Australian rugby has reason to enjoy roar of Lions after $8.3 million loss The ARU needs the cash avalanche of a sellout British and Irish Lions series. HOW desperately the Australian Rugby Union needs the cash avalanche of a sellout British and Irish Lions series was painted large yesterday when the organisation announced it had lost $8.3 million last year. The net deficit was sugar-coated in a media statement yesterday as a "$2.3 million improvement on the previous year," which was a thin disguise for the $10.6 million dropped in 2011. The money drain dampened the record growth in participation numbers for 2012 with 323,115 playing the code, a big increase of 61,678 (23.6 per cent) on 2011 figures. While the ARU drove up sponsorship and Test match gate receipts last year in a revenues spike of $21 million, gross expenditures rose by almost as much ($17.2 million). The last Lions series generated a balance sheet bonanza in 2001, with a $7.36 million surplus which is the adrenalin shot that the ARU coffers need. "An increase in sponsorship and an increase in match day returns helped increase revenues but expenditures also grew primarily due to our continued investment in the game," ARU chairman Michael Hawker said. The expectation that this year's Lions tour will deliver substantial financial gains to Australian Rugby provides the organisation an opportunity to better its financial position in 2013. The fine print ball-and-chain for the ARU was once a golden goose. The code's multimillion-dollar broadcast deal was brokered in American dollars which was a boon when the Australian dollar was worth less than 70c in 2009. With the Australian dollar now worth $US1.03, the impact has been dramatic. "Our bottom line was negatively impacted by $7.5 million due to the higher Australian dollar," Hawker said. Queensland's David Crombie is the new ARU president and former Wallaby captain Tony Shaw was elected as a vice-president. Wallaby great John Eales has been reappointed for a further three years as an independent director.