The Varsity Cup Championship was an American college rugby competition established in 2012 to serve as an invitational championship following the breakaway of several schools from Division 1-A Rugby .
48-694: The Varsity Cup was organized by United World Sport, the organization which also ran the USA Sevens tournament and the Collegiate Rugby Championship . The 2014 Varsity Cup final was televised by NBC Sports on NBCSN . The Varsity Cup's ability to get onto television was seen as a boost to the Varsity Cup and to the rugby programs of the member schools. The development of the Varsity Cup post-season tournament created some controversy. The Varsity Cup Championship did not replace Division 1-A Rugby, but it
96-683: A new 60,000-capacity stadium on a plot of derelict land near the Las Vegas Strip. Due to the fact that $ 750 million of the construction costs was expected to come in the form of public funding, a deal was thrashed out to allow the UNLV Rebels football team of the local University of Nevada, Las Vegas to move in as co-tenants of the new stadium. This meant that Sam Boyd Stadium faces an uncertain future with multiple sources suggesting that it would be demolished. In March 2018, United World Sports CEO Jon Prusmack stated his intention on initiating talks with
144-582: A New Zealand rugby team touring South Africa, which had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 because of its apartheid politics. As rugby union was no longer an Olympic sport, the IOC declined to ban New Zealand, and these 23 nations boycotted the 1976 Olympics. Italy in 1960 , the Soviet Union in 1980 , and South Korea in 1988 made requests to have rugby union brought back. The 1980 request did not pass, and
192-711: A men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games , being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908 , the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924 . Shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped rugby union as an Olympic sport. Since then there have been numerous attempts to bring
240-807: A part of the World Rugby Sevens Series every year since its 2004 debut. This makes the USA Sevens tournament one of the longer running consecutive hosts on the circuit. The USA Sevens debuted at the Home Depot Center, now known as Dignity Health Sports Park , in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California in February 2004. This competition marked the first time the United States ever hosted an official IRB event of international importance. USA Rugby
288-451: A three-day format in 2011. The 2012 tournament's second-day attendance of 30,112 set a new record for the largest crowd to watch a rugby event in the United States. The 2013 tournament broke attendance records again, with total attendance of 67,341. The 2014 tournament again saw record attendance, with 68,608 fans, despite the fact that the tournament had been moved to January to avoid the 2014 Winter Olympics. The profile and visibility of
336-508: A three-day weekend. The 16 teams are divided into four pools of four teams, with seeding determined by finishes in the previous competition in the Sevens World Series. Wins are worth three points, draws two, and losses one. The top two teams from each group progress to the quarterfinals to compete for the Cup (places 1-4) and Plate (places 5-8). The bottom two teams from each group participate in
384-467: The 1916 Summer Olympics , which were cancelled due to World War I . A campaign to send an American side to the 1920 games in Antwerp started in California after a Berkeley rugby union touring party returned from British Columbia undefeated in 1920. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) granted permission for their entry. A pool of players from Stanford , Berkeley , and Santa Clara made up
432-563: The International Olympic Committee 's announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics in 2016. NBC Sports has recognized that its partnership with USA Sevens to broadcast the tournament will help grow the sport of rugby in the United States. Fueled in part by the publicity generated by the NBC broadcasts and rugby's return to the Olympics, the USA Sevens has been successful in lining up several blue-chip corporate sponsors. For
480-530: The 1988 games came close but failed to see the sport's admission, which was backed by the International Rugby Football Board (now, World Rugby (WR)). Apart from supporting the individual host cities' requests, the IRB did not focus its own efforts on returning the sport to the Olympics until the early 1990s, when efforts began to reunite the two movements with a series of informal meetings between
528-459: The 2011 tournament, sponsors included Bridgestone, Toyota, Subway and ADT. The tournament was similarly successful in landing commercial sponsors for 2012, including Adidas, Pepsi, DHL, Subway and others. Effective with the 2010–11 series, the London-based global financial services company HSBC became the title sponsor of the overall IRB Sevens World Series. The USA Sevens tournament has been
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#1732852084181576-575: The Bowl (places 9-12) and Shield (places 13-16) competitions. Through the 2011–12 edition, the sixteen participating teams were the 12 "core" members of the Sevens World Series circuit, along with 4 additional qualifying teams—other teams that qualified multiple times during the 2009–2012 span included Japan, Canada, Uruguay and Guyana. Starting with the 2012–13 season, the number of core teams increased from 12 to 15, with Canada, Spain and Portugal earning
