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USA 7s Tournament Attendance Holding Steady

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USA 7s Tournament Attendance Holding Steady

David Barpal photo.

The attendance at the USA 7s international tournament ticked up slightly from 2016, but was essentially unchanged from last year.

According to a press release put out by tournament PR contractors Kirvin Doak, the 2017 tournament attendance (which includes everyone, including paid fans, holders of complimentary volunteers, staff, officials, and athletes) was 80,691. This compares to last year's figure (also release by Kirvin Doak) of 80,138. The 2017 attendance increase was 553, or 0.69%.

Given that this year's event included, for the first time, the USA stop on the Women's World Series tour, which would bolster attendance by about 200 for each day of competition (Friday and Saturday), the attendance at the event is essentially unchanged from last year.

“We continue to see record breaking attendance every year of the tournament, which is a clear indication that rugby is one of the fastest growing sports globally, but also nationally as well,” said Jonathan First, president of United World Sports. “When we first brought the event to Las Vegas in 2010, we attracted 36,600 fans and now we have more than 80,000 come out to support their countries and teams over the three day period. Rugby sevens debut in the 2016 Rio Olympics has had a significant impact on the growth of the sport, and with the addition of the women’s sevens series in Las Vegas, we are confident that we will continue to set attendance records in years to come.”

Day-to-day attendance was up, slightly, on every day. Attendance for Friday was 18,663, up 1.2% from 2016. Attendance for Sunday was 26,157, up 0.68% from 2016. Saturday's attendance was up 0.52%.