£100,000 each – cost of a Lion in Australia
In addition to paying the players, organisers of the famous touring team have agreed an extra fee with the four Home Unions for the release of the entire squad. The ‘administrative fee,’ understood to be almost £50,000 per player, will be paid to their club or Union employers.
The basic fee for the ten-match trip is believed to be £45,000. On top of that, the Lions will earn another 50 per cent a man – £22,500 – if they win every match starting with the Barbarians in Hong Kong on June 1 – handsome reward for six weeks work.
In that event, the total cost per player could be as high as £110,000, raising the collective fees for a 38-man squad beyond £4m. The ‘administrative fee,’ as compensation for the players’ release, was paid for the first time over the last combined British-Irish tour, to South Africa four years ago.
The sum involved this time is believed to be substantially more than the Lions forked out then. The insurance bill alone runs into seven figures, taking the overall cost of the tour to £14m.
Despite that outlay, the organisers expect to make a profit for distribution among the Four Home Unions – proof that there’s still no business like Lions’ business. Head coach Warren Gatland will name a maximum of 38 players in April after using the Six Nations tournament as a series of trials.
He will also be looking at French-based contenders, making it clear that nobody will be excluded in his quest to find a winning squad.
The choice of any French-based Lion could raise a problem. The Lions management, headed by former Scotland full-back Andy Irvine, have decided as a matter of policy that every player chosen for the tour has to be available from the start.
The opening Lions’ match clashes with the French Championship final in Paris. If Top 14 leaders Toulon get there, as they did last year, their English trio of Jonny Wilkinson, Andrew Sheridan and Steffon Armitage plus Welsh prop Gethin Jenkins will be caught up in a major conflict of interest.
Toulon have already made it clear that their players are contractually obliged to put the club first. The Lions are equally adamant.
“Any player not available for the first match of the tour is highly unlikely to be travelling,” a Lions source said. “We cannot afford to be in a position of having people arriving late after the main party has left.
“That has happened before and it’s not ideal for squad morale. Players coming out as replacements in the event of injury is an entirely different matter.”
PETER JACKSON
