18th club, whose next?

[Pippen94]

Perth and Adelaide are preparing bids to attempt to take the NRL’s Magic Round from Brisbane.

Suncorp Stadium again hosted the marquee event this year and holds the rights for the 2024 edition. Queensland is keen to extend the relationship, but sources with knowledge of the situation speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the delicate negotiations, have told this masthead that competition will come from the Western Australian and South Australian governments from 2025 onwards.

The eyes of the NRL will turn to Perth on Saturday when Optus Stadium hosts a double-header which will have significant ramifications for the composition of the top eight. Up to 50,000 spectators are expected to attend the Dolphins-Knights and Rabbitohs-Sharks fixtures.

A strong turnout will boost Perth’s prospects of poaching Magic Round and earning an NRL license, although PNG are currently the frontrunners to become the competition’s 18th team. The WA government has been aggressive in attracting premium events to Optus Stadium; four Premier League soccer teams were hosted last year, two this year - including Ange Postecoglou’s first game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur last month - as well as State of Origin matches, Bledisloe Cup clashes, a cricket Test and two exclusive Coldplay shows in November.

Adelaide will also submit a strong pitch, having hosted the opening game of the Origin series this year, as well as successfully hosting the AFL’s inaugural Gather Round.

WA Rugby League chief executive John Sackson said the staging of a Magic Round in Perth would boost the state’s hopes of becoming the NRL’s 18th franchise.

“I would love to have Magic Round in this city, I think it would really go off,” Sackson said. “It would be a massive turning point for the code here. Perth is well and truly in the consideration for an 18th franchise when the powers that be choose for that to happen.

“Any event like this would enhance the chances for Perth and strengthen the foundations for the game here if Perth was to be awarded a franchise moving forward.

Papua New Guinea celebrate a try in their victory over Ireland at the Rugby League World Cup in 2017. The local fans may soon have much more to celebrate.
“The city would host an event like that really well, it would do a great job with it. It’s got the facilities, accommodation and all the other appeal. We saw with State of Origin here on two occasions the number of people who travelled across the country to come to Perth.

“Magic Round has even greater potential. It would attract a lot of people from the east coast and New Zealand, such would be the power of a Magic Round.”

Sackson said events such as the weekend’s double-header and, potentially, Magic Round shine a spotlight on the sport in Perth.

“They give us a more potent share in media voice and help win the hearts and minds of more parents and Western Australian boys and girls,” he said.

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“We want them to engage with rugby league and participate in it moving forward, hence growing the game.”

Magic Round has been held in Brisbane every year since its inception in 2019, although it was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. The event draws about 130,000 fans - almost half from interstate - over three days and has an estimated impact of about $28 million on the city.

Tourism Western Australia and South Australian Tourism Commission were contacted for comment.

The NRL has shown a willingness to take its showpiece events on the road. It’s become custom for one Origin game to be held outside of the heartland states of NSW and Queensland, at interstate locations including Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

The NRL last week announced that its grand final will remain in Sydney in 2023, but no agreement with the NSW Government has been struck beyond that. The governing body is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in suburban stadium upgrades in exchange for a long-term commitment to keep the decider in the harbour city.

Give them magic round. Save having to fund team

 

[The Great Dane]

Magic stays in Brisbane. Double/Triple headers sold to Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne (Marvel) &/or Auckland (Eden Park) if they’re interested.

Not making Magic Round open to tender makes absolutely no sense economically, from an events perspective, or as a marketing tool, and the same goes for most of the NRL's events.

Magic should either move around regularly or be done away with completely. These events should be open to everyone, not be allowed to be monopolised by a single city just because, and Brisbane can outbid competitors offers if they are serious about maintaining hosting rights for as long as possible.

 

[Perth Red]

Not making Magic Round open to tender makes absolutely no sense economically, from an events perspective, or as a marketing tool, and the same goes for most of the NRL's events.

Magic should either move around regularly or be done away with completely. These events should be open to everyone, not be allowed to be monopolised by a single city just because, and Brisbane can outbid competitors offers if they are serious about maintaining hosting rights for as long as possible.

Get the sense it’s a thank you for both support during covid and for the nrl stadiums they’ve built. Only logical reason they’d be continuing to gift it to qlnd at a cut price.

 

[Canard]

Get the sense it’s a thank you for both support during covid and for the nrl stadiums they’ve built. Only logical reason they’d be continuing to gift it to qlnd at a cut price.

That and that its the only stadium (Sydney included) that would get a consistently good crowd over the whole weekend.

There is no way this would occur in Adelaide or Perth.

As I've stated before, future expansion locations its better to have a double header, like they are doing in Vegas.

