Eddie Hearn believes that Henry Pollock can \u2018completely change\u2019 rugby with the hugely successful promoter predicting that a spike in popularity is imminent.<\/p>\n
While Hearn is renowned for his promotional work in boxing, snooker and darts, he is now taking his first step into rugby union after years of rejecting rugby league\u2019s advances.<\/p>\n
This, after he signed England<\/a> and Northampton Saints<\/a> ace Pollock to his new venture, Matchroom Sport Agency, just the second major athlete after MMA heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.<\/p>\n Hearn insists that it is not his job to grow the sport, as he will focus on capitalising on Pollock\u2019s<\/a> marketability but believes that the youngster could be at the forefront of the impending spike.<\/p>\n \u201cIn layman\u2019s terms, our job is to harness and drive the commercial value of Henry Pollock,\u201d Hearn explained on the Big Jim Show<\/a>, detailing what his company will be doing for Pollock.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means making sure that we drive his profile to the mainstream audience beyond rugby and also create new commercial opportunities from a revenue perspective, driving brand deals, and within 6 to 12 months, Henry will be making more money off the pitch than he makes on it. And that will change over time because I know his contracts, and I think he\u2019s going to have huge value as time goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n Rugby\u2019s spike<\/p>\n The businessman added that since the news of Pollock signing with Matchroom was confirmed, players have clamoured to work with him.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say we\u2019ve had over 30 players come on since the signing of Henry, saying, \u2018This is exactly what we need. Could you work with me?\u2019 We\u2019re not going into rugby management. If there\u2019s someone special, we may add one more, you know, or two more. This isn\u2019t about us becoming rugby agents,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite smart because it\u2019s like Aspinall signing in the MMA situation, it allows us to deep dive within the sport to learn to watch, listen, and I\u2019m sure it will unfold other commercial opportunities for Matchroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Having played his part in the rise in popularity for boxing, darts and snooker, Hearn believes that he has a knack for knowing when the popularity of a sport is about to soar.<\/p>\n He says that rugby\u2019s spike is on its way.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a pretty good nose for a spike in sport, I think yours is coming. I really do,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at Pollock, I look at the success of the Six Nations, the women\u2019s game as well. I think now could be the time, and I think he\u2019s the guy. It\u2019s literally England Rugby, RFU, you\u2019ve got him in the palm of your hands to completely change the way this sport looks.\u201d<\/p>\n Henry Pollock\u2019s \u2018best player of all-time\u2019 goal convinced Eddie Hearn to sign the England star<\/a><\/p>\n Going to the Principality<\/p>\n Hearn says he was blown away by the theatre of Wales versus England at the Principality Stadium during the Six Nations, which led to the decision to step into rugby and sign Pollock to his agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout the years, we\u2019ve always looked at rugby, particularly across the league side, and we\u2019ve had approaches from the RFL to maybe move into the sport,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to the Six Nations game a couple of weeks ago, and people think that I put that post out to sort of launch Matchroom in rugby, but at the time, I hadn\u2019t even discussed Henry Pollock. But I was blown away with the power of the Six Nations and particularly, being there at that event, given that Wales hadn\u2019t won a Six Nations game for three years and were bottom of the table and I\u2019m just looking around with hairs on my arms are standing up and obviously from a commercial sense I\u2019m looking thinking money and then I put that post out and it went a bit wild.<\/p>\n