At least Taylor will be entitled to his basic Lions fee. It is believed that each of the original squad members earns a basic £18,000 sterling, which would rise to £28,000 should they win the series.
That the Lions is big business now can hardly be disputed. The first Lions tour of the professional era to South Africa four years ago cost an estimated £2 million, and this Lions tour may cost as much as £3.5-4 million. The Australia Union put £1 million towards that, and then there are the major tour sponsors, such as NTL, Zurich, Adidas, Caffreys and Landrover. But the last tour to South Africa ended up £400,000 in the red.
The boon to the local union and economy cannot be sniffed at either, nor indeed the British and Irish tour operators. Buoyed by the success of the Lions side in South Africa, the anticipated travelling support of 12,000 (most of whom are English - more than the 1,000 at most who would support an English tour to Australia) have reputedly spent an estimated £36 million on getting here. And they will be boosted by the huge expatriate support in Australia.
The first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane was sold out in 28 minutes (capacity 37,000), the second Test under the closed roof of the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne is expected to be a sell-out (52,000), as is the third Test in Sydney's Stadium Australia, where a 75,000 capacity may be boosted by another 7,000 pending further investment in the stadium arising from a deal with the Australian Football League.
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