THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP Contents • PAGE 3: OVERVIEW • PAGE 4: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • PAGE 5: WORLD RUGBY • PAGE 12: SPONSORSHIP ANALYSIS • PAGE 17: KIT DEALS • PAGE 24: FRONT-OF-SHIRT SPONSORSHIP • PAGE 28: MEDIA LANDSCAPE • PAGE 37: VENUES • PAGE 50: THE TEAMS • PAGE 100: THE RANKINGS THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] Overview The Rugby World Cup is the biggest and most prestigious tournament across all formats in the sport of rugby. The sport is continuing to run a strategy that best maximises its chances of growing the sport on an international level, with its global status limited to a number of set countries and regions. This year’s edition will see the competition enter unchartered territory, as Japan becomes the first Asian nation to play host, in a move away from traditional rugby nations hosting the event. World Rugby, the international federation behind the tournament, have previously been reliant on the income generated from the sports biggest competition, with revenue from broadcasting and sponsorship rights both dramatically increasing compared to non-World Cup years. Unlike bigger sports such as soccer and basketball, rugby is a sport in which fans and players prioritise success at international level as opposed to club or domestic level. With this in mind, the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport for both fans and players alike. *All Data within this report has been collated from the Sportcal Intelligence Centres and is correct as of 1/09/2019 unless otherwise specified. All images utilised within this report are provided by permission of Getty Images and may not be repurposed without express authorisation. THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 3 Rugby World Cup 2019 The first edition of the Rugby World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 1987. Since then the sports premier competition has seen four different winners of which New Zealand are the most successful nation with three individual wins. The competition initially began with 16 teams but was later expanded in 1999 to 20 teams and five groups of four. This was later altered in 2003 to the current system of four groups of five teams. The competition has a three tier sponsorship structure that sees brands placed into categories of ‘Worldwide partner’, ‘official sponsor’ and ‘tournament Founded: suppliers’. In a major change to the sponsorship roster, Japanese brand Suntory replaces Coca-Cola as the official soft drinks supplier, ending the US 1987 brands association with the competition which began in 1995. Much anticipation has been built around this years tournament, the first held in Asia and hosted by a country not regarded as one of the top ranked rugby nations, as the sport looks to expand its global reach. Presenting a further challenge, Confederation: the tournament is hosted by a nation which does not boast a passionate rugby following, with event tickets expected to fall on 2015’s showing. This said, World Rugby brands have seemingly jumped at the chance to get involved in its sponsorship, with a full collection of worldwide partners attained as well as a further 14 smaller partners. Many of these brands have been involved in the development of the sport in Japan and across the world, with Mitsubishi Estates Number of teams: launching the ‘Marunouchi 15 – Chome project’, putting on exhibitions throughout Japan to drive interest in the competition. 20 Current Champions: Plans for the competition includes each team receiving a unique welcoming ceremony, where all squad players will receive a RWC’19 cap, with all team New Zealand members (including staff) receiving a participation medal. Worldwide Partners: Most Titles: New Zealand (3) Average Capacity: 37,288 www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/444508 Number of Sponsors: Official Sponsors: 22 Sponsorship Revenue (estimated): $32,750,000 Tournament Suppliers: THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 6 Front of Shirt Sponsorship – Location Breakdown Number of Deals 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 United Japan USA Australia Fiji France Georgia Germany Italy Namibia Russia Samoa South Africa Uruguay Kingdom Continental Deals Thirteen of the eighteen deals in place derive from domestic support. The only nations that are not 1 Europe representing home brands on their front of shirts are Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, USA and Wales. All but 1 one of these brands are based in countries which have a team represented at this years World Cup, as only Oceania 2 Canada’s deal with German brand DHL misses direct advertisement to its home nation, as the German national Africa team failed to qualify. The