The group behind Major League Baseball’s 2014 opener in Australia thinks now is an opportune moment for rugby.
Moore Sports International, based in Australia with offices in New York and Hong Kong, has submitted a bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the U.S. The event has not taken place outside of continental Europe or the Oceania region since it was created in 1954.
The U.S. team qualified for the tournament for the first time in 2013, reaching the quarterfinals.
“We see this as a huge opportunity not only for rugby league but for the U.S. as well,” said company CEO and President Jason Moore. “This is a game that the NFL and college football fan will really gravitate to, and is also a huge moment to push the agenda in terms of the growth and development of the game.”
Moore also pointed toward a domestic event calendar for the near future that, beyond the World Baseball Classic in February 2017 and 2021, does not feature many tournaments drawing men’s national teams.
Moore said he thinks the six-week, multi-city tournament has the potential to bring in more than $80 million in revenue across sponsorships, merchandise, ticketing and other streams. If overseeing body Rugby League International Federation selects the U.S. bid, Moore Sports International will own and operate the 2021 tournament in its entirety after providing an undisclosed fee to the federation, and will assume all revenue and expenditures.
The bid calls for the event to be held in eight to 10 cities around the country, playing matches in MLS and NFL stadiums. Moore said most tickets would be priced between $29 and $59, with tickets for the final reaching $100 or more. While a number of venues and sports commissions around the country have already been contacted by Moore Sports International in regard to hosting an event, a formal RFP process will occur if the bid is accepted.
Chuck Olney, director of business development at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, citing the excitement at Chicago’s Soldier Field when New Zealand visited in 2014, said Denver would be open to hosting matches.
“It would be our first rugby event, but looking at an event of this nature, I’d have to believe between regional, national and international support this would be a sellout event,” he said.
To further the growth of the sport, Moore said the goal is to also launch an elite national league in 2018 that would help create a platform for players, coaches and officials, as well as for commercial partners and venues. He said such a league would aim to have a single-entity model, with a development arm that also invested into the tournament. While Moore said that the firm’s efforts to host the World Cup have been self-funded, they would potentially seek out other investors for those opportunities.
There are two rugby leagues in the U.S., each featuring the two codes, or styles, within rugby; the USA Rugby League and the Professional Rugby Organization, which debuted this year and follows rugby union rules. There are a number of rule differences between union and league, which lead to league having fewer scrums and a more open, fast game akin to American football, which Moore said will make it easier to educate fans.
Rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union played at the Rio Olympics, will host its 2018 World Cup in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Rugby League International Federation is expected to narrow down the bidders for the tournament in September and will make a final decision in November. England is the only other country that has announced a public bid.
