Rugby World Cup 2015 Business Preview
August 21, 2015
By Tariq Saleh
The 2015 Rugby World Cup is just under a month away and according to tournament organisers World Rugby, is set to be the best-attended, most-viewed, most-socially engaged and most competitive Rugby World Cup to date
42 teams will contest rugby’s biggest prize in England and Wales from 18th September to 31st October.
Rugby World Cup 2015 is being described as the biggest in the sport’s history; we’ll look at some reasons why.
Commercial Partners
World Rugby has secured a number of partners to support the 2015 World Cup, including six worldwide partners; Heineken, Land Rover, Société Générale, DHL, Emirates and MasterCard.
Coca-Cola, Canon and Toshiba have also been brought on board as official sponsors, with further deals with Gilbert, Canterbury of New Zealand, Clifford Chance, EY, Dove Men+Care, Duracell, William Grant and Sons, ESP and the latest deal with Heathrow.
These deals could potentially see this go down as one of the most commercially successful World Cups in the sport’s history.
Ticket sales
World Rugby announced this week that 2.2 million tickets have already been sold for the World Cup in what they are describing as the “largest and most-accessible tournament to date”.
100,000 extra tickets were made available last month due to extra demand with an increase in ticket capacity from 2.3 million to 2.45 million.
Speaking at the time, World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lappaset said: “England 2015 is on track to be the biggest Rugby World Cup ever and with ticket demand continuing to grow we are confident that it will be a truly special, unmissable and record-breaking global celebration of rugby.
“Today’s announcement of an increased ticketing capacity is great news for rugby fans, major event enthusiasts and those who just want to experience what looks set to be the sporting event of the year and the biggest event in the UK in 2015.”
Rugby World Cup App
World Rugby enlisted the help of international digital consulting firm Omnigon to create the official Rugby World Cup 2015 app.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup app was downloaded 3.5 million times and World Rugby will be hoping that the 2015 version, which was released in November, should go on to better that.
The complete app will be made available just prior to the 2015 Rugby World Cup next month and Omnigon UK Managing Director Alex Chamberlen said the initial stage of the app has already set the scene for the tournament.
Speaking on the Digital Media Café on iSportconnect TV, Chamberlen said: “The app is a very social experience. In the run up to the tournament the emphasis is very much on providing information around the teams and their world rankings, but also their social rankings and giving fans the chance to see where the buzz is, who the teams that are the most talked about are and the app was launched last year to coincide with the IRB’s rebranding to World Rugby.
“Omnigon has been working with World Rugby for a long time on this app and the idea is to provide a package of vital information, but also engaging and fun areas too such as the social elements, the quiz and most importantly the archive videos from previous tournaments which really brings the fans a great experience in advance to the tournament and relive some of the greatest moments from previous World Cups and really helps to set the scene.
“So it’s a very rich experience before the tournament starts and it sets the scene for six weeks of one of the greatest sporting events on the planet.
Hawk-Eye
World Rugby has also confirmed that Hawk-Eye technology will be used at the Rugby World Cup for the first time.
According to the governing body for the sport, ‘Hawk-Eye’s SMART Replay technology will be used to strengthen the accuracy and efficiency of the Television Match Official (TMO) decision-making process, while providing invaluable support for medics in the area of identifying and reviewing head impacts’.
World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper said: “Technology is an important component of the rugby performance and fan engagement environments and Rugby World Cup 2015 is set to showcase innovation and performance to a record global audience.
“Central to our sport is the integrity of player welfare and the match official decision-making process and we are delighted to be collaborating with Rugby World Cup 2015 host broadcaster ITV and Hawk-Eye to deliver a solution that will enhance these critical areas.”
With all of this in place, it is no surprise why Rugby World Cup 2015 is being billed as the biggest to date and a record-breaking one at that.
Much has been put in place to make the tournament a success, it will be interesting to see how it plays out from September 18th when it all kicks off at Twickenham.
