Total revenue from the next Rugby World Cup will surpass Stg £100 million, International Rugby Board chairman Vernon Pugh has said.
Pugh, speaking at a press conference that followed two days of talks at the board's fourth general meeting in Buenos Aires on Saturday, said sponsorship and television rights for the World Cup would bring in £60 million.
Wales' Pugh said 28 countries had expressed an interest in competing in a Rugby 7 Grand Prix, to start perhaps as early as the end of this year but certainly in 2000.
Pugh said selection would be made among 10 possible venues, one of which was sure to be Mar del Plata, 400 km south of Buenos Aires.
Other topics discussed at the meetings included Olympic status for Rugby. "I am reasonably confident rugby will be part of the Olympics within a few years," Pugh said, but he added that he was not clear if it would be 15 a side or sevens.
Meanwhile, Peter Clohessy scored a try for the Rest of the World XV beaten 49-31 by Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
