{"id":893822,"date":"2026-09-16T07:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T07:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893822\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T07:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T07:30:18","slug":"sky-closes-in-on-broadcast-rights-for-first-womens-british-irish-lions-tour-womens-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893822\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky closes in on broadcast rights for first women\u2019s British & Irish Lions tour | Women’s rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inaugural women\u2019s British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next year is expected to be broadcast live on Sky Sports<\/a> in a significant boost for the women\u2019s game. Sky has held live rights for men\u2019s Lions fixtures since the 1997 tour of South Africa, and the broadcaster is understood to be in advanced discussions about adding the women\u2019s series to its portfolio.<\/p>\n

The first women\u2019s Lions will play three Tests against the Black Ferns and two tour matches next September, with Sky expected to broadcast all five fixtures.<\/p>\n

Sky\u2019s willingness to bid for the rights is a timely fillip for the sport given the disappointment expressed by Rugby Football Union officials at the BBC\u2019s decision to limit its coverage of the Red Roses\u2019 three home Tests this month to its red button and online channels.<\/p>\n

The Red Roses have been regulars on BBC Two in recent years, but the main channel was showing the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia last Saturday afternoon while the world champions were beating Australia 48-15 at Sale Sharks\u2019 CorpAcq Stadium.<\/p>\n

Sky\u2019s investment in rugby union has dipped in recent years and it no longer broadcasts regular internationals or club matches, but it remains committed to its longstanding association with the Lions.<\/p>\n

Talks are also taking place about extending the contract with the men\u2019s Lions to cover the 2029 series, which will also take place in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s Lions were launched in 2024 after a three-year feasibility study and, while France was also considered, New Zealand was confirmed that year as the destination for their first tour.<\/p>\n

The Lions sprang a surprise this year by appointing the former England captain Jo Yapp as their first women\u2019s head coach in preference to the Red Roses\u2019 coach, John Mitchell. Yapp has started working for the Lions in a part-time capacity in conjunction with her existing role as head of the Rugby Football Union\u2019s women\u2019s pathway, but she will go full-time for the tourists at the start of next year.<\/p>\n

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Sky was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inaugural women\u2019s British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand next year is expected to be broadcast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-893822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}