Allianz Stadium Twickenham can be hub for global overseas sport
On Saturday Argentina and South Africa will play a regular season Rugby Championship match at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.
But this is not out of the ordinary for the capital; next month the Springboks will take on Japan at Wembley and an All Blacks XV will face the Barbarians in Brentford.
Looking back, too, there are examples of international sport taking place in the capital without the involvement of England. Cricket’s World Test Championship is a great example of this, but events like the football Ashes between New Zealand and Australia was staged in 2023 and South Africa faced the All Blacks at Twickenham in the same year.
It is no secret that the southern hemisphere diaspora is well and truly cemented in London, and it is something organisations are tapping into. Regular season matches, however, like this weekend’s Rugby Championship clash, are new.
But it is unlikely to be a phenomenon replicated by England against, say France, in, say, Johannesburg. I have no doubt that Ellis Park Stadium would sell out a Le Crunch tie, but at what financial cost to the two nations?
Allianz Stadium costs a fortune to rent but it remains popular because of the commercial returns available to teams who are able to pack its 82,000 seats.
Tickets for the tie, which was first revealed in Morning Wire last year, begin at £55 with most blocks showing single seats remaining for the tie. Argentina, too, are set to have a number of blocks especially for their fans, which should create one heck of an atmosphere.
This ticket entry price is a tonic for the participating teams, at a threshold you couldn’t imagine starting at in either Cape Town or Buenos Aires.
Allianz Stadium able to compete?
London’s multiculturalism combined with its largely prosperous population, relative to many of the world’s global hub cities, means these events aren’t as much of a financial risk.
England away from home for a “home” game, however, is bound to return less than simply hosting in south-west London.
There remains a market for England’s national team here in the capital that is so strong and deep – even with tickets costing into the hundreds the team practically sells out for all fixtures across the calendar – that the concern is low.
But what the capital can do is become a hub for overseas matches from other nations – and that does not, and should not, be limited to just rugby.
Allianz Stadium’s problem, however, is competing against other stadiums within the M25.
Wembley Stadium is an iconic arena, even without its twin towers, and holds 8,000 more seats than the home of rugby.
Then there’s the likes of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that may be smaller in capacity but full to the brim with premium seating options to more than make up for the lack of bums on seats.
Then there’s the London Stadium – which has hosted rugby league and Major League Baseball as well as football and athletics – as well as Brentford, Fulham’s Craven Cottage and a huge number of other size-appropriate arenas. Even Harlequins’ Twickenham Stoop has been turned into a hockey pitch in recent summers.
London is already seen as an attractive home for overseas teams looking to make a few bucks away from home due to its fan base. But do and will those teams always see Allianz Stadium as that hub arena?
The Rugby Football Union will want to think so, anyway.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11