Mmm I'm not sure the line up on Sunday will exceed 30,000 - let's see. 4 teams over 75 miles away


Salford Red Devils vs Hull Kingston Rovers
Leeds Rhinos vs London Broncos
St Helens vs Castleford Tigers

This, I can see the appeal of anfield its a global recognised stadium. I just feel that Liverpool is just too footballcentric for us to really gather much interest.

Full stadiums create a buzz start off in ones you know you can fill. If people don't get a ticket it creates demand the following year and then we can look to go to bigger stadiums.

I think if it's to go for it Barcelona would be my long term suggestion. Their game against Wigan was surprisingly well attended so we already have a good base to build on.

Also I would make one maybe controversial change to it. Make it the last game before the playoffs. With the possibility of the last game possibly deciding relegation and the order of the top 5. Possibly with a late announcement if the dm fixtures though I think that would be too open to manipulation from the rfl.

As someone who was at both the Barcelona and Anfield games I'd like the RFL/Superleague to give us a defined plan over the next few years for the Magic weekend.
Example Anfield 2020, Newcastle 2021 - 22. Barcelona 2023, Dublin 2024, Amsterdam 2025.
just let us know in good time. Whilst we were in Calella for the game in Barcelona we had this discussion over ofew (a lot) of beers.
One of the more interesting suggestions was to merge the Super League and NRL Magic weekends. eg take Wigan v Wire, Leeds v Wakefield and Salford v Cas to Brisbane one year. Over here we could have Melbourne v St George, Penrith v Roosters and Parramatta v Tigers.
In two or four years they could they reverse the venues. Just give fans time to plan, and don't moan that "we can't afford it" If you can't go to Aus then support the concept over here.

Do we have an obsession with Coventry? Played a double-header there once if I remember rightly (I was there) - what else? Funnily enough, given we have a team there, your second para is a good argument for Coventry.

I still agree with whoever said it isn't a good place for Magic. Three miles out of the city centre and, while I enjoyed my trip there, it is the sort of place people would write off as a '****hole' and decide to spend the weekend in Wigan instead.

I’m glad we only went in for our game as there’s no way I could have sat in those seats for multiple matches. Getting taxis was easy enough, but ideally you shouldn’t need to do that.

Because Liverpool is so close and we can go all the time, it just doesn’t feel special. Might be different for fans from further away.

Nottingham Forest have redevelopment plans now, which will increase capacity to 38,000+, and modernise the facilities. I’ve thought for a while that it could be a good option but the stadium capacity is currently too small at 30k.

It would tick the expansion box by going to a new area, but most teams fans could still get there in under 2 hours.
Stadium is only 1 mile from the centre, so it’s not in the middle of nowhere.
Sports ground next to the stadium so room for fanzone, and pitches for additional matches and warm ups.
Great nightlife.
Plenty of other things to see and do.
38,000 wouldn’t make the stadium look empty. Always thought that if anyone flicking through channels sees an empty stadium they will think “Well that’s not worth watching”.

Maybe in a few years down the line it could be an option.

You're getting quite personal aren't you. Seem to single me out every time when other's make the the same point.

Anyway, moving on, by means of correction, you may be interested to learn that
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona was founded by a Catalan. Albeit Barcelona is by far the biggest supported club by Catalans and synonymous Catalan independence now this is largely due to the disparity of success and subsequent following. You will know the most famous player, Raúl Tamudo, for Espanyol is a locally born Catalan. The clubs name is spelt in Catalan. The club is quite plural with a number of Castilian leaning and Catalan fans.

Of course Barcelona and Espanyol are fierce rivals but to use the argument is like saying RL fans who don't like Liverpool would avoid Anfield in their droves.

Oh, and the Wires71 of this world were actually staying in their finca in Álora, Andalucia for this bank holiday, tending their olives