USA to cash in on Bledisloe Cup
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:41
American organisers sent a proposal to play a Bledisloe Cup Test match to the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Unions last month and believe they are close to confirming the clash.
Metro Denver Sports Commission president, Kieann Brownell said they were confident of hosting a Trans-Tasman rugby union Test at the home of the Denver Broncos late next year.
"We're pretty close," Brownell told the Rocky Mountain News.
"Our job is to get out of the box, to look for events that aren't necessarily on the country's radar.
Rugby is a minor sport in the USA, but Bronwell says there is enough interest in Colorado to sell out the 76,000-capacity regular NFL stadium.
"We think Colorado has a huge rugby population and a strong interest in the sport, and we fancy the idea of bringing rugby events to Denver and growing the community here."
The Denver Barbarians compete in the national Rugby Super League and the sport's national governing body, USA Rugby, is based at the nearby university city of Boulder.
If organisers are successful it would be the second off-shore Bledisloe Test played between Australia and New Zealand after the All Blacks scored a 19-14 win in Hong Kong early November.
The match, the fourth Bledisloe Test this year, reportedly boosted both the ARU and NZRU coffers by more than AU$3 million.
Tokyo has also been floated as a possible future venue by ARUboss John O'Neill.
