These games are sold to the people. Who is in the canopy and who owns the game? It definitely slows down rugby, no doubt.
When Agustín Pichot ran for the presidency of World Rugby, as opposed to Beaumont, the Argentine called himself as a component of his platform. You can see the appeal of a secure generation and the reflective popularity of the logo it can be. But the elephant that screams and tie-dyes in the room is that a game will have to offer some return. Electronic artists know they can count on their FIFA and Madden NFL titles.
To be clear: there are rock stars in the existing game that rugby is lucky enough to have, but as things are, there is a sense that no one can convert the world or force football enthusiasts to buy Rugby 2021.
In football, there is no shortage of faces to sell a game. In the most recent version of Madden, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes revered the cover. He would then lead his team to a Super Bowl victory and be the face of advertising campaigns.
In April, he showed that Mahomes had outperformed the legendary Tom Brady as the man who sold the maximum product in 2019 while reporting in the US. But it’s not the first time They claimed that that day enthusiasts can buy the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers T-shirt. After Brady’s season on the team, sales of products that carry his highest call by more than 3000% compared to the previous day on e-commerce sites are made through fans (such as NFLShop. com or shop. buccaneers. com).
These guys mean big business. But do they leave their academies, schools and at the beginning of their game in a position for fame?A special alchemy would possibly be needed.
“There must be this magic,” Raven said. There will have to be that moment Steph Curry or LeBron James or Lionel Messi or Jonah Lomu or Tiger Woods. The moment that transcends the game and everyone says, “Okay, did you realize this?” And it is going around the world.
“It’s very difficult, because otherwise global superstars would occur all the time. Because there are magical things that happen all the time (in the playground). But unless someone is a superstar, if they don’t have that X-Factor, they probably wouldn’t travel. “
IF YOU need to see a real-time example of this, consider the effect Slovenian basketball star Luka Doncic had during NBA time on the bubble. He is a developing force in the league and during very good functionality for the Dallas Mavericks in his series opposite the Clippers, he sent an army of foreign enthusiasts to torture their devices.
According to an NBA spokesman: “Doncic’s winning opportunity in (this) game has been evoked across Europe and around the world. It has evolved in countries (trend times were between 6:15 pm on August 23 and 10:40 am on August 25). , New York Time).
“The countries in which the words ‘Luka Doncic’ were used were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela. Dominican Republic , the trend in first position for 585 minutes.
“NBA Spain tweeted the moment that night and the video has gained more than 1. 7 million video perspectives (now more than 1. 8 million) and is the channel’s best-performing content since reboot. “
Remember, those are statistics based on an individual – it’s the sharp finish of the spear, as Raven would say.
In a recent report through The Athletic on Everton’s signing of Colombian football star James Rodriguez, he noted: “Another side that pleases the club is Rodriguez’s formidable profile on social media. It has 46 million fans on Instagram, more than Manchester United, Liverpool, Lewis Hamilton and Tiger Woods ».
They added: “The club will target more advertising and online content in South America, which was considered economically disgustingly rich before Covid-19, especially in Brazil. Rodriguez’s star-filled résumé makes it the ideal vehicle to turn some of his followers into potential supporters. “
If we need an abbreviated comparison of an individual’s charm on Instagram, Dan Carter has 1 million followers, while Springboks captain Siya Kolisi, who hopes Jay-Z’s Roc Nation organization will hope to consolidate itself as a global star that transcends its game, has 534,000 followers. James Lebron? It has 71. 9 million subscribers. Then there’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has an audience of 238 million on the platform.
Of course, it’s all relative. Rugby cannot simply exploit its popularity overnight, to compete with football.
In a recent interview with the BBC, celebrating the 25th birthday since rugthrough turned professional in the 1990s (as we said, at another time), World Rugthrough CEO Brett Gosper said: “There is now much more coherence and understanding of the game and its enthusiasts than there at the time. There is a collective will to do wonderful things for the game through its development.
As CROW sees, “There is a kind of ethic in rugby about the team: the team becomes very, very vital to the individual. You can say that the biggest logo in rugby is the All Blacks and it all depends on which team. individual, which is an attractive way to market the game.
You know some All Blacks are a sponsor’s dream: Beauden Barrett is no stranger to an ad campaign. And it’s the sponsors, not his own team, who are pushing him. Moreover, like some of those stars considered iconic from other sports, things have evolved organically for Barrett. Remember, you don’t own this 2015 World Cup triumph.
However, for some with some sensitivity, protecting an individual rugby player is vulgar, for others, you should not accept as true with someone who seeks to excel. The others who open games are good, of course, Groups thanks to “garbage juice”, daily work, forged professionals, and boys will only play one game at a time and the most productive players are a member of the team.
It’s obviously another one in individual sports, isn’t it?
“There’s no doubt tiger woods is still golf’s biggest draw: it moves the needle like no other and transcends the sport,” says Nick Bonfield of Golf Monthly magazine. “For example, in 2015, Woods signed up to play at the Phoenix Open, even though at the time he was a shell of himself. In any case, the tournament broke its past attendance record and an auxiliary multimedia center had to be built to meet demand.
“In-person attendance, TV audiences, and media policies increase exponentially when you’re in a field. That said, golf doesn’t depend as much on Woods as it was, say, 15 years ago.
