Irish players selected for Lions can look forward to a record pay day

/ 9th May 2025 /

The record 15 Irish players called up for the Lions tour are reportedly set for a payday bonanza from the tour to Australia.

Andy Farrell announced the 38-man squad on Thursday which was stacked with men more accustomed to lining out in green- the most from any one nation.

Nine Ireland forwards and six backs were called up, 12 from Leinster, two from Connacht and one from Munster.

And while getting to don the treasured red jersey is an honour of a lifetime and the pinnacle of any rugby career there's also a sizeable financial reward.

According to The Telegraph the players look set to take home a record £100,000,(€117,000) each from the six week trip Down Under.

Profits from the tour are expected to break the £10m (€11.8m) mark for the first time.

In 2021, the COVID-hit tour to South Africa only earned the players £48,000 (€56,600) as the pandemic played havoc with the schedule.

For the first time ever, games were played without fans, but remarkably, it still made a profit of more than €9m.

The Lions, which is owned by the Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh rugby unions, pulls in its income from a combination of sponsorship, broadcasting, merchandising and licensing rights.

For this tour, both the Lions and Rugby Australia have created a centralised package for broadcasters, sponsors, and licensees.

This freshly forged agreement will directly link player payment to a portion of the post-tour profits for the first time.

The expected £100,000 fee to players under the new set up is double what the players earned on the last trip to Australia in 2013.

And it's a sizeable pay increase on the £80,000 players on the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand were reported to have earned.

Global insurance group Howden has the front-of-shirt sponsorship position for the tour after signing a four-year deal in 2023 while Qatar Airways is another high profile sponsor.

Sky Sports has snaffled up the exclusive broadcast rights in the UK and Ireland, while Nine will air the tour in Australia.

In addition to their tour fees, the players will also be handed a kit bag bursting at the seams with gear.

In 2017, the Daily Mail worked out that each player received 64 items of clothing ahead of the tour to New Zealand.

The then slightly larger 41-man squad received 36 pieces of training and playing kit, before picking up 28 items of bespoke formal wear, including a £150 scarf and a £595 velvet jacket.