Gold medals don't come cheap and the New Zealand Rugby Union yesterday announced it is prepared to pay for a shot at double Olympic glory in 2016.
The lure of Olympic gold has already helped attract Benji Marshall to rugby and now it has seen sevens handed a big financial windfall in the players' collective contract agreement.
The new deal, signed by the NZRU and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRPA), governs professional rugby from 2013 to 2015 and includes a major boon for the abbreviated version of the game.
Where in the past sevens specialists would have to supplement their income in the ITM Cup, a significant increase in the amount of money from the player payment pool will now allow for fulltime players.
While the revenue sharing model will remain the same and see 36.5 per cent of the NZRU's generated revenue - equating to $121.2 million over three years - applied for the benefit of players, a bigger slice of the pie will now be going to the smaller game.