World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper admitted Tuesday that he was "still slightly concerned the Japanese government and population at large has not grasped how big an event Rugby World Cup 2019 will be," according to KYODO. He said, "I honestly don't believe the Japanese are aware as to how big an event this is. And that's something we need to push a lot more. I think the Japanese government will be surprised at how much Rugby World Cup will contribute to the economy. There's no capital investment involved, it's all travelling fans and people spending well beyond the national average all over the country. In terms of impact on the general economy, we saw the Rugby World Cup was bigger than the Sydney Olympics and we saw similar stats for London." Last year's tournament in England helped generate £2.3B in "spending across the economy." Rugby fans the world over have talked about '19 being a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it has been predicted that around 450,000 foreigners could make their way" to Japan for a tournament that will last six weeks and will be played at 12 venues. Yet most government directives and plans "are more concerned with the Olympics to be held in Tokyo a year later." Gosper said, "It is not ideal to precede an Olympics and the big worry is you will be eclipsed by the awareness of the Olympics." He added that he is "confident things are heading in the right direction." Gosper: "Our belief is Japan is ahead of England 2015 in terms of preparation. That doesn't mean they don't have a lot to do but we are genuinely confident that everything will be in place as it should be" (KYODO, 10/11).
2017 TICKET PRICES: The Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH reported organizers of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup have announced "ticket prices for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand next year." The tournament will run from Oct. 27 to Dec. 2, with prices starting from A$10 ($7.50) for children and concessions, A$20 ($15) for adults and A$45 ($34) for a family of four. RLWC2017 CEO Andrew Hill said that the tournament "would be a festival of rugby league with 450,000 fans expected to attend the 28 games across 13 host cities." He said, "When setting ticket prices, value for money was our number one priority" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 10/10).