three most established nations in world rugby, Australia, England and New Zealand command the biggest value for its biggest piece of commercial inventory. Given the qualifying structure in place 9 2 North and number of qualified continental nations, combined with the emphasis on home front-of-shirt support, it America comes as no surprise to see European brands dominating this area of the market. Asia 3 South America Missing deals for Tonga (N/A) THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 26 Talking Points IMG and World Rugby opted for a digital-first approach in New Zealand as Spark, the telecoms company, secured rights to the tournament. Spark is to stream coverage of matches across a new OTT platform, offering full tournament and individual match subscription passes. Fans who purchased a ‘super early bird’ tournament pass to paid NZ$59.99 ($40.50), a price that rose incrementally to NZ$79.99 and NZ$89.99. The rights to 12 games were sub-licensed to free-to-air broadcaster TVNZ, some live and others with a delay of up to two hours. All of New Zealand's matches, both semi-finals and the final will be shown live on TVNZ. There will be limited coverage of the tournament in South Africa, one of the game’s heartlands. The financial issues facing SABC, the public-service broadcaster, meant that purchasing the rights directly or striking a sub-licensing deal with rights holder SuperSport was simply not commercially viable. However, an eleventh hour deal with IMG for audio rights covering four of South Africa’s matches, plus the two semi-finals and the final, meant that a total free-to-air blackout was avoided. The radio coverage is available across the Afrikaans-language RSG, English-language Radio 2000 and Xhosa-language Umhlobo Wenene channels. THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 32 City of Toyota Stadium Location: Toyota Capacity: 45,000 Opened: June 2001 RWC Matches: 4 Outside of the World Cup, the venue represents the home of two clubs, Nagoya Grampus (soccer, J League) and Toyota Verblitz (Rugby, Top League). Due to maintenance costs the stadiums retractable roof has not been used since 2015. www.rugbyworldcup.com/venues/toyota-stadium THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUPsportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786sportcal.com | [email protected] | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 38 Ireland Captain About: Rory Best Unlike other sports such as soccer, the Irish rugby team is represented by both the Republic and Northern Ireland, attracting players from both sides of the border. The national side’s first rugby outing occurred in Head Coach 1874 in a match against England. Due to the heightened political and national governing issues surrounding Joe Schmidt the country, the national team unusually plays two songs one after another for the national anthem, ‘Ireland’s Call’ and ‘Amhran na bhFiann’, with the former used before away fixtures. The team continues to Stadium play home fixtures at Lansdowne Road, more accurately referred to as the Aviva Stadium after the Aviva Stadium insurance brand purchased naming rights following the teams return to the site in 2010, following a three- year re-build. The side has been relatively successful in recent years, rising to a record high 1st in the global Capacity: rankings in 2015 and have won three of the previous Six Nations championships. In Japan, the team will 51,700 have fixed sights on surpassing the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history, and have a strong squad to be able to push for the title, spearheaded in attack by Rugby’s World Player of the Year (2018) Johnny Best WC Finish: Sexton. In 2015, the team looked in fine form early on, topping their group with maximum points and a +99 Quarter Finals (1987, 91, 95,03, 11 point difference, only to succumb to Argentina 43-20 in the Quarter Finals. and 15) Number of Sponsors: 22 Main Partner: Official Sponsors: Vodafone Sponsorship Revenue (estimated): $21,400,000 Aer Lingus, Aldi, Aon, Aviva, Blackrock Expert Services, DHL, Kit Supplier: Dove Men+Care, Eden Park, Canterbury Energia, Gilbert, Glenisk, Guinness, Intersport, Leaseplan, Lucozade Sport, Pwc, Specsavers, Tipperary Crystal, Vivomed & Volkswagen THE 2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP sportcal.com | +44 (0) 20 8944 8786 | [email protected] 52 Ireland World Cup squad: Forwards: Rory Best, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Dave Kilcoyne, Jean Kleyn, Peter O’Mahony, Andrew Porter, Rhys Ruddock, James Ryan, John Ryan, Niall Scannell, CJ Stander & Josh van der Flier Backs: Bundee Aki, Joey Carbery, Jack Carty, Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Robbie Henshaw, Rob Kearney, Jordan Larmour, Luke McGrath, Conor Murray, Garry