Sub 13,000 tickets for MW sold

[GUBRATS]

24 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I will never see the attraction in 9s other than a pre-season sideshow which, in this country at least, is less than useless. 

Me too Matt , now if it was the easyJet 9s from Girona ( or even Lloret ) with a few French elite and 8 Championship clubs end of Feb , I'd be up for that 

[GUBRATS]

9 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

It could be a really good event to attract a new audience to rugby league in the football off-season but it would need the right backing and, yes, marketing.

I’m thinking an early summer rugby league Spring Bank holiday festival with some decent bands  (hello, Simon Moran!). 

Why do people think a day long ( or even 2/3 day ) tournament is more likely to attract a ' new audience ' than an essentially 90 minute game ? , We always see arguments for ' the shortened game with reference to Twenty20 , but our game is already short 

[themainbrace]

We've got our tickets - 7 of us going and both days this time.  The website looks like there aren't that many tickets available in the areas that are open, which would mean much more than 13,000 sold.

I agree that Newcastle was good but that doesn't necessarily mean Liverpool will be bad.  I can see that people won't walk back into town like we could do in Newcastle, but you could have a drink or something to eat in the city centre before heading off to Anfield.  Four people in a taxi is pretty cheap and it only takes a few minutes.

[Man of Kent]

19 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Why do people think a day long ( or even 2/3 day ) tournament is more likely to attract a ' new audience ' than an essentially 90 minute game ? , We always see arguments for ' the shortened game with reference to Twenty20 , but our game is already short 

But Magic is not just 80 minutes, is it? It’s more like 500 minutes, aimed at the committed fan.

If Super League wants to attract new and younger fans then ‘9s Festival’ with good rugby, good music and a bit of fun could be the way to go.

Summer festivals are very popular these days and we’re a summer sport!

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

But Magic is not just 80 minutes, is it? It’s more like 500 minutes, aimed at the committed fan.

If Super League wants to attract new and younger fans then ‘9s Festival’ with good rugby, good music and a bit of fun could be the way to go.

Summer festivals are very popular these days and we’re a summer sport!

Magic is as much or as little as you want 

One day cricket matches came in because previously it was 4 or 5 days , sometimes without a result , then 40 overs , then twenty overs , now they're looking at 100 ball games , it'll be 50 ball games next , bottom line is cricket is cack , RL is fine as it is , unless you're after a pre season in the sun 

[Man of Kent]

Just now, GUBRATS said:

Magic is as much or as little as you want 

One day cricket matches came in because previously it was 4 or 5 days , sometimes without a result , then 40 overs , then twenty overs , now they're looking at 100 ball games , it'll be 50 ball games next , bottom line is cricket is cack , RL is fine as it is , unless you're after a pre season in the sun 

Cricket is trying to move with the times, presumably.

Anyway, just an idea!

[Wellsy4HullFC]

Some right whiners on here. Moody without actual facts.

I'd like to see proof of the claim that Magic Weekend loses money.

The Bolton cancellation has already been proven more then false - it's booked in with an extra game (women's CCF).

Just because Newcastle was good doesn't mean Liverpool will be bad. Every MW I've been to has had its charms. Cardiff I enjoyed the most though, and we never even won there in MW.

9s has a poor record in this country.

The only thing I'd like to see eventually happen to Magic Weekend is it becoming a Challenge Cup round.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

The NRL are doing a magic weekend for the first time, hosting the event over 4 days, with a double header each day, all at Suncorp Stadium Brisbane. 

[Oxford]

On 29/04/2019 at 16:40, saintspete83 said:

twitter

Er .......

On 29/04/2019 at 16:40, saintspete83 said:

a huge worry. 

Yes the sleppless night are telling on me.

On 29/04/2019 at 16:40, saintspete83 said:

another anti Elstone rant

Attacking one of the men in charge of RL whatever next?

On 29/04/2019 at 16:40, saintspete83 said:

Anyone else know figures? 

Yes 9,562,  all effigies of course.

The queues on the day last year was a give away

 

Even the gateman who doesn't let the press in looked a bit stiff!

But as you'll notice from the fan at the front in the middle most of them are harmless.

And from the front line it's easy to spot the ones who run around like headless chicken in order to find something wrong.

[EssexRL]

Was going to go but am off to the Barcelona match - can’t afford both unfortunately. Not that that will make a major dent in the attendance. 

[Dave T]

10 hours ago, LeeF said:

Quite simply it costs them more to put on than what they take

With RL's nature of canning things at the first opportunity, I'd be very surprised if this was still running after 10 years if it was losing them money.

[EastLondonMike]

Magic was initially about helping spread the appeal in South Wales, which then changed into a fans day out when shifted elsewhere.

i went to all of the initial magic weekends in Wales and then Edinburgh, but it lost some appeal for me after that, and just didn't feel that special any more.

My only critique of the event would be that it doesn't seem to have progressed in any way. Year on year on year its the same. 

