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Magic Round is a concept unique to rugby league that begun in the Super League in 2007 when all 12 teams played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In 2014, it was reported that the NRL was set to follow suit in 2015 with NRL chief executive Dave Smith planning to schedule an entire NRL round of the season over one weekend at the one stadium in 2015.
It was formally announced in June 2018, that the inaugural NRL Brisbane Magic Round will be played over the course of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday in May 2019, in partnership with the Queensland Government (through Tourism and Events Queensland) and Brisbane City Council (through Brisbane Marketing).
The dates were initially a clash with a Queensland Reds fixture, with the NRL shifting Magic Round to a week earlier than originally announced.
2019
The NRL has announced that during the first ever NRL Brisbane Magic Round:
- Total crowds of 134,677 had been recorded across the four days of the round (an average of 33,669)
- Approximately one quarter of all ticketholders came from interstate
- Ticket purchasers came from 10 countries outside of Australia and New Zealand, including the US, the UK and France
- About 10,000 children were engaged through 23 school and junior club visits by NRL players
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said the Queensland Government invests in major events that support local jobs and pump millions into the state’s economy.
“Almost 135,000 people attended the first ever Magic Round – that’s about 40,000 more than first anticipated. This is testament to the fact that Suncorp Stadium is the country’s best rugby league stadium, and that Brisbane is a world-class event host.”
Tourism and Events Queensland said that the inaugural NRL Magic Round pumped a whopping $20 million into Queensland’s economy over four days according to economic modelling released today.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones revealed more than 116,000 fans attended Brisbane’s NRL Magic Round in May, with more than 48,000 of those fans travelling to Brisbane specifically for the event – More than 24,000 fans came from outside of Queensland. Visitors generated 105,000 room nights.
2020
No Magic Round was held due to the impact of COVID 19. With the health situation continuing to worsen and advice from government health officials and biosecurity experts that lock-down measures including travel restrictions to Queensland, and restrictions on mass gatherings were to continue for an extended period, the NRL said it had no option but to cancel Magic Round Brisbane in 2020.
2021
In February, the league launched the 2021 Magic Round. The NRL was hoping to host capacity crowds for the year’s Magic Round in Brisbane. All 272 players will travel to Brisbane to play eight matches and the league hopes 50,000 fans will be able to attend each day.
Wotif Managing Director Daniel Finch said data showed accommodation interest for the city was 22 per cent higher than the inaugural event in 2019. According to the QLD Government, Over 125,000 tickets hadbeen snapped up – nearly a quarter of those are from people outside Brisbane and 25,000 have been secured by intrastate and New Zealand visitors.
MAgic Round returned with a bang as 130,019 fans turned out over three days, averaging 43,340 per day.
2022
2023
A sellout was announced on the Friday morning with the NRL predicting over 130,000 in attendance. Individual match attendances across the weekend totalled 354,313, although taking into account the largest attendances from each day brings it to 147,095. An estimated 40 per cent of ticket holders were travelling from interstate.
According to the Queensland Government, Magic Round has also proven to be a significant economic win for Queensland. The 2023 event, which sold out for the first time in its history, injected a whopping $41.1 million into the local economy over three days. Visitors collectively booked 123,000 bed nights and the 2024 event is also a sell-out, with over 140,000 tickets vanishing.
2024
2025
Round 9 of the 2025 #NRL season was had an aggregate viewing audience on Nine of 1.39m across #MagicRound with an average of 463,000 per match.
- Thu 1/5 – Womens Origin (see 2025 Origin Ratings Page)
- Fri 2/5 – Roosters/Dolphins Nine 528k (BVOD 76k) Reach 1.162m
- Sat 3/5 – Knights/Souths Nine 308k (BVOD 36k) Reach 857k
- Game was on in the afternoon on a day election coverage dominated
- Sun 4/5 – Panthers/Broncos Nine 554k (BVOD 72k) Reach 1.316m
- Syd 168k Bris 146k
#NRL #MagicRound was attended by 149,306 at an average of 49,769 per day. This is up 0.42% on last year and is the highest attended Magic Round event.
2026-2027
In May 2024, it was announced that Brisbane would remain the host of Magic Round through 2027.
References
- 2018 – NRL Brisbane Magic Round
- 2018 – NRL announce new ‘Magic Round’ dates after Reds-Tahs clash revealed
- 2019 – NRL Brisbane Magic Round
- 2019 – Magic Round delivers millions for Queensland businesses
- 2020 – NRL cancels Magic Round Brisbane 2020
- 2021 – NRL launches 2021 Magic Round, with plans to allow 50,000 fans a day at Lang Park
- 2021 – Magic Round entertainment announced
- 2021 – Brisbane booked out as NRL weekend to deliver magic for economy
- 2021 – Magic Round returns for 2022 as Premier moves to lock in the event’s future
- 2022 – The making of a weekend of Magic
- 2024 – Brisbane keeps the magic until 2027!
