MATT DWYER is IMG’s Sports Management Vice President and he will take a lead role for the company in implementing its strategic partnership with Rugby League, which was announced last week. Here he speaks to League Express editor MARTYN SADLER to explain what it all entails.
MS: What made your company decide to come on board with Rugby League?
MD: “There have been conversations being undertaken for an extended period on an informal basis. And they probably got more formal half way through last year.
“I work in the sports management parts of IMG, so we work on strategic partnerships and joint ventures. A couple that we do now are Euro League Basketball across Europe and World Table Tennis. They are the two projects that I guess are about equivalent as reference points for what we are doing with Rugby League.
“From our perspective, we look at Rugby League as an incredibly exciting sport with a very loyal fanbase. What is particularly attractive here is that there is a real willingness to want to bring in a partner to help them drive the next stage of growth in the game. That was probably a large part of the attraction for us, as was the strong realignment. We feel that the with the expertise of IMG and Endeavor, we are in an excellent position to be able to help the game grow.”
MS: Did the fact that you have a Rugby League knowledge yourself help you with this? Did your colleagues need much persuading to come on board with this project?
MD: “I certainly didn’t have to persuade my colleagues. We could see a lot of potential. But in terms of the broader question, I think it always helps to have a product’s knowledge. I’m in a position where I can speak and understand the sport very well and I’ve seen what it can do in a country like Australia, where it is a genuine leading sport. We would love to recreate that over here, to bring that same level of attention and excitement to the game in the UK.”
MS: I often describe Rugby League as diamonds in plain brown paper.
MD: “It’s a fast-paced action game. If you look at how younger fans consume sport these days, they don’t necessarily sit down to watch a full game of football.
“But Rugby League is very exciting. From that perspective it’s easy to get the attention and to demonstrate to people that it’s easy to understand. It doesn’t have too many intricate rules, like some other sports, and if you want to consume it in short bursts, then you can do. It works really well. I work on basketball and there are some similarities; both sports are fast paced with lots of action that appeals to a younger fanbase.”
MS: For most people, twelve years sounds like a very long time. What made you agree to a twelve-year term? It suggests great commitment on both your part and Rugby League’s part.
MD: “Having spoken to the RFL stakeholders they were looking for someone who was in this for the long term. We asked, what is the best way to structure this to satisfy the needs of both sides. I can’t go into the commercial details of the deal, but it is structured so that our return is very much focused on performance, because that’s what we feel is the best for both sides.
“We need to prove that we can make this work and that’s how we get remunerated. If we grow this sport, that’s how it works for our side.
“But this is not going to be an overnight thing. This is the long game. We need to grow this sport, first to be able to get it back to the levels it was previously. and then to exceed those levels. That’s not a process that we can make happen in twelve months’ time, so we thought that a twelve-year deal was an appropriate length of time for us to be able to grow the sport to where we want it to be and to give us enough of a horizon to be able to demonstrate that we have earned our return by proving that performance.”
MS: Your financial return is linked to the enhancement of broadcasting, sponsorship and commercial income more generally. I imagine you have a ratchet effect on your income so that the more successful the game is in generating income in the long term, the more successful you will be too in getting your return.
MD: “The better we perform the better our return will be and there are levels where we won’t get a return. The over-arching principle all the way through was to link it to performance. What Rugby League didn’t need was someone coming in and charging them a huge fee with no skin in the game, while promising a lot and potentially not delivering it.
“They have been down the path of private equity before and that is an incredibly topical conversation at the moment.
“But what they want from us is the skills and expertise that we bring in growing sports and growing revenue streams.
“There are three elements of our business.
“IMG Media, where I sit, this is the part where we will look at the competition structure.
“We have our digital agency called Seven League, who will be doing the digital transformation of the league.
“Then we have the brand and marketing agency 160over90, which will be doing a lot of the re-imagining of the sport. What is unique to a company like IMG and the broader Endeavor is that we can bring that wide range of expertise to the table. We are not doing anything in isolation. We are not working on the brand independently of me looking at the competition structure or our digital team looking at social media or the team that will consider broadcast rights.”
MS: What will your role be on the new joint venture company that has been created by the RFL and Super League?
MD: “The structure of the governance is still being developed, so as yet I don’t think I can answer that question.”
MS: How far could you reimagine Rugby League and how would you persuade the clubs to accept what you recommend? Would the clubs be able to block any recommendations that you might make if they didn’t like them?
