A Sydney Magic Weekend

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I think the crowd today at the SCG was marvelous. For a stadium that dosent give the best view when it comes to Rugby League, it dose have something about it and I wasnt around when we had Grand Finals there.

In England, the Magic Weekend has been very successful. The 2 years in was in Wales and this year in Scotland. Although the crowds were lower then the average crowd sizes for a normal round, it was hailed as a sucess, especially in the terms of exposing the game to a new market.

What about holding 3 matches of the heritage round next year at the SCG for Sydney teams. A triple header at the SCG on a sunday would create alot of interest. Although it wouldnt necessarily expose the game to a new market, it would give more significance to the word Heritage. The Toyota cup could be played next door at the SFS.

We wouldnt need to much adjusting of scheduals, but one downer would be the possibility of having a twilight game on a Sunday. 12:30 1st game on fox, 3:00 2nd game on Channel 9 and at 6:00 a twilight game on Fox.

As far as im concerned, the only negatives I can see is the clubs probably wouldn't want to sacrifice a home game and Foxtel might not be willing for the twilight game. Also the fans might not stick around for the last game because the next day is a work day.

But it is these kinds of things we wish the NRL would publicly consider.

 

[parano1a]

The Sydney Swans would have to agree for this to occur.

 

[greenos]

what about the whole round played in sydney on a sunday

what a celebration that would be

1600 minutes of rugby league in 1 day.

Brilliant idea if you ask me

 

[sass]

today at the scg was AWESOME. that is all.

 

[lockyno1]

Suncorp maybe, not Sydney. It just won't work in Sydney.

 

[greenos]

Suncorp maybe, not Sydney. It just won't work in Sydney.

Nah

Sydney are begging for something like this.
I'm sick of one team city teams that can't even sell our their stadium.

 

[Angry_eel]

Whole point of magic weekend is to go to a new market. Maybe we can do a Perth magic weekend and test the waters.

 

[Frailty]

I quite like this idea of being a Heritage Round feature...

Souths V Tigers
Dragons V Bulldogs
Parramatta V Manly

All at the SCG replaying some of the best grand finals.

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Whole point of magic weekend is to go to a new market.

This is only a small part of the rationale, really. The vast majority (95% or so) of the fans that have attended the Magic Weekends in Wales and Scotland have been travelling supporters of Super League clubs. It makes the game some money and creates an "event" for television and the fans.

It works in England precisely because there is a greater culture of supporters travelling to away games and this provides them with a great weekend away watching football, getting together and drinking, etc... Yes, it has given the game exposure in new markets but if you relied on locals to mainly go then the concept would not have been a success at all - I think there were only around 4,000 tickets sold to locals at Edinburgh this year.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Suncorp maybe, not Sydney. It just won't work in Sydney.

Why wont it work in Sydney and it would in Suncorp?

I personally think that the Tigers vs Rabbitohs match had such a good attendance because it was built up pretty well. The whole advertisement was based around "Heritage". The ground, the teams, the jerseys, the name of the round. It was all built up on heritage. If the NRL really want to celebrate our heritage and not just introduce new products like jerseys to sell, then this would and should be considered.

I think that if the NRL could build a good match day experience, like before each match, show highlights of those teams rivalries at their best.

With Kograh selling out and the SCG getting a big crowd for the Tigers vs Rabbitohs. Add Manly and Parra in there and you have potentially a sell out crowd.

 

[meltiger]

The Sydney Swans would have to agree for this to occur.

The Swans only play there 8 weeks a year.

--------------------------------------------

I'll admit, I chose not to go to this years game because I hate the view, but result aside ... Today was a seriously good day for Rugby League. As has been noted in another thread.


The crowd is nothing short of sensational, along with the exciting nature of the match ... Well done to all involved at the Tigers and Souths, players, fans alike.


i would say, forget today's crowd .... If you play too many games there, the novelty wears off and you go back to stock standard crowds.


MAybe to be fairer though, spread the game around a touch. Play Parra, Canterbury there next year, Saints, Souths the year after. Maybe Saints, Tigers (Wearing Wests heritage strip) the year after that. That way the day is being spread around amongst the clubs, but overkill isn't occuring.