Every event takes time. It was 50 years before the Challenge Cup Final attracted over 60,000. I'm not saying the Magic Weekend is in any way as prestigious as the CC, just showing it takes time for some annual sporting events to capture peoples imagination.



Keep it in Cardiff as the opening round, let it grow.



Does anyone know how many people from South Wales went to the event, or what the RFL did in South Wales with regards to marketing?

For a guy that hates League so much he bangs on about it enough.

=#4040FFHave it at the Olympic Stadium 2013 [uIN SUMMER [/u

Reasons for



1) The travel links will be fantastic



no thanks I had to go to Stratford yesterday. Central line was suspended. So had to go a different way.



Then this morning the Jub line was suspened at stratford no one had a clue what was going on.

The Jubilee keeps getting suspended because they're sorting it out for the Olympics. Also Crossrail is being built, and the North London Line actually works nowadays. Stratford, although still a hole, can't really be faulted on connectability.

And the Paralympics start 29th August. Ok after the BH weekend, but will the Olympic authorities want Wembley being used so close to the start. The Football for the able bodied games starts before the Olympics. So there is every possibility of the CC being turfed out for a year.

It can take time, but the GF grew as an event very quickly in its first 5 years. The MM has remained broadly static. Probably because its fully reached its target audience of RL fanatics and those wanting a boozy weekend with rugby.

You may have a point - although they do have the capability to turn the stadium round overnight - they had an athletics events on the day after the CC final a couple of years back.



The FA were asked if they minded moving the charity shield - they weren't booted out. They've also delayed the start of the premier league to avoid a clash. I wonder if the RFL has thought about scheduling against the Olympics next year?

I think MM has suffered somewhat by moving the weekend it's on and by having it at Murrayfield for two years.



Keep it as a season opener in Cardiff for a few more years, step up the marketing in South Wales (schools, discounts to those with RU 6 Nation tickets etc), perhaps even get a couple of games broadcast on BBC.

Good in theory, in practice - well, as soon as the Olympics are over, the ground will be redeveloped into a wendyball stadium. It's not going to sit there for a year waiting for the Magic Weekend, and once the wendyballers get their hands on it, there's no way they'll let two days of... etc etc etc.

Not quite sure why 'Yed' seems to think that because 'it's the tourist hotspot of the UK' it will make more people come along to watch



I can't see all those Americans giving up their photgraphing 'Bucking-haym palace' days to go along.



And if you want to go to London as a tourist you go because you want to see 'touristy' things in London like Madame Tussauds, the London eye or Hyde Park.



This 'Magic' weekend should remain in Cardiff. It's ideal.



Just have it when it's a bit warmer and on a bank holiday weekend!

The problem with this discussion is that apparently Cardiff Council pay the RFL for MM. The RFL are happy because they get a wedge off CC as well as money off the gate and it keeps Sky sweet. The stadium's happy because they get to open up all weekend, rather than three-four hours one day. CC are happy because it brings in excessive of 40k people to the city to stop more than one night, which brings in a fair wedge of money for them and their businesses. The RFL are also happy because their target gate was 60k for the weekend, which they achieved. CC are happy with that because the majority of that number will be folk from outside Wales who will have had to stop overnight.



The reason why the RFL concentrated their marketing more on their 'heartland' supporters than trying to encourage the Welsh to come is because CC most likely wanted out of towners to come in and spend more money and, with it being Valentines and a Wales RU 6N's match, it wouldn't have been cost-effective to try and get the Welsh in.



The point is, it might not seem like a success, but it is. It ain't really broken so why fix it? Why not leave it to grow a bit more by giving the event some stability. If we can start taking larger numbers down and it becomes more of a spectacle for newbies then we can realistically start marketing elsewhere. Also, until a London council or tourist board is willing to cop up for a Magic weekend it isn't going to happen.

But... to play the "if I were in charge of the RFL game and money was no object"...



I'd take it to Sheffield.



Its expansion and on the fringe at the same time. So, we can tap into a new area as well as be near enough to encourage more hardened supporters to turn up. Sheffield's also a great city with a good vibe about. If Magic weekend is meant to be a jamboree of RL then let's have a proper festival! Have it in June, summer month, when teams have settled into stride, after early CC rounds, after amateur season, before NRC final.



Then hire out Hillsborough, Bramhall Lane and Don Valley and have matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This festival wouldn't just be for SL it would be for all professional clubs, so you'd distribute SL and Championship matches across all venues on all days. SL matches could be scheduled, so all can be televised along with key Championship matches. Get all the RL community involved and use it as a day to unify our identity.



I can see the benefits of having it in London, but we have the CC final and we have Quins. Also, you try tell Edinburgh that London is the centre of culture in Britain and try tell Manchester that London dominates at football and music. If we're a northern sport we should be proud of it, not get all embarrassed about it. That pride, passion and heritage should be turned into a product that we can sell to folk outside the heartlands, so they want to come to us, not pander to how we perceive the media networks, act all meek and head towards them cap in hand asking for just a little bit of attention and respect.