Magic Weekend

[sam4731]

9 minutes ago, muckymunksy said:

IMG already killing game. 

IMG wanted to scrap this disaster but the SL chairmen refused. IMG were brought in to do what they were told by the chairmen to make it look like it was coming from an independent body who had no interest in the individual clubs.

The reality is though, that whatever IMG are getting paid, they are quite happy to di what they're told.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

I can understand the cannibalisation point, but I don't think necessarily getting rid of Magic Weekend is the solution to that. 

Magic Weekend is unique in that it is an event for every SL fan. Everyone knows their team will be playing, it's a party they can feel part of. There are many people who just aren't interested in going to finals as neutrals, and this is your target market for Magic. It obviously should be stretching wider than that as being a tool to attract new people, groups, locals etc.

It really should have evolved into a full on festival by now, instead it's retracted to pretty much become six games and a pee up. 

That’s kind of my point, how long has Magic been going? I don’t think just having it in Newcastle every year to the same set of fans is a great strategy, it either has to be done properly or not at all

[Chrispmartha]

2 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

IMG wanted to scrap this disaster but the SL chairmen refused. IMG were brought in to do what they were told by the chairmen to make it look like it was coming from an independent body who had no interest in the individual clubs.

The reality is though, that whatever IMG are getting paid, they are quite happy to di what they're told.

IMG haven’t got enough control to tell them what to do (rightly or wrongly) they can only make suggestions.

[Gooleboy]

42 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Further evidence that next year's rebrand of SL will be the Betfred Northern Union.

It is hard to be an RL fan living any further than 20 miles away from the M62. 

It feels very deliberate now. What a catastrophic strategy.

See also the recent call for u16s England Community Lions trials. Trial venues: Siddal, Pilkington Recs, St Benedicts (Whitehaven). I guess Cumbria is still a consideration, at least.

It's even harder being a RL fan living within 20 miles of the M62!

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

At this point, given the recent Tonga tour as well, it's right to ask: if the people in charge of RL were deliberately trying to run down rugby league, how would their event calendar, venue choices, match day experience etc look any different to what they are actually doing?

You missed out in the IMG era, now I know IMG wanted to scrap it but they are still involved or are they sulking in a corner instead of bringing the benefit of there vast superior knowledge of sports promotion that they are getting £450K/annum for, isn't it in their benefit to obtain good profits for their expected percentage?

[Fevrover]

52 minutes ago, meast said:

Either venue in Sheffield Wednesday or United would be a better option than Elland Road.

Just scrap it FFS.

Hillsborough is worse then Elland Road one or part of one stand is closed.

[glossop saint]

12 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

It's even harder being a RL fan living within 20 miles of the M62!

Absolute nonsense.

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

Yes 

IMG wanted to scrap it and the SL Chairman said no.

[Chrispmartha]

5 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

You missed out in the IMG era, now I know IMG wanted to scrap it but they are still involved or are they sulking in a corner instead of bringing the benefit of there vast superior knowledge of sports promotion that they are getting £450K/annum for, isn't it in their benefit to obtain good profits for their expected percentage?

IMG wanted to get rid of it, this is on the SL clubs and the RFL.

But you can carry on with your bogey man blaming if it makes you feel better.

[Dave T]

It's just so odd that the RFL keeps going for the 'safe option' of heartland events, yet this option usually returns worse crowds and less interest. 

We've seen it in the NR Cup, Summer Bash,  Internationals, yet it's as though people are incapable of learning. That isn't to say nothing should ever be staged in the heartlands, I'm not one who bashes the heartlands relentlessly, but it's clear there is no' safe option' in RL at all. 

Wherever it is, we really have to do the events well, and we just don't. Far from it. 

[whatmichaelsays]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

I can understand the cannibalisation point, but I don't think necessarily getting rid of Magic Weekend is the solution to that. 

Magic Weekend is unique in that it is an event for every SL fan. Everyone knows their team will be playing, it's a party they can feel part of. There are many people who just aren't interested in going to finals as neutrals, and this is your target market for Magic. It obviously should be stretching wider than that as being a tool to attract new people, groups, locals etc.

It really should have evolved into a full on festival by now, instead it's retracted to pretty much become six games and a pee up. 

Agree. 

Magic has the potential to be a brilliant opportunity, but it feels like the RFL hasn't ever really known what to do with ever since they were bunged some cash for the first one by the Welsh Tourist Board. I think this is why you have a lot of people placing unrealistic expectations around it being a vehicle for geographic expansion, then pointing to a lack of teams in Wales, Scotland etc and saying it's a failure. 

I'm with you in that, with a more customer-centric approach, Magic could have been sold as some sort of 'RL Glastonbury' type event that really sells all that our sport has to offer. It's one of the few ways in which you could sell the Men's, Women's, PDRL and Wheelchair sports without really being accused of trying to lump them all together, and Newcastle is actually a brilliant city for that - St James, Kingston Park, two arenas, and a city-centre park, all in one city and well-connected. 

