Rugby Canada bids to host the World Rugby Sevens Series from 2020 through to 2023

VANCOUVER — Rugby Canada announced on Thursday that they will be bidding once again for the rights to host the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series from 2020 through to 2023.

Rugby Canada is currently in the third of a four-year deal to host a seven Series event until 2019.

“The popularity of the global series is on the rise, and we know that there will be multiple bids around the world to host one of the ten stops on the global tour,” said Gareth Rees, director of program and commercial relations of Rugby Canada and co-chair of the original HSBC Canada Sevens bid committee.

“The Canada Sevens tournament over the past two years has served as a huge catalyst for the growth of rugby in Canada, and we will be pulling out all the stops to gain the rights to host right through to 2023, so we can continue to raise the profile of rugby in Canada, increase participation, and drive revenue that supports all Rugby Canada programming, from grass roots right through to high performance.”

The 2018 HSBC Canada Sevens will be held at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium in March for the third year in a row.

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Since its debut in March of 2016, the Canada Sevens tournament has drawn large audiences. Over the past two years, the tournament drew more than 136,000 fans over the four days of competition, according to a Rugby Canada release.

The bid is due to be submitted to World Rugby, the international governing body of rugby union, at the end of February. Rugby Canada says they expect an answer in the early summer.

Besides Vancouver, current host cities for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series through 2019 are Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney, Hamilton, New Zealand, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Paris.

The Canadian Press