U.S. Picked as Host of Rugby World Cup
Eager to establish a foothold in a coveted market, world rugby officials awarded the 2031 men’s World Cup and 2033 women’s event to the United States.
When the soccer World Cup came to the United States in 1994, there was plenty of skepticism. Could a sport featuring low-scoring games played out by unfamiliar foreign stars capture the imagination of parochial American fans? As it turned out, the answer was yes: The World Cup helped kick-start a soccer boom in the United States, and opened a valuable new market for a global sport.
It’s a long way off, but rugby officials are hoping for something similar after awarding the 2031 men’s and 2033 women’s Rugby World Cups to the United States on Thursday. The 2031 tournament will be the first men’s Rugby World Cup held anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. (The women’s event was held in Canada in 2006.)
Because rugby’s reach is more geographically limited — only a handful of nations play it at an elite level, and only four have won its biggest championship — the Rugby World Cup does not reach the viewership heights enjoyed by soccer’s World Cup and the Olympics. But the men’s event is one of a handful of international competitions that can plausibly make the claim to being the third largest sporting event in the world. Rugby officials acknowledged Thursday, in announcing the hosts of five future tournaments, that they were looking to expand the sport’s profile and reach.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/sports/rugby/rugby-world-cup-us.html