I don't doubt that the RFL has financial pressures to deal with, but the way to respond to these - when what you're selling is an entertainment product - is not to retreat and try and deliver what you have as cheaply and cut-price as possible. We've been seeing this trend with RFL events throughout the years, but the Tonga series was perhaps the most obvious sign that the RFL had been phoning it in - and we've seen the real cost of that. 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by whatmichaelsays

[Harry Stottle]

29 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

The problem is, wherever it is held aren’t we just selling another event to the same supporter base?

No, what make's you think that Chris after all the WC matches West of the Pennines you could throw a blanket over the distance, and the recent Tonga series for the 2nd and 3rd test, they must be all of 20 miles apart the venues.

[Dovster]

It may be a very clever strategy to get more people to go to Wembley again.

[Harry Stottle]

7 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

IMG wanted to get rid of it, this is on the SL clubs and the RFL.

But you can carry on with your bogey man blaming if it makes you feel better.

Chris if you are paying an employee, and they had a certain expertise wouldn't you expect their assistance especially in that they are going to receive some of the profit- eventually.

 

[The Masked Poster]

I like Leeds and I don’t think Elland Rd is quite as bad as some make out, although the local area is no great shakes for sure. But this is effectively throwing the towel in without saying it out loud. It’s actually pathetic to be honest. As for blaming IMG, as I understood it, they declared that it would be scrapped but must have been overruled. 

I remember being away from home for 2-3 days attending most of the early Magic Weekends (Millennium Magic as it was originally called) but I could reasonably get a taxi to this and walk. Why bother? Seriously, why bother? It carries none of the original aim of MW, so let’s put it out of its misery. 
 

Oh for the days of “Next stop Barcelona”

[Chrispmartha]

6 minutes ago, Dovster said:

It may be a very clever strategy to get more people to go to Wembley again.

This is kind of the point of it being scrapped i think. 
 

The problem with Magic is ATEOTD it is just a round of SL fixtures, now personally I don’t think that’s enough of a selling point to a wider audience, Magic either needs fundamentally changing or scrapping.

[meast]

24 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Hillsborough is worse then Elland Road one or part of one stand is closed.

Which stand is closed at Hillsborough?

Only the uncovered corner section which doesn't have a safety certificate and has been used 2/3 times in 20 years is "closed".

The ground is in the heart of the community with pubs, clubs, and restaurants nearby in Hillsborough centre, there's a huge park next door to be able to host a fan park etc.

It's a tram ride from the city centre/meadowhall.

It's everything Elland Road isn't.

Edited November 21, 2023 by meast

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Chris if you are paying an employee, and they had a certain expertise wouldn't you expect their assistance especially in that they are going to receive some of the profit- eventually.

 

You don’t know what assistance has been asked for or given.

Spin it the other way round if your business had brought in a consultant (which is more relevant than employee) would you listen to them or just do what you were doing anyway, which is what has happened with Magic.

[gingerjon]

20 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

You missed out in the IMG era, now I know IMG wanted to scrap it but they are still involved or are they sulking in a corner instead of bringing the benefit of there vast superior knowledge of sports promotion that they are getting £450K/annum for, isn't it in their benefit to obtain good profits for their expected percentage?

I didn't miss out IMG. I don't believe in scapegoats.

[meast]

46 minutes ago, muckymunksy said:

IMG already killing game. 

IMG's proposal was to drop it, the clubs wanted to keep it.

Nothing to do with IMG this.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, meast said:

IMG's proposal was to drop it, the clubs wanted to keep it.

Nothing to do with IMG this.

It's entirely a clubs/RFL self-inflicted wound.

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, gingerjon said:

It's entirely a clubs/RFL self-inflicted wound.

But some supporters now have the perfect scapegoat, no matter what the facts are

[The 4 of Us]

My back garden would have been free if they’d asked. 

[Harry Stottle]

A suggestion, have two venues the same weekend, and I would near enough guarantee that there would be combined bigger crowds, one West of the Pennines one East, on the west we have Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Salford and Leigh add Catalan to that and we have 3 games, on the east, Hull FC and KR, Leeds, Huddersfield and Castleford add London and that is 3 games.

Sky still have the the weekend jamboree to broadcast over the two days, travelling not hard for the majority except London and Catalan but they would not bring many anyway, what's not to like, and as for selling to the same audience it is for many going to watch their own teams not internationals.

[MattSantos]

Ultimately, who made the decision and signed off?

 

I was at the 1st one in Cardiff. If only we'd have stayed there for 5 years and actually built something.

The sport in this country is a joke. It's governed by thickos.

Edited November 21, 2023 by MattSantos