Are you just talking from gate receipts there, or other sources of income?
As I sat in the stadium yesterday I discussed the very same thing that we can't have made much profit from the event.

Bearing in mind Stadium hire, stewarding costs, advertising...etc?

Quote: 19 Leagues "Read my posts and you will see. The fact that you can only come up with a massive 2 reasons for it to carry on says it all. I dont know how much money they made because I dont work for the accounts department for the RFL (im assuming you do) but i know that everyone who went did not love it. A group of my mates went and said it was a waste of time, im sure theres more also.'" See how many negative posts about it you can find on these forums. In fact don't even bother, just read this post from a Leigh fan of all people: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=482295&p=15839605#p15839605 If your mates didn't like it then that's a shame. They don't have to go again if they don't want to. Doesn't mean the RFL should scrap the whole event. Give me one good reason why it should be scrapped.

Quote: 19 Leagues "Read my posts and you will see. The fact that you can only come up with a massive 2 reasons for it to carry on says it all. I dont know how much money they made because I dont work for the accounts department for the RFL (im assuming you do) but i know that everyone who went did not love it. A group of my mates went and said it was a waste of time, im sure theres more also.'" See how many negative posts about it you can find on these forums. In fact don't even bother, just read this post from a Leigh fan of all people: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=482295&p=15839605#p15839605 If your mates didn't like it then that's a shame. They don't have to go again if they don't want to. Doesn't mean the RFL should scrap the whole event. Give me one good reason why it should be scrapped.

Bearing in mind that they are all paid for by the Welsh tourist board, who also pay the RFL £500k to host the event? Did you really think the RFL would just do this for the sake of it?

Maybe I should have said swap and change.
Imagine the RFL switching to summer for a few years, then winter for a couple before back to summer? I would like to see average attendances over the 95/96/97 periods for all clubs as no doubt we would have had the tradionalists grumbling. I know ours dropped but that could have been the hangover effect of the dominant period.

Regards the Grand Final, support increased from 43k to 70k gradually over a number of years, helped I would imagine by the fact that supporters were getting used to the format and the fact it remained at Old Trafford on a Saturday in October.

That's a nice sweetner then.




Maybe the RFL of the past. I've been to internationals at a third full Twickenham before for instance.

I fail to see how moving it from Cardiff to Edinburgh could in any way but used as similar to changing when RL is played. If the concept was so fantastic as some are suggesting, where it was played would have little difference. I actually preferred Edinburgh to Cardiff having been to both.

The fans are voting with their feet on this one, and from a marketing and PR view for the sport it doesn't look good.

Well as well as moving from Cardiff to Edinburgh, they changed from derby matches to random fixtures (and since back). They also changed from May Bank Holiday weekend to the 2nd week in February. I agree it looked poor on TV.

i haven't been to a magic weekend, but that doesn't mean that i, and others who haven't been to one, don't have a valid opinion on the event. just because i don't eat at mcdonalds doesn't mean that i can't have an opinion on how unhealthy the food from there is.

there are a number of issues with the magic weekend this year which in my opinion mean that the event was not a success.
1) the event was held on the first weekend of the season where teams are not playing at their best, hardly a good advert for our sport when trying to attract new supporters to our sport.
2) the event was held in wales the same day that the welsh rugby union team were playing.
3) we couldn't even half fill the stadium on either day of the event (in fact, the total attendance could have fit into the stadium at the same time and there would still have been empty seats).
4) there isn't enough accommodation in cardiff, if it's hard to find somewhere to stay when the event has sold less than half the available tickets, then where are other supporters supposed to stay if they turn up.
5) even if all the tickets are sold for the event, the stadium will never be filled due to fans coming and going whenever they want and only watching their own team and maybe one or two other games. this would not come across well on tv.

despite the above points, i'm not saying that the event should be scrapped (although that is my own personal view), but if it is to succeed then changes need to be made. firstly, move it closer to the heartlands of rugby league (not necessarily to lancashire or yorkshire, but somewhere closer than cardiff). this would reduce travelling time/costs making it more accessible to rugby league fans.

another option would be to have a host city rather than a host stadium, with games spread across multiple venues (situated close to each other so fans can attend all games if they wish). this would reduce wear and tear on the pitch and increase the likelyhood of finding suitable venues, particularly if the magic weekend takes place after the football season has finished.

one thing that would definitely not improve the event is giving away free tickets, this rarely works as a lot of tickets simply won't be used. if you look at wigan for example, they have a no free ticket policy, yet are the best supported club in the league.

i'm not claiming to have all the answers, in fact, i'm not claiming to have any of the answers, but i am suggesting that changes need to be made if the event is to be successful in the future.

