Quote ="RDM"Couldn't agree more. As nice a city as Edinburgh is & the relatively short distance from Murrayfield to the city centre, the fact that the Millennium Stadium is in the middle of Cardiff makes it a great venue for all the teams playing in the same place over a weekend.
While I've nothing against Manchester (despite it being on the dark side of the hill!!!
) I struggle to see the benefit that RL gets as a sport by holding the Magic Weekend at a venue in the sport's heartland. IMHO the weekend needs to be held at a stadium that is less than 5 minutes walk from the city centre and is outside of the heartland. I accept that this means higher travel and accommodation costs for the fans, but I think it will be better for spreading the sport to a wider audience.'"
Manchester isn't really the sport's heartlands though is it? The benefit of Cardiff wasn't really to spread the Gospel, it was because the Welsh Tourist Board gave the RFL some money. I don't know if Manchester Council will be doing something similar, but the benefit of holding an event like this in Manchester is the newly opened MediaCity.
Plus, CoMS, IMO, is a good choice. Its only a 1.5 mile walk from Piccadilly. If you go down Dulcie St, you take in one end of the Northern Quarter (plenty of places to eat and drink) and then head through New Islington, a regeneration project. I haven't been down that end of Manchester for a while now, but hopefully they'll have some places to drink and eat now.
) I struggle to see the benefit that RL gets as a sport by holding the Magic Weekend at a venue in the sport's heartland. IMHO the weekend needs to be held at a stadium that is less than 5 minutes walk from the city centre and is outside of the heartland. I accept that this means higher travel and accommodation costs for the fans, but I think it will be better for spreading the sport to a wider audience.'"
