The British and Irish Lions are exploring the viability of tours to France, the Americas and Japan as they consider altering their touring schedule for the first time in 37 years.
In what would mark a seismic development for the 138-year-old Lions, new touring destinations are being investigated alongside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The three Sanzaar nations have hosted Lions tours on a four-year rotation since 1989, when Australia was added as a standalone tour for the first time. Only three times in Lions history has a different nation hosted a standalone tour – Argentina in 1910, 1927 and 1936 – but one-off fixtures, against the likes of France and Fiji, have taken place outside that southern-hemisphere trio.
With negotiations continuing rapidly, New Zealand are set to continue that rotation and host the 2029 men’s tour, but the Lions have launched their “Beyond29 project”, with a “request for proposal” sent to agencies last month.
In correspondence seen by Telegraph Sport, the Lions wish to engage a consultancy firm to “ideate, validate and confirm the preferred operating model and approach for the period beyond 2029”.
The document outlines how the Lions wish “to learn how it can expand its value and awareness further into new audiences, potentially in new territories,” adding that the current format, commercially, “might be coming close to maximising the return from the ‘current model’”.
The Lions want feedback from consultancies on the main criteria: geography, the host allocation process, the timing of any potential change and the match schedule. Clearly, the prospect of altering touring schedules and destinations is only in its nascent stages but it shows an appetite from the Lions, at least, to explore alternative options.
A change of geography would be the most historic potential alteration. The Lions are seeking an “analysis of which locations around the world could potentially host future tours (men and/or women), with a view to increasing commercial return and fan engagement (whilst not damaging the core DNA), from our preferred markets (existing Sanzaar nations, France, Americas and Japan)”.
France are the reigning Six Nations champions – Christophe Ena/AP
The host allocation process involves the rotation of countries. The Lions have challenged agencies “to include: your recommended optimum host nation allocation model, e.g. no rotation, 12-year (current) or 16-year rotation; and how to drive increased value by potentially resetting the host allocation model from the current rotation”.
The timing of potential changes concerns how best and when to change the current model, if needed, and whether there should be a bid process or structured dialogue with targeted host nations. The schedule element focuses on how pre-tour, tour and Test matches would be structured in prospective and incumbent host nations “to drive increased commercial value, fan engagement, player preparation and player experience”.
The research’s objective, according to the Lions, is to “evolve the current operating model to significantly increase revenue, margin and profit from each tour, to future-proof the business within the wider rugby union ecosystem”.
“There is an ambition to understand how the model could evolve to maximise future return, with some fundamental assumptions within the Lions Tour Framework potentially shifting,” the document states.
The Lions require the successful firm, which will be decided this month, to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to allow the touring side “to share further context and information to inform full proposal responses”.
Telegraph Sport revealed last year the Lions were in negotiations for a one-off match against France as a curtain-raiser to the tour to New Zealand in 2029, in much the same way as Andy Farrell’s side hosted Argentina in Dublin ahead of last summer’s series. However, a full tour away from the southern-hemisphere triumvirate had not been formally explored until now.
During last summer’s tour to Australia, where the Lions won the Test series 2-1, chief executive Ben Calveley said he did not envisage a world where the touring side would not return Down Under, revealing that the expedition generated the biggest ever profit for both his organisation and the host country.
On Wednesday, Rugby Australia reported a record AU$70.6m (£37.42m) surplus in its 2025 financial accounts, driven largely by the tour, turning around a record deficit of AU$36.8m (£19.5m) on the previous year.
Lions chief executive Ben Calveley (right) says he wants the next tour ‘to be bigger and better’ than the last one
“I would absolutely envisage returning to Australia,” Calveley said. “Just to be very clear, I know there’s been loads of speculation about whether that would be the case or not, but we’ve had a wonderful tour here, and it is 100 per cent our ambition to return and we would want the next one to be bigger and better than this one.”
However, Calveley, who has been Lions chief executive since 2017, stopped short of guaranteeing that a return to Australia, where the Lions won three of their warm-up matches by 40 points or more, would come in 12 years: “Who knows what the calendar looks like in the future, but if you follow the current… If nothing changes in terms of calendar configurations and so forth, then that would be the expectation, yes.”
The Lions won their inaugural series against Australia in 1989 before a loss in 2001 followed back-to-back victories in 2013 and 2025. Of the 12 tours to New Zealand, the Lions have won one and drawn one; of the 14 to South Africa, the Lions have won four.
When approached by Telegraph Sport, the Lions declined to comment.