It will never happen, but if it did i'd build it in East Manchester, maybe the Oldham side of the city centre. Easy access for the Yorkies and Lancs. Let Oldham play there to keep the stadium ticking over and give a forgotten team a home.

The question needs to be "what will the stadium do for the 359 days a year that it won't be used for"?

Modern stadiums are seven day a week operations - just look at the facilities at Warrington (NHS centre) or Leeds (University campus, 30+ room hotel and conferencing centre) and other grounds that have facilities completely or largely unconnected to the playing of sport - that's how modern stadia finance themselves.

Is there a gap in the market in the northern conferencing / banqueting / hospitality market? Is there a need for (and finance for) another NHS centre or government department? Is the live music industry poorly catered for in the north? I don't think that you can answer yes to all of those questions.

At the moment, I think people are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. IIRC, we have a long-term deal and a good relationship with Manchester United, we have little trouble finding semi-final venues (and what trouble we do have is being rectified by new builds at Salford and St Helens) and the RFL is a stakeholder in Wembley National Stadium.

And do we really want the national side being "based" at one location (like the England football team)? Shouldn't the 'England' team be for everybody to watch, rather than a few people in one location? (IMO, England football was much better for the fans when they were 'on tour' during Wembley's closure, like many other national teams do, even if they did end up residing in Manchester towards the end).

I agree current setup for finals is fine they just need to play the internationals at larger venues to attract more neutrals, i think playing one game at wembley is the rfl's attempt to "test the water" on this front IF they get a 40k crowd then i feel we will see more international games there and lets face it internationals at Wembley are a bigger headline grabber than playing them at a Hull or Wigan.

Lease it to Cas, & Wakey.

Correct, it would be the catalyst for proper international competition and fund huge development of the game.

The SRU make 3 times as much as the RFL because of Murrayfield

The WRU make 5 times as much as the RFL because of The Millenium

The RFU make 10 times as much as the RFL because of Twickenham

That ain't as daft as it sounds . Big stadium built between NM and GH . Both teams share it . Could be the northen answer to Wembley . Middle-ish of the M62 corridor (although most of the RL SL community lives to the west of it ). Double-header weekend games could attract huge crowds . Hold the Magic Weekend there too . Current arrangements for CC final generally means a 400 mile or so round-trip for both sets of fans .WTF is all that about ? Could play big games in the heart of where the majority of interested parties reside . In the heart of RL land . Hudds would be a better location IMO , but as there are two teams with the intention of new builds so close together it could be a very good compromise , and the RFL could chip in and base themselves there .

Maybe the fans should insist that the RFL franchise themselves and demand an international stadium to give the game some stature. A stadium on the outskirts of Huddersfield close to the M62 would suffice with a capacity of 30 000 for starters, to be shared by a superleague team Huddersfield and a championship team.
It dosn,t take much vision to build one, think the RFL should start finance one and cough up the necessary £30 million.

So, we're playing our cup final and a double-header international with two home nations involved at Wembley... but a 30,000 stadium on the outskirts of Huddersfield as an alternative will give the game some stature?

I think for the past 100 + years you will find 99.9% of RL games are played in the North of England not in a rented one off ground 200 miles away. A national stadium should be in the very heart of where the game is played, unless you are a Harlequin fan of course.

I'm not talking about the last 100 years. I think you'll find that the percentage of RL games played in the North of England is above 50%, but I'd be surprised if it was above 75%. Don't suppose you're going to Bristol Sonics vs Northampton on Saturday, or Plymouth vs East Devon Eagles in the SW Cup Final on Sunday, though, otherwise we could discuss it in person.

The cost to build a new National stadium would be astronomical and out of the reach of the finances of the RFL. However, as one poster has mentioned and there is also another thread on the same subject, the Racecourse ground in Wrexham is up for sale for 2,000,000 for housing and the RFL already has a 750,000 lien on the property from the monies lent to the Crusaders. That would be very affordable and would be a lifeline for the Crusaders to enable them to continue operating. The RFL and the Welsh RFL could base world cup and four nations teams there, hold minor finals, e.g. Northern Rail cup or CC semi finals., saving themselves the cost of renting grounds from football. They could run the stadium for profit,organising concerts, maybe building squash courts, gymnasiuns etc to create other revenue streams.

Seeing s how they might lose their 750,000 if the whole operation at Wrexhan goes belly up the I think they should seriously have a look at what options and opportunities there are at the Racecourse ground.

I can't believe that people are suggesting that the RFL should build a 30,000 seater stadium, or buy the Crusaders stadium for that purpose. I also can't believe that someone has said that said stadium should be on the outskirts of HUDDERSFIELD. Are you out your tiny mind???

"And now to the RFL World Cup Final, live from Hudderdfield International Stadium." For Christ's sake.

If the RFL were to build one, it needs to be 60k so it can accommodate the Grand Final, other sports and rock concerts, needs to have state of the art conference and hospitality facilities and needs to be in Manchester. It's very simple.

Whether the RFL can afford it or not is another matter. And yet another matter is whether they would be inclined to, even if they COULD afford it.

I don't see why it HAS to be in Manchester? Why can't it be in Leeds? It's slap bang in the middle of the heartlands. In fact it's pretty central to a lot of things. Straight up the M1 that goes down the spine of the country.

The main issue is that we don't have the money.
The second main issue is that we don't have enough games to make it worth while.

Unfortunately if we wanted this to happen, we'd have to shack up with someone. Which to be fair, isn't that big a deal. There are a fair few other sports that shack up with someone else for their national stadium.

Now, let's think...
Somewhere central, with a big population, and a sport/club that needs to move and needs help doing so into a bigger and better facility (say 60k)...

