World Rugby Appoints Turnstile To Rwc Brief

26 Jul 2018 | james.sanwell@benchmarksport.com

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World Rugby has become the latest rightsholder to appoint sponsorship valuation specialist Turnstile to support its commercial team.

The agreement will see Turnstile work on forecast valuation for sponsorship packages for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup and 2023 Rugby World Cup.

World Rugby joins other international rightsholders, including Formula 1, who have signed up to work with Turnstile since the company launched its proprietary platform at the start of the year.

Turnstile, which was developed and is managed by insight and strategy consultancy Gemba, claims its system delivers more rounded and accurate estimates of sponsorship value, backed by international research.

World Rugby’s chief commercial officer Tom Hill explained his decision to work with the platform, saying: “As Rugby continues to grow as a global proposition, we were seeking a methodology that captures the full value of the Rugby World Cup.

“While the global reach of the events is massive, we believe that the value of the Rugby World Cup is far more than just exposure. The unique values of Rugby – integrity, respect, solidarity, passion, discipline – resonate globally and we liked the Turnstile approach to capturing our intellectual property value.”

He added: “We believe that Turnstile’s methodology will better reflect the value being generated by the Women’s component of Rugby.

“Women’s Rugby is a strong differentiator for our sport and its audience is growing. It already has tremendous goodwill amongst our fans and we want to properly capture this engagement in our valuations.”

Rob Mills, CEO and director of Turnstile, commented: “The Rugby World Cup is one of the pre-eminent sporting events and we are incredibly proud that World Rugby chose Turnstile to value their key assets. World Rugby’s decision is further proof of the industry’s desire to build a more robust approach to the pricing of sport and entertainment properties.”

The appointment comes just more than a year ahead of the 2019 edition of the Rugby World Cup in Japan, with reports suggesting muted interest in the local market.

Rugby World Cup 2023 is scheduled to take place in France – just one year before the country hosts its first summer Olympic Games in 100 years.

During the bid process, speculation centred on the French sponsorship market’s capacity to accommodate both events.

For the first time, French organisers bid to acquire domestic marketing rights to the tournament. But international packages will continue to be marketed centrally via Rugby World Cup Limited, an arm of the global governing body.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 will be the first to be staged under significant format changes announced earlier this year. Hosting rights for the tournament have yet to be awarded.