the simple answer to all this, is no council in the Manchester area has offered us between £500k and £1m to stage the even there as happened in Wales and Scotland,

Neither are they likely to, for the exact reason you have put, it would give the fans a break from the expense. If fans arent having to get a hotel room, they likely wont spend as long in the town in bars etc, they wont have to eat at a restaurant, and they likely wouldnt save up to treat the event as an event like they do now, they would try and do it 'on the cheap'. This is of no use to a council or the businesses in the area

You were the one getting nasty my friend.



See there you go again making assumptions.



How many tri-nations and world cup games have we had in this country? How many played at either of the two football stadiums in Manchester? As I said plenty of chances for them to have RL there if they wanted it.



You are the one wanting to move it and in case you've not being paying attention we've had some pretty bad floods around that time of year.



Eh? If you buy a season ticket for a club are you counted once or every time you attend?



No idea, ask the RFL, though I've no idea how you find out how many bought a ticket for one day but stayed overnight either.



Ah, you see I thought you meant bring the event back home, why does RL need another event in the "heartlands" there are enough reasons to hold events every weekend during the season, it is up to the clubs to make them special, in fact one club did but they got nothing but flack for doing it so how can they win?



In case you weren't aware, Sky gives wall to wall coverage of these and so does the newspapers, you'd be failing on one of the key factors of a big event like this if you discounted those factors.



Have you been to one of these events? Have you thought about why it is not idea to have a full house?



Someone has already stated why CoM wouldn't be interested, I would think there are other stadiums that would be interested in staging a one off game where restrictions aren't as tough.



You seem to have the belief that fans are compelled to go, if the don't want to they won't, if they can't afford it they won't go, they have the choice of a great weekend away in a different part of the country with my way, your way strips them of that choice.

At last someone understands the value of the event.

Man City are not interested in rugby and HAVE gone on record saying they DON'T want rugby being played there.

Using Old Trafford devalues the Grand Final.

Reebok is in the middle of nowhere and too small

DW is a league stadium so err... no

Anfield is in the middle of a ghetto

every other stadium in the North West is too small, Preston, Burnley, Blackburn etc plus they don't stir the emotions.

Considering there was only 26,000 every day at the most I don't see why the RFL look for a smaller stadium.
Around 35,000 - 40,000 would be ideal, better atmosphere, meaning fans will have a better time and will look better on TV , hopefully encouraging arm chair fans to go the following year.

Obviously it's not just a case of finding one but somewhere different is needed again I think. The plan of moving it every two years is brilliant and keeps the event 'fresh' sort of.

London - Upton Park, Emirates, Stamford Bridge, White Hart Lane
Bristol - New 30,000 seater opening next year
Sheffield - Bramall Lane, very close to city centre
Manchester - COM but I know alot of people have already said we can't play there.
Newcastle - St James Park

All the above IMO would add something new to Magic Weekend, I know people might turn the noses up at a weekend in Sheffield or Bristol or wherever but there still huge cities with loads of hotels, pubs, bars and muesums etc. Maybe even spilt it over london for example having a double header at craven cottage, Loftus Road and games at the Valley for example. Something new and different played over Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Only ideas though!

It has to be away from the Heartlands but still within decent travelling distance from them. The Midlands is centric to all and would be perfect for me.

Hillsborough, big enough, and promotes SL in sheffield. Personally Newcastle would be ideal, great night out, great people.

Hillsborough is a little out of centre ala murrayfield but the tram and bus links are cheap and take about 10 mins from there to the city centre and i'm sure they'd put more for the weekend!

for me viable stadiums are

St James Park
The Emirates
Stamford Bridge
The Millennium Stadium

Where on earth have you plucked your prices paid from? How much has the RFL been paid to go to Edinburgh? I would suggest that the event being held on home ground would see a huge increase in spectator numbers. Fans would be far more willing to attend and stay over and be able to do at far less cost than a tourist destination. I would be surprised if MCC would not want to see such a boost to the local economy.

Would be a nice contrast from the types they welcomed when Glasgow Rangers came to town.............

Now about that account you said this one would go the same way as............

What assumptions?

What is the RFL's strategy for internationals? Has the RFL approached MCC to use the ground, and in case you missed the obvious, it is during the football season when the Tri/Four Nations was/is played.

Floods like Murrayfield before the CC you mean??

Unless you break down the make up of the 52,000 how can you determine the value of the event in spend terms for the economy and therefore whatever you and others say was paid to host it?

Which newspapers give wall to wall coverage? I'd be intrigued to learn this. Would Sky not give the same if the event were in Manchester?

Why is it not good to have a full house?

So about your pitch argument.............and where has it been said that Man City don't want RL played there in the football off season?

Which stadiums and what tough restrictions?

