Black market expected to boom as expats snap up Lions tickets

Former Lions prop and official Lions tour travel agent Mike Burton expects the black market in Lions tickets to blossom in June as thousands of expatriate Britons living in Australia make the trip across the Tasman.

Burton, whose company Mike Burton Sports Travel is one of the official travel agents for the tour in the UK, said the "expat factor" would be a key element in scalped tickets finding their way into the hands of Lions supporters.

He said the official estimates of 15,000 fans travelling to New Zealand for the tour was "way off" and the number would be well over 20,000, perhaps even 25,000-30,000.

The New Zealand Rugby Union has allotted 8000 tickets per test to British travel agencies.

"We took people to the 2001 Lions tour of Australia," said Burton, "and we found that up to 45 per cent of the crowd at major games were wearing red and dominating the Aussies.

"The tickets were gained locally by the big British expat community in Australia. I would expect them to be coming across the Tasman in force, looking for tickets and accommodation.

"That's when the black market will start getting up in price," he said, "and there isn't much anyone can actually do about it."

Burton doubts the scalpers are doing much of a trade right now as official tickets are still available from his and other official agencies. "We have got about 200-250 more packages left - and that's it."

"You traditionally find that the commencement of the tour is quiet as most people who will be travelling to New Zealand for the tour don't have the holiday time to go for the whole thing[June 4- July 9].

"What you tend to find is that things will be fine for the early games but the pressure will start to rise when they get further into the tour."

Burton expected black market demand and prices to rise after the NZ Maori match against the Lions (at Hamilton on June 11). The greatest demand would come on around the test matches.

"[The New Zealand Rugby Union] have done absolutely everything they can to ensure that things have been handled fairly and openly and to the greatest advantage to New Zealand rugby.

But the problem you have in New Zealand is that your stadia are all small, comparatively speaking. You just can't fit the people in to meet the demand from a tour like this.

"This is something that happens more often in Europe, where you have large sporting events but an even larger demand from spectators.

"And when you have a huge total of 100,000 people attending an event and another 250,000 wanting to get in, that's where the scalpers flourish."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY