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.
Read more: Magic Weekend 2023 LIVE: Updates as Rugby League fans descend on St James' Park
Super League clubs are believed to be keen to see the event return, with Newcastle the preferred destination. With estimates of £6-8m injected into the local economy from the event, both Newcastle United Football Club and the local council are happy to hold talks in the coming days, with a suggestion a decision will be taken before the end of June.
One stumbling block is the availability of St James’ Park. The RFL are moving its showpiece Challenge Cup final back in the calendar to June in 2024, meaning a new date needs to be found for Magic Weekend, with that date likely to be earlier in the year to avoid being staged too close to Super League’s end-of-season Grand Final which is held at Old Trafford in early October each year.
Newcastle United are happy to stage the event at the conclusion of the football season before work on the St James’ Park pitch takes place each summer, but would no doubt be less keen to host six games of rugby league over a weekend during the football season.
Another potential issue is the RFL’s eagerness to get a better deal from the council and local stakeholders.
“I’d like to say thanks to the fans for coming with all the travel disruptions and other events happening. It’s been a successful weekend for us and what we will do now is an assessment with stakeholder feedback,” Rhodri Jones, the RFL’s chief commercial officer told the Chronicle.
“We will look at the profitability and validity of the event over the next few weeks. The biggest challenge we may have is the availability of the city and availability of the stadium. Newcastle are a Champions League club now and we have some hurdles to overcome to put the weekend on but you can’t get away from how great the weekend was. We are certainly looking at it again for next year.
“What a great host city this is. The football club have been great partners. They are changing and evolving by virtue of their ownership and Champions League football, so they are changing but they very much like this weekend.
“They could have had a music event this weekend like they have next week, but we are here because they value this partnership as do the council. We have to do the right commercial deal with the council and the stadium to make this work. While the council do support us, we think we have the right and ability to go and ask for a better financial deal from the collective if we are to hold the event next year.”
With an accelerated timescale as the sport’s governing body and clubs seek clarity on a fixture schedule for 2024 to be confirmed before the end of the summer, the future of both the Magic Weekend event and Newcastle’s continuing history with it should be known soon.
On and off the pitch the 2023 staging proved to be a big hit once again, with supporters praising the welcome from the city and key local stakeholders delighted with the influx of fans and importantly, their behaviour in the city centre.
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