This would be so obviously a positive enhancement to the RL calendar, I thought it was worth it's own thread.

I'd have low ticket prices like for the recent Huddersfield v Leeds CC match and the Magic Weekend. This maybe wouldn't be so universally popular, but I'd also suggest offering free entrance to Arsenal season ticket holders.

Not a bad idea, though maybe use the Olympic Stadium instead?

Fans won't go for it.

We can't fill the HJ for a semi final between 2 of the game's biggest clubs when it's just down the road, there isn't an appetite for cup games other than the finals.

Only problem with that would be the distance from the pitch (like Don Valley).

Emirates sounds a good idea tbh and the double header would be a good idea. Reduced ticket prices would potentially encourage neutrals to travel.

Really?

I'm a big fan of the game developing, the Magic weekend has been brilliant the last 2 years, as it was in 2011 in Cardiff IMO, but I don't see a future for this.

Not for all the tea in China would I go to London to watch 4 teams try and get to the Cup Final if 1 of them wasn't Wigan, even if the tickets were free. Too much is being asked of the fans to travel at the moment. Leeds and Wire went to Wembley and OT last year, neither of which are a cheap day out. Throw in another trip to London a month or so before the final and it's taking the fans for granted.

Not against the idea of a double header per se, but it shouldn't be held in London.

no thanks.

would be a shocking attendance.

Probably the best stadium in Britain after Wembley (I inc Millenium in that before anyone asks). If we are to use it maybe for a Magic weekend but not the CC Semis. It is only on the end of the train line for Yorkshire clubs and London. We have the final in London a month later so would be asking far too much for fans. The locals won't be that interested even with tickets at a fiver. 10000 in there would be lost imo.

By all means have a double header in Yorkshire / Lancashire but not in London

Probably go with this.
Perhaps re worse this around:

Magic Weekend at Arsenal (is that allowed since we can't alliterate the M like Millennium/Murrayfield/Manchester Magic?!)
CC Semi Final Double Header at Man City.

Best of both worlds then. I think asking clubs' fans to go to London twice in such a short space if time is what would kill off the idea. A double header though would be great.

Not sure London would be the best place for it, especially with the final not long after . Can see the reasoning behind a double header at a neutral stadium though. I think Anfield or Bramall Lane would be better.

I think having all four games in first round of the play-offs over a weekend at somewhere like St James Park would be good as well.

I’ve said before, the game needs to sell itself, building around a few tent-pole events really does help us do that. The Magic Weekend, the GF, the CC final, are our current ones, lets start the play-offs with a bang with another, look to a heritage round somewhere in there, Carry on building the tradition with the easter weekend. The game seems to have forgotten it not only needs to sell itself to sponsors and corporates and tv companies (which don’t get me wrong, its very very very important) but it also has nearly 200 events a year it needs to sell to the public.

eMirates Magic?

Surely if the Magic Weekend is to continue, it should be in London? I think the concept is great, but wasn't the whole idea of it to expand the game beyond the heartlands? I'm absolutely astounded that they haven't taken it there already what with all the noises about developing the game's presence in the capital.

Beltin idea , if you want the clubs and the RFL to lose money on playing in the semi final of the cup

The cost of renting would take all your gate reciepts

How much is it?

Agreed a double header up north is something that could be looked at Elland road, the Reebok possibly.

is this A JOKE?

We can't fill Widnes for a Semi....NO NO NO! Nobody would go!

Its expensive enough at the moment for fans getting to their own grounds....If the powers that be want to do this...do it local...Reebok, Anfield, Etihad etc etc....NOT LONDON!

No, no, no.

What planet are some people living on? CC crowds have been on the decline for years, we can't even sell out heartland grounds for semis between our biggest clubs - and you want to take the games to a 60,000 capacity ground in the ar5e end of London?

Never mind the cost of travel, food, drink and perhaps hotels - what is the point? Puurrleaasee don't give me any crap about promoting the game - as the Magic weekends have shown, locals don't give a toss and very few will attend, and the media don't care. You'd just have a terrible crowd looking lost in an enormous stadium. Again.

