Tindall’s bold proposal follows World Rugby’s idea to move a game to America
Tindall has suggested staging a Six Nations weekend in the US(Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Former England centre Mike Tindall has called on the Six Nations to take an entire weekend over to the United States following South Africa’s clash with New Zealand in Baltimore.
Last week, World Rugby preceded the fourth Test between the Springboks and All Blacks by saying they would help any nation that wanted to take a Six Nations match Stateside. The governing body are seeking to grow the game in the US ahead of men’s and women’s World Cups over there in 2031 and 2033 respectively.
World Rugby made a financial contribution to encourage South Africa and New Zealand to play at the home of the Baltimore Ravens.
And they would appear to be open to similar payments to move a Six Nations match, with World Rugby suggesting there have already been discussions held over it.
The suggestion has been widely panned in the UK, with some of the governing bodies within the Six Nations distancing themselves from the idea.
However, Tindall – who had tried to get a rebel league off the ground in the form of R360 in recent years – has backed World Rugby’s plan.
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Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, Tindall said: “I reckon you should take a Six Nations weekend over there.”
“All teams play, Baltimore, Chicago and New York, or keep it around the same area,” he added. “I think it’d be an amazing idea. So, the amount of fans that would travel over there as well.
“If you’re doing that many games on one weekend, you’d have people who go watch two games or have a Friday night game and Sunday game, and do something on Saturday, and it’s what you need if you’re going to then take this World Cup there in 2031.”
He added: “There is a massive audience, and it is so easy to travel internally in that country. So I think people travel.
“There’s reportedly 14 million rugby fans in America. Obviously, it’s small in the 400 million people that they’ve got, but for rugby, it’s arguably the biggest rugby network in the world.
“The women’s game is even more prime for America, because there is no women’s NFL.”
Tindall had previously promised to transform the game with R360, the global rugby series that was set to launch this year.
However, the World Cup winner was forced to push back the launch date to 2028, raising doubts over whether the league will ever actually get off the ground.
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