It will be played in front of very small crowds. Maybe if Covid is still around then it won’t matter. Otherwise, it’ll likely be a financial disaster.

Well maybe the Championing of France is just a way to give the game there some sort of boost or "heads up" before the inevitable decision is made to base the tournament here, albeit there's no great problem in playing some games in France.

In 2013 France lost 22-6 to Samoa before 17.500 in avignon, and lost 48-0 to New Zealand in Perpignan before 11.500....

So it's very likely after all the bluff and bluster of championing France as hosts giving them some good publicity, the French will get a couple of home games which French RL fans will richly deserve and again will hopefully enjoy in their numbers.....

But after that it's vital the knock out stages are held where the biggest crowds will be. 67K for the semi's at Wembley and 75K for the final in Manchester.

Would Paris return anything like the ticket sales and commercial revenue??

Likely "not".........

I'd play the opening game in Paris as they'd get months to promote the game in advance and can guarantee France will feature but for the Semis and Final I'd look at grounds down south like Toulouse football ground, Milles, Nice etc as its closer the heartlands. England can play at home until the Semis to guarantee some crowds and also get us and our media interested.

LMAO! There is no way any World Cup game in England will get anywhere near 67k unless it’s a union game. 30k tops but more likely 25k

Thanks for a thoughtful post as opposed the the officially named WUM. Curry.

Yes, I'd agree that you can't play all the games in France, and if you want to be careful about making a big loss then you have to think hard about which games and where in France.

But one thing is for sure, the more games played in France the less income the World cup will make.

Last time we played the World Cup here, afterwards we lamented that once it was over all the new fans attracted to the tournament did not stick about to watch the English domestic game. So to start thinking if we played the World Cup in France than that would lead to bigger interest in playing and watching the game in France is just ignoring reality......

Do the people who are organising it really think after a French world cup is over more French fans will streaming through the gates and more French clubs will go professional, and France will get a big TV deal? If so they should be stepped down from organising the tournament......

Do you think...that after the English World Cup is over more English fans will be streaming through the gates and more English clubs will go professional, and will England get a big TV deal?

New fans attracted in 2013 and not being retained was massive miss. I was at Wembley for the epic Semi final and I have never heard so many Southern accents at an RL game, the marketing work from the external agency was very good. But England didn't play at home again until 2015, common sense would have been to get a game on in the summer of 2014, they could have lured New Zealand over and billed as 'revenge' for the semi final, even playing France or Wales would have been something, but nah...radio silence.

England/ Wales World Cup 2013 - https://www.rlwc2021.com/article/18/rev ... 13-success https://www.totalrl.com/rugby-league-cr ... vestigate/

England/ Wales World Cup 2013 - https://www.rlwc2021.com/article/18/rev ... 13-success https://www.totalrl.com/rugby-league-cr ... vestigate/

I can't help it I worry about your sanity

I'm fine thanks.I live without any unnecessary stress as I don't follow Wakefield Trinity.
I have a note from my psychiatrist stating I am sane.
I'm certain the M62 clubs know ho to grow the sport and I point to the past 125 years as a fair indicator for the next 125 years.
The French have has lots of problems,caused outside of the sport,yet they seem to be much more optimistic.
I'm off to wave my flag of St George.
Thanks for your concern.
Vive la France...

Nice one

For me the expansion of the number of competitors was a very attractive to the sporting public, I saw Fiji play at Wigan before 26,000 1995 and I also went to Keighley I think for a south Africa game that attracted a big crowd, maybe the world cup after that. Many first time observers including some friends of mine who would not go near a League match.

So yes 2013 brought in thousands of new fans, but so did previous World cups and the new fans enjoyed their "Special" days, but didn't want to become regular SL fans. Having seen and being in the crowds I wonder if the French can get as many "casual" fans to go to the games?