624-523: The Colombes venue. During the final, French fans booed and hissed the American team throughout. French fans also threw bottles and rocks onto the field and at American players and officials, wild brawls broke out in the stands, and U.S. spectator Gideon Nelson was knocked unconscious after being hit in the face by a walking stick. The Americans won the gold medal by 17-3. At the final whistle, French fans invaded
672-582: The Detroit v. Philadelphia NHL game (0.4) and the Alabama v. LSU basketball game (0.3). NBC again increased its TV coverage in 2013, with 16 hours of coverage across three channels, including 4 hours on NBC and 6 hours on NBC Sports . The 2014 USA Sevens drew ratings of 0.7 on Saturday and 1.0 on Sunday. The 2016 USA Sevens had 7 hours of TV coverage across NBCSN and NBC, but only 1 hour on NBC. NBC Sports has displayed an increased interest in broadcasting rugby since
720-632: The IOC turned down a request to stage rugby at the Amsterdam Games. An exhibition tournament was held at the 1936 Berlin Games , with France, Germany, Italy and Romania competing. In what is the last rugby union match played at the Olympics as of 2021, France beat Germany in the final 19 to 14. In 1976, 22 African countries and Guyana demanded that New Zealand be banned from the Olympics in Montreal due to
768-526: The IOC. At that ceremony, International Olympic Committee President, Juan Antonio Samaranch , pointed out that rugby's history and values were very much in tune with the Olympic philosophy and traditions. This historic meeting in Cardiff led to IRB representation at annual IOC meetings and consideration for inclusion in the programme of future Olympic Games. In 2002, a plan was presented to induct rugby sevens, golf and
816-703: The IRB Sevens World Series. The USA Sevens tournament was held from 2007 to 2009 in San Diego at Petco Park , the home field of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. San Diego was an appealing location because the average high temperature in San Diego in February is a balmy 72 °F (22 °C). Las Vegas then won the right to host the annual event beginning in 2010, beating out competition from San Francisco, Phoenix , and Orlando . In 2015, World Rugby reached an agreement with USA Rugby and with
864-683: The Las Vegas Invitational, a major rugby union event involving club, school, and university teams, alongside the USA Sevens. During the USA Sevens' run in Las Vegas, the entry fee for the Invitational has included tickets to the USA Sevens, providing a large built-in attendance base. In 2017, the Oakland Raiders were given permission by the NFL to relocate to Las Vegas , with the team to play in
912-568: The Olympic Games. Rugby union was not played at the 1904 games in St. Louis , nor at the 1906 Intercalated Games , but was included in 1908 , when the Olympics were held in the sport's native country. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) was involved in the organization of the sport at this edition of the Olympics. Like the 1900 Games, three teams entered: Australasia (representing Australia and New Zealand), France, and hosts Great Britain (which included
960-593: The Olympics mounted as more rugby nations from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas joined the IRB, because it was a sport seen as providing a realistic medal opportunity for a number of smaller nations. A significant step in the process of acceptance back into the Olympic Movement was achieved at a ceremony held in Cardiff in November 1994, when the IRB was officially confirmed as a Recognised International Federation of
1008-571: The RFU as an appropriate side after they defeated Durham to win the 1907 English County Championship. The choice of Cornwall was controversial, as only three of their players had ever represented England and the Wallabies had defeated them 18 points to five. As expected, Australasia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal, the score being 32 points to three. The match at the White City Stadium
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#17328520841811056-701: The Raiders over the next few months to allow the USA Sevens to use the new Raiders stadium for future tournaments. In January 2019, The Province , the main newspaper in Vancouver , reported that the then-upcoming 2019 USA Sevens would be the last in Las Vegas, at least for the immediate future. At the time, World Rugby was preparing to announce the hosts for the Sevens Series events for its next four-year cycle, starting with 2019–20 and running through 2022–23. Reasons cited were stadium issues and poor living environment at
1104-617: The USA Sevens has increased in the United States since NBC began broadcasting the tournament in 2011, marking the first time that the tournament had live television coverage on network TV in the United States. NBC Sports and Universal Sports broadcast eight hours of live coverage of the 2011 tournament, including 4 hours of coverage on NBC. NBC increased its television coverage for the 2012 tournament, showing 10 hours of live coverage, including 4 hours on NBC and 4 hours on NBC Sports . The 2012 USA Sevens earned strong ratings of 0.7 on NBC, beating other popular sports events that weekend such as
