Mr Grant said the NSW Government was proud to have secured one of the world’s most exciting and entertaining annual sports events, to take place at Allianz Stadium next year, through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

‘I know our harbour city will put on a spectacular tournament to rival the renowned Rugby Sevens events held at other international destinations,’ Mr Grant said.

‘Rugby Sevens is one of the world’s fastest growing international sports, known for its festival-like atmosphere. The Rugby Sevens event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last year attracted 171,000 attendees and Sevens has also been included in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

‘Securing the Australian round of the 2015/16 Sevens World Series is part of our commitment to build a world-class calendar of events as we work towards achieving our goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure to the State by 2020.

‘A re-elected Baird Government will bring even more big ticket events to NSW with a $123 million commitment to beef up our tourism and major events budget and secure the State’s reputation as the undisputed home of major events in Australia.’

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) sees Sydney as the perfect city to host the Australian round after this year’s Sevens World Series tournament.

ARU Chief Executive Officer Bill Pulver said: ‘We are thrilled to be able to bring Rugby Sevens to Sydney. We truly believe that Sydney has the potential to match the excitement surrounding tournaments like Hong Kong, Twickenham and Wellington in terms of event experience and crowd numbers.

‘There is little doubt the area in and around Moore Park lends itself to Rugby Sevens. We had a stadium record crowd at Allianz Stadium in June 2014 with plenty of exciting Test Rugby on the field, and wonderful off-field entertainment at the Sydney Cricket Ground,’ he said.

The four-year agreement, which starts for the 2015-16 HSBC Sevens World Series, will see the timing of the Australian tournament switch to early 2016.

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