Le Figaro.- Does Antoine Dupont have the potential to become the new headliner of rugby?
Lucas Huttaux.
Antoine is probably THE rising figure of French rugby.
At 24, he is already playing his fifth Six Nations Tournament.
Sportingly, he is impressive and full of qualities.
He also has the chance to be in high-performance teams (
Stade Toulousain and XV de France
).
But, on the side of his personality, he is someone who remains very introverted.
This could be a brake on becoming the new headliner of national, or even world, rugby.
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Does Romain Ntamack have a better profile for this role?
The two friends are evolving well together at Stade Toulousain and among the Blues.
With equal performances and without major injury, Romain Ntamack has an advantage on the starting line: he has a name already known to the general public and the French media.
But Antoine Dupont has the talent to catch the light on the pitch.
It remains to be seen whether he can do it outside as well.
“All things considered, the Top 14 is to rugby what the NBA is to basketball.
It can therefore greatly increase its advertising revenues ”
If Antoine Dupont was voted best player in the world, will his notoriety outside rugby change?
It is never trivial to be named the best player in the world.
It is obvious that its notoriety would be positively impacted.
Especially since the next World Cup will take place in France and we are starting to feel a craze around this XV of France.
He already has a card to play at the national level.
It goes through convincing results during this Six Nations Tournament.
For him to be elected best player in the world by World Rugby, this supposes that the XV of France goes at least until the final of his World Cup.
It would then be in his interest to capitalize as much as possible on this dynamic to monetize its image with brands.
Even if 2020 was a special year, he nevertheless gleaned the title of best player of the Tournament, but without making himself really more visible off the field.
In a sport where injuries can keep you out of the competition, it needs to get into more media coverage quickly.
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Can its notoriety go beyond rugby and attract generalist brands?
Yes quite.
He is fortunate to be part of a new sporting generation which is in full revival and even in success.
This is the moment for him, if he wants to stand out from the crowd, to put himself forward.
From an economic point of view, it is also in its interest.
Covid obliges, the budgets of the clubs are in strong and declining.
It will therefore be difficult for him to significantly increase his salary.
On the other hand, it can greatly increase its advertising revenue.
Like a Giannis Antetokounmpo who pocketed a salary of $ 19.6 million against $ 28 million with his advertising contracts in 2020. All things considered, the Top 14 is to rugby what the NBA is to basketball and , in the case of Antoine Dupont, one could take as an indicator of his starification, the share of his income coming from his partners.
The popularity of rugby in France, its talent, the performances of the XV of France and the World Cup on the horizon mean that sponsors will look for "ambassadors".
He clearly has the potential.
"
Today, in the media landscape, apart from the athlete, we know very little Antoine Dupont
"
What does it lack to get out of the rugby framework and become more mainstream?
Today, in the media landscape, apart from the athlete, we know very little Antoine Dupont.
He is quite reserved by nature.
To get out of the rugby framework and work on extra sports, he will need to be well supported and avoid being scattered.
He will have to open up to "give material" to what the media are interested in him.
It is up to him to find an area of expression, of commitment that corresponds to him.
He needs to find what he can be to tick the boxes in the marketing field.
He collaborates with the Parisian agency Bros Agency for the management of his image, when we see the casting of the latter (
Presnel Kimpembe, Tony Yoka…
), he is in a framework that can allow him to open up.
What is his real influence on social networks, and Instagram in particular?
If we look at its base on social networks, it stands at 240,000 fans.
By comparing him with Romain Ntamack precisely, we arrive at a perfect equality of 240,000 fans.
But compared to other talented young French sportsmen like the decathlete Kevin Mayer (580,000) or Pierre Gasly (2.1 M) he still has some way to go, not to mention the extraterrestrial Kylian Mbappé (50 M).
With better results from the XV of France and a World Cup in France in 2023, are the planets aligned?
France 2023 represents an investment and a source of income for many media.
They will therefore need to tell stories and have headliners to maintain and develop popular enthusiasm.
Antoine Dupont should benefit from a caring environment.
If he “plays the game”, he has a real chance of becoming one of the new headliners of French rugby, because it's been ten years that we have good players but more stars.
The last to have marked the minds of the general public are probably Sébastien Chabal and Fréderic Michalak.
So yes, the planets are aligned for our tricolor scrum half, while waiting for the end of this edition of the 6 Nations well underway by our Blues.
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