Like a lot of international sporting bodies, World Rugby officials are sweating on the pending announcement on the final choice of venues for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Although a formal announcement won’t be made until March 28, it is now expected that rugby sevens will be contested at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium after an initial proposal to stage the six-day men’s and women’s tournaments in Townsville was kicked into touch.
While Olympic hosts have been urged to save as much money as possible by using existing infrastructure, highly placed sources said Olympic and World Rugby bosses were not exactly thrilled by plans to hold sevens in North Queensland.
It is understood officials have been lobbying quietly in the background, using the phenomenal success of rugby sevens at the 2024 Paris Olympics as proof of why the abbreviated version of the game needs a bigger stage.
One of the untold stories of Paris is that organisers originally intended to play sevens at a smaller suburban stadium because the 80,000-seater Stade de France was hosting the athletics.
But World Rugby convinced the organisers to play sevens at the national stadium too, which meant starting the tournament two days before the Opening Ceremony.
It proved a masterstroke, with tickets to every session selling out and France going on to win the gold medal.
To sweeten the deal for 2032, it is understood Queensland will be awarded future rounds of the Australian leg of the annual World Series.
