Arizona wants in on rugby's biggest stage. State leaders, city officials and the Arizona Sports & Events Alliance are exploring a bid to host matches from the 2031 Men's Rugby World Cup, with Glendale's State Farm Stadium positioned as the marquee venue and Phoenix lined up to run fan festivals and other ancillary events around the tournament.
The push became formal on Wednesday when the Phoenix City Council passed a resolution backing the alliance's bid, according to Copper Courier. The resolution confirms the split model the region has used for past mega-events: matches at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, hospitality and festival programming in Phoenix. As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, the city of Phoenix has confirmed its support for the bid, and Governor Katie Hobbs has written a letter to World Rugby offering what the station described as enthusiastic support.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers is also backing the effort. Per FOX 10, Weiers said Arizona will do everything it can to be seriously considered for an event of that size, and he pointed to a familiar economic case: visitors filling hotels, motels, gas stations and restaurants, generating state-shared revenues for cities across the region. The Arizona Sports and Events Alliance, in a statement carried by the station, described the Men's Rugby World Cup as the sport's pinnacle international event and noted that Arizona has a history of hosting Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours, the College Football Playoff National Championship and international soccer matches.
A Crowded Field of 27 Cities
Arizona isn't alone in raising its hand. World Rugby confirmed in October 2025 that 27 cities and regions offering 33 potential venues had submitted letters of intent to enter the Applicant Phase for the 2031 tournament, according to RugbyPass. Hoodline has previously reported on other markets chasing the same prize, including Houston's own entry into the race. World Rugby plans to assess venues for 14 months before trimming the list to finalist candidate cities in late 2026, with final host venues announced after the 2027 tournament in Australia, which is expected to host teams from 24 different countries, per FOX 10's report. Host cities will likely be narrowed down over the next few years, and the Arizona Sports and Events Alliance has said it is limited in what it can share because of the active bidding process.
Why State Farm Stadium Fits the Bill
State Farm Stadium offers a base seating capacity of 63,400 that expands to 73,000 for major international championships, with a retractable roof and a rollout natural grass pitch preferred for world-class rugby, according to the Arizona State Press. The venue is owned by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority and operated by Legends Global. It has already carried the load for the region's biggest events, and organizers frequently point to those track records when making the pitch for new ones.
An economic impact study by Arizona State University's Seidman Research Institute found that hosting Super Bowl LVII at the stadium in February 2023 generated $1.3 billion in total gross economic output and added $726.1 million directly to Arizona's gross domestic product, per Cronkite News. A separate study by the Common Sense Institute estimated that four days of NCAA Men's Final Four events at the stadium in April 2024 generated between $250 million and $300 million in combined economic impact for the Valley. Arizona's sports and tourism sector as a whole added $20 billion to the state's GDP in 2024.
A Financial Model Cities Actually Like
Part of what makes the Rugby World Cup attractive to municipalities is how it's funded. World Rugby and USA Rugby operate under a model where the international federation self-finances the tournament and shares profits or losses, rather than requiring host cities to underwrite event costs or grant strict tax exemptions, according to The Guardian. That stands in contrast to other international events; several U.S. cities have reportedly considered withdrawing from 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup bids over FIFA's heavy municipal financial guarantees. World Rugby's own numbers from the 2023 Men's Rugby World Cup in France back up the scale of the opportunity: that tournament generated €1.8 billion in total visitor spending and €871 million in net economic input while creating more than 5,200 jobs, per FloRugby. The 2031 tournament would mark the first time the Men's Rugby World Cup is held in the Americas, and USA Rugby has projected that 4.1 million fans could attend World Cup events nationally, according to FOX 10.
Building a Fan Base From the Ground Up
Behind the stadium math is a bet that American rugby interest can actually scale to fill a 73,000-seat venue. USA Rugby and USA Youth & High School Rugby adopted T1 Rugby, a non-contact, seven-a-side adaptation of the sport, as the official national entry format in August, aiming to accelerate youth participation ahead of 2031. USA Rugby currently oversees more than 125,000 registered players across 2,500 active clubs nationwide.
Locally, that pipeline runs through clubs like the Phoenix Rugby Club, whose men's team dates to the late 1970s and which added a women's side in 2019. Caleb Halt, president of the club, told FOX 10 that rugby could bring growth to his home turf. Arizona's broader sports hosting ambitions extend beyond rugby, too: the Arizona Sports & Events Alliance struck a three-year deal in August with TKO Group Holdings to bring seven major live combat and sports events, including WWE Royal Rumble 2027, to State Farm Stadium and other local venues, a deal negotiated under alliance CEO Jay Parry, who previously led host committees for Super Bowl XLIX and the 2024 NCAA Women's Final Four.
For now, Arizona's rugby bid remains in its early, exploratory phase, with the alliance confirming only that it is pursuing the opportunity while a formal decision from World Rugby remains years away.
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