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The setting is different.
The 1,800-seater Indigo, a side room to London’s O2 Arena, usually hosts concerts, comedy and podcast shows. On Friday, finalists from Indian Idol will play there. On Saturday, a George Michael tribute act has the floor.
On Thursday, it will be decked out with giant screens and hundreds of fans. The aim is to create something akin to the NFL draft or a Uefa draw, with tension, intrigue, a touch of speechifying and some social media moments.
Whatever the warm-up though, the headline act is the same as ever, unchanged for more than a century: a roll-call of the best rugby union players from Britain and Ireland.
The captain apart, no-one knows at this stage who will emerge from the coaches’ conclave. There are no tip-offs or advance warnings. The Lions’ class of 2025, who will play a three-Test series away to Australia this summer, hear their fate along with the rest of us.
We don’t even know how many Lions there will be either. Somewhere between 37 and 41 is the best guess.
That void of solid information is filled with speculation and conjecture: how will the team dynamics mesh, which players can deputise where, who is a coach’s favourite, styles, systems, conditions, and ultimately who is in and out?
Soon enough, there will be clarity.
Here are the final crucial issues that should be resolved when former Wales and Lions wing Ieuan Evans steps up to the microphone at 14:00 BST.