US to host men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups for 1st time

Rugby’s biggest tournament is finally heading to the United States.

Now comes the hard part for the sport’s leadership: Generating enough interest and sustainability to secure rugby’s place in a crowded U.S. market.

The Rugby World Cup will be staged in the U.S. for the first time after being voted on Thursday as the host of the men’s event in 2031 and the women’s tournament two years later.

It marks rugby’s first attempt to move into the wider American sporting consciousness and unlock what World Rugby – the global governing body – regards as an area of untapped potential, in both a commercial and sporting sense.

“The golden nugget that everybody wants to get hold of” was how World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont described America.

“What we will leave in the U.S.,” he said, “is an extremely sustainable, vibrant sport that will go from strength to strength.”

USA Rugby’s vision is of countrywide membership more than quadrupling to 450,000 by 2031, of significant investment in the domestic Major League Rugby so the U.S.

Eagles are a competitive team in time for 2031, and of stadiums “from coast to coast” staging matches – there have been around 25 venue bids, including from NFL and Major League Soccer arenas.

Glendale and State Farm Stadium are on a list of 25 cities under consideration to play host to either or both events.

A competitive, perhaps quarterfinalbidding team, would crucially be necessary for the Eagles and the World Cup to cut through the considerable noise that is U.S. sports.