By JULIET ROWAN
If you think tickets to All Black games are a rip-off, spare a thought for British fans who want to watch the Lions play here next year.
Instead of $45 a ticket in the cheap seats, they are looking at about £4500 ($12,700) to see their team play in their New Zealand tour in June and July.
Admittedly, this price is likely to include airfares and accommodation, as well as tickets to the three tests and seven other matches the Lions will play.
However, buying an expensive package tour is fans' only option, unless they have people here willing to buy tickets for them.
The packages can only be bought from four Official Travel Agents (OTAs) appointed by British Lions Ltd, the New Zealand Rugby Union's co-organiser of the tour.
Ben Welch of supporters website Lions-Tour. Com said the OTAs' prices were out of reach for most people. Fans had expected package-price increases of about 15 per cent from the 2001 Australian tour, but instead prices had gone up nearly 40 per cent.
One of the official travel agents, Mike Burton Group, has packages starting at £3590 ($10,150) per person. In addition to airfares, accommodation (shared) and game tickets, the price includes adidas Lions gear (rugby shirt, polo shirt, fleece, cap, waterproof jacket and bag).
Gullivers' prices start at £2994 ($8467), but that won't get you match tickets. It is for the "Hotel Only Tour", which does however include wine-tasting and a stopover option of Bangkok, Singapore, Fiji, Honolulu, Hong Kong or the Cook Islands.
From £3524 ($9970), you can see all three tests - but you have to stay in motor-home accommodation. The next step up is a package aboard the Pacific Sky cruise liner.
At the high end of the scale, Gullivers' "Epic Tour", with tickets to all 10 games, comes with a price tag of £5589 to £7068 ($15,806 to $19,980). But even for those willing to fork out the cash, one problem still remains - getting a seat.
Despite the cost and the Lions tour still being a year away, Gullivers has sold two-thirds of its packages since it began taking bookings a month ago.
The prices had put some people off, said agency director John Hall, but Lions fans had an advantage over All Black supporters in that they could get tickets to the games of their choice.
"It comes at a premium but they are able to do it."
But once the package deals run out, Lions fans will be no better off than anyone else. Their only other option, buying a ticket off a scalper, is not something Lions-Tour.com recommends.
"This is a very high-risk strategy," the site says. "Firstly, the premium would be enormous.
"Secondly, the authorities will be red-hot on the illegal movement of tickets, so even if you shell out hundreds of pounds, you may be refused entry into the stadium."
Maybe $100 for the most expensive seat in Eden Park isn't so bad after all.
LION WATCHING
* $45 - price of a cheap ticket bought in NZ
* $12,710 - cost of a tour package sold in Britain
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