When will the RFL learn people haven't got unlimited funds, The Challenge Cup is the main weekend away for people, then many people take a trip away to France when their team plays Le Cats, it's just too much to ask people to fork out for another very expensive weekend away, particularly in this dire economic climate we are in. that's why as I have suggested earlier if the weekend was held in say Liverpool, Newcastle or Sheffield most people could go on one of the days and enjoy a nice day out without the extra costs of staying overnight.

I bloody love these magic weekends . They're a great weekend away. I've never heard anyone who has been say they haven't thought it was great value for money or a really enjoyable weekend. This weekend is a massive highlight in the season for me. Ive been to every one so far and see no reason why i wont keep going in the future.

I know in advance that this weekend is coming up so i save to go to it. £30 for a 2 day match ticket then accom, its not that much at all??

(Giants fans should all go as thats the only way we get to see our team. We've not been sky once since it started and only available if you have red button this year, Sponsors wont be happy!!)

I can see the attraction of the BIG weekend away, but many fans including myself already go to London every year for the weekend for the Challenge Cup. I do take on board what you are saying about all the fans being in a relatively small City Centre and the great atmosphere, but Two BIG weekends away is a lot to ask financially given the dire straits the country is in debt wise with many people looking at a pay cut, pay freeze, redundancy and short hours, and that's not including going to France which certainly ain't cheap!

Including the one of giving us £500k?

Minibus then?

No.

The whole point of the original Millennium Magic was the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff and the South Wales Tourist board realising that with Wembley reopening they were losing the FA Cup Final, Football League Playoffs and RL Challenge Cup final and wanting some big event to replace it: hence they approached the RFL and said: "if we give you half a million, will you bring an event to the Millennium Stadium". The point of the (non-Millennium) Magic Weekend is the Edinburgh equivalents taking a look at Cardiff and making a better offer (helped by the fact that the RFL felt the WRU, stadium and tourist board weren't doing enough to publicise the Cardiff event, coupled with complaints about the way hotels were hiking up prices).

So it's purpose is three-fold:
1) to bring much-needed cash into the game
2) to raise the profile of the sport by having a whole round of fixtures on TV (and to a lesser extent by taking a whole round of fixtures 'one the road')
3) to build a 'festival' of top-flight rugby league and provide another 'event' weekend for fans (alongside the Cup Final and Grand Final) where every SL fan gets a chance to see their team taking part.

Do you know that for sure though ? I mean, we assume they do because when it was first launched in Cardiff it was publicised that the Wales Tourist Board were paying the RFL for it, but there's been no announcement to that effect for any of the subsequent ones since the first event.

It's probably a reasonable assumption to make, but we don't know for certain.

We know for certain that when it was moved from Cardiff a year early, it was announced that Edinburgh had made a bigger offer.

Do you have a link for that, as my recollection is that the decision was made due to the RFL being less than happy with the Millennium Stadium's promotion of the event and not being the most cooperative partners to work with.

I agree that it's a great idea, but not that it will ultimately fail.The RFL seem to be brilliant at coming up with great
ideas,but,as you say,don't do enough promoting of them.But look at the Grand Final,when that first started it wasn't the best supported,and a lot of fans didn't agree with the concept,but now it's massive and a sell out every year.

I think that if the magic weekend can be located somewhere(like Cardiff)that suits all the fans,and has the possibility of attracting more than a few local fans,it could be one of the great occasions,like the cup final and the grand final.

Indeed there was never any suggestion by the RFL or the Scottish Tourist Board of money changing hands to attract the event to Edinburgh.

I'd guess that some deal has been done on the use of Murrayfield and the STB has agreed to expend resources promoting the event, but that in my opinion is as far as it would go.

I wuld be surpsied if visitor numbers could justify major financial expenditure to 'buy' the event. There's not enough evidence yet to give it a value.

Wasn't it quoted somewhere that it generated something in the region of 30m for the local economy?

No. You would need 40,000 people to each spend £750 in Edinburgh to achieve that spend.