1152-438: The United States, the improved performance of the U.S. national rugby team including their success in reaching the semi-finals of the 2009 USA Sevens , and NBC's decision to begin televising the tournament beginning in 2011. Tournament attendance has grown rapidly since its inception in 2004. The tournament drew 15,800 fans in 2004, 29,992 fans in 2007, 35,773 in 2008, and 35,543 fans in 2009. The tournament switched to
1200-701: The broadcasters for each year's final match. USA Sevens The USA Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually during March in the United States. The USA Sevens is the largest annual rugby competition in North America, drawing over 60,000 fans, and is broadcast live in the United States by ESPN. The USA Sevens was introduced in 2004, originally in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California . The event moved to San Diego in 2007, and from there moved to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas in 2010. It then spent
1248-474: The end zones) that is approximately the same length as a standard rugby pitch but is nearly 20 meters narrower. Because of this, the pitch in Las Vegas was noticeably narrower than at other series stops, with team benches unusually close to the touchlines. Sources: USA Sevens , Rugby7 Updated as of the 2024 tournament: Rugby union at the Summer Olympics Rugby union has been
1296-575: The entire decade of the 2010s in Las Vegas before returning to Carson in 2020. The USA Sevens tournament features 16 teams representing countries from every inhabited continent, including the host, the U.S. national team . The USA Sevens is the fifth of ten tournaments on the World Rugby Sevens Series . The Sevens World Series is played throughout the world at nine other venues: Dubai , South Africa , Australia , New Zealand , Hong Kong , Singapore , Canada , France , and England . The tournament consists of 16 countries participating in 45 matches over
1344-460: The first domestic French club championship in 1892 and France 's first international, on New Year's Day, 1906, at Parc des Princes . Coubertin formed the IOC in 1894, but rugby union was not featured until the II Olympiad. Three National Olympic Committees (NOCs), France, Germany and Great Britain, entered teams at the 1900 games . The teams were not national teams in the current sense of
1392-411: The first years of the event's run in Las Vegas, the stadium's standard artificial pitch was used, leading to many safety-related concerns. Some of these concerns were alleviated with the installation of temporary grass surfaces for the 2017–2019 events, but other safety issues inherent to the stadium's design remained. Sam Boyd Stadium was built for American football, a sport with a playing field (including
1440-496: The modern five), while four points were given for a drop goal (as opposed to the modern three). Also, four points were awarded for a goal from mark ; this would be reduced to three points in 1905, and was deleted from the rules in 1977. France won the gold, beating Great Britain by 27 points to 8 and defeating Germany by 27 points to 17. Some sources list the German team as second on the points difference, but no such determination
1488-418: The pitch invasion after, the 1924 Olympic Final served to give rugby a poor image. This, combined with the problems of attracting sufficient teams to make it a viable competition, the desire to include more individual and women's events, and the departure of a major advocate when Baron Pierre De Coubertin stepped down as head of the Olympic Movement in 1925, marked the downfall of rugby at the Olympics. In 1928,
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1536-551: The pitch, forcing police, and French players and officials, to protect the Americans. At the medal ceremony, The Star-Spangled Banner was drowned out by the booing and hissing of French fans, and the American team had to be escorted to their locker room under police protection. Rare vintage footage of the 1924 Gold Medal match was included in the rugby documentary, A Giant Awakens: the Rise of American Rugby . The crowd violence during, and
1584-587: The sport back to the Olympic programme. In October 2009 the IOC voted at its session in Copenhagen to include the sevens version of the sport in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The event made its debut in an Olympic programme at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics . The sport was introduced by Pierre de Coubertin , who is famous for reviving the modern Olympics. He also helped to establish rugby in France, refereeing
1632-618: The squad. 1908 champion Danny Carroll, a player-coach at Stanford at the time, was the team's most prominent member. By the time the U.S. arrived in Antwerp, the Czech and Romanian teams had withdrawn, while the English RFU had declined an invitation to enter a team, to avoid interfering with the start of the English domestic season. This left France and the United States as the only teams. Their match
1680-400: The team hotels. Possible options were a return to San Diego, or moves to San Francisco (which hosted the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens ) or Miami . WR ultimately announced that the event would return to its original home of Dignity Health Sports Park for at least the 2020 event. Apart from the uncertain future of Sam Boyd Stadium, its playing field had been the source of many issues. During
