Using the Magic Weekend for expansion was never going to have anything other than very limited short-term impact in the local areas. A few hundred locals might attend, but otherwise you just have 50-60k fans travelling in, drinking in local establishments and staying in local hotels, watching the games behind closed doors and travelling home again. Good for the local economy but little else.
Hosting the Magic as a festival of RL is a much better idea. I thought it was fantastic. Nothing I could fault about it, even the weather turned out again. The food & drink prices are normal for a sporting stadium or similar big event and as much as some might complain it's not like they were a surprise.
The banter in the crowd was good-natured and friendly - in fact I didn't witness any tension at all. Considering many people drank all day, that's a credit to every fan that attended. For me the atmosphere was far friendlier and without the underlying tension of the Grand Final, in fact I'd be happy for the GF to be moved there, even with a slightly lower attendance.
And another note, I thought the minute's silence for Lee Rigby was very touching. The spontaneous round of applause and well observed silence was moving.
Well done all concerned. (except Ganson

)