Prince William got in for free but corporates will pay huge prices for Rugby World Cup boxes.
Businesses will have to pay up to $2621 per person, per game if they want to host clients at Eden Park during next year's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Cup organisers have defended charging up to $420,000 for corporate boxes at next year's tournament, and expect businesses to "clamour"
to book them.
Official corporate box hospitality packages for the 2011 Rugby World Cup don't go on sale until next month but the Herald on Sunday has obtained full details.
At Auckland's Eden Park punters can watch all nine games, including the final, for $424,710 from an "exclusive" sky box.
The box holds 18 people, meaning the cost per person for all nine games is $23,595 or $2621 per game. Sky box guests can expect a personal host, champagne and canapes on arrival, complimentary bar, four-course meal, post-match drinks, hot savouries and an official match programme.
Other corporate packages include three and four-course meals before the game, transport to and from the game and guest speakers.
Prices of other corporate packages at Eden Park range from $16,495 to $20,795 per person for nine games and upwards from $1395 around the rest of the country.
Corporates can also book packages for individual pool matches and prices range from $745 to $2645 per person.
The prices for the corporate boxes were set by Rugby Travel & Hospitality, the commercial arm of the International Rugby Board's subsidiary company Rugby World Cup Limited.
RTH operations director David White said the company had also set the prices for the 2007 tournament in France. "As part of our contract with the IRB we get allocated a number of tickets. Corporate boxes are part of that allocation at all games," he said.
"We set the recommended retail price to the travel agents and they can sell for more or less. It's their call."
White said the IRB had nothing to do with setting the prices.
"We have done a lot of market research and looked at the market in New Zealand and Australia, in particular. We did all the groundwork and presented the recommended retail price to the IRB to sign off.
"We think the prices are about right. They are 30-40 per cent less, on average, than the last World Cup in France."
One existing box holder said the prices were ridiculous but people would still pay for them.
"It is a lot of money. It seems excessive but I guarantee they will all be full," he said. "It seems ridiculous now but people will pay. It will enable you to host more than 150 clients over the nine games."
He said companies with clients that brought in millions of dollars each year would have no problem footing the bill for a sky box. "It's actually not that much for them, but we certainly won't be doing it."
The profits from the tournament are reaped by the IRB. White said a "small amount" went towards administration costs while the bulk was distributed amongst the IRB's 115 member countries to develop rugby. The IRB did not return calls to the Herald on Sunday about the ticket pricing.
White said interest in the boxes was "huge" already.
"We expect a large number of boxes to be sold on February 1. Travel agents are clamouring to get them sold. We're delighted. There is a huge interest in New Zealand - almost all Kiwi companies have expressed interest.
"We're not talking about the average person. We're talking about multi-national companies and high network individuals. Corporate boxes are the premium product."
He said most interest was in venues hosting All Black games and the finals venues - Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
