THE BRITISH and Irish Lions tour to Australia helped wipe out Rugby Australia’s crippling debts and allowed them loom at creating a new investment fund for the sport down under.
The Lions tour is expected to generate around $100 million Australian dollars (€55m) which will help lift the dark financial clouds over rugby in Australia and help RA plan properly and creatively for the Rugby World Cup, which it hosts in 2027.
reported that the governing body owed $63.5m to Pacific Equity Partners as part of an $80 million loan provided in 2023 when rugby union was in a deep financial hole. RA chief executive Phil Waugh and chief financial officer Richard Gardham said they had paid off the last of…