The decision to stage the Springboks v All Blacks Test in Baltimore, United States, is as much a commercial move as it is a sporting one, with organisers projecting a substantial financial upside for both South African and New Zealand rugby, Mike Greenaway reported.
Money and global strategy
According to the report, the Baltimore fixture is expected to generate between US$4 million and US$6 million more for SA Rugby and New Zealand Rugby than the same match would have earned on South African soil. In addition, World Rugby is paying an undisclosed bonus to both unions for taking one of the sport’s marquee fixtures to the United States.
The match forms part of a deliberate push by World Rugby to cultivate the US market ahead of the men’s 2031 and women’s 2033 Rugby World Cups, both awarded to the United States in May 2022. The governing body sees the US as a “sleeping giant” and is encouraging Tier One nations to bring high-profile fixtures — and their stars — to American stadiums in the hope of building interest and attendance.
- Projected extra gate and commercial revenue: US$4m–US$6m for SA Rugby and New Zealand Rugby (compared with staging the match in South Africa).
- World Rugby incentive: an undisclosed bonus for taking the fixture to the US.
- Strategic aim: to stimulate interest ahead of the 2031 men’s and 2033 women’s Rugby World Cups in the United States.
New Zealand and Ireland have recently played in Chicago, and the Springboks previously faced Wales in Washington in 2018, the report notes, with England also staging a match against the USA Eagles last year. Those fixtures form part of a pattern of elite sides travelling to the US to expose American fans to top-level international rugby.
Implications for South African rugby
For SA Rugby, the Baltimore Test delivers a double incentive: a near-term cash injection in a year described as likely to be lean on revenue, and a share of World Rugby’s push to grow the global footprint of the sport. The match’s commercial payoff is being weighed against the sporting and logistical costs of staging Tests far from a team’s traditional home base.
Politically, the move aligns with World Rugby’s longer-term objective of ensuring the sport arrives in the United States ahead of the World Cups with genuine public interest. The gamble is that showcasing top-tier fixtures will help fill stadiums and lift the profile of rugby across different American markets.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Projected additional revenue for unions | US$4m–US$6m |
| World Rugby incentive | Undisclosed bonus to SA Rugby and New Zealand Rugby |
| Strategic events | 2031 men’s and 2033 women’s Rugby World Cups in the USA |
Beyond the numbers, the match is a test of appetite: can American audiences be enticed by the rivalry that has long animated fans from Christchurch to Cape Town? World Rugby’s strategy is to use headline fixtures to seed those markets — but whether that converts to sustained interest and healthy attendances at a World Cup remains to be seen.
The Baltimore Test is therefore both a sporting spectacle and a commercial experiment. For South African rugby followers, the fixture offers the chance to see the Springboks on an international stage while their administrators chase revenue that could ease a difficult financial year.
“Bringing world-class rugby to key US cities”
That line, used by World Rugby in the context of expanding the sport in the New World, underscores the calculation behind sending elite teams to the United States: short-term revenue plus long-term market development. How successful that calculation will be in the build-up to 2031 and 2033 remains one of the game’s bigger questions off the field.
