World Rugby open to hosting Six Nations matches in the United States

World Rugby would help any nation which wants to switch a Six Nations match to the United States, as it continues its drive to spread the game stateside.

South Africa and New Zealand have sold out the 71,000-capacity M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for Saturday's fourth and final Test in their Greatest Rivalry series.

With the men's and women's Rugby World Cups being held in the United States in 2031 and 2033 respectively, tournament organisers are keen to bring more prestige fixtures across the Atlantic.

"In terms of the match-day economics, [South Africa vs New Zealand] is like a Six Nations match," Alan Gilpin, World Rugby chief executive, told the Daily Telegraph.

"It starts to show that [financial return] is not the barrier. So if there is the appetite to take some of these big matches in the future to the US, we can now."

The All Blacks have been at the forefront of rugby's attempts to make an imprint in a notoriously tough sports market.

Ireland memorably beat the All Blacks for the first time when the teams met in front of a capacity 60,000-strong crowd at Chicago's Soldier Field in 2016, with a 2025 rematch proving a similar commercial success.

New Zealand have also staged matches against the United States - a 104-14 victory in front of about 40,000 fans in Washington - and Fiji - a 47-5 win before 33,217 in San Diego - in the country over the past decade.

However Gilpin believes that the history of the Six Nations and its ability to connect with expatriate fans in the United States could be a useful tool to crack America further.

"This isn't a live discussion of an Italy vs Ireland game, but why we use that as an example?" he added.

"You've got two fantastic fanbases in the US of Irish and Italian fans.

"If you could take a Six Nations game to the right place, to a Boston or to a New York, where there's a lot of those fanbases, you can definitely drive the economics.

"Now, you're going to have Irish fans and Italian fans in those respective home countries saying, 'Hang on a minute, you know, we want to see our country play?'

"The counter-argument to that [is] it's still Irish and Italian fans getting the chance to watch their team, so they're just not the ones who live in Ireland and Italy on this occasion. But that's a balancing piece we've got to work through."

Wales played their home matches at London's Wembley Stadium during the 1998 and 1999 Six Nations while the Principality Stadium was being built, but such a long-haul venue switch would be unprecedented in the tournament's 143-year history.

While World Rugby could support a stateside Six Nations game, the decision would lie with the competing teams, all of whom would be aware of the consternation that would come with transplanting a fixture thousands of miles away.

The schedule for the 2027 editions of both the men's and women's tournaments have already been set.