USA Rugby wraps up Charlotte summer matches. Could Rugby World Cup be here next?
On Saturday, Charlotte saw its national rugby team endure a late start and a difficult finish.
But a question still echoed afterward:
Could a Rugby World Cup be here next?
After inclement weather pushed Saturday night’s kickoff back approximately two hours, the No. 15-ranked U.S. men’s national rugby team took the pitch at American Legion Memorial Stadium and fell to No. 17-ranked Spain on Saturday, 31-24. The contest was the second of two exhibition matches the USA Eagles put on in Charlotte — the first was a 38-17 dismantling of Belgium last weekend — and punctuated a two-match spree in which 9,678 fans flowed through the midtown venue.
And those fans facilitated quite the environment, players said.
“I think the city supported us really well tonight,” Benjamin Bonasso told The Observer after the match. “We felt it in the field. The game wasn’t on our side. Small details were what cost us the game. But that’s part of the job and gotta keep fixing those details coming into next against England in D.C.”
With the two test matches finished, it’s natural for people to wonder what other rugby events could come to Charlotte, if any. The Queen City, after all, is one of 30-plus American cities being considered as potential hosts during the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033.
Ask such answers from Ross Young, the general manager of U.S. Operations at World Rugby, and he’ll preach patience.
But he’ll also add that there is a clear plan in place — and that these past two Saturdays were part of that plan.
“A lot of the work has gone on to ensure that we have more of these types of fixtures,” Young told The Charlotte Observer.
He added, “There are 13 major rugby events this year, compared to two years ago, there was one exhibition game for the whole of the year for the men’s and women’s 15 — which is no way to build a rugby brand involving the U.S. national team, when you don’t have regular fixtures and structures.”
And so these summer events, which will continue throughout the country in the coming months and years, will help meet that end.
What are Charlotte, USA Rugby’s next steps?
To understand how the process moves forward, it’s helpful to understand how Charlotte even found itself in this Rugby World Cup conversation.
The first big milestone came in May 2022. That’s when the U.S. accepted the honor of being the host nation to the two events in 2031 and 2033. Young, who was then the CEO of USA Rugby, was tasked with reaching out to potential host cities with major venues and adequate facilities and their sports commissions to see if those cities expressed potential interest in hosting.
He then began implementing a “growth plan” in the country to ensure that “there were more high-level rugby content in the U.S.” and that there was increased participation — “spectator-wise and playing-wise, all aspects of the game.”
Over the past year or so, those activities have increased. This has also coincided with some notable growth in Major League Rugby — the top American rugby league in which Charlotte has a team called Anthem RC. In 2022, MLR saw significant increases in attendance (40%) and viewership (55%), according to SportCal.com.
And just this summer, specifically, they’ve gone back and reviewed all the materials to ensure that it is feasible for each city to host an event such as this one.
Among the most important feasibility requirements for potential host cities: Having not just the infrastructure to host up to four rugby teams at once — the hotels, the practice facilities, etc. — but also the premier venue that can hold a rugby match.
The ideal size for a rugby pitch is slightly larger than an American football field: 100 meters by 70 meters, with 10 meters worth of “runoff” on all ends of the touchline, Young said.
“It may have to make some amendments, but that’s really the stage of the process we’re at,” he said of cities with American football venues. He added that it is a collaborative effort with each city, and that Charlotte and the Charlotte Sports Foundation have been good partners up until this point in the process.
As for whether Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte could be turned into a rugby stadium, said Young: “To answer your question, it’s all doable. And Charlotte wouldn’t still be in the equation if it was completely infeasible to put a pitch inside what we call a ‘playing enclosure,’ and that’s literally concrete to concrete.”
Timelines are still flexible, Young said, but the goal is to name the “core venues” for the 2031 World Cup near the end of 2026 — just before the Rugby World Cup spectacle in Australia takes place in 2027.
‘A tribalistic fan base’
There are other logistics to consider. For instance: how the Rugby World Cup schedule can integrate with local NFL and MLS calendars.
The organization of the USA Eagles is also pushing to build a “tribalistic fan base” ahead of the 2031 and ‘33 cups so the rugby fans don’t just turn up when the world’s best come to town — like South Africa and England and a bevy of clubs across Europe.
That’ll all be determined in the coming months.
As for Saturday, team captain Bonasso had a clear message.
One was to his team — about the details to clean up on set pieces, about channeling the momentum they seized at the end of the first half, about the ill-timed penalties.
Another was to the city — that waited through hours of delays to watch their country’s squad.
“That was unreal,” he said of the turnout despite the delay. “That is part of what we’re trying to do as our mission: inspire Americans. And in Charlotte, here, we felt it. And I think we need to keep it that way and keep inspiring people.
“They waited four hours under the parking deck during the lightning delay. It was unreal. I was really thankful for the people who came here.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
