Hospitality managers and events experts have urged the ACT government to Canberra "do all it can" to bid for games in the 2027 Rugby World Cup but tempered it with concerns about the difficulty the territory has in competing against cashed-up interstate governments desperate to win the rights to big games and draw visitors to newer venues.
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It's a salient reminder of the valiant but failed effort last year by the ACT government to secure the opening game of the NRL State of Origin series, pitching the so-called "neutral ground" of Canberra Stadium.
The MCG had been the original venue for the game but that plan was scrapped after the major second Delta wave of the Victorian COVID outbreak.
When the bids were called for alternatives and the ACT government made its play, the Queenslanders trumped everyone - and gave the NRL a huge cash windfall - by paying a reported $8 million to secure the game for Townsville's new $290 million Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
An ACT government spokesperson said discussions were ongoing with the Rugby Australia bid team, but the city's involvement in the tournament was yet to be determined.
In 2003, Canberra hosted four Pool D games for the Rugby World Cup involving teams from Tonga, Wales, Canada and Italy.
"The place was heaving," Jeremy Wilcox, the secretary-manager of the RUC at Turner, recalled.
The RUC, which has a long and well-established connection to Canberra's rugby union community, was a key hospitality venue during the local World Cup pool games.
"The rugby was really good quality, we had 20,000-plus people at Canberra Stadium for the games, supporters from the teams came down here; it was just a fantastic atmosphere," he said.
Canberra runs the risk of being left in the outer, unable to match the rich bids on offer from other states and with a 50-year-old stadium as its only suitable venue.
"It shouldn't be just about the money; how can you have a World Cup and not include the national capital?" he said.
"I can only assume there's a bit of bluff going on because it's almost inconceiveable that Australia could host and no games would be held in the home city of one of the best provincial rugby sides going around.
"I'm hoping we end up with a game or two, at least. It doesn't matter whether the games are Wallabies or All Blacks games, any World Cup game is fantastic."
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Canberra events czar David Marshall brooked no argument with the attraction posed by the World Cup games but offered caution against attempting to outbid states with deeper pockets, as the experience in chasing the NRL State of Origin game early last year proved.
"The government shouldn't be paying millions of dollars in rights if it doesn't stack up commercially," he said.
"There's no doubt we should always be in the bidding, we should always have a shot at it.
"But there has to be an upper limit to which the government is prepared to invest.
"Canberra people love their rugby, and they will fill the stadium.
"We just have to be cautious about where the best bang for buck is."
