Australian rugby officials will decide by August 15 whether to bid on hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The International Rugby Board is seeking bidders for both the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, which are held every four years.
”Clearly, we have an interest in potentially bidding for 2019,” Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O’Neill said Monday. ”We will go through an assessment process taking into consideration all the
pros and cons of another tilt at hosting a World Cup.”
O’Neill was behind Australia’s successful 2003 World Cup bid and said the country was ”more than capable of hosting another one in a reasonably short period of time”.
Australia also co-hosted the first edition of the World Cup with New Zealand in 1987.
But the ARU recently reported a multimillion-dollar loss and O’Neill said it would be a daunting proposition to cover the cost of the sport’s showpiece event.
”The host has to pay for the cost of the tournament and in 2003 it was $120-million (US$110-million), I’d imagine by 2019 you could probably make that $300 or $400-million,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill said he expected England, Japan and South Africa to possibly vie for the 2015 World Cup.
”I’m not sure whether these figures can be sustained over the long haul without reducing the candidates down to perhaps France and England,” O’Neill said. ”We can give it a crack. Australia and even Japan are probably in with a shot.”
The 2011 World Cup will be hosted by New Zealand. Last year’s World Cup in France and Wales was won by South Africa. – Sapa-AP