USA Rugby launches Rugby World Cup bid campaign

The bid campaign for the USA to host a Rugby World Cup is officially underway. A media conference on Wednesday morning in the nation’s capital unveiled the plans to potentially host one or more of the 2027 or 2031 Men’s events, or the 2029 Women’s tournament.

If successful, a Men’s event would be a first in the Americas. Canada have previously hosted the 2006 Women’s World Cup while both North and South America have hosted the Rugby World Cup Sevens – Mar del Plata in 2001 and most recently San Francisco in 2018.

Bid Chair Jim Brown released a statement along with the campaign branding “United By Rugby,”

“This is a proud moment as we introduce our vision for a Rugby World Cup on American soil. After working on this for a year now, we are confident in the strength of this bid, the support around us, the cities and stadiums interested in hosting, our country’s top-level infrastructure for large-scale sports events and the opportunity the U.S. population of sports fans presents for rugby’s growth, both domestically and globally.”

Also confirmed are a list of 29 cities who have expressed interest and are currently being considered in the USA’s bid. One of those is Vancouver, BC. Notably there is no mention of any other large metropolitan areas in Canada such as Toronto or Montreal. The list is as follows:

Atlanta, Georgia
Austin, Texas
Baltimore, Maryland
Birmingham, Alabama
Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Houston, Texas
Indianapolis, Indiana
Kansas City, Missouri
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York City, New York
Orlando, Florida
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
Seattle, Washington
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Washington, DC

Further information on the bid will be provided on a new campaign website – usabid.rugby.

It’s time for the USA, and the World, to be #UnitedByRugby. pic.twitter.com/rnH2fA8dg6

— USA Rugby (@USARugby) October 20, 2021