Is that such a bad thing?

People have got hung up on the "expansion" argument, purely because the first few were in Wales and Scotland. Expansion may have been an additional fringe goal / benefit of MW in the early years but I don't believe it was the primary motivator for creating the event. (A sweatner from the Welsh tourism board, IMO, had more to do with that).

As things stand, we have a calendar event that generates plenty of discussion, earns us wall-to-wall TV coverage for a full weekend and (judging by the discussion on here, the most pesimistic of places at the best of times) a lot of positive sentiment about the game at a time when it sorely needs it. Isn't that "purpose" in itself?

One good thing about the magic weekend is it gets far more coverage than a normal round of superleague.

60,000 ground a double header. Double headers don't work you get one lot in for the first game and few fans from game 2 join it during the 2nd half of game one. Game one fans bugger off at the end of game one. Most of game two fans enter. Leaving at most 15,000 during the game.

you only have to look at the magic weekend to see this.

I would have the semi-finals both staged in Blackpool every year on Saturday and Sunday on the same weekend.

Great location not too far from the heartlands.
Already hosts a big RL game each year.
Could sell 'weekend' tickets just like the magic weekend which would encourage people going for the weekend to attend both games.
18k is the perfect next step in capacity for recent figures. Too high and the stadium will be empty, but decent priced tickets could see fantastic crowds and another 'festival' event for fans to attend. Even if both games get 12k.... its better than what we have now.

You also have the advantage of knowing when the games are and on what day before the 1/4 final, fans could walk away from the stadium planning for the semi-final without having to wait for a venue to be announced along with ticket prices etc.

Blackpool would get my vote for the semi-final everyday of the week. It would be a fantastic weekend for all rugby league fans.

Another bright idea to give the magic weekend a boost, allow the grand finalists from the previous season in the championship to open the weekend. I'm sure Fax, Fev, Leigh etc. would love a trip to the Etihad if their team qualified through getting to the Grand Final. Everybody wins.

Not bad ideas at all. Didn't realise the capacity at Blackpool now. If they announced it ahead of time and put it in the RL Events brochure, it could be a real pleaser with the fans. Could mix it in with a 9s tournament or something to get more neutrals down.

I've thought that adding a Championship game to the Magic Weekend might make it more attractive. Depends on the league restructure I guess.

Really good shout, think the next big thing has to be a Season Opening Event. Unless the World Club Challenge is restructured as rumoured. But a really cheap, well organised, ie dates venues cost etc, CC semi final would be a welcome addition to the calendar in my opinion.

Not any more.

No,no,no,no,NO

The more ' events ' you have the more you devalue each one, the RL event calendar is full enough at the moment, until we see all the current venues at least 75% full, no more

Just because you build more shops doesnt mean people have more money to spend , and a Challenge cup shouldnt need any ' gimicks ' to sell it

It doesn't create a new event. It just improves the existing one. How can Rugby League expect to grow if our semi-finals are attracting only 10k. We need to make our big games bigger.

What could be bad about taking our game to a place where it isn't too popular and filling the stadium with 36,000 people over one weekend.

Only a rugby league fan could say 'nononononono' to that.

I'd be all for a double header but just play it locally rather then staging it in London or some other 'non heartlands' city.

I certainly don't think we'd have the same problems as Magic in terms of fans just watching their games because there would be a real interest to see who'd win both and who'd meet in the final. The losing set of supporters from the first game may shuffle off pretty sharpish but that's to be expected.

Somewhere like the Reebok would be decent.

Stadiums like
Reebok, Ricoh, Elland Rd, Hillsbrough, Pride Park ,City Ground for a CC double header possibly even Leicester Tigers - Welford Road

London is too far and you want a capacity in the mark of 25-35k and i reckon it'd work

WHY are the Challenge Cup semi's only attracting 10 K?

Because the RFL are not marketing them as big games. They should be huge! Played infront of big crowds.

The RFL have lost interest in any rounds before the final. Would we not be better placed in terms of sponsorship and tv rights if the semi-finals were huge games?

Arse Magic Weekend has a nice ring to it

I agree.

The two options I've liked so far are:

Blackpool semis (with a 9s tournament included to get everyone down there).

Manchester DH, with Magic in London (but not at Wembley).