Gregor Paul: Tourists will be back, it's all about money

If fans invest heavily in merchandise, tickets and travel, they are preserving the Lions tradition. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Whether they be good, bad or indifferent, results aren't likely to have much if any bearing on the future prospects of the British and Irish Lions.

If they are to survive, it won't be what they do on the field that saves them. It will be money.

Professional sport is never that complicated and if there is enough money generated and all those with their hands out feel they are getting enough of it, agreements will be reached.

The Lions are a money-making machine and their ability to do so is impervious to how they perform.

Their enormous support base is drawn to invest in the Lions because of their history, mystique and point of difference.

The Lions of 2005 were fairly awful. They lost the test series 3-0 and another game to the Maori and yet 12 years later, their fans came back to New Zealand in even greater numbers.

Some may say it defies logic, which would be kind of right yet also missing the entire point, which is that logic has nothing to do with it. The Lions are purely an emotional sell, a chance for people with a deep love of tradition to be part of something that stretches back to 1888.

There's also the secondary component of that, which is if fans invest heavily in merchandise, tickets and travel, they are preserving the Lions tradition - strengthening the case for it to survive.

When the Lions bring 20,000 fans clad to the hilt in replica gear and have sponsors queuing round the corner, no one cares whether they win or lose. It is a brand whose value is not built on the detail of its history but the longevity of it and you can bet now that in four years, the red army will be mobilised once again and head to South Africa in the same volumes.

The money pipeline is good for the ages and much of it will be spraying into the host nations, which is why New Zealand is going in to bat to make sure 2017 is not the last time we see the Lions.

A tour that generated about $25 million of profit in 2005 is expected to produce slightly more revenue for New Zealand Rugby in 2017.

So there is at least one hand out that is more than happy, which is why New Zealand Rugby will be an advocate for preserving the Lions and maintaining things exactly as they are.

The hands that will need to be better greased in future are those of the professional clubs in the UK.

The romanticism of the Lions passes them by. They are not driven by any need to think beyond themselves and the greater good of the international game.

It doesn't work like that for the clubs who simply see that they are giving the Lions full use of their prime assets for six weeks.

It's a big ask given the possibility of injury and the certainty of fatigue that may impact an individual's ability to be ready to go again come the start of the new domestic season.

The clubs have to carry a risk, which will be easier for them to do, if the reward is higher.

The Lions may have to throw a serious amount of compensation payment for future tours and on the back of the goodwill that would generate, also try to persuade the clubs to slightly shorten their season every four years.

If the Lions had even an extra week to prepare for this tour, it would have helped their performance and ability to hit the ground running in New Zealand.

That's important not so much from a results perspective, but from a player welfare and reputation aspect. Good players were made to look ordinary in Whangarei purely because they had such a short time to prepare, having only arrived in New Zealand three days earlier.

The danger for the Lions is that if they don't buy themselves more time ahead of future tours, then players may start to think twice about whether they want to be involved.