A conversation at my local over the weekend…
“This whole Rugby World Cup bid thing. So Australia’s got the 2027 tournament right?”
Yeah… sort of.
“But the old blokes with the leather patches over there in London or Dublin or wherever it is… they reckon we’re the preferred candidate?”
Yeah, we are but they don’t actually officially award it until May next year.
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“Yeah, but we’re the only country they’re talking to… what did Kearnsy call it, ‘targeted dialogue?’
Yeah, it’s virtually ours but there’s still a way to go.
“So what’s the hold up?”
And that right there is a good question.
What is the hold up? What’s changed from the way World Rugby (WR) normally runs the process and what put Australia ahead of the game?
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Alright. Here goes.
For the first time in World Cup history, 2027 will be run as a genuine joint venture between the host nation and WR.
WR will be hands on in the planning and delivery and because it’s never been done before the details are still being worked out. It’s all the granular stuff – operational components, governance, organisational structure, the legal documentation to confirm who’s doing what, when and how.
In the past, the host union has set up a local organising committee (LOC) which worked in partnership with WR. Now it’ll be essentially one organisation.
Between now and May, Rugby Australia (RA) will work with WR to sort out that joint venture so everyone is clear on their roles and responsibilities.
The hope is to reduce costs by making the most of resources that already exist at WR. In the past there were often two people doing the one role, one from the LOC and one at WR.
And the framework that’s decided now will be the template for RWC to come. A cut and paste model that can be picked up and put into future host nations. It’ll be a much leaner and more efficient, streamlined operation. It also has the potential to open opportunities for emerging nations to have a crack.
RA sources say the chief executive of the organising committee isn’t guaranteed to be an Aussie. It’s the third biggest sporting event in the world so that appointment will be made based on merit not where the candidate was born or where they live. There’ll be a worldwide search.
And here’s a key to Australia’s success. Phil Kearns and his team have been advocating for a joint venture model all along. They’ve pushed for it from very early in the process because they identified the inefficiencies in the old structure and realised it wasn’t sustainable. That put us ahead of the game.
The joint venture model is also reflective of what’s happening around the world with other major sporting events – the FIFA women’s football World Cup, Cricket World Cups – those international federations have huge input into how things are run locally.
While RA believes in the new structure it insists it will work hard to make sure Australia, as a host nation, isn’t any worse off financially. Profit share is an ongoing discussion but Australia’s bid team says it’s happy with where things sit right now. Both parties understand each other’s expectations but have yet to formally agree.
There’s pressure, and all at RA feel it, to wring as much out of this opportunity as possible. The deal must set the Australian game up for success. The profit must leave a legacy far beyond 2028 or 2029. The money needs to help grow the game for decades into the future. More than $40m profit from the 2003 World Cup was squandered when the then ARU wanted to ring fence the cash and the states said no. That can’t happen again.
What happens next?
The most immediate challenge is to lock in government support at both state and federal level. And there should be significant financial support because the RWC is the third biggest sporting event in the world. It generates significant economic impact – 13,000 jobs, 200,000 international visitors, $1 billion dollars in direct visitor expenditure. Plenty of heads on plenty of beds.
And being in an exclusive partnership with WR holds some sway when it comes to those government discussions. There’s no fear of a 2023 scenario where you have one candidate going in as WR’s “preferred host” (South Africa) only to see another secure the rights in a last minute flurry (France). So government will cough up in a big way. The question right now is how much?
This has been a team effort all along. While Sir Rod Eddington and his high profile bid board smoothed the way in London, RA CEO Andy Marinos and bid boss Kearns will always credit the grunt work done by RA executive Anthony French, operations and planning guru Alicia Keogh, marketing manager Liz Manawaiti and media man Tom Kennedy. Kearns will keep reminding them the work’s not done yet. He likens it to the 75th minute of a Test match where they’ve just hit the lead and they have to close it out. Love a good sporting cliché.
World Rugby needs us as much as we need them…
This is a test case and it is critically important for WR that it works because the World Cup funds the game. It generates in excess of 95 per cent of WR’s revenues. That revenue drives everything – the women’s game, sevens, development in emerging nations, medical research and the list goes on.
So the decision to move to a new model has really played into Australia’s hands. We’re seen as a safe pair of hands. If you’re implementing change you want to do it with people you know you can work with and that you trust.
