The Rugby Australia governing body will reportedly announce a record profit of A$70.8 million ($50.8 million) for the 2025 calendar year after a successful British & Irish Lions tour of the country helped to eliminate debts at the struggling organization.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), Rugby Australia will present the successful results at its annual general meeting on Wednesday, with the 40,000 travelling fans around the Lions Tour proving a major revenue driver.
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The figure represents the largest net profit Rugby Australia has ever posted, with the closest figure being the A$32.9 million it recorded when it last hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
RA had been banking on a lucrative tour after multiple years of heavy financial losses, and now freed from its debt, is set to focus on investing in infrastructure for future events, particularly the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup, both of which it hopes will also be strong financial successes.
With the results, Rugby Australia has also confirmed plans to start an investment fund, utilizing A$31.1 million of banked cash along with proceeds from the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
This idea is similar to the fund that the Australian Olympic Committee established after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, with that body’s fund boasting net assets of over A$200 million in 2025, from the A$88.5 million that it began with, and including A$195 million of disbursements for athlete development purposes over the following 25 years.
For Rugby Australia to establish an investment fund would have been almost unthinkable just two years ago.
In 2024, the body made a loss of A$36.8 million, which followed the rugby union body losing A$9.2 million throughout 2023, and indeed, the 2024 figures exceed the loss suffered in 2020, while the pandemic was raging – A$27.1 million.
As such, the $71 million profit represents a stellar turnaround for the body, which was also able to utilize those funds to pay off significant debt that it had been saddled with since 2023, when it took out an A$80 million (US$52 million) loan with Pacific Equity Partners.
While financial details surrounding the three-test tour across July and August (won 2-1 by the Lions) have not been disclosed, it was reported back in September that over A$100 million may have been generated across the showpiece spectacle, with SMH placing the figure at A$120 million.
While rugby union is more popular globally, in the Australian market, it is rugby league that is king among domestic sports consumers, a fact that has put Rugby Australia (the union governing body) at a disadvantage over the past number of years, reflected by the struggles of the Super Rugby competition.
