The NFL's Washington Commanders hope to host the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cup finals at their new $4 billion stadium, slated to open in 2030. The United States will play host to both the 2031 men's World Cup and the women's edition two years later, and the bidding process to host matches is now under way.
Stadium plans and design
Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, is among the 27 host cities shortlisted by World Rugby, from which at most 14 will be selected. The Commanders hope to break ground on the new stadium in March 2027, with the aim of it being ready to open in 2030.
The ultra-modern stadium, situated on the site of the now-demolished Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in south-east DC, will boast a capacity of over 75,000. Sources close to the project told Standard Sport that Commanders executives hope it will become something of a national stadium for the US, with grand plans in place to host concerts and major sporting events beyond the bounds of American football. The 2031 Rugby World Cup final is seen as an ideal showpiece event.
Advice from former Tottenham chairman
In planning the stadium project, Commanders executives met with former Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, seeking advice after he led the design and construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It is understood that should the FIFA World Cup return to the US, the Commanders would again bid to host matches. President Donald Trump made clear following the 2026 edition that he would like to host it again as early as 2038.
Rugby's growth in the US
Rugby remains a niche sport in the US, where it has struggled to crack a market dominated by the NFL and NBA. A national league, Major League Rugby, was founded in 2017 with the aim of building a supporter base ahead of the 2031 World Cup, but it has fallen on hard times of late and now comprises just five teams. One of those franchises, Old Glory, is based in DC, where a strong concentration of expats have developed a healthy grassroots network and passionate fanbase.
Test matches staged in the US have been rather more successful than the club game. South Africa's defeat of New Zealand in September drew a sellout crowd of 68,173 supporters to Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium, making it the best-attended rugby match ever held in the US.
Moving from Northwest Stadium
The construction of a brand-new stadium will see the Commanders move out of the much-maligned Northwest Stadium in rural Maryland, which bid to host World Cup matches in 2026 but was rejected by FIFA. The Commanders are working to build a fanbase across Europe. In 2025, they took part in the first NFL match in Madrid as they were beaten in overtime by the Miami Dolphins at the Bernabeu.
They were then beaten by the Indianapolis Colts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month, in the franchise's first London match since 2016. The Commanders say their outreach events staged in London the week of that match engaged over 5,000 fans.