Stupid ideas seems to be theme of the month. Deary me.

As others have alluded to, as it is too much "extra" cost already comes at the back end of the season. Fans are expected to shell out for CC semi and final, 3 rounds of playoffs and the GF all within a couple of months. For me the structuring of the cup needs altering before we even think about changing the location of the games. This ridiculous gap between the 5R and the QF means the appetite for the cup isn't sustained IMO. This has been proven with the poor crowd figures for QFs and SFs even when the bigger teams are playing against each other in moderately-sized stadia.

FWIW I think something like this would only work if it was replacing the current Magic Weekend, not on top of it. 2 double headers for the QFs, one Saturday and one Sunday.

Which would then remove potentially half the SL clubs from the MW

If it aint broke , dont fix it

RL [ well SL and its clubs/players currently has 5/6 ' Event ' matches during the season depending on how many Exile games they have , that is enough for the time being , leave it alone , attempt to build what you have instead of diluting them by adding more

When they are all selling out , then and only then look again

Bit too much asking fans to travel to London for the Semis then the Final, the idea is good but would need to be Midlands in my opinion to get a decent crowd.

Maybe Kingpower Stadium, Ricoh Arena, Brittania Stadium or City Ground ??

Magic weekend, CC FInal, Catalans away (twice or thrice depending on your luck in the CC & play offs) and now you want another expensive London trip. There is a limit to what fans can afford.

I agree with the "if it aint broke, don't fix it" opinion to a certain extent, but at the minute I don't feel the Magic Weekend serves any real purpose apart from a day/weekend out for the fans. It adds an extra fixture to the league table and means you play one team 3 times. All I was saying is I think the idea of the OP is a complete non-starter, I don't think the fans would want an extra trip to London adding to the fixture calendar. I think a compromise between the 2, playing double headers for the cup QFs in place of the MW in it's current format, still provides a weekend away for 8 sets of fans, adds more "worth" to the MW and would go some way to increasing the poor attendances we are currently seeing in the CC.

I mentioned in the Magic Weekend - why? thread that I would be more than happy with the RFL keeping the MW as it is. I was merely suggesting an alternative format which I think would go someway to solving some of the issues people have with it currently.

Is that such a bad thing?

People have got hung up on the "expansion" argument, purely because the first few were in Wales and Scotland. Expansion may have been an additional fringe goal / benefit of MW in the early years but I don't believe it was the primary motivator for creating the event. (A sweatner from the Welsh tourism board, IMO, had more to do with that).

As things stand, we have a calendar event that generates plenty of discussion, earns us wall-to-wall TV coverage for a full weekend and (judging by the discussion on here, the most pesimistic of places at the best of times) a lot of positive sentiment about the game at a time when it sorely needs it. Isn't that "purpose" in itself?

One good thing about the magic weekend is it gets far more coverage than a normal round of superleague.

60,000 ground a double header. Double headers don't work you get one lot in for the first game and few fans from game 2 join it during the 2nd half of game one. Game one fans bugger off at the end of game one. Most of game two fans enter. Leaving at most 15,000 during the game.

you only have to look at the magic weekend to see this.

I would have the semi-finals both staged in Blackpool every year on Saturday and Sunday on the same weekend.

Great location not too far from the heartlands.
Already hosts a big RL game each year.
Could sell 'weekend' tickets just like the magic weekend which would encourage people going for the weekend to attend both games.
18k is the perfect next step in capacity for recent figures. Too high and the stadium will be empty, but decent priced tickets could see fantastic crowds and another 'festival' event for fans to attend. Even if both games get 12k.... its better than what we have now.

You also have the advantage of knowing when the games are and on what day before the 1/4 final, fans could walk away from the stadium planning for the semi-final without having to wait for a venue to be announced along with ticket prices etc.

Blackpool would get my vote for the semi-final everyday of the week. It would be a fantastic weekend for all rugby league fans.

Another bright idea to give the magic weekend a boost, allow the grand finalists from the previous season in the championship to open the weekend. I'm sure Fax, Fev, Leigh etc. would love a trip to the Etihad if their team qualified through getting to the Grand Final. Everybody wins.