The U.S. is evaluating the possibility of bidding to host either the 2023 or 2027 Rugby World Cup. USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville said unnamed sources asked about the U.S. hosting at this year’s RWC in New Zealand.
"We were asked during the World Cup whether we would be prepared to bid for 2023. I know it seems like a very long way away for us all but we have to start those processes now so we are having a discussion about that," Melville said in The Guardian.
"Also Canada are interested in some sort of joint bid … could we do it together as north America? There would be opportunities in Toronto and Vancouver, and obviously bringing the tournament to North America would be a tremendous boost for us all."
The Eagles have appeared in six of the seven Rugby World Cups and the game is one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. Rugby received a boost with it being re-instated as an Olympic sport but hosting a Rugby World Cup would only help the growth of the sport much like when the soccer World Cup was hosted in the U.S. in 1994.
England is set to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup while the quadrennial event will be hosted for the first time outside of Europe or the southern hemisphere when Japan hosts in 2019.
The U.S. is not alone in looking to 2023 with Russia in the running and some thinking the U.S. bid would be to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup if they lost out to 2023.
"Discussions are taking place and I get the feel that if we bid for 2023 we might not get it but in 2027 we might, but I don't think we will get 27 if we don't bid in 23.
"I think we have to start putting the wheels in motion now to bid for the World Cup; that way we can certainly put ourselves on the map as serious contenders."
"It is something we should be looking at. You need to look strategically at where we want rugby to be – would we be able to cope with it, have we got the infrastructure, have we got the stadia and the big question would be could we fill the stadiums?"
HAVE YOUR SAY…Would the U.S. be a good nation to host the Rugby World Cup? Would stadia be full or would the event play second fiddle to other U.S sports? Talk about the U.S. bid to host the Rugby World Cup below.
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