Brisbane 2032 Olympics: World Rugby’s audacious bid for Sevens to open new Games stadium

World Rugby has put forward an audacious plan for Sevens to be placed as the first gold medal awarded at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, with officials also eyeing a switch from Suncorp.

Nathan Lawson scores a try for Australia during the Paris Games. Picture: Getty Images

World Rugby has submitted an audacious plan for Sevens Rugby to be pushed forward as the first gold medal awarded at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, with officials also offering to switch the six-day tournament from Suncorp to the new Stadium at Victoria Park to boost ticket sales.

The details have not been made public yet because the plan still has to be signed off by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Brisbane’s organisers but if it is approved, it would be the blockbuster start to the Games that Brisbane is desperately looking for after the brilliant success of last year’s Paris Olympics and the expectation Los Angeles in 2028 will be just as incredible

While Suncorp Stadium will still have a big part to play in the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics, it was noticeable that the spiritual home of Queensland footy was not mentioned at all during last week’s venue announcement for 2032.

Dietrich Roache in action for Australia during the Paris Games. Picture: AFP

Sevens Rugby at the new Brisbane Stadium? World Rugby’s asked the question. Picture: Queensland Government

Olympic sources have told this masthead Suncorp has been pencilled in for Sevens and soccer but World Rugby boss Brett Robinson has revealed his sport had been holding private talks with organisers about a radical Plan B.

“We basically said that we would like the biggest possible stadium available to us,” Robinson said.

“Suncorp is an amazing stadium as well, so we said look, either Suncorp Stadium or the new Olympic Stadium would be perfect.”

As part of World Rugby’s bid to shift the men’s and women’s tournaments at Brisbane’s yet-to-be-built $3.8 billion 63,000 seat, the sport’s leaders have also offered to start the competition early - before the Opening Ceremony on July 23.

While that goes against conventional thinking, the French did the same in Paris last year and it was a booming success.

Every ticket to every session of Sevens at the 80,000 seat Stade de France stadium was sold out and the host nation got the perfect result when the French team upset Fiji in the final to win the gold in the men’s event.

Every ticket to every session of Sevens at the 80,000 seat Stade de France stadium was sold out at the Paris Games. Picture: AFP

Robinson, a former Wallaby and Queensland Reds star who has ascended to the highest position in the sport, said the amazing success of Sevens in Paris was something he would love to replicate on Australian soil in 2032.

“It’s sort of a focal point isn’t it?” Robinson said.

“The French basically did that because they wanted to make that event, which was ultimately one of the pinnacle events of the Olympic Games and we’ve got the same opportunity in Brisbane.

“We’ve had the new stadium announced. It’s interesting, I haven’t heard anything about the location of rugby but we wrote directly as World Rugby and Queensland Rugby Union and Australian Rugby to say that we would be very supportive of the biggest possible stadium and venue to play that, whether that’s Suncorp or the new stadium.”

Australia's Olympics campaign ended in tears. There’s hopes they could win the first gold medals of the 2032 Brisbane Games. Picture: AFP

The challenge for Brisbane is that the Victoria Park Stadium will also host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the athletics.

In Paris, the Stade de France was the venue for athletics and the Closing Ceremony but to also get Sevens, World Rugby had to agreed to start early.

It proved a masterstroke and Robinson said he was keen to cut a similar deal in Brisbane.

“We made it very clear to Stephen Conroy, who led the review process on behalf of the government, when we wrote to him that our expectation was that we’d be making the event available to as many people as we possibly could.

“And that means in the biggest stadium.”

Originally published as Brisbane 2032 Olympics: World Rugby’s audacious bid for Sevens to open new Games stadium