The biggest rugby tournament will travel to the United States.
Now comes the hard part of the leading sport: building enough interest and stability to gain a place in rugby in a crowded US market.
The Rugby World Cup will be held in the United States for the first time since it was voted on Thursday to host the 2031 men’s tournament and two years later the women’s tournament.
This is rugby’s first attempt to penetrate the broader American sporting consciousness and unlock what world rugby – a global governing body – sees as untapped potential in both the commercial and sporting sense.
“The gold rush that everyone wants to catch,” said World Rugby President Bill Beaumont of America.
“What we’re leaving in the United States,” he said, “is an extremely sustainable and energetic sport that is getting stronger.”
The US vision for rugby is to quadruple the nationwide membership to 450,000 by 2031, by playing stadium-to-beach stadiums-there are approximately 25 seats, including those in the NFL and MLS arena – and a significant investment in the national Premier League. Rugby will make the USA Eagles a competitive team for 2031.
Then, on the quality of the World Cup pitch, he puts rugby in a positive light that people are playing rugby and watching sports on TV.
“It’s an invitation to raise our awareness, to increase our sports fan base,” said Victoria Polayan, who has played on seven rugby teams in the United States and is a United States representative. “The doors are closed. Taking this step is just the beginning. “
To that end, the World Rugby experience in 2015 made his men’s athletics tournament in Asia – when Japan hosted it – the key to preparing for his US debut. Not just the community, but the national team itself.
Although the women’s team won their first World Cup in 1991 and reached the final in the next two events, the Men Eagles never competed at the group stage and were generally banned from playing with the best teams in the world. world every year. Reasons.
This is what the rugby world is looking at in its attempts to revamp the men’s international calendar to give more opportunities to developing countries like the United States.
Hosting two World Cups cost approximately $ 500 million, with profits and losses shared between World Rugby and US Rugby, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
In the White House-backed proposal, US President Joe Biden last month sent a letter to World Rugby containing government guarantees and support for “the development of rugby in the United States”.
The Men’s Rugby World Cup is considered in some parts of the world as the third largest sporting event after the FIFA World Cup and Summer Olympics.
The United States will host all three events over five years from 2026, starting with that year’s Men’s World Cup – Mexico and Canada as co -organizers – and then the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
For the first time, World Rugby used a simplified bidding process to announce the hosts of the 2025-33 World Cup for men and women.
Sydney Harbor Bridge has been lit in green and gold since Australia won the Men’s World Cup in 2027 and the Women’s Tournament in 2029. The Men’s World Cup returns to Australia for the first time since 2003.
This is seen as an opportunity to revive rugby in the country since the 2025 World Cup following a tour of the British and Irish Lions in Australia, bringing much -needed revenue to its governing body – Rugby Australia – which has been hit hard by the pandemic. .
Australian Rugby CEO Andy Marinos called it “the beginning of a new era of Australian rugby”.
“Australia will be the center of the rugby world for the next decade,” he said, “and it’s incredibly exciting.”
The 2027 tournament will mark the 40th anniversary when Australia and New Zealand hosted the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
In 2025, England announced it would host the Women’s World Cup.
More information on AP Rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
Source: Huffpost
