USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament Returns to Las Vegas For 2016 And Beyond

LAS VEGAS - June 30, 2015 - PRLog -- United World Sports, the owner and operator of the USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament, and World Rugby announced today that the tournament is confirmed to return to Las Vegas through 2019, following five consecutive years of attendance growth. The three day tournament will take place March 4 - 6, 2016, following a week full of rugby festivities beginning on Monday, February 29th.

Since its debut in Las Vegas in 2010, the attendance at the USA Sevens Rugby International tournament has more than doubled. Each year, fans from around the world venture to Las Vegas to participate in what has become an international rugby week celebration leading up to the three day tournament competition. The 2015 tournament saw more than 75,000 rugby fans take over Sam Boyd Stadium in February shattering all previous records. The economic impact from USA Sevens Rugby continues to prove to be influential with more than $27 million generated for the local economy from tournament attendees in 2015.

“Over the past five years, the city of Las Vegas has provided an exceptional foundation for USA Sevens Rugby to grow and excel,” said Jonathan First, president of United World Sports. “Through this continued partnership with Las Vegas, USA Sevens Rugby will continue to further position itself as the premier international sporting event and a catalyst for rugby’s growth in America.”

USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament serves as the largest professional rugby event in the United States and has developed a devoted following due to the high-energy atmosphere produced by a fusion of international culture and pride, live entertainment, an international food and cultural festival and costumed fans at Sam Boyd Stadium each year. The three-day tournament brings 16 of the top international rugby sevens teams to Las Vegas to play 45 matches as they attempt to gain points in the HSBC Sevens World Series standings.

“Las Vegas has become the most exciting stop in the entire series,” said Zach Test, USA National Team standout, former college football star at the University of Oregon, and all-time leading try scorer for Team USA. “The energy and excitement of the city, coupled with the intensity of the home crowd, creates an electrifying atmosphere for fans and players alike.”

During the 2016 tournament, rugby enthusiasts will have the extraordinary opportunity to see future rugby sevens Olympians in person as the players prepare for the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Team USA recently secured its spot in the 2016 Olympic Games by defeating Canada at the June 14th Olympic qualifying event in Cary, NC.

The international teams competing in the 2016 USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament tentatively include: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Kenya, New Zealand, Portugal, Samoa, Scotland, United States, Russia, South Africa and Wales.

Rugby sevens is a fast-paced variation of traditional rugby with two seven-player teams battling in 14-minute matches where the action never stops. Because of the shorter duration of matches, teams are able to compete in multiple games each day and complete the tournament over three days of competition. For full event information for the 2016 USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament, please visit www.usasevens.com.

About United World Sports:
United World Sports (UWS) LLC hosts a dynamic line up of emerging sports properties and has quickly become the leader at delivering premier international sports properties to U.S. audiences. UWS’ flagship property is the USA Sevens Rugby Tournament held annually in Las Vegas. This exciting 16-nation, three-day tournament has become the largest attended rugby event in North America with more than 75,000 fans coming to Sam Boyd Stadium.  Broadcast live on NBC Sports the tournament serves as the only U.S. stop on a nine-city world tour and reaches more than 400 million television households worldwide. Additional UWS properties include the Las Vegas Invitational, which occurs alongside the USA Sevens and is the largest participatory rugby tournament in the western hemisphere; the America’s Rugby Seven’s Cup; the Penn Mutual College Rugby Championship (CRC); the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup Championship and the Pro Soccer Challenge.

About USA Sevens Rugby:
The annual USA Sevens international rugby tournament is the premier rugby event in North America as well as the fourth event out of nine in the HSBC Sevens World Series. Fans in attendance will see 16 international rugby sevens teams play 45 matches during a three-day competition in an attempt to gain points in the Sevens World Series standings. Fans can stay updated on all the latest USA Sevens Rugby news, events and details by following on Facebook (USA Sevens Rugby Tournament And Festival), Twitter (@USASevensRugby) and Instagram (@USASevensRugby).

Played on the same size field as traditional 15-player rugby, rugby sevens is played with just seven players per team.  Matches have seven-minute halves with two-minute intervals for pool and knock-out matches. The fast pace and short duration of matches makes every moment of the action thrilling for spectators.