Need about 13 games also (that's how many SL home games there are)...
CC semi finals DH, Magic Weekend (2 days), World Club Challenge, 2 mid-season tests, 4 end of season tests, Championship Finals, Northern Rail Cup Final, Nines.
Then any other SL big games local clubs may want to move to a bigger ground.

There's your only option IMO.

It would just be a black hole. Astronomists would probably come and study it.

Just been saying this on another thread without even reading this one.

We need our own stadium, if only RL had built a stadium when it was formed.

We need a HOME which people associate with RL. It would do the same job as murrayfield, Twickers and the millenium do for RU.

We would save so much money and make loads of money as well. All the RL events would be held there, all the finals, the semi-finals and also as many non rugby league related events as possible.

I think the RFL should Gamble and start looking at getting a national stadium for RL, maybe joint with a football club? I don't know but I believe it is the main area we lack in compared to the other big sports in this country...

Football - Wembley and Hampden Park

Rugby Union - Twickenham, Murrayfield, Millenium stadiun and the Aviva stadium.

Cricket - Lords

Tennis - Wimbledon

F1 - Silverstone

Athletics - The new Olympic stadium

Cycling - Velodrome (manchester and London)

RUGBY LEAGUE - ??????

We have no home. The venues above must be a huge source of income for the governing bodies of those sports. We need a home.

I don't have an answer of how it will happen but I think the RFL need to look into it.

Affording it is the main issue but we could sell naming rights to a huge international brand and that would bring in a huge amount of money.



There is a new media city in Salford so close to that would be a decent place. Leeds would also be suitable. Maybe a joint venture with Leeds United.

You have named many events which the new stadium could be used for but it would open up the chance for RL to do many more events and big games than they do now. We could risk having internationals with cheap tickets because we wouldn't be paying over the odds to use someone elses stadium. Not to mention the non rugby league related events which could be held there. Get the company that owns the O2 arena on board so they can use it as their main concert venue in the North.
I'm sure other sports would be interested in using it, it could be a huge Boxing venue maybe even used for a large tennis tournament (the O2 held one).

I understand this is almost a stupid idea but I think the the entertainment industry is big enough to fill this stadium all year round. RU manages to fund their national stadiums.

If the RFL are a stakeholder at Wembley, then do they pay rent to use it? If they are stakeholders, then surely they get a slice of the Club Wembley money and would surely make money at the bars.

Internationals and CC semis are more often than not played in venues that owned or part owned by RL clubs. So, again I'd question whether the RFL are paying extortionate amounts to hire the ground and the money is staying in RL. The none RL venues used are Old Trafford, Elland Rd and Bloomfield Rd. RL has had a long relationship with the former two and we still play there, so the price mustn't be so high as to put the RFL off.

I think the RFL need to take more internationals to Wembley more often and to better publicise marquee events to demographics outside hardcore RL supporters, but overall what we have works well. If we were to ever look at building our own stadium you only have to look at the FA to see the immense financial burden Wembley has caused them.

Wembley took a lot longer to build than epxected and was well over budget and has ended up costing around £1billion. As a facility, Wembley is one of the top 5 stadiums in the world, probably the best.

The RFL will not be building a 90k capacity stadium with a fancy arch and game day hospitality seating 15,000 people which never gets used other than on match days.

It would simply be a typical RL stadium but on a bigger scale. I would suggest using the standing and seating system used in german stadiums so that our national stadium could be mostly standing but also used as seating for concerts etc.

If the stadium had terracing on 3 sides it wouldn't need to be that big to hold 40k+ the costs for building a stadium like Wembley are totally different.

Imagine playing against the aussies infront of 50k with 35k of them crowd standing with an amazing atmosphere! An absolute dream.

Or we can continue with approximately 85k at Wembley every year in the CC, 70k+ at Old Trafford (possibly more if they ever do extend) and persevere with internationals at Wembley until we get to a point where we can get some proper crowds in there on a regular basis.

Hospitality is possibly the most important revenue stream for events like this. Wembley has some of the best in the world, why get rid and why build a new, much smaller stadium, with much smaller hospitality facilities? Also, the hospitality at Wembley does get used when there isn't a match on as they all double up into conferencing facilities.

You make a good point. We already get great crowds at those venues. I guess we would need to know how much we pay to play at those places to know if this would work.

Internationals would be more succesful at somewhere at Old Trafford IMO. Making so many fans travel so far is harder than getting them to Old Trafford.

The Galpharm? The birthplace of Rugby League.

This is the thing, we don't know how much it costs. I'm pretty confident though that if it wasn't cost effective they wouldnt be doing it. Look at the CC semis this season. I think most of us would have thought the crowds would be large enough to fill Ewood Park/Reebok or Odsal/Galpharm. Instead the RFL went for smaller venues. I would imagine its because of what they know will be most cost effective.

My ideal if-I-were-in-charge-and-everything-went-according-to-plan structure for the four nations would be to eventually build it up to having four Double-Headers. There'd be the three rounds and the final. Each round would be held at Wembley, Old Trafford and Millenium (assuming Wales are in). The final at OT or Wembley. Of course this is a dream... for now

We are never going to be able to afford it.

Etihad paid Man City 800m for ground sponsorship for 10 years. Rugby League won't get anywhere near enough sponsorship money to fund it

I wouldn't pay too much heed of that figure mate.

I meant million by the way. Tried to type to fast and messed up the figures



The only way we could obtain money for a national stadium would be sponsorships and RL wouldn't generate enough sponsorship money if you put all the clubs together.

We need a rich Arab business person....