The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union lost millions of dollars in staging the DHL Bledisloe Cup encounter on Saturday because fans stayed away, said chairman Trevor Gregory.
'I can't go into exact details, but yes, we made a loss from this fantastic game and it will be in the seven-figure range,' Gregory said, a day after the Wallabies broke a 26-month hoodoo and snapped a 10-game losing streak against the All Blacks with a 26-24 victory.
Chances of another Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong will depend on the game being 'meaningful' with the silverware at stake and if there are no other distractions such as the World Cup, to be played in New Zealand in less than a year from now, which kept many overseas fans away at the weekend. New Zealand had already secured the title this year before arriving in Hong Kong.
Gregory (pictured) revealed the HKRFU had waived its management fee, resulting in the loss. Both the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union also made smaller profits than expected.
'We had to waive our management fee for hosting this match because ticket sales made it difficult to fund the teams. We had to show a willingness to have the game here,' he said.
With a crowd of only 26,210 watching the drama unfold at the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium - Wallaby James O'Connor scored after the hooter and then claiming the winning points with the last kick of the game - it meant more than HK$10 million worth of tickets were unsold.
'If we had a full house, we would have made a small profit. While we are happy and proud to have hosted this game, it has cost us money which we can't recover,' Gregory said.