Well said

Liverpool Magic
Games staged at Anfield and Goodison Park, walk through Stanley Park to each game with camera crews filming it and showing clips just before the game interviewing fans, if they only show the games and a 5 second clip of the outside events nobody will see what it's like, maybe press the red button for a live camera from Stanley Park with Brian Carney mooching about looking for funny people to chat to and acting daft
Major events in Stanley Park with decent but not that expensive/famous comedians ( Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Lee Mack) aswell as beer tents, bands and pop acts.
An hour between each game for people to see the comedians, bands, acts etc
Have it May Bank Holiday weekend
Have a famous comedian as a compare rather than some over exited Keith Chegwin soundalike
They were made up Joe Calzaghe was there as was Mickey Rourke, celebs and sports stars will turn up to anything if they get paid to make an appearance so lets pay a few and get them in the crowd
Give away tickets to the local school kids (Primary School otherwise there would be stuff getting nicked everywhere
Have ushers ushering loitering fans geting them into the stadiums for the games
Some sort of free merchandise for fans who go to every game
Up the tickets prices accordingley

Saturday Sunday

12 - Pop act to open the event - 12 - Pop act/Band to open event
12.30 - First game (Goodison) - 12.30 - First game (Anfield)
2.30 - Comedians and pop act/band - 2.30 - Comedians and pop act/band
3.30 - 2nd game (Anfield) (Wire v Hudds) - 3.30 - 2nd game (Goodsion Park) (Leeds v Bradford)
5.30 - Comedian and pop act/band - 5.30 - Comedian and pop act/band
6.30 - Final game (Hull Derby) - 6.30 - Final game (Anfield) (Wigan v Saints)

The beauty about this would be if you watched the event on the Saturday and liked the look of it you could easily say sod it we will go 2moz for the others it looks good, you can't do that really with Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Only 6 games but I'd rather lose the bottom 2 teams from the previous years table as this event would be a reward for not being crap.

Thoughts? Should I be working for the RFL or what?

Last game of the weekend, Hull v Hull.... Is that about 4 1/2 hours drive to get home? Not the best plan for a school night.

My view was the same when they played the first four in May - it didn't really take off then. Changing it to the 1st round of games in February doesn't really change my view, or it seems whether the fans embrace it or not.

There's certainly mileage in trying to be innovative to get some publicity - for example play a double header at the COM Stadium (us v Stains, Leeds v Bradford) and do similar elsewhere in the way union have done in their heartlands. I'm in no way a flatcapper, but seeing less than 20,000 people rattling around a 75,000 stadium for our biggest derby games hardly shows the game in a good light.

The only problem with this is Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Bradford, Hull and Hull KR will miss out on their biggest crowd and much needed revenue every other year.

Apart from issues such as distorting the fixture list the real problem with MM in my opinion is it fails to do what it is supposed to do which is promote the game.

Who is the Rugby player who just about anyone in the UK could name today? Chris Ashton.
Would he be as well known if RU had a similar weekend, i.e. one round of the domestic competition played at Twickers? I seriously doubt it. Domestic RU is no more big a deal outside its heartlands than RL is outside its own.

MM is an insular event in that it takes a domestic competition on the road but it remains supported by the current fans and I don't see the incentive for people in South Wales to go. Add to that a stadium of the size of MM is just not needed it just looks poor and so this makes RL look a poorly supported sport when in fact most games featured are capable of attracting bigger crowds when played as normal. MM would probably look a lot better if it was "Reebok Magic" given the size of the stadium or as others have suggested at Man City's ground. That still would not address the point of what the event is for though.

If it is to give fans a weekend away then you can argue if it is worth it given what it does to the fixture list. If it's supposed to be to promote the game nationally then IMO the novelty has worn off and it's well past its sell by date. MM is and always has been for me something that has the RFL spending time money and effort it could better employ promoting the international game.