British and Irish Lions exploring major tour shake-up ‘in new territories’ outside of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to ‘expand their value’
The British and Irish Lions celebrate their 2025 Test-series success in Australia with a trip to New Zealand, inset, next on their schedule
The British and Irish Lions are reportedly considering altering their tour schedule for the first time since Australia was added as a standalone tour in 1989.
The touring schedule of the 138-year-old Lions is unconfirmed beyond the upcoming 2029 trip to New Zealand, and it has emerged that a Beyond29 project has been launched to see where might they go.
Requests for proposals were reportedly sent to consultancies last month to establish the viability of adding new touring destinations outside of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These could include France, Japan and the Americas.
Just three times in Lions history has there been a standalone tour to a nation other than their three current ports of call, which they visit on a rotating 12-year cycle.
Preferred operating model beyond 2029
Those trips were to Argentina in 1910, 1927 and 1936, while one-off matches against teams such as France and Fiji have also happened.
In a report published by Telegraph Sport, the Lions have apparently challenged consultancy firms to “ideate, validate and confirm the preferred operating model and approach for the period beyond 2029”.
According to the Beyond29 document, the Lions are looking “to learn how they can expand their value and awareness further into new audiences, potentially in new territories”.
Rugby Australia debt-free after British and Irish Lions tour ‘exceeded projections’
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Seeking feedback in the areas of geography, host nation allocation process, timing of any potential change and match schedules, the documentation added that the current tour format commercially “might be coming close to maximising the return”.
This research the Lions are seeking will “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.”
Top of the list is an analysis on where to tour, where the report stating it wants 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)”.
The Lions have also reportedly 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 commercial value of the Lions to its current tour destinations was evident just last Wednesday when Rugby Australia confirmed at its AGM a record AU$70.6million surplus in its 2025 financial accounts, profit largely driven by the tour undertaken by Andy Farrell’s Lions.
That trip helped to eradicate a record deficit of AU$36.8m on the previous year, leaving the Australians debt-free with preparations continuing for next year’s Rugby World Cup.