Nz Predicting Large Rwc 2011 Loss
Despite strong interest in next year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand with more than 50,000 people registering for the first phase of ticket sales, tournament CEO Martin Snedden has predicted a loss of over £18.2m.
The tournament’s organisers – a joint venture between the New Zealand Rugby Union and the government – originally estimated a loss of £14m but it is believed expectations around ticket sales were downgraded and as the only income that the organisers receive is from the sale of tickets the loss increased.
However, the initial interest in tickets has been strong, with 85,000 match tickets sold as part of official travel packages and Sneddon is confident that the financial loss will not deteriorate.
‘We know that selling 1.65 million tickets is going to be a huge challenge. But it’s really motivating when you start off the whole campaign and you get such an instant positive response,’ said Sneddon.
Fans have been able to pre-register their tickets for the first selling phase since last week and Sneddon added: ‘I’m not expecting to sell all of those (tickets) in 2010. I would love to have the vast majority of them sold by late this year, early next year but I’m also resigned to the fact that I think we’re going to be selling tickets right through the whole process and during the tournament itself.’
The tournament will kick off with New Zealand taking on Tonga at Eden Park on 9th September 2011.
