RL COMMERCIAL managing director Rhodri Jones has explained the choice of venues for this autumn’s Ashes series.
“We looked at London, the north west and Yorkshire/north east (for the three games),” said Jones.
“It’s about the venue mix and the economics – how many tickets can you sell, stadium hire fees etc. You throw all that into the mix and come out with a schedule.
“We looked at London as our first base and we thought getting Wembley over the line was an iconic way to start the series in the capital.
“Then we had choices in the north west and in Yorkshire, and the north east as well we considered.
“We reached out to Everton knowing the new stadium was going to be ready and they were very warmly receptive from the start.
“We’ve had a relationship with Everton for a number of years – we looked at Magic there before we went to Anfield, for example, and Liverpool as a city have always been keen to host Rugby League internationals.
“They are two test events in now and we’ve been there twice, it’s a spectacular stadium. It’s not finished yet but I’m looking forward to going there when it is complete.
“Both of those are 50,000+ (capacity) stadia, which gave us some flexibility for Yorkshire and the north east.
“Headingley is steeped in history both from a Rugby League and a cricket perspective, and there’s a little bit of trying to help Shaun (Wane, head coach) because Headingley has been successful in each of the last two years in terms of finishing series (against Tonga and Samoa) off on a high.”
Jones has also explained the delay in announcing dates and venues, with a wait of five months since they first approached Australia about moving the Ashes north instead of playing in the southern hemisphere.
“We were going to Australia until October/early November time. We had a conversation with Peter (V’landys, Australian Rugby League Commission chairman) and Andrew (Abdo, NRL chief executive) and put in a request to consider swapping the Ashes tour.
“They responded positively, at which point it was up to us to try and make it work.
“It was probably early January we were 99.99 percent sure of the three venues. We’ve been having conversations with the broadcaster (BBC) at the same time.
“We set our target to announce on the Sunday after Las Vegas, there was a slight delay at the RLPA (the Australian player union) end in terms of getting approval for the tour schedule and number of games.
“It’s been five months of work, we wanted it to be a lot quicker but we’re delighted to now announce it.”
