Costs and benefits The event was expected to cost about
NZ$310 million to run and to generate NZ$280 million in ticket sales. In
Auckland, the city where many of the most important games took place, the costs to the local ratepayers alone was estimated at $102 million. Ticket sales exceeding NZ$285 million, accommodation-related spending of another NZ$260 million, and NZ$236 million spent on food and drink was expected to provide a significant fiscal stimulus, of nearly 1.4% of the quarterly GDP.
Concerns In the years between winning the bid and the staging of the event, New Zealand news media and social agencies cast aspersions on the nation's readiness and appropriate use of national funds for sports infrastructure, as has happened with most large, international, quadrennial, multi-location sporting events of recent decades such as the
2012 Olympics,
2010 FIFA World Cup and the
2010 Commonwealth Games. Concerns were raised about the process of upgrading Eden Park to expand the capacity to the 60,000 required by the IRB. In late 2008 Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said the remaining consent process might need to be overridden by legislation for the work to be completed on time. A July 2009 report by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, released under the Official Information Act, warned of lack of readiness and complacency, despite the fact that "the levels of patron movement and operational standard [needed for the RWC] are in reality significantly above what is currently delivered." The report was dismissed by Michael Barnett, the
Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO and planning co-coordinator for RWC events in Auckland, who characterised it as a case of "a Wellington media organisation us[ing] an outdated report". The nation's largest hospitality workers' union, Unite, which represents 25% of hotel, restaurant and casino workers in New Zealand, demanded that workers share in windfall profits and said there was the possibility of a strike during the tournament. The construction of Dunedin's
Forsyth Barr Stadium, known during the tournament as Otago Stadium, was a source of concern as the project was operating in a tight time frame. An April 2010 progress report stated that the project remained on target for completion prior to the Rugby World Cup, although there was a medium level of risk with some significant and potentially damaging concerns. If the project had not been completed on time, organisers would have reverted to
Carisbrook as the backup option. Forsyth Barr Stadium was officially opened on 6 August 2011. Damage caused by the
2011 Christchurch earthquake forced the relocation of a number of cup matches, including the quarter-finals.
Warm-up matches The
2011 Tri Nations Series was shortened to include only six games instead of the usual nine. It served as the primary preparation for the tournament for
Australia,
South Africa and
New Zealand. In the northern hemisphere, a
series of friendlies played in August 2011 replaced the annual tours to the southern hemisphere. North American entrants
Canada beat
USA in two warm-up friendlies in August 2011. ==Qualifying==