“Rory McIlroy, who has won 4 primary titles since 2011, appeared to be the next golf superstar, yet the fact that he might have submitted to that prediction indicates a deep developing force at the heart of the game, be it in Four-time primary champion Brooks Koepka, prolific winner Dustin Johnson, a mass Bryson DeChambeau, ‘golf scientist’, passionate Spaniard Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, a guy who has already won thirteen times on the PGA Tour in 27-year-olds are competing for the world number one spot, alongside USPGA Champion Collin MorikawaArray Matthew Wolff and the impressive Dane Rasmus Hojgaard spearheading the next generation.
“Woods is still the biggest star in golf, so far, but he doesn’t bring the torch alone. When it takes time for a historic career, the professional game will be well positioned to deal with it. That said, it’s wonderful that Tiger keeps working!”
Is there anything team sports can compare here?Individual team sports names can “make things happen. “
Of course, there’s this parade of celebrities coming out of football, with the comfort in confidence that the cast can keep cooling off without the product spoiling. In June, Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, told Catalan radio RAC 1: “We have television contracts signed with or without Messi. “
However, the administrator also admitted that if others had left the league before, “it is another in Messi’s case. “
“Messi is the most productive player in the history of football. We were lucky enough to have had him in our league. I think Messi’s departure would be remarkable. “
You can feel the nervousness. When you rely so much on certain groups and stars, any oscillation in their component might seem seismic, but you’d still prefer to have megastar names in your league. That’s why you can forgive any of Premiership Rugthrough for being excited during the arrival of Semi Radradra Bristol. Si things are going well, your lopass can also be well cultivated. But all components will have to show their will for this to succeed.
It’s hard to be the center of attention. And when others seek their own narrative through their own businesses, as Maro Itoje of England has made a decision, you can only respect it.
Without a doubt, Itoje resonates among rugby fans. You guys know the Lions tour song. They have realized that it has an effect on the club and in the country. You’ve noticed some great pictures of him. This is as much a testament to his skill as a padlock as it is of his charisma. Over time, it may become the call of world-famous rugby.
The type of players that can stand out for the uninitiated is valued. For example, in the recent Truncated Six Nations, Itoje made the maximum dominant entries, with 20. Look at the list of names after him and Bernard le Roux of France made 13. , with Sam Underhill in 11. Will those statistics impress the minds of the casual or the uninitiated?
The sad thing is that special moments almost have to be more obvious, far from the front and full of garbo.
In the global hybrid of “sports entertainment” and wrestling, being vocal, extravagant or demonstrative is a great component of the product. And teams like World Wrestling Entertainment are aware of their position among competitive interests.
Paul Levesque, better known to some by his ring name, Triple H, is guilty of the strategy and progression of WWE’s overall ability. He recently told the bill Simmons podcast, “I think it’s the prospective expansion of what this company can be and as a media corporation. When you look at the rest of the world – to grow in those markets. Because of geography in the past, we were only able to spend once or something there and go back and make TV. So the location in those places is very important. Sometimes, especially in the United States, you have a tendency to think only about the United States.
“But when you look outside India, there’s still nothing potential. There are 1. 5 billion more people there and we are the biggest game of the moment in India outdoors of cricket, and cricket is like a religion. There are opportunities for us there, we are firmly established there. We have a great experience of more than 25 years in this market, but we can deepen it and create opportunities like never before with the generation and everything else.
And the skill is at the center. For their apparent ability and also for what they assign in the world, away from the ring.
You might think there’s a pantomime detail about what they’re doing, but Levesque doesn’t defy the word “sport” and is well aware of what WWE is competing against. What your product also has, intrinsically, is a tension between talents. .
It’s just that other players in the game have noticed the merit of The Netflix Series F1: Drive To Survive has been praised through criticism. Within the series, game bosses allowed manufacturers to highlight rivalries, dramas and tensions; in fact, they did well and the neutrals liked it. A Wired critic had a subtitle that said that “the series manages to capture the genuine drama of F1”.
This is a very different technique from the 24 Seven mini-docs that World Rugby and HSBC produced at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. It remains to be noted whether his “everyone loves everyone” technique will attract foreigners to the short form of rugby.
“The younger generation is so interested, and in some cases even more interested, in what happens on stage as in what happens on the field of play, in the arena,” Crow says. of the things that eSports is very smart to bring to life.
“We’ll have the world of e-sports in a few weeks. You can run many online education courses for players and they will open it for others to practice with. They’ll be interacting with them online as they do so. This kind of thing is anathema to sport. They need things behind closed doors and there are many sacred cows that will have to be slaughtered to truly embrace what the festival is doing.
“You’re competing with Netflix (and gaming, as well as other sports). If you look at teenagers and the early 1920s, Netflix and YouTube rule their day. If you don’t have ready-to-use content for those platforms, fight back. for a smaller and smaller component of the pie. “
However, rugby bodies are sleepwalking. Shane Whelan, director of digital communications, marketing and the British and Irish Lions, told The Telegraph this week: “In terms of online participation, the team’s announcement is on par with the first check: it gets big numbers on social media. For example, in the week leading up to the revelation (in 2017), we added 150,000 fans to our social networks.
“Over the years, we have noticed that it grows as an event, but we have to take it to the next level. We think it would possibly be an independent televised event, through an appointment, similar to the NFL draft, but it’s obviously not on that scale right now.
Sustainable expansion takes time and is worth fighting for. The powers in position in the game know it.
As the eyeball fight intensifies in a post-Covid world, we’ll see how much rugby is willing to invest to turn its brightest stars into personalities that attract all sports.
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