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EY Study Deems 2015 World Cup Most Successful Rugby Event Ever

A report by consulting firm EY revealed that the 2015 Rugby World Cup hosted by England generated £2.3B in economic output, "making it the most successful event in the sport's history," according to Shravanth Vijayakumar of REUTERS. The firm said that the 48-day event, "which ended with New Zealand lifting the trophy in October," added £1.1B to the U.K.'s gross domestic product. It "also attracted 406,000 international visitors from 151 countries," who spent £958M in the U.K. About 2.47 million tickets "were sold in total." The 2015 World Cup "was also the most commercially successful rugby event held, courtesy of a 40 percent increase in broadcast and commercial deals." Those provided an anticipated surplus of £150M, breaking the previous record of £122M set in '07 (REUTERS, 5/24). WALES ONLINE's Simon Thomas reported Cardiff "experienced the biggest economic boost behind London from hosting the 2015 World Cup." The Welsh capital benefited to the tune of £380.2M "from staging eight games during the global jamboree last autumn." It "was the best attended, most competitive, most viewed, most socially engaged and most commercially successful of the eight World Cups to date and the biggest sporting event of 2015." With 2.47 million ticket sales, RWC 2015 was the fifth largest single-sport event ever held, with 98% of available tickets being sold. There were 2,474,584 million fans "inside the grounds across the 48 matches." A further 1,055,000 fans "visited the 15 fan-zones -- including one at Cardiff Arms Park -- and another million took part in Festival of Rugby activities." As for the TV coverage, 16,000 hours of action "was watched by 183 million fans, broadcast to 683 million homes in 209 territories worldwide with an estimated audience of 120 million watching the final" (WALES ONLINE, 5/24).

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