Super League Magic Weekend heads to Liverpool for the second time this weekend, albeit at a different venue, and it could be that we’re back there in 2027.
Whilst admitting that it’s too early to predict what may happen in the future, the leader of the Liverpool City Council, Liam Robinson, has told Serious About Rugby League that the city sees a ‘real opportunity for the (Hill Dickinson) stadium to host more significant big rugby league events’.
The Hill Dickinson Stadium opened in February 2025, becoming the home of Premier League club Everton from the 2025/26 season, but rugby league was one of the first sports aside from football to host a major event there as the Ashes headed to Liverpool.
That game was played on November 1st and just under four weeks later, it had been confirmed that the Hill Dickinson Stadium would host Super League Magic Weekend, with councillor Robinson admitting that the ability to attract such events comes down to the quality of the stadium.
He told Serious About Rugby League: “I would always call it the best brand new stadium anywhere in Europe, on the iconic Liverpool waterfront, wonderful structure in its own right.
“The fact that we’re able to attract the Ashes test and now the Magic Weekend, and we hope we can keep on attracting big rugby league events, international and other events to the city, to the stadium, is absolutely great.”
“How many more big rugby league events can we host? – Liverpool Council keen to build on Super League Magic Weekend
Having hinted at attracting more big rugby league events, Robinson stopped short of confirming a bid for the 2027 Magic Weekend, ensuring to make clear that it’s Everton, the owner of the stadium, who lead negotiations.
However, he did admit that the city would be ‘very, very keen’ to play host to Super League Magic Weekend in the future, and possibly other landmark events such as the Grand Final.
Robinson said: “I think from our perspective, it’s too early to start talking about what may or may not happen for future years but clearly, we’d be very, very keen to host Magic Weekend in the future years.
“If the opportunity arose, we’d love to have the opportunity to potentially even host something like the Grand Final as well.”
Adding to that, he said: “I think from our perspective, we see there’s real opportunities for the stadium to host more significant, continued big Rugby League events.
“From our perspective, it was a real honour, first to do the Ashes Test, now to do Magic weekend, but how many more big, significant rugby league events can we host as well? That’s very much what we want to be doing over the years ahead.”
Super League may be wary of taking the Grand Final to the Hill Dickinson given that it’s capacity of 52,769 is generally far below even the worst-attended Grand Finals, with only the inaugural and the 2021 edition seeing a crowd under 50,000.
However, the Hill Dickinson Stadium could establish itself as a prime international venue or even become the home of Super League Magic Weekend, as St James’ Park in Newcastle was for so many years.
