Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Cape Town has secured the hosting of the South African leg of the Sevens World Series for another three years.
That was confirmed by the city's mayor, Patricia de Lille, on Thursday.
De Lille was speaking ahead of this weekend's leg of the HSBC Sevens that is set to take place at Cape Town Stadium, where the Blitzboks are favourite to win following their season-opening triumph in Dubai a week ago.
De Lille congratulated coach Neil Powell and the South African team on that victory, welcomed them to the city and then, through the use of some seriously impressive numbers, began highlighting the success of the event in Cape Town.
"The inaugural event last year was phenomenal – the highlight being the performance by the Springbok Sevens, who made the nation proud when they secured their third consecutive win on home soil," De Lille said.
"Over the two days of the tournament last year, nearly 107 000 spectators packed the Cape Town Stadium.
"These numbers translated into an estimated R539 million economic injection into local coffers.
"R122 million was spent by international fans, R198 million was spent by local supporters, and about R3 million was spent by the visiting teams."
De Lille expected more of the same this year and confirmed that more than 60 000 tickets were snapped up by the public on the first day of sales in July, with the total number of 110 000 tickets sold for the weekend.
"Even more exciting is that it is now official: we have scored a hat-trick deal," De Lille said.
"Just yesterday, Council gave the nod for the City of Cape Town to be the host city for the HSBC Cape Town Sevens rugby tournament for the next three years.
"The Council approved a three-year agreement (2016 – 2018) between the City and the South African Rugby Union.
"We are excited and look forward to welcoming thousands of supporters for the next three years."