1728-735: The then IRB Secretary, Keith Rowlands , and the British Olympic Association Secretary, Dick Palmer. In 1994, when Vernon Pugh QC of Wales was elected Chairman of the IRB, the march towards Olympic recognition began in earnest. Pugh convinced the IRB Council that Olympic membership – initially as a non-participation sport – would be beneficial to rugby and offer the IRB member unions membership of their National Olympic Committees. Many European Federations, such as France, Italy and Romania, had been members of their National Olympic Committees for decades. The demand to get rugby back in
1776-575: The three new slots. The USA Sevens is the second largest annual rugby competition in North America after the Canada Sevens in Vancouver. The tournament has grown in popularity since the tournament began in 2004. In recent years, a number of events have accelerated the surge in popularity, including the announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics , the general growth of rugby in
1824-401: The tournament's organizers: World Rugby would continue to place the USA Sevens tournament in Las Vegas if the tournament organizers agreed to widen the field at Sam Boyd Stadium and install approved artificial turf. The USA Sevens was a financial success during its run in Las Vegas, partly because its venue of Sam Boyd Stadium was surrounded by playing fields. This allowed the complex to host
1872-693: The whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ), but France pulled out prior to the commencement of the tournament, due to being unable to field a representative team. Australasia was represented by the Wallabies , who were already on tour in Britain. As the best English and Welsh players were on tour in New Zealand at the time, Great Britain was represented by the Cornwall county team, who were chosen by
1920-563: The word: the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques represented France, the Moseley Wanderers RFC represented Great Britain, and the FC 1880 Frankfurt represented Germany. Rules were also different from today's: while points for penalties and conversions were worth three and two points respectively, the same as in the modern game, three points were awarded for tries (as opposed to
1968-500: Was again included in the subsequent 1924 Games in Paris. The USOC decided to send a team, while the host nation and Romania entered. The American team was again made up of mainly Californian players. The U.S. squad departed on a seven-day voyage to England on an ocean liner from New York City. France defeated Romania 59-3 and entered the final game as favorites. The gold medal game was played on 18 May in front of 30,000 spectators at
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2016-489: Was awarded the right to host the USA Sevens for three years, in part because rugby was recognized as one of the fastest growing team sports in the U.S. In 2005, USA Rugby sold a 90% interest in USA Sevens, LLC to United World Sports, LLC, with USA Rugby retaining the remaining 10% ownership interest. In August 2006, USA Rugby and the International Rugby Board renewed the contract for the USA Sevens to remain in
2064-432: Was endorsed by USA Rugby . The schools participating in the Varsity Cup often referred to it as the national championship, but with the rival Division 1-A Rugby post-season tournament running concurrently, USA Rugby did not consider the Varsity Cup to be the national championship. The founding schools formed the Varsity Cup with a number of goals in mind. One was the ability to manage and control their playoff games. Another
2112-589: Was made in 1900. 6,000 people watched the game between France and Great Britain, which was the largest crowd at the Games. Two players on the French team were not of French nationality: Constantin Henriquez was from Haiti and André Roosevelt was an American, therefore, later IOC attributed the French medal to the Mixed team . Constantin Henriquez , a player on the French team, is the first known coloured athlete to compete in
2160-435: Was played in rain in front of around 20,000 spectators, with the U.S., featuring many players new to the sport of rugby, causing a shock by winning by eight points to nil, all points being scored in the second half. One of the U.S. team members, Morris Kirksey , took home two more medals from Antwerp, finishing second to Charles Paddock in the 100 meters dash, and anchoring the winning 4 × 100 meters relay team. The sport
2208-463: Was played under poor conditions, in fog and on a slippery field. Two of the Australian team members would later win another Olympic gold medal: Danny Carroll would win another rugby gold with the United States in 1920 , while Sydney Middleton would win a gold medal in rowing at the 1912 Games , where rugby was not on the programme. The sport also failed to appear on the provisional schedule of
2256-469: Was to develop a tournament with commercial appeal, that would generate revenue from attendance and concessions, and that would generate marketing exposure through TV coverage. The Varsity Cup folded in November 2017 when the organizer, broadcast partner and a major sponsor, Penn Mutual, withdrew their support. The teams invited to compete in the Varsity Cup were from schools where rugby enjoyed varsity status or advanced club status. Note: BYU's 2015 victory
2304-418: Was vacated because BYU fielded an ineligible player. Upon the discovery and further questions of the usage of ineligible players by BYU, the team left the Varsity Cup and rejoined D1-A. Note: BYU's 2015 victory was vacated because BYU fielded an ineligible player. Italicized teams hosted each round. Italicized teams hosted each round. Most points for one team (single match): The following table shows
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