Advancing Rugby as a New Asset Class
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA / ACCESS Newswire / June 18, 2025 / The National Rugby Football League (NRFL) is proud to announce that Dr. Patrick Pilati, a globally recognized expert in behavioral finance, institutional capital strategy, and financial architecture, has joined the league as a strategic advisor.
Dr. Pilati will work alongside the NRFL's leadership to help position the league at the intersection of elite sports, financial engineering, and capital markets. His advisory role will center on helping the NRFL evolve into a scalable asset class-supporting its long-term vision of transforming professional rugby into a structured financial product accessible to institutional stakeholders, family offices, and global markets.
"Dr. Pilati brings a strategic lens that's uniquely suited to our mission," said Michael Clements, CEO of the NRFL. "His global experience in financial innovation and market structuring will help us build a foundation where rugby can thrive as both a premier sport and a dynamic economic engine."
The NRFL is pioneering a next-generation media and sports property in North America by commercializing rugby-one of the world's most popular yet untapped sports markets on the continent. Combining high-performance sport, immersive digital content, and cutting-edge fan engagement strategies, the NRFL is crafting a premium platform designed for long-term commercial monetization.
Dr. Pilati, known globally for scaling fintech, commodities, and alternative investment ventures, brings more than two decades of executive leadership to the role. His career spans over $80.6 billion in cross-sector global transactions. Most recently, in 2024-2025, he spearheaded the financial transformation of companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, scaling valuations from $400 million to $8.1 billion in under 12 months through advanced securitization strategies and behavioral capital modeling. His proprietary financial models have been used to reshape asset classes from digital banking to luxury commodities.
"The NRFL represents a rare opportunity to architect an entirely new asset category-where sport, finance, and technology converge," said Dr. Patrick Pilati. "By applying institutional-grade financial modeling, behavioral economics, and asset securitization principles, we can help shape rugby not just as a sport, but as a scalable, investable platform with long-term value for global markets."
This partnership signals a unique evolution in how professional sports franchises are conceptualized-not simply as entertainment entities, but as structured financial instruments with real-asset potential, yield curves, and integrated value chains.
For more information, visit www.thenrfl.com or contact the NRFL Media Relations team.
Contact Information
Steve Ryan
Managing Director
sryan@thenrfl.com
952-835-4364
SOURCE: National Rugby Football League
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
