Thursday 27 October 2011

New Zealand's future hosting of the Rugby World Cup

At Fair Play and Forward Passes Sam Richardson writes,
So, should we host the tournament again? We need to be objective when it comes to a future tournament, and consider the implications of hosting. Given that much of the infrastructure is in place, I'm sure we'd like to think that in maybe 16 or 20 years time it could well be New Zealand's time again. My concern is that the price tag attached to the tournament may well have escalated well beyond our means by that stage. We have shown how a country can embrace the event. It would be nice to think that the IRB might embrace some form of revenue/profit sharing to see the place many consider the spiritual home of rugby host the tournament again. This, of course, remains to be seen.
Cost is the problem, just as it was the problem for this world cup. In 20 years the infrastructure we have now will most likely need to be upgraded or replaced. This will be expensive. And if the benefits of this world cup don't cover the costs why would we think that the increased costs of a future world cup will be covered? I can't see an economic rationale for a future world cup, warm fuzzies are all well and good, but they come at a very high cost. The IRB would have to come up with a good deal to make another tournament worth New Zealand's while.

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