I was gonna say, the corporate dollar took a big hit as well. If the Wallabies can keep clear of the 'basket case' tag, we might reclaim that after last year's RWC.
Not while serious questions are being asked about governance. The ARU has overseen (by being the big boss of five funded provinces) of which
1) has had 90% of its board changed since the start of the season after they had to sack their recently appointed coach, that most knew on the quiet had too many friends on the board.
2) has some very serious criminal investigation ongoing directly relted to governance, enough said.
3) has had to bail out another province that has never made the finals or looked like doing so after a decade and has retained at best a static supporter base.
4) bailed out, then loaned cash to, then sold for nothing (actually effectively gave the new owners $6M by forgiving the aforementioned loan). So effectively they have bailed out the Rebels once, then loaned them cash all on top of the annual grant money.
Not surprised that Corporates are steering clear of that, it might be catching, or worse somebody might look at their books.