It's four days until the 2015 Rugby World Cup (RWC) kicks off in London - before a tackle is made or a point is scored the tournament already looks like a winner for World Rugby and England's Rugby Football Union (RFU).
While many countries struggle to cover their costs when hosting global sporting events - the English tournament looks set to return a surplus of at least £15m (€20m) for the RFU on top of the £80m that it will pay to host the World Cup.
Yesterday The Sunday Times reported that unofficially this target could really be closer to a surplus of £30m (€41m).
Alan Giplin, head of Rugby World Cup limited (RWCL) - the commercial company which manages the World Cup for World Rugby - has proclaimed that this will be "the first billion-dollar World Cup."
RWCL hopes to finish October with a surplus of at least £150m - that's up from £96m in New Zealand - a 36% increase.
A report on the economic impact of the tournament by Ernst and Young projected that it will add £2.2bn (€3bn) to the total output of the British economy - and that it will boost GDP by almost £1bn.
Projected economic impact in host-cities, EY
The commercial structure of the RWC differs from the FIFA soccer counterpart and the Olympics.
Rather than being centrally controlled by the global body, the RWC splits this job between the rugby union of the host-nation, and World Rugby.
While FIFA has been criticised for swallowing the profits made by its world cups - the rugby tournament England has a set target surplus of £15m - this figure was agreed with World Rugby. The RFU keeps that money - beyond that point any additional surplus will be split 50/50 between World Rugby and the RFU.
The amount of money involved World Rugby's flagship event has increased significantly since the last tournament in New Zealand in 2011.
The money paid out by main sponsors has almost doubled in four years - the primary backers are Heineken, Land Rover and Emirates - they are reported to have paid close to £20m (€27m) each, to be involved in the event.
The organisers hope to bring 466,000 additional tourists to England and Cardiff, and forecast that their spending will be worth £869m (€1.2bn).
Exeter, a city of 117,000 people, will host 3 matches - the most high-profile of which will be the relatively low-key clash between Italy and Romania in Pool D.
EY estimates that these games will contribute a massive £39m (€53m) to the local economy.
2.3 million tickets have already been sold - at the last official count 93% of the tickets had been shifted.
Tickets for the final range in price between £150 (€205) and £715 (€975).
The biggest source of revenue is broadcasting rights, which accounts for 60% of the tournament's income. The 2015 World Cup will be shown in 205 countries and is expected to reach 4 billion people.
If all goes to plan in England - it could serve as a blueprint as Ireland puts together its bid to host the 2023 competition.
Last week the IRFU announced that Deloitte will manage the Irish bid.
Its London branch have previously worked on the London 2012 Olympic Games and are currently working with England on the 2015 competition.
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