How does the magic weekend aggregate crowd compare with the aggregrate crowds for the previous few rounds of SL (again, I could work this out myself, but I'm a lazy, lazy man)?

Well 63k works out at 9k a team, so probably not much more than average.

The fact is that the revenue generated is probably less than 7 games combined, but if this is an extra game then you could count it as profit

63k works out at 4.5k a team

OK, boredom and curiosity prevail. My study is limited by the fact that there is only one magic weekend a year, which is really far too small a sample to draw inferences from, and is considerably smaller than the 28-round control group. I have weakened the trial further by only using 3 cases from the control group, nad not selecting these at random, which introduces bias. Comparisons also assume that the number of people attending more than one match in the normal weekly rounds is not large enough to be significant. Nevertheless, my findings are as follows:

The previous round of SL fixtures (18-21 May) attracted 56,704. So far so good. The previous round (4-7 May) was pretty close to the magic weekend with 68,856 punters. So, pretty close really to the Magic Weekend.

Further, I had the luxury of having a direct compariosn with a round (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) when the same set of fixtures was played. THese games attracted 88,455 spectators.

I will grant you there are problems with my study, and it is so weak that any attempt to interpret it will be rightly labelled as over-interpretation, but meh, initial findings suggest that the magic weekend does not result in significantly more people attending top-flight Rugby League games.

If this were proper research I would be treating this as a small pilot with a view to securing fundings for a more rigorous trial.

But it isn't, so I'm not.

You have to take into account that this is an extra fixture, and allow for the fact a high percentage of RL supporters are season ticket holders.

If you compare this round to others where season tickets aren't a factor (particularly Challenge Cup), I suspect the figures are much more favourable.

Was discussing this very point with a mate, nearly all the 'Magic' games could have gone either way with the exception of the Widnes game. A guaranteed 2 points for them with an almost guaranteed massive points difference.

It was much fairer when the fixtures where based on the previous year's league positions.

How about you draw the fixtures out on the day of the game. Pre season u could decide which teams will play on which day determined by the previous years league positions in some way, then if the first game ko's at 12 you draw the first game out at 11 and then each subsequent game at half time.

This way gives the magic weekend end a bit of mystery and would encourage fans to watch all the games as they would not know when there team is playing.

Worth a try one year???

first magic weekend for me and thorougly enjoyed the experience, it would benifit from a totally random draw and to possibly include the top championship teams (against each other) Great stadium and contray to others we had a great time mixing with fans from many clubs. I am sure this could be developed and is certainly the place to hold it. Agree with everything about wires/Widnes game mind you it gave me an excuse to have a few pints in the bar area avoiding majority of that game.

Would require 8 dressing rooms to be available, unless people shared or got changed in their cars a la Sunday league.

I think it sounds like an amusing idea in abstract, but there it ends.

Maybe you start with two teams, and every 2 minutes another team joins in, possibly with the addition of another ball. In the vein of the Royal Rumble they used to do in wrestling when I were a lad. Do they still do that these days?

The WWE still do it. Saw one on Sky the other week. Great comedy!

Comedy?

It's a contested, un-predetermined, sport? Silly.

Wow. People still think that joke is worth doing?

Bore off.

Just like the Warrington v Widnes game