South Africa officially the favourite to host the Rugby World Cup tournament in 2023
SA Rugby's submission in the bid battle to host the Rugby World Cup of 2023 impressed the world governing body so much that they declared South Africa as their preferred candidate.
SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said on Tuesday that South Africa would deliver a “Triple Win” Rugby World Cup in 2023, after World Rugby announced that South Africa was the preferred candidate following a rigorous assessment of the competing bids.
South Africa was named in preference to fellow bidders France and Ireland as the candidate best able to fulfil the agreed criteria laid out by World Rugby to deliver a successful and profitable tournament.
“Based on the evaluation contained in this report, the candidate that scored the highest marks and is therefore deemed to be the optimal candidate to host Rugby World Cup 2023 is South Africa. It is the recommendation of the RWCL Board of Directors to World Rugby Council that South Africa should be awarded the right to host Rugby World Cup 2023,” said the report.
South Africa still has to clear one final hurdle before the celebrations can begin.
The recommendation will now be put to the vote of the World Rugby Council in London on 15 November. All three candidates will appear on the ballot paper but World Rugby has stressed to its members that recommendation of the Evaluation Committee should be taken into consideration.
There are 39 votes at stake with a simple majority required to determine the eventual host nation. The candidate nations do not have a vote. Those eligible to vote in the secret ballot on 15 November are: Australia (3 votes), England (3), New Zealand (3), Scotland (3), Wales (3), Italy (3), Argentina (3), Canada (1), Japan (2), Georgia (1), Romania (1), USA (1), Asia Rugby (2), Oceania Rugby (2), Rugby Africa (2), Rugby Americas North (2), Rugby Europe (2), Sudamerica Rugby (2).
Roux also said that this nomination is confirmation of that belief and reward for an outstanding bid in which no detail was too small to be addressed or any question not comprehensively answered. He said SA Rugby is 100% confident that the commitments that was made in the bid document will be delivered.
Mr Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby, thanked the South African government for their support and said that their backing had been central to the bid’s success.
South Africa’s 827-page, 8.2kg bid book included a commitment from the South African government to exceed the minimum guarantee of £120m required by World Rugby with an additional guarantee of £40m. SA Rugby forecast another £60m in profit for World Rugby from hospitality sales and savings on event costs because of the exchange rate.
The tournament promises the largest ever attendance for a final with a record 87 436 spectators at the FNB Stadium as part of an availability of 2.9m match tickets for the event – also a record.
The required minimum number of at least eight world-class venues in established rugby centres are already in place – the smallest of which has a fully seated capacity of 43 500 – all of them familiar with hosting Test matches and with no need for extra infrastructure investment by Government to meet World Rugby requirements.
Hosting the tournament will also produce major benefits for South Africa with a forecast R27 billion in direct, indirect and induced economic impact for the country. It is estimated that R5.7billion of that would flow to low income households while 38 600 temporary or permanent jobs would be sustained with an estimated R1.4 billion direct tax benefit to government.
“I would like to congratulate South Africa on a superb bid and all the bid teams for their dedication and professionalism throughout the process to date. Our colleagues on the World Rugby Council will now meet on 15 November in London to consider the Board’s recommendation and vote to decide the host of Rugby World Cup 2023,” said World Rugby and Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bill Beaumont.
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