With SL now controlling it, one of two things will happen, they'll put some effort into moving it forward, and make it the success it could be, or they'll can it.

Far too often our sport in the U.K. is reactive, not pro active. Historically we always wait for things to start to fail before doing something about it. 

13k does sound a bit suspicious, especially with Anfield being pretty close to the heartlands, in comparison with previous venues.

[The 4 of Us]

7 hours ago, themainbrace said:

We've got our tickets - 7 of us going and both days this time.  The website looks like there aren't that many tickets available in the areas that are open, which would mean much more than 13,000 sold.

13,000 out of 20,000 or so will look pretty full. It’s the 35,000 that aren’t on sale that are the issue.

 

 

 

 

[JonNgog]

giving Gledhill the oxygen of attention should be an instant ban

[LeeF]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

With RL's nature of canning things at the first opportunity, I'd be very surprised if this was still running after 10 years if it was losing them money.

A fair assumption although I wonde how they actually make money on the event

I also wonder if it is part of the TV contract

[Dave T]

Just now, LeeF said:

A fair assumption although I wonde how they actually make money on the event

I also wonder if it is part of the TV contract

I think you may be right in that it may now have a pure value in the TV contract. We then have the event, sponsorship from Dacia and maybe others, ticket sales (even though modest), plus we have often seen local authorities sponsoring it in the past, I expect they will pay. I'd expect the costs to be covered by partnership deals and tickets to be the income tbh 

[JohnM]

...and less popular.

[paulwalker71]

I would be interested to see the comparative figures for the same stage last season.

It doesn't matter if 13K tickets have been sold at this point, if they'd only sold (for example) 11K at the same stage last season. Now, if they'd sold 25K at the same point last year, then there is a concern...

I think that Magic is at something of a crossroads this year. With SL itself now pulling all the strings, and having the responsibility for the event, it absolutely needs to at least match the crowd from the last few years at Newcastle. If they end up with a smaller crowd this year, having grabbed control AND moved it closer to 'the heartlands', then it would surely be judged to have been a big failure

But let's see how it pans out, there's still a month to go before the event..

[lucky 7]

13 hours ago, TheConductor said:

Would like to see a 9s event with clubs from the other divisions included.

I would like to see a 9's event preseason.

[Bcfc2014]

1 hour ago, The 4 of Us said:

13,000 out of 20,000 or so will look pretty full. It’s the 35,000 that aren’t on sale that are the issue.

 

 

 

 

Magic weekend attendance in Newcastle on the Saturday last year was 38,881. Based on the above image you have a maximum of 30000 seats available, Warrington have sold just over a 1000 tickets, Castleford over 900, so if all 12 teams took a 1000 fans your not far aware from the figure of 13000.

[lucky 7]

16 hours ago, saintspete83 said:

So according to reports on twitter there has been less then 13,000 tickets sold for magic weekend. If true this is a huge worry. 

............ On the other hand the figure has been released by no other then Mick Gledhill during another anti Elstone rant so the chances of this being accurate is well...... Low. 

Anyone else know figures? 

I'm not quite sure why are having the event in Liverpool. Not unless its a precursor for putting a Liverpool Championship 1 club there to raise interest in Rugby League

[Smudger06]

Of course they make profit. 

It's a sponsored event which people buy a ticket for. That's two income streams straight away. 

Stadiums bid (put an offer in) on hosting the event; I.e the stadium taking the smallest cut of each and every ticket sale will get the right to host, leaving a larger cut per ticket sale for the clubs to share amongst themselves.

The stadium makes money on top of its share of ticketing by opening up it's food and beverages. 

The Clubs make money on top of their split of ticketing through the event sponsor and through wearing a magic weekend shirt which they can also flog to fans. 

Magic Weekend isn't magic because it's at most a half full stadium in a RL showcase event televised the whole weekend and it also unbalances an equal fixture list. Get rid. 

I've said this before but 9s cannot be compared to cricket T20 whatsoever. Further to that, 13s is only 2 x periods of 40 minutes & easy to understand and catch on ( not like union, that's why they need 7s, we don't need 9s) Magic Weekend could be a Challenge Cup quarterfinal Round though......otherwise bin it. 

[Toby Chopra]

1 hour ago, lucky 7 said:

I'm not quite sure why are having the event in Liverpool. Not unless its a precursor for putting a Liverpool Championship 1 club there to raise interest in Rugby League

No idea if this was thought out at the time - probably not given the timing - but given that Liverpool is a major venue for the RL World Cup, inc the wheelchair finals, then it's no bad thing boosting our presence in the city. 

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Anfield has had no appeal for me since day one, so our family will be giving the event a miss for the 1st time. 

Blow softened a bit by Wakey having a 2nd trip to London shortly which will be a nice weekend alternative.

[Oxford]

5 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

Not making a comment on that just an observation

Oh go on, draw a conclusion from all that, you know you want to really!