Newcastle may not have seen the last of rugby league’s Magic Weekend with talks now in place to not only save the event but to extend its seven-year stay in the city.
The Rugby Football League last year agreed a partnership with strategic consultants IMG, a worldwide player in sport marketing, with a view to both growing and overhauling many aspects of the sport. As part of the early planning for a restructure of the sport which starts in 2024, the Magic Weekend was expected to end 15 years after the first hosting of the annual festival of rugby league which originated at Cardiff’s then Millennium Stadium in 2007.
The landscape appears to have changed in recent weeks and following a record opening day crowd of 36,943 on Saturday which was watched by IMG, representatives of Newcastle City Council and the sport’s governing body, Chronicle Live understands the event may now be saved and could well return to St James’ Park for an eighth time next year.
