What must Prem Rugby CEO learn from his trip to US? Sweat the asset
It speaks to Prem Rugby’s ambition that its chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor is jetting off to the United States to drum up investment and sponsorship for the English game, as reported by City AM earlier this week.
It suggests the league – unlike many other top-flight union competitions – is actively seeking to go beyond its traditional market in order to attract financial support. Being backed by a major American insurance firm in Gallagher is one thing, but finding a US bank partner and further private investment into the league’s 10 teams would be a tonic for a sport still in need of as much help as it can get.
But I hope that Massie-Taylor, who was previously commercial chief at the Rugby Football Union, uses his trip to see just how US sports are able to commercialise, develop and sweat their assets, because that will be the difference between Prem Rugby truly turning a corner and repeating past mistakes.
Over 10 years ago the NFL launched an investment fund called 32 Equity, using a start-up contribution of $1m from each of the league’s main owners. By late 2026, it has raised more than $250m and had stakes in the likes of merchandise giant Fanatics – having purchased a three per cent stake at a $3bn valuation in 2017, the firm is now worth $30bn – and Genius Sports, the company behind VAR in the Premier League.
Stateside lessons
It is a smart way of keeping owners on the straight and narrow, incentivising them with investments into firms that directly work with the NFL, like Fanatics. Assuming you could persuade the Prem Rugby owners – whose wealth generally ranges from the billions at Bristol Bears and Newcastle Red Bulls down to the low tens of millions elsewhere in the league – to part with some cash, it could go into buying stakes in catering firms, sports AI organisations and kit/streetwear suppliers which could then service the league.
The NFL is a smart, rather large, cookie and Massie-Taylor should look beyond the bright lights of Manhattan’s banking district or the wider East Coast business front on his trip. US sports are great at turning their athletes into their own brands which transcend the field or the court and, while meetings with Matchroom suggest Prem Rugby is well on its way there, it is about getting players to invest and build portfolios. For all of the cheating that was revealed at Saracens at the end of the last decade, at least a number of players have gone on to have stakes in or ownership of successful businesses.
When David Beckham joined Jonny Wilkinson (or more likely the other way around) for an Adidas advert in 2003, the world was Wilko’s oyster. The star of England World Cup win could have gone on to be the most commercial figure the sport had ever seen, but he chose not to. Massie-Taylor must encourage his roster of players to build their appeal beyond the game; and that means more than Henry Pollock doing the cover of Men’s Health and being named one of Tatler’s 200 “hottest young eligibles”.
Prem Rugby opportunities
Adidas once paid for the entire Newcastle team – including yours truly – to go on a pre-season tour to Japan because they wanted Wilkinson for brand promotion. Five weeks in the Far East was an incredible experience for me as a youngster, but there was one snag for the apparel brand, who undoubtedly forked out tens of thousands: Wilko got appendicitis on the first day and was forced to fly home.
Rugby needs brands – like Red Bull with, ironically, Newcastle again – to trust the growth potential in the sport and it looks like that may need to come from the US, given its own incentives to develop rugby ahead of their World Cup hosting duties in 2031 and 2033.
I commend Massie-Taylor on his growth agenda. But he needs to go beyond the surface and delve into just how sports Stateside have made themselves commercial, and fan-loved, behemoths.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11
