Int'l Rugby Board President Brett Gosper said that the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England will probably make about £150M ($239M), a 60% increase from the '11 competition in New Zealand, according to Dara Doyle of BLOOMBERG. The 2015 World Cup "may be the rugby’s most profitable ever," surpassing the £122.4M surplus from the '07 event in France. Gosper said that "the event would benefit from being held in the heart of European rugby, allowing easy access to supporters and advertisers from many countries." He said, "When you stage the World Cup in a major industrial country, the ability for sponsors to exploit a place like the U.K. versus New Zealand, you get a bit of step up." He added that "we could do much better" than his £150M estimate. This surplus for the IRB "comes from broadcasting and other revenue, while the tournament host’s income is from ticket sales." The '11 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." A report by the New Zealand government "found the event boosted the local economy" by NZ$1.7B ($1.4B) (BLOOMBERG, 9/17).