 

[MugaB]

That and that its the only stadium (Sydney included) that would get a consistently good crowd over the whole weekend.

There is no way this would occur in Adelaide or Perth.

As I've stated before, future expansion locations its better to have a double header, like they are doing in Vegas.

Or a magic round in Auckland

 

[The Great Dane]

Get the sense it’s a thank you for both support during covid and for the nrl stadiums they’ve built. Only logical reason they’d be continuing to gift it to qlnd at a cut price.

Nothing to do with any of that. It's weird how quickly people memory hole this stuff.

Magic Round came about because the NRL more or less promised the Qld gov that they'd hand them the GF hosting rights if NSW pulled out of the deal to knockdown rebuild ANZ. As we all know NSW pulled out of that deal, but the NRL backflipped on their threat to strip them of the GF hosting rights. That put Qld's nose out of joint, so the NRL threw together Magic to placate them.

Now Qld, and Qlders it seems, think that Magic is 'their' event and that it should stay in Brisbane in perpetuity, as proven by the Qld govs recent insulting offer of $2mil a year for 10 years for hosting rights. In other words they're entitled and take it for granted, which is bad for the NRL when negotiating with them, and it's not in the NRL's interest for Magic to stay put anyway, so show them who really owns it and sell the rights to the highest bidder on a yearly basis.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Not making Magic Round open to tender makes absolutely no sense economically, from an events perspective, or as a marketing tool, and the same goes for most of the NRL's events.

Magic should either move around regularly or be done away with completely. These events should be open to everyone, not be allowed to be monopolised by a single city just because, and Brisbane can outbid competitors offers if they are serious about maintaining hosting rights for as long as possible.

Greenberg introducee Magic Round to appease the Queensland Gov after f**king them around over the GF.

Taking it away from Brisbane would be a huge "f**k you" and anger the Queensland Gov.

Nothing to do with any of that. It's weird how quickly people memory hole this stuff.

Magic Round came about because the NRL more or less promised the Qld gov that they'd hand them the GF hosting rights if NSW pulled out of the deal to knockdown rebuild ANZ. As we all know NSW pulled out of that deal, but the NRL backflipped on their threat to strip them of the GF hosting rights. That put Qld's nose out of joint, so the NRL threw together Magic to placate them.

Now Qld, and Qlders it seems, think that Magic is 'their' event and that it should stay in Brisbane in perpetuity, as proven by the Qld govs recent insulting offer of $2mil a year for 10 years for hosting rights. In other words they're entitled and take it for granted, which is bad for the NRL when negotiating with them, and it's not in the NRL's interest for Magic to stay put anyway, so show them who really owns it and sell the rights to the highest bidder on a yearly basis.

Adelaide and Perth don't have a world class rectangular stadium to host the event. Holding rugby league games at ovals kills the atmosphere. The cost of flying from Sydney to Brisbane is much cheaper than flying from Sydney to Perth. All of this has to be taken into consideration when staging events like this.

You cannot blame Queenslanders for believing this is "our" event. It was given to us specifically because the NRL wouldn't give us the GF. Taking it away would set the game back up here.

 

[Bukowski]

Nothing to do with any of that. It's weird how quickly people memory hole this stuff.

Magic Round came about because the NRL more or less promised the Qld gov that they'd hand them the GF hosting rights if NSW pulled out of the deal to knockdown rebuild ANZ. As we all know NSW pulled out of that deal, but the NRL backflipped on their threat to strip them of the GF hosting rights. That put Qld's nose out of joint, so the NRL threw together Magic to placate them.

Now Qld, and Qlders it seems, think that Magic is 'their' event and that it should stay in Brisbane in perpetuity, as proven by the Qld govs recent insulting offer of $2mil a year for 10 years for hosting rights. In other words they're entitled and take it for granted, which is bad for the NRL when negotiating with them, and it's not in the NRL's interest for Magic to stay put anyway, so show them who really owns it and sell the rights to the highest bidder on a yearly basis.

You run the risk of killing it though. I don't think it would be a popular anywhere else.

 

[Perth Red]

Greenberg introducee Magic Round to appease the Queensland Gov after f**king them around over the GF.

Taking it away from Brisbane would be a huge "f**k you" and anger the Queensland Gov.



Adelaide and Perth don't have a world class rectangular stadium to host the event. Holding rugby league games at ovals kills the atmosphere. The cost of flying from Sydney to Brisbane is much cheaper than flying from Sydney to Perth. All of this has to be taken into consideration when staging events like this.

You cannot blame Queenslanders for believing this is "our" event. It was given to us specifically because the NRL wouldn't give us the GF. Taking it away would set the game back up here.

