Magic Weekend 2019 - Suncorp

[Rooster8]

Pretty sure those 38k people paid to attend, if they did get a freebie I want my money back!

You got a new stadium, a doubled header, a SOO, what else do you want? Country NSW/QLD doesn't even get that lol

 

[Perth Red]

I think it also was a bit of a political trade off with the Queensland Government for not taking the Grand Final to Brisbane whilst ANZ is refurbished.

What was the trade?
Better rent for queensland teams? nq stadiium agreement?

 

[kbw]

What no Tuesday games ?

 

[Big Salad]

The State Government/Brisbane City Council paid for and have a multi-year contract to have the Magic Round in Brisbane, so it will likely not just be for 2019.

 

[The Great Dane]

What was the trade?
Better rent for queensland teams? nq stadiium agreement?

There was no trade, it was however wholly political.

The NRL made a bunch of threats and promises to the NSW gov, QLD gov, and to a lesser extent the Vic gov while negotiating their stadium deal in NSW and the GF hosting rights, without going into to much detail they and NSW gov basically broke all of their promises and the NRL failed to follow through on all of their threats, and in the process of doing that the QLD gov (and to a lesser extent Vic gov) got completely screwed, so to make it up to them the NRL knicked the Magic Weekend from the SL and gave it to the QLD gov.

The really sad thing is that the NRL had the best negotiating position in the discussions, from where they were sitting they should have been able to get a good outcome almost no matter what they did, but they basically bent over and let the NSW gov have their way with them and as such completely ballsed the negotiations so badly that they basically got none of the outcomes that they wanted and pissed everybody off in the process.

 

[T-Boon]

The State Government/Brisbane City Council paid for and have a multi-year contract to have the Magic Round in Brisbane, so it will likely not just be for 2019.

I hope not, it should be good. I haven't been to an NRL game in 2 years because they are pretty boring and not worth the hassle, but next season I will look seriously at heading up for this event. I think there would be a lot of people thinking that way.

 

[Warriors Fever]

I hope not, it should be good. I haven't been to an NRL game in 2 years because they are pretty boring and not worth the hassle, but next season I will look seriously at heading up for this event. I think there would be a lot of people thinking that way.

Do you have a team?
You are right. I haven’t travelled interstate to watch the warriors yet (excluding 2 nz trips and the odd trip down to Canberra or Newcastle) but the prospect of going with a bunch of mates to watch all our teams has me plenty excited.

 

[Captain Apollo]

There was no trade, it was however wholly political.

The NRL made a bunch of threats and promises to the NSW gov, QLD gov, and to a lesser extent the Vic gov while negotiating their stadium deal in NSW and the GF hosting rights, without going into to much detail they and NSW gov basically broke all of their promises and the NRL failed to follow through on all of their threats, and in the process of doing that the QLD gov (and to a lesser extent Vic gov) got completely screwed, so to make it up to them the NRL knicked the Magic Weekend from the SL and gave it to the QLD gov.

The really sad thing is that the NRL had the best negotiating position in the discussions, from where they were sitting they should have been able to get a good outcome almost no matter what they did, but they basically bent over and let the NSW gov have their way with them and as such completely ballsed the negotiations so badly that they basically got none of the outcomes that they wanted and pissed everybody off in the process.

Yep, and in the process I think this "magic weekend" will wind up being a complete dud crowd wise. It works in the UK because it is possible to drive or catch a train to the games from nearby and it only takes a couple of hours for many of the clubs. Here it takes a couple of hours by plane for most people to get there. Add in accommodation costs and the like and I can see this being a crowd disaster for many of the games.

In some respects I hope I'm wrong, but you can't just copy something from another league blindly unless you understands why it works in that league, and the relative closeness of where most clubs are is why.

As such doing this after bending over backwards to the NSW Government just makes the NRL look even weaker. No State Government is going to take any threat from their admin seriously as they know the NRL will go to water faster than Aquaman.

 

[T-Boon]

In some respects I hope I'm wrong, but you can't just copy something from another league blindly unless you understands why it works in that league, and the relative closeness of where most clubs are is why.

You have to give credit to the NRL for giving this a go. I mean crowds are a laugh anyway. What are we risking here, a couple of 8000 crowds somewhere? Big deal, give it a go.

 

[T-Boon]

Do you have a team?

Yeah, my team is Parra. It isn't just the fact we are crap that keeps me from going it is also that an NRL game/crowd is depressing in my opinion. It is anything but an event.
This Magic Weekend hopefully addresses that. Hopefully they get a bunch of things going around the city making it a big event.

