Magic Weekend labelled a ‘success’ as ‘doubters proven wrong’ at Elland Road

Rugby League Commercial Managing Director Rhodri Jones has labelled Magic Weekend 2024 a ‘success’, despite a new grim attendance record being set.

Across the weekend at Elland Road, the 17th edition of the Super League event drew a crowd of 53,103.

That is the second-lowest attended edition ever, ahead of only the 2010 instalment, which came in Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

And it officially brought the lowest single-day attendance at a Magic Weekend ever, with only 22,293 heading in through the gates on Sunday.

Notably, the overall attendance was more than 10,000 lower than last year’s edition up in Newcastle at St James’ Park.

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RL Commercial chief labels Elland Road experiment a ‘success’ despite grim attendance record

Despite those alarming figures though, Jones insists the weekend in Leeds was a success. The RL Commercial chief appeared on Sky Sports in the closing stages of the broadcaster’s coverage on Sunday.

Speaking to Sky’s pitchside reporter Jenna Brooks following the final game of the weekend between Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers, he said: “We’ve had a successful weekend with over 50,000 people here.

“Over 30,000 were in yesterday, and we had over 20,000 in for the first game (between London Broncos and Hull FC), which we think is a record.

“We’ve ceraintly hit metrics in terms of attendance and we hope we’ve given the Sky Sports viewers entertainment across the six games.

“I think we’ve proved some of the doubters wrong with the fact that we’ve got over 50,000 here across the weekend.

“I know when we announced Elland Road, it was not seen to be the right venue. I appreciate it’s not a destination venue, which we know our fans like.

“Nevertheless, we’ve had 50,000 people here over the weekend, we’ve done well commercially.”

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‘We knew the 60,000 we had up at St James’ Park was unrealistic’

Jones pointed towards targets set in-house by RL Commercial before the event began that were ultimately met to back up his belief the event was a success.

He continued: “The target was about 50,000 if I’m being honest.

“Understanding the layout of the stadium (Elland Road), it’s smaller than Newcastle, so we knew the 60,000 we had up at St James’ Park was probably unrealistic.

“For us, over 50,000 was always going to be a positive.

“We look across various metrics (to measure success), and clearly, there’s a commercial element to it.

“Is the weekend profitable? The answer is yes to that.

“Do we service our broadcast contract? Yes. Do we service our commercial partners? Yes.

“Do you have the ability to commercialise the weekend more? Absolutely, and that’s something that’s missing at this moment in time, but we’re realistic about it. That’s something that we’ve got to keep working hard at.

“Do we provide the players with a platform to play in front of big crowds? Yes we do.

“In terms of all that, that’s why I’m saying it’s been a success.”

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Jones doesn’t rule out Elland Road return in 2025

The big question on everybody’s lips is when and where Magic Weekend will take place next year, with Jones already confirming to LoveRugbyLeague last week that the event would remain in the calendar despite suggestions it would be removed.

Surprisingly though, he hasn’t ruled out a return to Elland Road – with the venue among those in the discussion for 2025.

Jones detailed: “At the moment, we are in discussions with some other venues and Elland Road as well.

“We know the fan feedback is destination venue, so we’ve got to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together and come up with a solution.

“We have a good relationship here (Elland Road), they’ve hosted matches for us historically, so the relationship is good.

“We’ve proved to them that we are an event worth having, for them and for us as well.

“Newcastle, we’ve been there for seven years, so clearly there’s a live conversation there.

We’ve opened the batting with Nottingham, with Cardiff, we could discuss about Dublin and who knows? In the future, Paris might be an option.”

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