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Reports have emerged that the legendary British & Irish Lions have cancelled discussions regarding a possible fixture in the USA on the way to their 2017 tour to New Zealand. Rumors regarding the Lions coming to the United States immediately started to swirl after the All Blacks sold out Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois last year.
The Lions, a rugby institution that dates back to the late 1800s, are one of the marquee touring sides in all of the rugby world. Made up of players from England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland the Lions tour to major Southern Hemisphere rugby nations every four years.
USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville confirmed the reports to Americas Rugby News, “We have been informed that they are unable to play a warm up game as they cannot get the players released to make this happen. They will fly straight into New Zealand.”
Coming to the USA would have been another coup for the sport of rugby as major rugby playing nations scramble to break the competitive sports market stateside. A Lions match in the United States would have been met with the same excitement as the All Blacks visit that saw over 61,000 fans packing an NFL stadium. Selling out another major venue would have been very likely regardless of whom the Lions played.
Player release issues are at the nucleus of the cancelled discussion. Much like the USA’s match against the All Blacks last year, any Lions match played on US soil would fall outside of the player release window. Clubs would then not be required to release their players for the game. With growing concerns over player welfare and injuries, clubs are becoming less likely to release their players for matches outside of the test windows.
The USA is a perfect example of these issues. USA Rugby had to negotiate the release of their European-based players for last year’s match against the All Blacks. The negotiations ended up costing the USA some of their best players for the remainder of their Fall tour in return for their clubs making them available to play against the All Blacks.
Melville added, “Disappointing as they were very keen to play in the USA. We will keep trying.”
