Michael Yormark Roc Nation

Michael Yormark. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images/AFP

Roc Nation boss says SA sports industry needs serious shake up!

Roc Nation Sports President Michael Yormark believes the South African sports industry needs to change, and needs to change drastically.

Michael Yormark Roc Nation

Michael Yormark. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images/AFP

Yormark was in conversation with event MC and sports broadcaster Motshidisi Mohono, alongside Roc Nation’s Director of Operations in Africa, Isaac Lugudde-Katwe, at the 2021 Hollard Sport Industry Awards on 25 November.

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Yormark was forthright in stating that there needed to be real change in South Africa’s sports industry if it is to survive and sustain itself, as well as capitalise on the potential of its ‘star’ members – the players.

Founded in 2008 by music mogul JAY-Z, Roc Nation has grown into one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies, with Roc Nation Sports launched in 2013. It has since grown to represent over 100 athletes across baseball, basketball, American football, football, rugby, cricket, netball and e-sports.

Roc Nation Sports first popped up on the South African sports industry radar at the end of 2019, when it signed World Cup-winning Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, before the agency added fellow Springboks Cheslin Kolbe, Sbu Nkosi and Aphelele Fassi to their books, along with former Springbok prop Beast Mtawarira, Proteas cricketers Lungi Ngidi and Temba Bavuma, and national netball captain Bongi Msomi.

The organisation has also concluded deals with the Sharks rugby franchise and Mamelodi Sundowns football club.

What’s clear is that Roc Nation Sports sees opportunity in South Africa, but that’s because Yormark believes there are huge gaps in the system.

“When you think about South Africa, the players have no voice and there is no true partnership,” he said. “The governing bodies control sport, whether it’s rugby, cricket or football – the players don’t have a seat at the table and are not involved in the decision-making.

“That’s a problem. We’re trying to elevate the influence of athletes in South Africa to push them to the table, to give them that opportunity to be true partners in the sports that they are participating in. That’s one of the biggest differences between sports in South Africa and America.”

A new model needed says Roc Nation boss

Yormark also pointed to the fact that many sports organisations in South Africa, including from the ‘top three’ of rugby, cricket and football, are facing financial challenges, and need to develop a model that ensures their survival.

“One of the things you would have seen recently with the Sharks is the influence of private ownership, and that’s another area that South Africa is going to have to accept moving forward,” said Yormark, who is also a member of the American consortium that acquired a 51% controlling share in the Sharks in January, and he believes other South African clubs and franchises should follow suit.

“They have to attract private ownership,” he said. “That’s how they are going to grow these clubs, which currently in South Africa are under-capitalised.

“They need capital infusion, they need best practices from American sport, they need to understand the concept of true partnership between the governing bodies, the fans, the clubs and the players. And once they are willing to accept that, we can take sport in South Africa and truly bring it to the next level and make it profitable.”

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