Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has suggested a new format for Magic Weekend that will see Challenge Cup fixtures take place at the two-day event, as opposed to Super League matches. He also brought up plans for a new rugby league nines tournament that can be used as a way to gain new potential fans and exposure.
Speaking in a 90+ minute interview released on Leigh’s website, Beaumont answered an abundance of questions relating to the future of Super League and rugby league as a whole.
One of the many points that he discussed, was the future of Magic Weekend, a format that has been in existence since 2007. Attendance for it, however, has declined over the last decade, and Beaumont believes that a new format for the weekend could revitalise one of Super League’s showpiece events.
An idea was suggested that the two-day event be changed so that the fixtures would be the last sixteen of the Challenge Cup, something Beaumont would like to see introduced.
“There is an intention, it was widely discussed and was popular, to reinvent Magic. You hear the phrase that we need to reunite the magic into the Challenge Cup. Well, why can’t magic weekend become the quarter finals of the Challenge Cup?”
He added: “You’ve got sixteen teams, fourteen Super League so you’re guaranteed two championship in there and you’ve got four games in one day, four games the next, in knockout rugby. You can make magic [work] in this country.”
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A confirmed change to 14 teams in Super League for 2026 will see the removal of loop fixtures, meaning teams will only play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Beaumont backed this idea, but said it would be counterproductive and nonsensical if loops were to leave but Magic Weekend remained as it is.
He said: “You can’t get rid of loops and keep Magic in it’s current format.”
“That is the principal reason for it,” he said, in regard to adding in two more teams. “There’s absolutely no loop fixtures and the challenge is now for Rhodri [Jones] and his team to get the closest possible home-away format. That won’t be perfect because of ground maintenance at clubs but as close to that as possible, but absolutely no loops. “
What Leigh Leopards’ owner thinks should replace Magic Weekend
With it clear and evident that Magic Weekend will not exist as a loop fixture, it effectively cuts the prospect of it existing at all because in order to operate it like in the NRL, it would mean teams forfeiting home games which is unlikely in Super League.
Instead, new ideas could come to the fore and Beaumont believes taking a nines event on the road to places like Dublin, Wales or Amsterdam, the 54-year-old thought of a new way to help maximise the commercial potential of Magic and tweak it to a different format.
He said: “The problem with Magic is everybody goes, they have a great time outside the stadium… in the end when you’re game is on you go in the stadium, some people stay in, but largely speaking most people go in for their game and come out.
“The concept the fans love, but commercially and fundamentally it doesn’t achieve it, so you need to have a mixture of a festival in different areas where you can promote you’re game.”
Beaumont then suggested: “Let’s say, and I’m thinking on the go here, it’s the Billy Boston nines series because he’s just been knighted and it was in Wales for the first one just to kick it off. We package the hotels we package the travel, then you’re booking through us. We are commercialising it and maximising it.
“All the fans go and have a great time in a different city, the people in that city who are not involved in rugby league are getting introduced to a faster version of it, the games are shorter, the action is coming thick and fast and teams are playing more than once in a day so fans are in there for the event.”
Beaumont suggest that tailoring to an audience such as music fans would be another way to increase attendance and support for the event.
“There’s live bands on throughout and there might be a headline band so people who are not necessarily into rugby league, but they’re into music and they’re into going into a big stadium atmosphere and wondering what everything is about, they might come in and they might experience rugby league for the first time.
“I’m convinced people in Dublin would see rugby league, think that was great, and then they go to Sky or OurLeague to watch it and we promote the game over there… that’s getting the game into a different place.”