 

[Perth Red]

Yep, and in the process I think this "magic weekend" will wind up being a complete dud crowd wise. It works in the UK because it is possible to drive or catch a train to the games from nearby and it only takes a couple of hours for many of the clubs. Here it takes a couple of hours by plane for most people to get there. Add in accommodation costs and the like and I can see this being a crowd disaster for many of the games.

In some respects I hope I'm wrong, but you can't just copy something from another league blindly unless you understands why it works in that league, and the relative closeness of where most clubs are is why.

As such doing this after bending over backwards to the NSW Government just makes the NRL look even weaker. No State Government is going to take any threat from their admin seriously as they know the NRL will go to water faster than Aquaman.

I guess it will be a test of how many RL fans are in the Brisbane region beyond Broncos fans, if the nrl get imaginative with ticketing it could be ok, ie anyone buying a ticket to Friday night gets 50% discount on Saturday and Sunday prices. Thursday is going to be terrible regardless.

 

[The Great Dane]

Yeah, my team is Parra. It isn't just the fact we are crap that keeps me from going it is also that an NRL game/crowd is depressing in my opinion. It is anything but an event.
This Magic Weekend hopefully addresses that. Hopefully they get a bunch of things going around the city making it a big event.

There's a massive failure in logic here!

'NRL games aren't events, so instead of actually doing something about it by improving the game day experience of all NRL games lets play a whole round of them at one venue once a year and hopefully that'll make them all events again'.......

Even ignoring the massive failure in logic for a moment that is at best a band-aid (and not a very effective one at that).

Generally I find that the average NRL game's lack of an "event" feel to it and failure to attract people to keep coming back comes down to two things, a total reliance on the performance of the team to attract huge parts of the fan base, and lack of production value, on average if you fixed those things you'd largely fix the problem, but doing that isn't easy and it could be very expensive (at first), so like always instead of actually tackling the problem and fixing it everybody will pay it lips service in the hope that it'll go away so they don't have to be inconvenienced with changing things to address the problem.

 

[Warriors Fever]

Yeah, my team is Parra. It isn't just the fact we are crap that keeps me from going it is also that an NRL game/crowd is depressing in my opinion. It is anything but an event.
This Magic Weekend hopefully addresses that. Hopefully they get a bunch of things going around the city making it a big event.

Going to anz feels like a chore and going to watch a game shouldn’t feel like that. I feel you

 

[siv]

Can clubs sue the NRL for season ending injuries on the chopped up ground especially if it rains ?

As a season ticket holder I feel cheated out of a home game

Between Thu Fri 6pm and now this - buying a season ticket is no longer worth it

 

[Canard]

Can clubs sue the NRL for season ending injuries on the chopped up ground especially if it rains ?

As a season ticket holder I feel cheated out of a home game

Between Thu Fri 6pm and now this - buying a season ticket is no longer worth it

Surely season ticket pricing will just be proportional to the number of home games?

It's not like Sydney clubs don't take games away already.

 

[T-Boon]

There's a massive failure in logic here!

'NRL games aren't events, so instead of actually doing something about it by improving the game day experience of all NRL games lets play a whole round of them at one venue once a year and hopefully that'll make them all events again'.......

I never said it would make other NRL games an event (or at least I don't think I did), just that the Magic Round itself will be an event.

and lack of production value,

what do you mean by this?

 

[siv]

Surely season ticket pricing will just be proportional to the number of home games?

It's not like Sydney clubs don't take games away already.

Nope you will find they keep charging the same or 5-10% more each year

For less and less game content

Dont forget this us on top of the removal of NYC last year

 

[Uncle Kraka]

When do tickets go on sale for this?

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

I hope not, it should be good. I haven't been to an NRL game in 2 years because they are pretty boring and not worth the hassle, but next season I will look seriously at heading up for this event. I think there would be a lot of people thinking that way.

I'll be up. I know the Auckland Nines is defunct now but I've been a few times and apart from the actual games, all the side events through Auckland, all the fans of all clubs in their jerseys all over the city.. It was really a special event. I'd suggest this will be something similar if they get the promotion right - which i reckon they will.

 

[T-Boon]

I'd suggest this will be something similar if they get the promotion right - which i reckon they will.

What they really need is for the clubs to support it, unlike basically every other thing the NRL has ever tried to do (such as the Nines)....just wait for the negative Gould articles encouraging his Panthers fans not to go.