Manchester is a great city for a night out and has loads to offer. Why wouldn't fans from other clubs want to travel there? Grand Final brings them in, so a carnival weekend of RL involving schools, amateur clubs, championship fans and SL fans would have them flocking along.

You seem to be completely sidestepping the issue of the real lack of RL played right in the heartland areas, as I have pointed out to you more than once. Isn't one of the main reasons for the weekend the development of the game? Well how about taking care of the roots instead of the branches for once? The game at school and amateur level in the North West is struggling badly, as are many clubs outside SL.

How many clubs are there of any level in Manchester, a major UK city? Salford has very few. Bolton Tameside, Bury, Stockport and so on.

Have it in the heartlands for a couple of years, breathe some life back into the sport, then look at taking it on the road again, whether in the same format or in a new guise.

What is the value of the event? Other than monetary terms, how is this measured? How much has been paid to the RFL to go to Edinburgh?

I've just got back from Edinburgh and I have an idea:

[size=200GO TO THE BLOODY THING RATHER THAN MOAN ABOUT HOW FEW PEOPLE ARE THERE ON A MESSAGEBOARD[/size

Another brilliant weekend for me, brilliant city, brilliant stadium and events around the stadium, brilliant transport to and from the stadium too!!!!!!!

So called RL Fans sitting moaning about Edinburgh should be ashamed of themselves

Ah, now I get your reasons for the personal attacks





You assume that I am a Labour supporter, quite wide of the mark. It wouldn't bother me what colour the council was if it supported RL, in fact you might want to check out the colours of Edinburgh council.



Now you are grasping at straws, CoM are only allowed so many non-football events a year, they haven't held an even there since the first few months of the stadium opening, it is quite logical to assume they don't want RL when you look at how many high profile events they could have had.



FFS, you wanted it played at the end of May, a time when Sky have the footy play offs, theirs and the medias attention will be elsewhere.



Have you been to one of these events?



Read the thread, if you can't grasp it by now there is no point explaining it.

Which stadiums and what tough restrictions?



Where have I said they wouldn't? They would day trip at best at worst go for one match.



Eh? Unless they have moved the heartlands areas overnight then there is plenty of RL there, you might have to explain this as i am clearly missing something...



Is it?

You can bang on about the supposed "heartlands" all you like, it is down to the clubs to sort out their own business, they have ignored investment and growth of the game for decades, if they couldn't spread the game a few miles down the road it is their problem.

Big G
Scanners

get a room

Agreed.

"looks terrible on tv" thats a great one!

a number of posters mention the" political" angle- and i assume from this that over the 4 years of Magic weekend that the RFL have had some financial "reward"- if thats the right description from public funds to bring the event to the 2 host cities.

Post election whatever the outcome - isnt their a big chance of a lot of belt tightening by local government - things are so bad where we are that the council recently said in public they couldnt afford to repair the clock on a local library as the ............£1,500 it would cost couldnt be justified - that might be one end of the spectrum , but if the RFL havent got the same level of support for Magic 5 already in place then i just wonder if they might find it difficult post election

The funds come from the tourist boards of major cities, not the local councils of small towns.

I think with London hosting the Challenge Cup, Manchester hosting the Grand Final and Edinburgh being a little too far for some people (being a student it would just be far too expensive) I think St James Park would be great, in the middle of Newcastle with plenty of Hotels dotted around.

Being a Sheffield Wednesday supporter I also think Hillsborough is a good shout too, the super-tram works a treat, especially if you are travelling by train. Both these stadiums would look great on TV with RL supporters and would definitely attract local media interest.

I also think the fixtures need to be either derbies or closely matched teams. I don't think the RFL should bin the idea of a magic weekend though, it's great having a slot in the RL calendar where we can go to a new city and watch some good games of RL in a nice stadium.

those were the prices quoted at the time the deal was signed, i thought it was common knowledge tbh

why would fans bother to pay to stay in a hotel when they are (for the most part) an hours drive from home? and yes it costs less, and because it costs less, less money goes into the local economy, the less money that goes in, the less the worth it has to the local businesses

Would love to, but like a lot of people I have limited cash to spend and this was the wrong time for me money wise.

As crazy as it may sound but for me it has to be far away to make it a bit special. Who wants to spend a weekend in Manchester? I go there all the time. Boring.

Ive just come back from Edinburgh and enjoyed it thought it was a little nicer than Cardiff as a city and thought Murrayfield was just as good The Millenuim Stadium.

Just got back from Edinburgh for the 2nd year and thought it was a fabulous weekend. Great City, transport links and stadium. Cheap Accomm & Train tickets. Loved the atmosphere in the bars during the day, pre and post match and loved the night life.

Cracking weekend and well done to all those who supported it!

Next year i'd like a return to the derbies and for SkySports to only show one game to encourage fans to make the journey. Maybe there should be a blanket price which includes both days but isn't too expensive.

Loved it and hope it goes back there next year