English Rugby
Baron issues Rugby World Cup warning
PA Sport
October 31, 2008
Francis Baron, portrait, April 18, 2008
Baron insists these are testing times on the economic front © Getty Images
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RFU chief executive Francis Baron has warned that England may withdraw their bid to stage the 2015 World Cup unless the International Rugby Board change what he believes are unreasonable financial demands.

The IRB have stipulated that any union bidding for the tournament must guarantee what Baron describes as "a very large sum" of profit return to the world's governing body. Baron is adamant that the targets set by the IRB are impossible to guarantee due to the current instability in the world's economy.

He said: "Home unions now have to commit to paying a very large tournament fee to the IRB that has to be guaranteed and under written. This has changed the financial dynamics of bidding for tournaments substantially and puts an absolutely massive financial risk on the bidding union.

"Our initial predictions make it unlikely that England could actually make a profit out of hosting a World Cup in 2015. In those circumstances the RFU board would have to consider very carefully whether or not it would be prudent to risk the games money in bidding in the knowledge that almost certainly we would make a substantial loss.

"I have explained to the IRB that England is the largest rugby-playing country with access to some of the biggest stadia in the world like Twickenham and Wembley. But at the moment we just can't make the numbers work because of the scale of the financial guarantee that is required."

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