The Disrupter! The MLS has Lionel Messi, Taylor Swift has added star power to the NFL. Now NIK SIMON meets the money man who wants to give Rugby Union a global makeover

• Michael Yormack moved into rugby after watching the 2019 Rugby World Cup 
• He feels the current World Cup has failed to shine a bigger light on the sport
• America is one of his big targets as he looks to take rugby to another level

Michael Yormark is bouncing between meetings in Place Vendome, the luxurious quarter of Paris where American breakfast costs £47 and the average high street store is Gucci, Rolex or Cartier.

His business partners, or ‘family’ as he prefers to call them, include everyone from DJ Khaled to Kevin de Bruyne to Vinicius Jr. But here in the French capital he has been catching up with his rugby clients. The likes of Siya Kolisi, Marcus Smith and Ardie Savea.

Yormark first moved into rugby after watching Kolisi lift the World Cup in Japan in 2019. The president of Roc Nation Sports International, owned by Jay Z, it was the American’s first taste of the sport.

After four years of rubbing shoulders with the game’s tired establishment he is now in a position to deliver a few home truths. ‘There needs to be a reset,’ he says, his words crackling with energy. ‘There’s gotta be a reset!

‘Rugby doesn’t yet look at itself as entertainment. It looks at itself as a pure sport. I would have had global artists performing at the opening ceremony. I would have been very disruptive and non-traditional. I would have made the opening ceremony electric and forced media from around the world to cover it based on who was performing. Jay Z would have been amazing. You see what Rihanna did for the Super Bowl… she brought eyeballs to the Super Bowl that perhaps weren’t even interested in football.

Michael Yormack wants to give rugby union a global makeover and feels that there was a missed opportunity at the World Cup to shine a bigger light on the sport

Yormack has a number of rugby clients including Siya Kolisi (left, pictured with Romelu Lukaku, right)

Yormack’s thoughts have already turned to the 2027 World Cup in Australia, as well as in 2031 where he hopes the sport will move to a new level of personality in the United States

‘We had conversations about it, multiple conversations. The World Cup committee just couldn’t grasp something of that magnitude which is indicative of the thinking within the sport. You’ve got to think big. This World Cup will go down as a very successful one, but to me you’re in Paris, one of the great cities in the world, one of the great rugby communities in the world, this could have been one of the biggest World Cups in the history of the sport. There was an opportunity to shine a bigger light on the sport. From that perspective it was a missed opportunity.’

His reaction to Mika – the soloist who topped the charts in 2007 with ‘Grace Kelly – performing in Saturday’s final is non-plussed. It is too late to change that now but his thoughts have already turned to the next competition in Australia in 2027.

‘In New Zealand and South Africa you’ve got the table set to make it a huge global event. You don’t need to be a rugby fan to know who the All Blacks are because they’ve built that global following. You’ve got to leverage off having them in the World Cup final.

‘I’ve met with some of the leadership in Australia already. Yes you want to leave a legacy and you want to impact community and you want it to be authentic to Australia but you also want to elevate the sport.

‘How do we tell a story about the final that really resonates globally? I was at the Ryder Cup. I sat down with Jay Donoghue, the commissioner of the PGA, and we were talking about the Ryder Cup in America in 2025. I say to Jay, “Who is the most influential person in golf today?” and he says DJ Khaled. Think about that. DJ Khaled didn’t even play golf 18 months ago! Now he’s the most influential person? He’s bringing a new audience to the sport. 

‘Why? He’s constantly talking about it, he’s built the narrative, he’s telling a story, he’s opening up the sport to a new audience. He wasn’t invited in. The establishment didn’t want him at first. The establishment said, “Oh my god, what is this?” He forced himself in. Now people that didn’t want to be fans are saying, “Holy s***, golf, wow, let’s go golfing, straight down the middle!”

‘If rugby’s opening ceremony was as big as it could have been then people would have been talking about it. Look at what Taylor Swift has done at Kansas City. My daughter’s watching football games now. Why? Because Taylor Swift made it cool. The impact she’s had on bringing people to watch the NFL on Sundays is incredible. That’s what rugby needs. It doesn’t take a lot. 

‘I was sitting at the France New Zealand match and two days later someone sent me a picture of Kylian Mbappe sitting a few rows below me. You had the star power at that match but no one knew it. When there’s an NFL game being broadcast in America, everyone in the house knows there’s a celebrity there. Everyone in the media knows they’re there. The cameras point out that Jay Z’s in the house, LeBron’s in the house. It’s what makes it culturally relevant. All of a sudden it’s the place to be!’

Yormack pointed out Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami, saying it has put the MLS ‘on the map’

He adds that Taylor Swift has helped make the NFL ‘cool’ to a new audience and feels a similar impact can be made on rugby

Yormark’s CV is loaded with experience from the American market. He was worked in baseball and ice hockey and America is one of his big targets. He grew up in New Jersey and fires out ideas about how he would love to see his rugby clients one day playing back in the USA.

‘How do we make rugby relevant in the biggest countries in the world? The World Cup will be in America in 2031 so between now and then how do we make it truly relevant? We need to leverage that moment to take this sport to another level.

‘America’s all about star power. It’s a very cluttered sports market – college sports, NFL, Major League Baseball, the MLS, the National Hockey League, the NBA. How do you carve out your niche? That has to start now and there has to be a very aggressive strategy to do that.

‘Look at what Lionel Messi’s done to the MLS. He’s put it on the map. Have you seen how many celebrities are going to his matches? They all want to get a piece of the action. MLS became so relevant upon his arrival. Why? Because star power is embraced in America like now other country around the world.

‘I’ve had conversations with our guys about it. When I first met Siya I spoke to him about it. I had a conversation with Maro about it. You’ve got to look at it from a business standpoint but if the opportunities right of course they’d be interested. You’re talking about the biggest market in the world. If guys can go over there, be stars, be embraced by the community, have a good cultural experience and make a good income then why not? It goes back to another issue of eligibility requirements. England are saying, “Well you can’t play outside of our country if you want to play for the national team”. That’s self-serving. What about growing the sport?’

Yormack said rugby union ‘needs a reset’ and sell itself ’24-7′ to make it more popular

One thing is certain: Yormark will not go quietly. He will turn heads with his designer clothing and brash approach but rugby needs its disrupters. ‘There are a lot of people in rugby that don’t think anything needs to change,’ he says. ‘They’re traditional, they’ve grown up in the sport, they like the way it is. To me there needs to be a reset. People need to understand that every time they do an interview – pre-match, post match – that they’re selling the sport. You want this sport to become more popular, relevant, commercially viable. How do you do that? You’ve got make sure you’re telling the right story all the time.

‘You know what concerns me? You walk around London last week and you don’t even really know that England were in the semi-finals of the World Cup. This sport needs to sell itself 24-7. People like the coaches and the ambassadors need to remember that this is a 24-7 initiative. Yes there’s some media coverage but there’s no buzz. You need to get players out in front, you need to work with the media, every stake holder needs to sell the story. The narrative needs to change. It may be painful, it may be uncomfortable but that’s OK.’

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