Marco Masotti is sitting in his Midtown Manhattan office where he worked on the private equity deal to buy Chelsea earlier this year. In between meetings with Wall Street clients, he has blocked out half an hour of his diary to discuss the changing landscape of rugby.
Masotti bought the Durban-based Sharks last year and will watch them make their debut in the Champions Cup next Saturday, hosting Harlequins in South Africa as the competition extends its reach.
‘Let’s face it,’ he says. ‘Europe’s where all the rugby action is and we need to grow the pie.