![\"Rugby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/q4qqk3um7u7k15td.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
PHOENIX – The Phoenix area is no stranger to hosting big events, especially at Glendale\u2019s State Farm Stadium. Now state and local leaders are focusing on an event never hosted in North or South America before: the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
“I know that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that they look at us, and really understand that we have everything that people are looking to have an event that big,” Mayor Jerry Weiers said.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
While the event wouldn\u2019t arrive till 2031, Arizona is already throwing its hat in the ring. The Arizona Sports and Events Alliance confirmed in a statement that they are exploring the bid.<\/p>\n
The statement reads:<\/p>\n
“As you know, Arizona has a strong history of hosting major sporting events, including Super Bowls, NCAA Men\u2019s and Women’s Final Fours, the College Football Playoff National Championship, international soccer matches and other high-profile events that bring national and global attention to our state. Based on that track record, the Arizona Sports & Events Alliance is always looking at new opportunities to bring major sporting events to the Valley and Arizona.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We can confirm that the Alliance, alongside local stakeholders, is exploring a bid for the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2031, the sport\u2019s pinnacle international event.”<\/p>\n
Officials with the Arizona Sports and Events Alliance went on to say they are limited in what they can share at this stage due to an active bidding process.<\/p>\n
The City of Phoenix confirmed its support of the bid in its own statement, which reads:<\/p>\n
“The City of Phoenix remains actively engaged in opportunities to bring major sporting events to the Valley. As a premier destination with a strong track record of hosting successful, record-setting events, we look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to bring these events to life.”<\/p>\n
Governor Katie Hobbs also wrote a letter to World Rugby, offering “enthusiastic support.”<\/p>\n
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers echoes the sentiment, citing the economic benefits.<\/p>\n
“The advantage is when people come here, they, use the hotels, or motels, the gas stations, the restaurants,” Weiers said. “There are state shared revenues that every city benefits from across the state. So the economic driver is huge.”<\/p>\n
Big picture view:<\/p>\n
According to USA Rugby, a projected 4.1 million fans could attend the World Cup events in the U.S. Caleb Halt is president of the Phoenix Rugby Club and says he\u2019s excited about the growth this could bring to his home turf.<\/p>\n
“It’s essentially football without pads.. it’s way more fast paced,” Halt said. “There’s a lot of people who watch football just for the hits. There’s a lot more hits going on. I think it’s a lot of fun and a lot more people should be playing it.”<\/p>\n
The upcoming tournament in Australia is expected to host teams from 24 different countries.<\/p>\n
What’s next:<\/p>\n
Host cities for the 2031 U.S. games will likely be narrowed down over the next few years.<\/p>\n
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers, the Arizona Sports and Events Alliance, the Cty of Phoenix, Governor Katie Hobbs, USA Rugby, and Phoenix Rugby Club President Caleb Halt.<\/p>\n
Sports<\/a>Phoenix<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – The Phoenix area is no stranger to hosting big events, especially at Glendale\u2019s State Farm Stadium.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,4035,64422,44,29169,760,85,2489],"class_list":["post-872260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-az","tag-maricopa-county","tag-news","tag-phoenix","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}