Dan’s mission is to sell rugby to American market
WITH the possible exception of Saracens’ Chris Wyles no American Rugby player understands and appreciates Premiership rugby better than Dan Lyle and it will perhaps come as no surprise that the former Bath No 8 is the main man Stateside pulling together next week’s Premiership clash between Saracens and Newcastle Falcons.
Lyle, a strong contender as the best American player ever, was a tower of strength at Bath between 1996 and 2003, including a spell as captain. His combination of athleticism and American Football skills were ideally suited to the back row while he also pioneered the one-handed catch and feed at the tail of the line-out.
Since his retirement in 2004 he’s been busy, as you would expect. For much of that time he was executive vice president of United World Sports and the tournament director and the organiser in chief of USA Sevens, the USA’s main rugby Sevens tournament.
And now, after a switch of jobs to become rugby director at AEG, Lyle is one of the key individuals trying to bring regular competitive Premiership Rugby to the USA and eke out every ounce of benefit such a game can bring to USA Rugby.
It should be stated early on that AEG are massive players in the sports/entertainment business and aren’t known for entering into anything halfheartedly. They own and operate the Staples Centre in Los Angles and the O2 and Manchester Arena in Britain. They also operate the 53,000 capacity Turk Telecom Arena in Istanbul.
AEG own the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer club and 50 per cent of the Los Angeles Kings Ice Hockey franchise and have an additional interest in the Los Angeles Lakers. They are not inconsiderable players in their field, reckoned to be the second biggest events promoter in the USA and that is disregarding their interests around the world
And now they have asked Lyle to have a serious look at rugby and to forge a partnership with Premiership Rugby. It begs the question what’s in it for them and American Rugby and Lyle sees it both emotionally from a rugby point of view and as a businessman.
“The bottom line in the USA is that we don’t see enough rugby, experience enough rugby to stand alongside other sports and to secure our spot in a crowded market,” he says Lyle. “We need more and for that to happen we must be proactive
“That’s why now, thanks to our partnership with NBC, we have Premiership rugby coverage ever weekend and matches like Saracens against Falcons can only build on that. It’s the first of a series of these games. We are contracted through to 2020 and hope it will run longer. We will see where it takes us.”
That competitive element is important. I attended most of the exhibition NFL and NBA matches in London for more than a decade and they ended up being less than satisfying experience. Only when both organisations started organising regular season games did it really kick off.
That means occasionally you get a less than gala game served up – the need for league points can become paramount and there is less of a compunction to entertain – but ultimately even an average game that counts is worth more than a very good game that means nothing.
Lyle fronts that NBC coverage with England and Lions New York-born prop Alex Corbisiero and will be combining TV duties with that of being event ringmaster next week in Chester.
“For 30 years or so the only chance for an American rugby fan to watch high quality rugby, other than the occasional Test match here, would be the Six Nations or World Cup in some rugby friendly bar. That’s not many windows and some of the timings would not necessarily be great.
“Then the Premiership and NBC got together and suddenly American rugby fans have a weekly meeting place if you like. Everybody – players fans, coaches, mums and dads – know it will be on consistently, that this is their ringfenced space. We have got a day and a slot when we can all watch it together. This is the string that links the popcorn
“This live game here will amplify all that. What American domestic rugby doesn’t have – either domestically or internationally – is a true sense of when rugby is on, when it should be played, when to congregate and get excited about the game. When to hit social media.
“Our domestic season and events come in fits and starts and you have to build other events into that schedule and importing weekly action from the Premiership and staging games here is part of the process of filling the gaps in the calendar.
“Saracens are almost a textbook case on how to grow a club from the smallest and most humble of starts,” adds Lyle. “And Newcastle constantly battle against the presence of a huge soccer team so both clubs are well versed in having to get out there and sell the product.”
Before the main event there’s a curtain raiser between Oxford University and a Combined American Collegiate XV which should give the early arrivals something to get stuck in over their beers.
“In the USA we don’t see enough rugby to stand alongside other sports”