England Rugby World Cup to bring record profit

Dara Doyle

The upcoming Rugby World Cup in England will bring in about 60% more than the 2011 tournament in New Zealand, says the International Rugby Board.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup in England will probably make about £150-million, a 60% increase from the 2011 competition in New Zealand, the head of the sport’s global governing body said.

England won the right in 2009 to host the tournament for a second time as the International Rugby Board (IRB) moved to shore up its finances to spread the game into new countries. Japan will hold the tournament in 2019, becoming the first Asian host.

The 2015 World Cup may be the rugby’s most profitable ever, surpassing the £122.4-million surplus from the 2007 event in France. IRB president Brett Gosper said the event would benefit from being held in the heart of European rugby, allowing easy access to supporters and advertisers from many countries.

“When you stage the World Cup in a major industrial country, the ability for sponsors to exploit a place like the UK versus New Zealand, you get a bit of step up,” Gosper said in an interview, adding “we could do much better” than his £150-million estimate. This surplus for the IRB comes from broadcasting and other revenue, while the tournament host’s income is from ticket sales.

The 2011 tournament, which culminated in a victory for the All Blacks, attracted about 133 000 visitors from more than 100 countries to New Zealand and a cumulative global television audience of 3.9-billion people, organisers said.

A December 2012 report by the New Zealand government found the event boosted the local economy by $1.4-billion.

The Dublin-based IRB earns about 95% of its income from the World Cup, and chose England as host because it anticipated lower profit from the New Zealand event. Some games will be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Du Plessis Decision
The IRB, which also makes laws for the game, said this week that French referee Romain Poite had improperly penalised South Africa’s Bismarck du Plessis for a tackle on Dan Carter of New Zealand.

Poite showed Du Plessis a yellow card for the tackle in the 17th minute of South Africa’s 29-15 Rugby Championship loss to New Zealand in Auckland on September 14. Though a subsequent yellow card in the second half led to the hooker’s ejection from the game, the red card was subsequently struck off his disciplinary record.

The call by Poite was “unfortunate”, though it may not directly impact on his chances of being appointed to future big games, Gosper said.

“All games are reviewed and as a consequence of those reviews, allocations of games are decided,” Gosper said. “There is a pecking order of referees. When it’s as high profile as that, it probably never particularly helps, but he is a very good referee.” – Bloomberg