$5.4m Baabaas game for ABs- report
London: As Christmas bonuses go, this one shapes as a dandy for New Zealand Rugby – a reported $5.4 million just to open next year’s November tour against the Barbarians at Twickenham. The UK’s Rugby Paper is reporting that NZ Rugby are set to announce the add-on fixture to their annual endof-season tour north, a match tipped to generate what’s thought could be a record £3m (NZ$5.4m) revenue for a visiting team. It’s not the global heavyweight matchup the rugby world is salivating over, but it will be a nice consolation prize for NZ Rugby if the clash proves the hit that they hope it will be. The Rugby Paper says the match between the All Blacks and Barbarians on November 4 to kick off the back-toback world champions’ November tour has been agreed to by all concerned parties, with official confirmation to come out of NZ Rugby headquarters soon.
The fixture, which falls outside the designated international window, will help mark the 125th anniversary of the New Zealand union, and has been negotiated under a 50-50 revenue split, according to the UK publication. The All Blacks will also meet France, Scotland and Wales on their November tour in fixtures set in stone under the international touring agreement which dictates home unions receive all match proceeds. But any games falling outside this window are able to be negotiated independently.
- Stuff