What it takes to bid for the Rugby World Cup

At the moment, countries are bidding to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023. The three countries competing the tournament are Ireland, France and South Africa.

Bidding and organizing the RWC starts early, like other large events. The expression of interest phase began back in May 2015 and closed a month later in June. During the expression of interest, there is a knowledge-sharing process which leads up to the submission of bids by May 2016.

Each bid pays an application fee of 28 million Euros to World Rugby, who will announce the decision of the winning bid in November this year.

One of the primary conditions is that the tournament is underwritten completely. The Irish authorities expect that it will get 480,000 visitors with economic benefit to the nation of around 800 million Euros, should it win the bid.

Here are the seven areas, that the selection committee uses to decide the winning bid:

Venues and infrastructure commensurate with a top-tier major event.

Comprehensive and enforceable public and private sector guarantees.

A commercially successful event with a fully funded, robust financial model.

Operational excellence through an integrated and experienced delivery team.

A vision that engages and inspires domestic and international audiences and contributes
to the growth of rugby at all levels.

An enabling environment of political and financial stability that respects the diversity of Rugby World Cup’s global stakeholders.

An environment and climate suited to top-level sport in a geography that allows maximum fan mobility.