Ranking the 9 best locations to SAVE Magic Weekend with Elland Road disaster doomed to fail

Magic Weekend will remain in the calendar in 2025, as exclusively revealed by Love Rugby League earlier this week. But the likelihood of the event being on the move again seems certain.

Elland Road will draw one of the lowest crowds in Magic history this week and the chief of RL Commercial, Rhodri Jones, has admitted that a ‘destination venue’ is on the agenda for 2025.

So let’s get creative. Let’s get bold. Because if not, Magic – one of the best inventions Super League has ever come up with (if the NRL steal your ideas, you know you’ve done something right) – is going to wilt away and disappear. That can’t happen. Here’s your list of destination venues that could change it forever, ranked from worst to best.

9. Elland Road (Leeds)

Stop this madness. We shouldn’t even be including it, in fairness. Unless your postcode begins with LS and therefore means you don’t have far to travel for a Leeds Rhinos home game, there’s literally no real reason Magic should be in any city where there’s an existing Super League side.

8. Anfield (Liverpool)

Meh. It was okay when it was there in 2019, it’s been redeveloped but.. come on, we can do better than this, can’t we?

7. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)

Anyone who went to the 2022 Challenge Cup Final, although it wasn’t Wembley, would have probably loved the occasion of big-time sport inside a literally world-class sporting venue.

There are downsides to this; London is reserved for cup final weekend, so that would mean two sets of fans going down twice in a few months. But if it’s a wonderful spectacle you want, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could provide it.

6. The City Ground (Nottingham)

If we’re doing England, let’s at least try not to do the heartlands, okay? So with that in mind, Nottingham could be a credible shout for a summer Magic Weekend.

The City Ground has plenty going on around it, Nottingham itself is a bustling and thriving city and it’s a venue that with a capacity of just over 30,000, might seem small: but would sell out. And if demand outstrips supply.. that can only be a good thing.

5. Nou Camp (Barcelona)

Again, we’ve been here before – so why don’t we go back?

Summer in Barcelona with all 12 clubs competing in one of the most iconic stadia in the entire world? Might be logistically trickier than some of the others on this list: but Wigan and Catalans showed it could be done. If you host it in the summer away from the football season, it’s possible.

4. Johan Cruyff Arena (Amsterdam)

Hey look, we’re already trying the whole let’s crack rugby league in the Netherlands vibe next year anyway, courtesy of Hull KR and York Knights taking a pre-season game out there.

It’s a short flight (or a direct Eurostar train from London) and is easily accessible. Anyone for a weekend away in Amsterdam?

3. Parc des Princes (Paris)

Ambitious? Perhaps. Exciting? Obviously.

Let’s get a real nostalgia trip organised by reliving the glory year(s) of Paris Saint-Germain and take Super League’s biggest event just over the Channel. Paris loves sport of all kinds: we’ve just seen that with the Olympics. They’d love Magic Weekend.

2. St James’ Park (Newcastle)

The spiritual home of Magic Weekend, whether you like it or not. If Magic is going ‘back’ anywhere in 2025, it’s going back to Newcastle. The local authorities adore the event because it provides extra revenue in the gap between football seasons, and with St James’ Park undergoing renovation work outside to install new fanzones, it could be bigger and better next year.

But if you want to move somewhere new, there’s one option which stands out.

1. Aviva Stadium (Dublin)

Do it. Make us dream. Give the event the biggest shot in the arm it’s ever had by moving it overseas, but literally close enough that it would take most league fans less time to commute there by air than it would to get to most other Magic Weekends by car.

Dublin, all 12 Super League clubs, a world-class stadium and an unbelievable backdrop of culture and entertainment. It’s literally the perfect place for an event like this.

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