Can rugby hope to take a bite of the Big Apple?

Matthew Emery reports on the experiment of taking  a Premiership match to the American market.
George Best and Pele tried to crack the American sports market with the beautiful game some 40 years ago. And failed. So why should Rugby Union do any better?
That’s the tough question faced by Premiership Rugby who last week took the bold, and controversial, step of playing London Irish‘s ‘home’ game against Saracens at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.
The American market is huge and lucrative. Key factors seem to be on PRL’s side. Its consumers speak our language, kind of, and they go mad for their sport.
Trouble is, they like fast-paced, high-scoring, thrill a minute stuff and rugby rarely fits into that category – especially with the state of the scrum, the breakdown and whistle-happy referees. In other words it will be a hard sell.
But as far as first impressions go, last Saturday’s clash between Irish and Saracens was a success, with an official crowd of 14,811 turning out – even though it looked a good few less.
By aligning themselves with the Irish contingent in New Jersey and treating it as a home game at the 25,000-seater Red Bull Arena, London Irish have definitely picked up a fair few expats along the way who love the craic of watching a proper sport. In fact, in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day, the atmosphere was better than most games at the Madejski, where Irish struggle to get 8,000 most weeks.
Their chief executive, former lock Bob Casey, said: “We have wanted to do this for a long time. New York is the biggest sports market in the world and rugby one of the fastest-growing sports in America.
“This is an enormous opportunity for London Irish and a chance for our club to gain exposure. The New York region has a significant Irish community and is renowned for its annual St Patrick’s Day parade, so it’s the perfect time for our club to venture into this market. We intend to be at the forefront of the development of the game in the USA.”
However it is unlikely that Irish will be back next year as they lay adrift at the foot of the table by nine points with just six games remaining. So while the Irish contingent in New York State may have helped make the inaugural match a good starting point, next year it will likely be Saracens who play as the home team. Which will obviously impact on the game’s appeal and its St Patrick’s Day tie-in.
Saracens American flier Chris Wyles could be next year’s poster boy and he warns it will take time to cement the game into the US psyche, telling The Rugby Paper: “There are so many amazing sports here in New York, it’s difficult.
“On one hand you want to play free-flowing rugby to get US fans interested but, at the same time, with the nature of the sport you need to be confrontational, physical and play a brand of rugby that ultimately comes away with victory.”
Premiership Rugby CEO Mark McCafferty feels the experience will only get better over the coming seasons, with two more trips planned for 2017 and 2018.
“It’s always a challenge to get through the first one, but I think we’ve made a really good start,” said McCafferty. “I hope the US sporting public is falling more and more in love with rugby.”

The three-year deal struck with terrestrial broadcaster NBC to screen a live Premiership match from each round of fixtures to over 85 million homes from next season should accelerate the process, with many more to be broadcast on NBC’s digital platform.
“This new agreement with NBC Sports Group is an historic milestone for us,” said McCafferty. “It takes the Aviva Premiership Rugby brand to a bigger audience than we’ve ever had in the US.”
Wyles adds: “With the NBC deal and the Olympics coming it’s an exciting time for rugby and it would be great for Saracens to be part of that continued growth. Hope- fully we’re making small dents in giving the game exposure. It’s not easy. It’s about a lot of hard work and making right decisions.”
One good decision has been to introduce PRO Rugby, the first professional rugby competition in North America, which kicks off later this year.
Wyles said: “I’ve been involved in US rugby for a long time now and there has always been excitement about what could happen and if the right things are put in place – such as the new Pro League – plus Olympic exposure. There are some exciting things that could happen.
“But you have to be patient. It took soccer a long time to break the States off the back of the ‘94 World Cup and it’s only really come into its stride in the last few years after David Beckham.”
Comparisons have been drawn between exporting rugby and bringing the NFL to the UK. The NFL managed to sell out Wembley on its first visit in 2007 and in 2015 staged three matches, all with capacity crowds.
“I think the appetite is there in the US. We just need to be systematic in how we build things,” said McCafferty. “We felt if we did around 50 per cent capacity in the first year that was a good start.”

Alex Goode, who starred for Saracens with 19 points in their 26-16 victory, said: “We know it’s not going to be as big as American Football or Basketball overnight but it’s brilliant to come over and have this game and hopefully showcase the continuity of rugby and how physical it can be.”
One stumbling block for the game’s development is timing. Aside from Alex Goode, Saracens were shorn of their stars on international duty and to sell the game properly next year’s encounter will need a few of the big guns.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said: “An occasion like this deserves us to be able to come here with our full squad.  I think America would love to see the likes of Maro Itoje, George Kruis and Billy Vunipola.”
New Zealand‘s return to Chicago’s Soldier Field in November 2016 to play Ireland may do more for the development of the game on US soil. But Premiership Rugby have got the ball rolling – even if many of Irish’s fans in this country are bemused by the decision.
* BT Sport is the only place to watch top live matches from the Aviva Premiership, European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. From March 15th, BT Sport will also show ‘March Madness’ – a knockout tournament featuring the top 68 college basketball teams in the US – exclusively live on BT Sport ESPN