Sports events are showing more sports fans are willing to travel, sports tourism has become big business. Yes it’s cheaper for fans to keep in cities close to each other, but that won’t stop them Travelling in big numbers anyway. They’ve also showed they are more than happy to fill ovals regardless of what you feel about ‘atmosphere’.

I have no problem with it staying in Brisbane, as long as they are paying market price for the privilege.

 

[The Great Dane]

You run the risk of killing it though. I don't think it would be a popular anywhere else.

From the hosts point of view the whole point of events such as Magic is to attract tourist, and for most part those tourist are just as likely to travel to e.g. Melbourne as they are Brisbane.

 

[Perth Red]

From the hosts point of view the whole point of events such as Magic is to attract tourist, and for most part those tourist are just as likely to travel to e.g. Melbourne as they are Brisbane.

Be interesting to know how many individuals actually buy tickets in brisbane for it?
reckon you’d have no problems getting 30k locals and 20-30k travelling fans to it.

 

[The Great Dane]

Greenberg introducee Magic Round to appease the Queensland Gov after f**king them around over the GF.

Taking it away from Brisbane would be a huge "f**k you" and anger the Queensland Gov.

Nothing is free, and it's not the NRL's fault that the Qld gov (or NSW for that matter) feels entitled to cheap or free premium RL content.

Qld and NSW can pay what it's worth on the open market if they want to continue hosting it, just like everybody else is expected to do if they want to host RL events.

Adelaide and Perth don't have a world class rectangular stadium to host the event. Holding rugby league games at ovals kills the atmosphere. The cost of flying from Sydney to Brisbane is much cheaper than flying from Sydney to Perth. All of this has to be taken into consideration when staging events like this.

Currently there's no incentive for those states to invest in better rectangular infrastructure, and the only power the NRL has to change that is if they stop locking them out of sport.

The only way you'll get that kind of investment in rectangular infrastructure in VIC, WA, SA, even TAS, the NT, even the ACT, is if it's worth their while, and the incentive of permeant tenants and the opportunity to host major events such as Magic, SOO, the GF, All Stars, Nines, etc, is the only way the NRL can go about that.

The NRL could, and should, negotiate investment into stadia and other infrastructure into their contracts with those states just like they do with Qld and NSW.

You cannot blame Queenslanders for believing this is "our" event. It was given to us specifically because the NRL wouldn't give us the GF. Taking it away would set the game back up here.

I absolutely can blame them for that because it's an unbelievably entitled and deluded position to take.

Magic isn't Qld's, it's the NRL's and RL community's, and nobody ever promised Qld that they could host it on mates rates in perpetuity. NRL shouldn't be humouring these kinds of attitudes in either Qld or NSW, as not only is it bad for business, but it's bad for the game, and so be it if Qld and/or NSW wants to have a sook about it.

 

[The Great Dane]

Be interesting to know how many individuals actually buy tickets in brisbane for it?
reckon you’d have no problems getting 30k locals and 20-30k travelling fans to it.

I reckon it's more likely to be 30k from SEQ than Brisbane alone, and I reckon that you wouldn't get far off that in most other major cities if you had good lead in time and promoted it well, which I admit is an area that the NRL traditionally struggles.

Sydney's probably the exception. It would probably draw a larger local audience from the surrounding regions based on population and interest alone.

 

[Pippen94]

Be interesting to know how many individuals actually buy tickets in brisbane for it?
reckon you’d have no problems getting 30k locals and 20-30k travelling fans to it.

Give Perth a magic round. Save money funding doomed expansion..

 

[Pippen94]

I reckon it's more likely to be 30k from SEQ than Brisbane alone, and I reckon that you wouldn't get far off that in most other major cities if you had good lead in time and promoted it well, which I admit is an area that the NRL traditionally struggles.

Sydney's probably the exception. It would probably draw a larger local audience from the surrounding regions based on population and interest alone.

Yeah, tell me how u came to that figure??

 

[Pippen94]

Bris 3 is the 18th team. End of argument

 

[mongoose]

Bris 3 is the 18th team. End of argument

well laid out argument, you've really convinced us

 

[Pneuma]

well laid out argument, you've really convinced us

He’s only interested in flaming

 

[MugaB]

Bris 3 is the 18th team. End of argument

QLD5 is the 18th team, it is Not the same thing...

 

[Bukowski]

From the hosts point of view the whole point of events such as Magic is to attract tourist, and for most part those tourist are just as likely to travel to e.g. Melbourne as they are Brisbane.

Would they? Personally I wouldn't be going to melb in the middle of winter for footy.