The tournament was initially projected to lose NZ$30 million, but Reuters reports that the economic downturn and, particularly, uncertainty over ticket revenue have raised the spectre of worse losses.
"We are not in a position to confirm that yet," Martin Snedden, the chief executive, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Where we are a bit exposed is on the revenue side. We are trying to make our best guess-estimate as to where that will fit.
"We are keeping a very conservative approach to our ticket revenue. It may mean that once we finalise this it might be a little bit lower than we started out."
The ticket prices for the games will be close to those for the France 2007 World Cup, which cost up to NZ$800 for a final ticket.
The host rugby union is only allowed to keep ticket revenue, with the rest of the commercial revenue, plus a NZ$150 million hosting fee, going to the International Rugby Board.
