Canada Sevens women’s rugby tournament leaving Langford for Vancouver
The 2023 HSBC Canada Sevens women's rugby tournament is leaving its longtime home of Langford, B.C., next year and moving to Vancouver.
Instead of Starlight Stadium, the tournament will be held at B.C. Place in a combined event with the men's tournament from March 3 to 5.
"It’s unfortunate news, yes, that we’re losing the Women's Sevens here, it’s a pretty big event for us," said Langford Mayor Stew Young. "It was exciting."
The announcement Tuesday from Rugby Canada is another blow to the organization's relationship with Langford after an independent review found problems with the organization's chosen home.
"Langford is not viewed as a positive place to live with it being framed as 'expensive' and 'isolated,'" the review found.
However, Rugby Canada interim CEO Jamie Levchuk said the organization will continue to call Langford home and continue to host events at Starlight Stadium.
"We would like to acknowledge the City of Langford for being such an incredible host of our HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens since 2015," Levchuk said in a statement.
"Langford remains the home of Rugby Canada and we look forward to continuing hosting international events at Starlight Stadium in the future."
He told CTV News that the decision was also made to give the women's team a chance to compete in front of a larger crowd in Vancouver, similar to what's organized for Canada's men's team.
The interim CEO said the organization is "delighted" to be hosting a combined men's and women's event in 2023.
The move to combine the tournaments means the Vancouver event will be extended from its traditional two-day format to a three-day event.
The City of Langford is in the process of expanding Starlight Stadium from its current capacity of 4,800 to nearly 10,000.
Once the expansion is complete, there's a chance the tournament could return to the island.
Rugby Canada says it'll hold a bidding process to host the tournament for 2024 through 2027.
"At the moment, this is a decision made for 2023," Levchuk told CTV News.
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