A lot of big stadia announced. Need to get selling tickets fast. What do you feel about locations?

There’ll be those that berate WC2021 for focusing on northern England but, presumably, the locations reflect the towns and cities that actually put in bids. Good venues imo. Happy to recognise places like York, Newcastle, Workington etc but we definitely need to get them sold out.

Newcastle - St James' Park (52,405 capacity)
Sheffield - Bramall Lane (32,702) & English Institute of Sport
Doncaster - Keepmoat Stadium (15,231)
Hull - KCOM Stadium (25,586)
York - York Community Stadium (8,005)
Huddersfield - John Smith's Stadium (24,500)
Leeds - Elland Road (37,890) & Headingley Stadium (21,062)
Liverpool - Anfield (54,074)
Manchester - Old Trafford (74,994)
Preston - First training base to be revealed
St. Helens - Totally Wicked Stadium (18,00)
Warrington - Halliwell Jones Stadium (15,200)
Leigh & Wigan - Leigh Sports Village (12,000)
Bolton - University of Bolton Stadium (28,723)
London - Emirates Stadium (60,260) & Copper Box Arena (7,500)
Middlesbrough - Riverside Stadium (34,742)
Workington - Workington Community Stadium (under construction)
Coventry - Ricoh Arena (32,609)

Some good locations and some big stadiums to fill. Get the tickets on sale.

But for me, the key is pricing. If they priced it at £20 a ticket for example, I could easily put aside £200 for this World Cup and get to 10 games. If they price it at £50 a ticket, then I'll only get to a few games.

The government funding was contingent on the venues being mostly in the north, but I think the mix of venues is about right.

Middlesbrough is a bit left-field but we've clearly gone for some quality venues, alongside some of traditional club grounds.

I think the draw will be important and ensuring that the right grounds get the right games, but there's not too much to complain about at the moment.

The positive thing is that that there is an attempt to expand boundaries incrementally - Liverpool, Sheffield, NE and to bolster York and Cumbria. Also recognises London’s pivotal role from a media and grassroots perspective and gives a boost to development efforts in Coventry. I hope bidding towns and cities have underwriters costs and will be marketing / selling tickets. If the dream comes true and all venues are pre-sold put it will be fantastic. The time to sell tickets is now onwards and we don’t want to dream to be come a nightmare.

Just a quick note on the presentation...I thought it was excellent. Helen Skelton was great, and the guests all provided great insight and a perception that this is an all inclusive sport, and a big deal. Very impressed by it

Good to see they are using the Emirates.

What is the Copper Box arena used for?

Wheel chair Rugby League

No Wigan??

The Northern Union, keeping it parochial since 1895.
Sorry but one game in Cov and one at Arsenal will confirm all the prejudices we get thrown at us.

I agree that one game in Coventry and one in London isn't good enough. How about Bristol as well.

A world cup in England with 21 venues should have a much wider geographical reach than this one does.

Wigan Athletic are playing Yeovil three weeks after, so the DW is unavailable.

Good stadia chosen. Disappointed only two games south of Sheffield though. Will definitely go to the semi at the Emirates.

Think it’s a good list. Could’ve gone to Bristol again but not even sure if they were interested this time. Middlesbrough isn’t one I was expecting and might be the toughest to get a good crowd at depending what fixture it gets especially with the North East having the more attractive opening ceremony at Newcastle.