THE 12 STADIA that will make up the long list for Ireland’s 2023 Rugby World Cup bid have been confirmed at the official launch this morning.
The four biggest rugby stadiums in the country – the Aviva Stadium, RDS Arena, Kingspan Stadium and Thomond Park – will spearhead the bid along with eight GAA grounds.
Two GAA stadiums from each of the four provinces have been chosen including Croke Park, which is slated to host the final if Ireland’s bid is successful.
Currently there are 12 potential venues on the long list for Ireland’s bid, which will be ultimately reduced to 8 or 10 venues for the staging of the tournament.
Kilkenny’s Nowlan Park (26,000) is the other Leinster ground on the shortlist.
The two Munster GAA stadiums are Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney (38,200) and Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, which is currently being redeveloped and scheduled to be completed at a capacity of 45,770 next July.
From Connacht, Elverys MacHale Park (31,000) in Castlebar and Pearse Stadium (34,000) in Galway are in the running along with the Ulster stadia of Casement Park (34,500) and Derry’s Celtic Park (17,000).
The selection process will run from now until November 2017, when World Rugby will decide on the successful candidate to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
During that period a detailed technical evaluation of the candidates will take place, with final proposals being submitted next June and a presentation to World Rugby scheduled for next October.
It is projected that the tournament would be worth over €800 million to the economy of the island with some 445,000 visitors predicted to travel to Ireland if the tournament is successful.
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