Up to $1250 to see the Cup - if you can get in

The new South Stand in construction at Eden Park. Photo / Getty Images

Tickets to the Rugby World Cup final will cost up to $1250, and New Zealanders will have to take their chances in a draw for the 25,000 seats available.

They are not guaranteed any special treatment in the draw, which will be open to rugby fans from around the world.

Rugby World Cup organiser Martin Snedden told the Herald he believed the crowd for the final at the 60,000-seat Eden Park was likely to be split evenly between local and foreign fans.

He said there was no way to restrict tickets sales to foreign fans without affecting the tourism benefits of hosting the cup in New Zealand.

"If our ticket accessibility rules for non-Kiwis were to be too restrictive, we would be shooting ourselves in the foot," he said.

Ticket numbers are limited to 25,000 for the semifinals and the final because the other 35,000 go to the International Rugby Board for its corporate hospitality and travel packages.

Mr Snedden said he believed about 10,000 New Zealanders would get tickets through these packages.

The rest would have to rely on the draw. To be eligible for it, they have to apply to buy tickets for at least one of the other 45 matches.

Mr Snedden said this would mean most applicants would get a ticket to another game, as the only pool-play match that people could miss out on was the All Blacks-France game.

Tickets to the final will start at $390 for the 10,000-odd seats at either end of the ground and go up to $1250 for premium seats near the centre.

Mr Snedden acknowledged this was expensive by New Zealand standards.

But, he said, it was in line with big international events.

It was $145 more than for the last cup final, and $232 less than the top price at next year's soccer World Cup.

Prices for an All Blacks team pack - tickets to the four pool matches, a quarter-final weekender pack, and to a semifinal and the final - range from $1490 to $4390.

Mr Snedden said a payment plan would enable people to pay off their tickets in instalments.

He said setting the ticket prices had been a "balancing act".

The tournament is forecast to make a $39.3 million loss, of which the taxpayer will bear the brunt.

Ticket sales are the only way the government and the NZ Rugby Union can make money to offset the losses from hosting the tournament, and Mr Snedden said he needed to be conscious of the financial bottom line and affordability for New Zealanders.

A total of 1.7 million tickets would be available for all games, and he expected to sell about 1.6 million of them.

In dollar terms, he was budgeting to sell $270 million of tickets, and a sell-out would be worth about $290 million.

Even with sell-outs at all 48 games, the tournament would still make a loss.

New Zealanders will get their first chance to buy tickets in April, when multi-ticket team or venue packages go on sale.

The finals draw will be held late next year or early in 2011.

Mr Snedden said the 50/50 crowd split between locals and visitors expected at the final was similar to the last two World Cup tournaments, in Australia and France.

He expected a 75/25 split between New Zealanders and visitors at other matches, which was also in line with previous tournaments.

Tickets for some games around New Zealand were as low as $15 for children and $30 for adults, which Mr Snedden said made the games accessible to everyone.

He believed there would be great interest in matches such as Tonga versus the Asian qualifier - likely to be Japan - in Whangarei, because the provinces would get behind hosting games.