Wembley key to Cup bid

THE new Wembley Stadium is an integral part of the Rugby Football Union’s revised bid to bring the 2007 World Cup to England.

Wembley has entered the equation, along with Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield and Leicester’s Walkers Stadium and the new bid, unveiled at Twickenham today, now includes five 60,000-plus capacity stadia.

The RFU expects the extra venues to drive up ticket revenue by 25% and help fund a £20 million compensation policy for rugby nations and competitions around the world which lose revenue as a result of the World Cup.

“It would put overall attendances for the tournament up from 1.6m to 1.9m. that is a massive knock-on effect in respect of the revenues.

“We believe they will go up by 25% from the last bid we put in,” said Paul Vaughan, the RFU’s commercial director.

The plan is to use Wembley for two group matches and one semi-final.

Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium would also increase overall capacity but RFU chief executive Francis Barron insisted neither Scotland or Wales would be part of the World Cup organisation.

Instead, the RFU plan to rent the two stadia at a rate of 15% of the match revenue.