Perth has been announced as one of seven host cities for the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup, although costs in relation to attracting matches has not been publicly disclosed.
Perth has been announced as one of seven host cities for the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup, although costs in relation to attracting matches has not been publicly disclosed.
Five pool games will be held in Perth, along with two Round of 16 ties.
Additionally, Optus Stadium will also host the opening ceremony and pool game of the tournament, on October 1 2027, in line with reports over the weekend during the HSBC Rugby SVNS extravaganza at HBF Park.
"Being selected as the host for the opening match is testament to our status as a first-rate host of major events, and our relentless efforts to build that reputation and connect our state to the world through new aviation routes will pay off in spades when Perth takes centre stage for this prestigious event in 2027," tourism minister Rita Saffioti said.
While addressing the media on Thursday morning, Ms Saffioti did not divulge how much WA Labor had spent in securing the seven matches.
"That is commercially sensitive," she said.
"We've been negotiating very strongly to get WA at front and centre of this - so, commercially sensitive, but the business case is very, very strong.
"We expect a positive return to the state and potentially tens of thousands of visitors to the state."
Ms Saffioti also said Optus Stadium's capacity, between 60,000-70,000 depending on the event, potentially played a part in Perth missing out on additional knock out matches.
"This is an incredible stadium, but of course, there is other stadiums with bigger capacities," she said.
"So that's one of our issues in relation to landing some of these. We hit the mark on so many fronts... but in what I've experienced, when you're competing with 80 or 100,000 {seat} stadium, it does impact."
Perth last hosted men’s Rugby World Cup action back in 2003, at the now-demolished Subiaco Oval – although it routinely hosts Test matches each year as part of the Rugby Championship –an annual competition involving Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa.
Despite Australia not featuring in any of the pool games back in 2003, more than 124,000 people attended the matches, with a 21,507 crowd for the Georgia-Samoa match up noticed by tournament organisers at the time.
A total of $41 million worth of visitor spend was also injected into Western Australia’s economy.
Over the past five years, Optus Stadium has hosted two Bledisloe Test matches between the Wallabies and All Blacks, both of which generated big crowds, out-of-state visitation and visitor spend.
The award-winning venue will also host two major rugby internationals later this year, with the Western Force locking horns with the British and Irish Lions in June, with a Bledisloe Cup Test penciled in for October as well.
Thursday’s announcement was also welcomed by Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall, who said the entire state had potential to benefit from the influx of visitors.
“Rugby fans are famously well-heeled visitors who will spend big in WA,” Mr Hall said.
“We expect a good proportion will have an extended holiday in Perth and in regional destinations such as Margaret River.”
WA’s ability to successfully host and push for international rugby events, led by WA Labor under premier Roger Cook and Ms Saffioti, comes at a time when the other rugby code, rugby league, appears to be in limbo regarding Perth’s long-term future in its national competition.
During the middle of last year, it appeared certain that a Peter Cumins-chaired consortium, the Western Bears, was set to join an expanded National Rugby League competition from 2027.
However by October, the Bears’ bid was rejected, with Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys publicly stating that the NRL would be looking for a Perth team to be owned by the league, but supported by the state government.
Mr Cook, a self-confessed passionate advocate of rugby league in WA, has reiterated that the government has enjoyed positive ongoing discussions with the NRL in relation towards a Perth-based franchise potentially returning to the top-flight for the first time since 1997.
