You can't call Lions losers off the field

Though it may have flopped on the field, the Lions tour has performed well financially and will be the first to make a profit.

According to The Times, each of the four home unions will receive up to 100,000 ($246,000). However, this is a smaller pay-off than originally anticipated because of the high cost of mounting the largest ever rugby tour.

Writing in the Times, reporter Mark Souster said Sir Clive Woodward's tour had cost about 6.4 million ($15.75 million) - twice that of the Lions' tour to Australia in 2001.

However, just making a profit is a considerable achievement. The tour to South Africa in 1997 made a loss, while the 2001 tour to Australia also made a slight loss.

The report also talks of counterfeit Lions replica kit rackets in New Zealand that might have cost the Lions about $1 million. Lions chief executive John Feehan and his team uncovered one racket, worth around $100,000, that was clamped down on after the first match against Bay of Plenty.

Operators from London had truckloads of fake shirts and other apparel made in the Far East and delivered to New Zealand.

"We caught several guys," John Feehan, the Lions chief executive, was reported as saying. The goods, including not only replica shirts but also T-shirts, polo shirts, hats and scarves, were confiscated and lawyers acting for the Lions committee intervened to prevent further abuses of the brand.

"We didn't realise it would be such a problem so early in the tour," said Feehan.

"It would have been an even bigger problem had we not dealt with by the time of the tests."

Sales of official merchandise - including half a million items of clothing - have been one of the main sources of income for the Lions, apart from insurance giant Zurich's estimated 2.1 million ($5.16 million) sponsorship.

Half the tour costs were taken up by salaries and fees for the management and players. The players' clubs also received fees.

The New Zealand Rugby Union met some of the costs under the IRB's standard tours agreement, which provides for a squad of up to 35 players and 15 management, based on shared accommodation.

Because of the financial windfall the Lions bring for the host union, the Lions negotiated a larger payment - but still needed to make up a large shortfall caused by the huge cost of hotels, transport and logistics, among others.

The popularity of the Lions as a brand is evident by the increase in merchandise sales. In 1997, 23,000 items of clothing were sold; in 2001, just 144,000.

Around the world, Lions shirts have even outsold the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Planning commercially for the next tour, to South Africa in 2009, is already under way.

"If you do it right and start early enough, as we did for this tour, significant sums of money can be earned," Feehan said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY