World Rugby Unveils Sevens Sponsors
World Rugby has announced the new competition and commercial blueprint for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the next four years, which includes the extension of the partnership with HSBC and the addition of five host cities to the schedule.
British multinational bank HSBC will continue as title sponsor for the World Rugby Sevens Series, as well as acquiring naming rights to the Women’s World Rugby Sevens Series and to individual rounds, excluding Dubai, ahead of rugby sevens’ Olympics debut at Rio 2016.
World Rugby chairman, Bernard Lapasset, said: “Rugby sevens is going from strength to strength ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the men’s and women’s series have been at the heart of the global sevens success story with their winning brand of high-octane, competitive and broadcast-friendly action, global locations and festival atmosphere.
“HSBC has been central to the sevens success story and is totally aligned with our mission to attract and inspire new players and audiences. We are excited about this increased commitment and the certainty it provides over the next four years to grow our sport within existing and emerging rugby markets.
“We are particularly delighted that our flagship women’s series will be supported by HSBC over the next few years. Women’s rugby is one of the world’s fastest-growing team sports, with more than 1.5m regularly playing and new participants being welcomed every day.
Giles Morgan, global head of sponsorship and events, HSBC Holdings, added: “HSBC became the first-ever title sponsor of the men’s world series back in 2010, and we are excited to not only be extending this partnership for another four years, but also to become the first-ever title sponsor of the increasingly popular women’s world series.
“HSBC is committed to supporting not only the elite end of the sport during this historic period in the game’s growth but will also continue with our long-term, significant investment in helping to grow and develop rugby through our community programmes which have seen more than 200,000 youngsters around the world introduced to the sport.
At the announcement in Paris, host city of the 1924 Olympic Games where rugby last featured as an Olympic sport, World Rugby also revealed the full schedule of 10 cities that will host a round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the next four years.
Sydney, Cape Town, Vancouver, Singapore and Paris will join Dubai, Wellington, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and London on the line-up of host cities, with the series beginning on 4th December in Dubai.
Commenting on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens World Series schedule, World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper said: “Rugby sevens is experiencing record attendance, broadcast and commercial growth and is rapidly becoming a major driver of revenue for World Rugby to reinvest in the game.
“This schedule represents an exciting combination for World Rugby and one which we think will enable the sport to reach developing rugby markets, and therefore contribute to the continued growth of the game and its character-building values worldwide. It is great for players, great for fans and great for the ongoing prosperity and development of rugby sevens worldwide.”
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