17 Oct 2009

Rugby World Cup loss estimated at $39m

3:06 pm on 17 October 2009

The expected loss from the 2011 Rugby World Cup is now being put at $39 million - about $9 million higher than originally estimated.

Rugby World Cup Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden says the revised figure is partly because the company has taken a deliberately conservative view of potential ticket sales.

"We've looked at what happened in France, which was an extremely successful Rugby World Cup tournament, where they averaged out sales of just above 90% over the full 48 matches," he says.

"We've decided that we'll that adopt that sort of approach."

Mr Snedden also says the organisers decided to spread the matches throughout the country instead of taking a purely financial approach of maximising revenue, regardless of regional coverage.