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FINANCING THE GLOBAL GAME IN 2016Rugby World Cup acts as the catalyst for World Rugby to drive a long-term global investment strategy.Rugby World Cup is the commercial and financial vehicle that drives World Rugby’s investment in the global game. Rugby World Cup 2015 in England, delivered in the European market, proved to be the most successful tournament ever from a financial perspective; final figures completed in early 2016 confirmed a surplus of £163 million to World Rugby, a 78 per cent increase on its predecessor in New Zealand (see chart below).INCOME GENERATION 2016Rugby World Cup – rugby’s financial engineRugby World Cup provides approximately 87 per cent of World Rugby’s revenues from broadcast, sponsorship and other commercial Other sources of incomeOn top of RWC income, World Rugby negotiates broadcast and sponsorship income agreements for other properties, tournaments and events. The most prominent of these properties is the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. World Rugby centralises the income, including licencing, merchandising and hospitality (note that the host union collects and retains ticket income). The growth of the tournament over time, in particular the phenomenal success of recent majority of the commercial rights for the 10 men’s and six women’s tournaments, including our title sponsorship with HSBC, the global banking and financial services company. World Rugby also continues to assess how best to grow and source prominent streams of income from all of our properties. In addition, editions, has enabled investment at all levels from grassroots participation to elite high performance. As the chart shows, individual tournament surpluses have trebled since the turn of the millennium. World Rugby uses its reserves from time to time to smooth investment levels (as RWC surpluses fluctuate) and help fund core game investment programmes. Cost is also monitored closely. It should be noted that World Rugby only retains necessary levels of reserves, in the unlikely event of RWC not taking place due to unforeseen circumstances.Rugby World Cup Financial Results 1987-2015180160140120100806040200GBP SURPLUS (£m)TOURNAMENT YEAR AND VENUE1987New Zealand14184764122163921991 England1995 South Africa1999 Wales2003 Australia2007 France2011New Zealand2015 England96 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2016FINANCING | FINANCING THE GLOBAL GAME