27 April 2014

An Obvious Solution - scheduling our showcase events

There has been plenty of conjecture about a return to a May final for the Challenge Cup, although when we put it out as a discussion point there was a mixed response. There has also been plenty of discussion on the relevance and fairness of Magic Weekend, most commonly staged in May, in the new promotion and relegation era.

Mark has been considering both of these matters and thinks there is an obvious solution that no one has yet landed on: swap them round (sort of).

As things stand what we know to be the greatest game has three major showcase events each year that can help convince others of this - Magic Weekend (usually in May), the Challenge Cup Final (formerly in April/May, now August Bank Holiday) and the Super League Grand Final in October.

Magic draws plenty of criticism for a whole range of reasons. As does the Cup Final being in August and even the Grand Final for being bigger than topping the league table. You could draw the conclusion that league fans just like to moan about stuff! But I know better, it's more that we care so much about our sport that we think about and talk about these things so much the negative is likely to be involved in the mix. The questioning voices are often, sadly, heard louder than the many complementary voices these days. If these events weren't there you would hear plenty questioning that too!

I think it's fair to say all three events bring a lot of entertainment, revenue and attention to our sport. They are integral to the present and future of the sport in my eyes. They are the key opportunities to show off the product to wide and hopefully some new audiences each and every year. In my opinion you can't lose any of them, or even mess with any of them too much, but with the restructure for 2015 there is some opportunity to tweak them now to set the foundations for a future that we can consolidate and build on.

Grand Final
The Grand Final is for me without question, and though the new structure changes the playoffs significantly with a round robin then shorter knock out section, it reinforces the role of the Grand Final as deciding that year's champion team. That stays as the major club season ending event in October. Simple.

The RFL could maybe do more with fan events media events between the man of steel dinner and the big game to market and expand the event a little bit more but by and large it's an event we should be happy with and proud of.

Challenge Cup
One great thing about October's Grand Final is that it's pretty much the premier sporting event of the Autumn in the UK. It can be given big billing. My personal feeling is we have to do the same with the Cup final. 

August doesn't work badly in this respect, the football season starting is the main conflict faced, maybe a cricket test match or the odd summer Olympics or Commonwealth games. May is terrible in this respect though. The Premier League and football league climax, FA Cup final, Champions League final, RU European Cup final all now are dominant events in May for sports fans.

This for me is the biggest reason to not bring the Cup final back to spring. We want it to stand out separately to these other events. 

However, the most important reason for move to an earlier final is to have a more sensibly constructed Cup competition. I'm writing this in the midst of Round 5 games from this year's Cup, in April. There will now be three rounds in four months with the final at the end of August. That loses momentum and, to a degree, interest in the competition.

I think the final does have to move. But when to?

For me, the first Saturday in June every year. Looking at the sporting calendar there is no major event filling that slot regularly. It comes before Wimbledon, the Open Championship, main test match series and any international football tournaments, but after that clogged up May period.

You can have a competition with some momentum and a date in the sporting calendar that it can make it's own. It's earlier in the year for those that miss that, but far enough into the season that teams have gelled. It will excite us all again.

Magic Weekend
In an earlier episode of the show we talked a lot about the Magic Weekend. Not many people wanted rid of this event in the calendar but many weren't convinced it should stay as it is. We spoke of making it a 9s event, a representative weekend or a round of the Cup, but I'm now of the mind that we keep it as it is...sort of.

Of course the main problem with how it currently exists is it won't be fair in this higher stakes era of promotion and relegation that unbalanced fixtures will result. The truth is it was no fairer in licencing either really, playoff places and prize money still being at stake.

Additionally, with the Cup final now earlier in my calendar it would fall very close to Magic Weekend as it currently sits.

All that can be solved by moving Magic Weekend to the current weekend in the calendar the Challenge Cup final sits on.

Not only does it space out these major events again, but it would also place the weekend in the three 8s section of the new structure. That will even out the home and away balance of that part of the year and mean no one gets a bonus 'easier' or unfair 'tougher' extra game. You just play the fixture with your closest rival (in terms of league standing after two 12s stage) at Magic.

You can even expand it to include all 24 clubs over that bank holiday weekend - play the middle tier's four fixtures on the Saturday as a curtain raiser, the top tier four fixtures on the Sunday and the bottom four on the Monday.

If there are worries about the Saturday and Monday (in particular) games attracting too small a crowd for a big stadium like the Etihad then you can use more suitably sized nearby stadiums - Bolton on the Saturday or Salford on the Monday for example. Concerns like that can be ironed out, we have plenty of sporting stadiums in and around our major cities.

Oh yeah, and this will also be another sensible step in controlling the amount of games played as it takes one from the schedule the RFL has currently indicated for next year.

What you should get is 12 close and meaningful games (all games mean more next year we're told) and a show piece event that should bring out the best in our sport.

The Solution
There you have it. Move the Cup final back, but to June rather than the already busy May, and swap Magic into the bank holiday opening left in August.

This also means that the UK's top summer team sport will now have two of its three flagship events in summer months, rather than the one that currently sits in that summer. Simple!

That's what Mark thinks, let us know what you think. Leave a comment, connect with us on Facebook or interact on Twitter. 

Any good ones will get discussed on a future episode of Super League Pod. All the useful links are on the sidebar so you know how to reach us and don't miss an episode.


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