After that, as long as New Zealand are a host country, cities would bid to NZR to host the event.
That timing is awful given this weekend's event in Wellington suffered from low ticket sales. Only 18,000 punters attended on Friday - Westpac Stadium has a capacity of 34,500.
All key stakeholders agree the tournament needs a shake-up and next year is the prime time to do it.
Sevens will debut at next year's Rio Olympics and New Zealand could field a team in Wellington including All Blacks such as Sonny Bill Williams and Liam Messam.
Those two would give the tournament some star quality but Westpac Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon said the whole event needed to be reviewed.
"We need to look at pricing, we need to look at single-day tickets versus the weekend pass," Harmon said. "We need to look at the entertainment. I think those sports that position themselves and really nail that sport-is-entertainment niche have something happening all the time."
Fans could buy only a $149 two-day ticket for this year's event. One idea could be to stretch it over three days which is the case in Las Vegas.
Avan Lee, World Rugby's general manager of sevens, was also chairman of the Wellington event for two years and worked for NZR during 2007-12. He said the Wellington tournament had become stale but was adamant there was hope for the future, should Wellington remain on the calendar.
"If you went to see a band six years in a row, say in your seventh year, you might think, 'well, let's go and watch somebody else'," Lee said. "We've got to create an event where people are happy to pay their hard-earned money and have a really good time when they're there."
There's no one reason as to why people have fallen out of love with the sevens but rising ticket prices, a lack of big names, tighter alcohol restrictions, a congested events market and a tired feel to the tournament have put some people off.
NZR chief executive Steve Tew said Wellington's strong track record of delivering the event, which used to sell out in minutes, should help them retain their role as hosts.
"The reality is we, like everyone else running events in Wellington, is going to have to find a way to re-engage with fans to get them to come to events, otherwise Wellington's going to have a big problem."
New Zealand have won the world series in 12 of the 15 seasons it has been contested and it seems unfathomable that a nation with such dominance wouldn't have a spot on the circuit. But the heat will be on Wellington to prove it can pull the crowds again next year if it is to be given future hosting rights.
