New Orleans Hopes to Host 3rd Largest Sporting Event in the World

When it comes to big games nobody does it better than the Big Easy. New Orleans Louisiana has hosted countless historical sporting events in the past and now city officials and tourism leaders are hoping to land the third-largest event in the sporting world. 

Now you're probably racking your brain attempting to discern what this event might be. We'll tell you this, the only sporting events that are larger are the Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup.

So this is an event that would have an even larger economic impact on New Orleans and Louisiana than the Super Bowl, a heavyweight prize fight, the NCAA Final Four, and WWE Wrestlemania. All of which have been hosted in New Orleans in previous years.

The event in question is in fact, a World Cup. New Orleans officials are hoping to be named as host city for the Rugby World Cup and the reasons those officials want this event in the Big Easy is all about the dollars. In 2019 the Rugby World Cup brought some 250,000 visitors to Tokyo, the host city at that time. Tokyo officials estimate the event had an economic impact of $5.6 billion dollars.

Just to be clear, the Rugby World Cup for 2031 is already slated to be held in the United States. New Orleans is launching an effort to be the event's host city for the finals as well as have the Caesers Superdome on the schedule as one of the venues where group play would take place.

The current Rugby World Cup is being contested in France, sadly the team from the United States did not earn their way into that tournament. The US Rugby Team is currently ranked #18 in the world. Certainly, if the event is going to be successful from an American standpoint that team would need to qualify for the tournament in 2031.

If you're not familiar with the sport of rugby it has many similarities to football. It also has similarities to an organized street fight. If you like physical action and play that never seems to stop, rugby might be the game you've been looking for. No, the players don't wear padding and they hit each other pretty hard so it is not a sport for the faint of heart.