2015 Rugby World Cup hoping for Olympic boost

Published on 18/09/2012 01:29

ORGANISERS of the 2015 Rugby World Cup are confident of feeding off the enthusiasm of the summer Games to sell almost three million tickets despite the economic downturn.

British sports fans are still suffering withdrawal symptoms from the London Olympics and Paralympics, which were a huge success despite initial worries the public would be put off by high ticket prices. Despite no sign of the economic recession coming to an end, the organising committee of the tournament, England Rugby 2015 (ER 2015), are hopeful that the public will be gripped in the same way that they were by the Games.

ER 2015 have a long list of big-capacity sporting venues, including the Olympic Stadium, which they plan to use during the World Cup and they they expect bumper attendances in line with previous tournaments.

“If we fulfil our ambition to make this the best World Cup ever, then I think we will be more than capable of filling the stadia and selling 2.9 million tickets,” said ER 2015 Chairman Andy Cosslett. “We are hoping to make a profit of £100million, maybe a bit more.

“A lot will depend on the ticketing strategy, but we are very confident we will be able to capture the interest and the momentum that’s built in this country in rugby specifically and sport in general because of what has happened [at the Olympics].

“Given there are only so many games and so many opportunities to watch the best in the world, we are confident we will be able to manage that and turn out a good financial result.”