Hill Dickinson Stadium is Magic | OneFootball

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Rugby League is an often undervalued and under-appreciated sport; one which is not given the media backing or attention of Rugby Union, but when at its best is, in my opinion at least, a far better spectacle.

And Hill Dickinson Stadium is swiftly establishing itself as a home away from home for Rugby League.

Arguably the only success story from the Rugby League Ashes last autumn was the use of Everton’s grand new dock-side home for the second Test; all involved were hugely impressed. In fact, some Australian pundits, traveling over for the series, were eulogising over the design and atmosphere on podcasts for weeks to come.

It was natural, then, that the RFL (Rugby Football League) took one of its headline events to Everton, with Super League’s 2026 Magic Weekend swiftly confirmed to be heading to Hill Dickinson Stadium on the back of that Ashes Test.

Safe to say, the switch from St James’ Park worked.

Some insights were provided on the official Super League website:

There was no waiting around, either, to confirm Hill Dickinson Stadium (or, as it has now become known in Rugby League parlance, just ‘Everton’) as the venue for 2027’s Magic Weekend, either.

Before Sunday’s slate of matches had even started, it was confirmed Everton will be the home of the event next year.

Rather than July, Magic Weekend 2027 will take place on the first bank holiday weekend in May. Everton will be playing away from home.

Hopefully, ticket sales will stay high — the lack of work for many folks on the Monday will certainly help in theory, albeit there are now other factors to consider.

With Everton in action that weekend, fans of the club who wanted to see Hill Dickinson Stadium in action for something other than hosting the Toffees may not be so willing to attend this time around.

Meanwhile, 4 Super League clubs are set to travel to Dublin for a mini-Magic the previous weekend.

There’s also the novelty factor. There’s no doubt many fans attended in order to take in Britain’s newest, shiniest stadium for the first time.

However, the location is pretty much as good as it gets. The fan plaza serves as the perfect gathering point, and at no stage when I attended on Sunday was it less than half full. Fans were more than happy to bask in the summer sun, grab a bite to eat and something to drink, while there were countless Rugby League-themed games on for the kids.

This coming Saturday, Fiji will take on England in a Rugby Union clash; once again, it’s clear that Hill Dickinson Stadium, which has already hosted international football games, is now the go-to destination for other sports looking for a special location.

That’s brilliant, and one intriguing element of next year’s Magic Weekend is that the decision to move it forward to May was, in part, due to the stadium’s unavailability in early July. That would suggest it is already booked in for another event or two, so expect concerts to be announced in the coming months.

And all of this is vitally important. Vital revenue for Everton, which can all be reinvested in the club — in the first team.

The more the merrier, and the next thing for Everton to start doing is ensuring the fan plaza is booked out, too. That has a capacity of up to 10,000; there’s plenty of bands and artists that are capable of filling a venue of that size, for example, meaning the stadium itself can be reserved for the very biggest acts.

Income. Income. Income.

That’s what it’s all about. That’s why Everton were taken to the brink financially to build the thing.

It’s been a strong start, and Rugby League’s commitment to the venue for next year is a great step. Securing a top-level international men’s football team to play a game there in 2027 would also be fantastic — Brazil? Argentina? Why not? There’s no major tournament, so go get it done.

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Si Cooper 2 Posted 08/07/2026 at 09:51:11

Technically, Eric, League does have scrums and they can push but generally they are just used as a specific way to restart the game with a bunch of players taken out of the usual massed ranks of runners (I think Wigan exploited the extra space very well for one of their tries against Saints).

There are 6 games involved over 2 days which could potentially be a problem if the pitch was sodden, but the trend is for relatively dry springs in the North West so it’s probably a pretty safe bet.

I like both codes (for different reasons) but I think boring League is the most boring as it can be monotonous in the extreme.

Raymond Fox 3 Posted 08/07/2026 at 09:56:56

I bet the ground staff were not pleased though, 7 games in two days, Si says it was 6 so I might be wrong. Still there's plenty of time before the season starts.

I wonder how the money side of these events work, do we take a percentage of the gate or charge a flat fee or whatever. It looks like rugby league has found its home for the forceable future.

I was well satisfied that we beat our arch rivals St Helens - just, it was blood and thunder. Sorry St Helens fans, I know there are a few of you on here.

Andrew Ellams 4 Posted 08/07/2026 at 10:17:56

There's Rugby Union there this Saturday Raymond. England vs Fiji

Ian Horan 5 Posted 08/07/2026 at 10:28:39

the most interesting point on next years scheduled Rugby League Magic weekend is they had to bring it forward due to the stadium being unavailable during June and July. could this mean we have Concert events being planned ? more income for the club if true!!!

Paul Hewitt 6 Posted 08/07/2026 at 10:44:48

A fantastic sport played in a fantastic stadium.

Trevor Powell 7 Posted 08/07/2026 at 12:05:11

I like the idea of the stadium being part of the drive for greater income vis-a-vis for PSR etc.

This might be a naive question: "What sort of profit do these non-football events make per day?"

Si Cooper 8 Posted 08/07/2026 at 14:02:38

Raymond (3), actually just going off the OP - “ 82,925 fans attended the 7 matches, 6 of which took place at Hill Dickinson Stadium.”

I think perhaps the 2 French clubs didn't make the trip for their derby match?

Raymond Fox 9 Posted 08/07/2026 at 14:12:20

That's probably it, Simon.

Andrew Ellams 10 Posted 08/07/2026 at 14:48:05

Trevor @ 7,

Last season, Newcastle made around £4.2M from a combined 67,000 attendance.

So add 15,000 more heads onto that you're looking at closer to £5.5M ish.

Les Callan 11 Posted 08/07/2026 at 15:35:02

From what I hear, we sold three times more hospitality seats than Newcastle.

Tony Abrahams 12 Posted 08/07/2026 at 19:30:08

That's what I've been hearing, Ian @5. Something about Liverpool not being able to have as many concerts because of the residents or something along those lines.

Once Everton start using the ground for summertime concerts, then I think Bramley-Moore Dock will become a big venue, so it'll be interesting to see if Noel Gallagher is going to stay true to his word and play at Everton?

Trevor Powell 13 Posted 09/07/2026 at 04:38:08

Where would any sensible person want to go and attend any sort of concert on a summer evening? Down by the banks of the royal blue Mersey or in the backstreets of Analfield? Next time Taylor Swift comes to the North West??