All or Nothing

Watching the enthralling game unfold at BT Murrayfield on Saturday (congratulations to Wales) it struck me how good it was to be watching live sport during these challenging times that we are living through. It was also strangely comforting to hear the array of British accents from the various commentators and pundits representing the home nations. 

This may seem an odd aspect of the coverage to pick out but it’s because the vast majority of live sport I consume these days is US owned. So I’m used to Bruce Buffer’s inimitable pre-fight announcements in UFC, Sean Woodland’s seamless linking of events at the CrossFit Games and Jim Nantz’s insightful play-by-play calling in the NFL. 

This in turn got me thinking about how I got to this position of mainly watching US based sports when as a kid I grew up on a sporting diet of football, rugby, golf and tennis. 

There is something about participation breeding appreciation, so in some ways, it’s not much of a surprise that I watch CrossFit however, it’s the individual athlete stories that hooked me in and have me gripped whenever elite sanctioned events or ‘The Games’ are broadcast. 

This is something that the UFC has done incredibly well. A couple of weeks ago we witnessed the latest chapter in the “Notorious” Connor McGregor’s career with his loss to Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier, the second time they’ve fought each other. In the buildup to UFC 257 enthralling content was shared across UFC channels showcasing the rise of each fighter and building anticipation towards the main event. 

And speaking of main events, only last week we had Super Bowl LV with Tampa Bay taking on Kansas. As a 49ers fans I had my hopes dashed last year by the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in particular, but having been gripped by the epic ‘All or Nothing’ series on Amazon Prime, the fact I was supporting the Bucs had more to do with Bruce Arians and Tyrann Mathieu. The first season of All Or Nothing focused on the Arizona Cardinals and I’d grown to love the coach and the player from this season, so it was amazing to see them triumph... alongside Brady the GOAT, of course. 

So the common thread here is storytelling and sport, and rugby in particular, which has an amazing ability to tell stories that capture the imagination. There is a great opportunity to emulate these US rights holders and think like publishers that create content rather than solely administer the sports they own. This was the ‘brief behind the brief’ for Scottishrugby.org

The All Blacks have done a season of All or Nothing and this follows the precedent of the truly epic ‘Living With The Lions’ behind the scenes documentaries from the Lions tours. Perhaps the new 6 Nations owners, CVC, could take the lead from the All Blacks and Lions and commission a season of All or Nothing to follow the competing teams and maybe then we can recruit some new US based fans to one of our favourite sports?