MD: “We are coming into this with a blank sheet of paper and no pre-conceived ideas. We are focused on making this a consultation-led process and we will speak to the key stakeholders, including the clubs, the fans, the owners, the RFL itself, the Super League and all parts of the game and we are trying to make this a process where we listen.
“We will get all the information and all the different ideas, and I know already that there is a lot out there.”
MS: As I understand your role, you will probably not generate any significant income for the first two years of your involvement. In a sense you are making an investment of your time and expertise to generate income later in the cycle. The current TV deals all run out at the end of 2023 so clearly there is pressure to get the league structure established before you go to any potential broadcasters
MD: “There is some time pressure, which is why we announced the deal this last week. I basically start from Monday and there is a lot to do.
“We have a lot to do to get a clear direction as to what we will need to do going forward and to build the brand around it. The future structure is just one part of this, we then have to position that appropriately as well.”
MS: Your remit is to consider the whole sport of Rugby League, not just Super League. In doing that you will have to consider some prickly issues. For example, does the Super League brand still serve its purpose, given that there are many other sports that use that title? Is it sensible to retain a system with promotion and relegation? How can we get more clubs to have a realistic chance of winning the major trophies? There is a lot to work on.
MD: “Again, I would emphasise that we are starting this exercise with a blank sheet, but competitive balance is very important. Look at American sports and you see that what makes them great is competitive balance. We have seen that to a degree with the NRL, where the top eight changes year by year. So we can’t do this properly by just looking at Super League. We need to look at the whole structure of Rugby League.
“It has permutations all the way through. While Super League is obviously the revenue generator, you have to bear in mind the impact on the rest of the pyramid.
“We have huge growth in the women’s game and wheelchair game and we will ask how that fits in to the overall approach that we are trying to take for the sport, because participation and growth are very important too. We want to maximise the overall outcome.”
MS: I understand that the private equity company Silver Lake is a major investor in Endeavor and they have invested in various sporting bodies, including Manchester City, the All Blacks and the Australian A-League football competition. Is there scope for investment in Rugby League?
MD: “In terms of the immediate needs, private equity funds is not what the game needs. They need the expertise to grow the game. Like any business, you want to sell your business when you can get the appropriate value for it. Super League flirted with the idea (of private equity) previously but they then realised that they don’t need funds to do what they need to do, but they do need expertise. Whether that will change going forward, I don’t know. We could have had an equity element like those examples, but that wasn’t what was needed.
“What the sport needs now is the biggest sports and entertainment company in the world providing its expertise.”
MS: You announced the agreement by means of a press release rather than a press conference. Why was that, given that this is the most significant partnership that Rugby League has ever entered into?
MD: “I understand that point, but from our perspective, we are really just excited just to get under way and we want to start working on this project immediately. And the amount of coverage this announcement has received has been amazing, even without us holding a formal press conference. We’ve been happy with how positive the response has been across the board. We were ready to get underway. We could hold a press conference and say all the right things, but if we don’t deliver it, then it doesn’t count for much.”
MS: How will you judge your success over twelve years?
MD: “That’s a great question. There are two aspects to it. First there is a commercial aspect to us as a company but then there is the sport itself. We need to be realistic about that. We have one enormous sport (football) already in the pool. So I’m not going to say that in twelve years’ time we will be equal with football. But I know enough about the history of Rugby League to know that this was a major sport in this country. We want to get back to that level and beyond it so that the sport gets the attention it deserves. If we can get to a position where we can significantly grow the revenue with clubs that are strong financially and high levels of interest and awareness of the sport across the country, as well as looking at where we are in Europe, then we will have made progress.”
MS: Do you think that Rugby League’s identity as a largely northern sport is a weakness or a potential strength?
MD: “There are some clear strengths that Rugby League has in the market already and you want to play to your strengths. I’m not looking at the regionality as a weakness but as a positive base from which we can move forward. It’s finding that balance between expansion and the existing strengths. The clear strength is its popularity in significant parts of the north of England.”
MS: Given that the broadcasting and streaming market is changing so rapidly, do you see your role in those areas as being crucial, given the nature of your organisation?
MD: “Exactly! There has been an enormous growth in OTT platforms, for example, and that’s why we have Endeavor Streaming. We want to have that flexibility. What is the right modality to broadcast this sport? We have all the options in our hands and we can choose the right options moving forward. But the underlying point is still the same that we need to grow the fanbase of the sport.
“It won’t be an easy project but we are coming to this with no preconceived ideas. We are bringing a pair of fresh eyes.”
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