Review suggests moving Challenge Cup from Wembley

A wide-ranging review of rugby league has suggested moving the Challenge Cup final away from its historic home at Wembley.

The club-led strategic group was instructed by the Rugby Football League to put together a set of recommendations for the sport last March.

They have returned a list of 144 points which will now be discussed between the group and stakeholders over the next two weeks.

The Challenge Cup final was first played at the original Wembley Stadium in 1929 and has been held there every year other than 2022 since the stadium re-opened in 2007.

However, attendance at the showpiece event has not topped 65,000 since 2017 and the review has said the sport should “consider a new venue for the final”.

This year’s final will be held at the national stadium on Saturday, 30 May.

Super League clubs enter the competition at the round of 32 stage, which begins on Friday.

All top-tier sides are drawn away at lower level opposition for this round and the review has recommended this should continue.

In October last year, Peter V’landys, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, told BBC Sport that Super League was heading for a “train crash” if it did not find ways to grow its revenue.

He also claimed that they missed a major marketing opportunity by not including London Broncos in next season’s competition, and questioned how it will support an expanded 14-team structure in the long term.

Super League is returning to being a 14-team division from 12 this season, with the new campaign starting on Thursday, 12 February.

The review said there should be a “long-term plan” to further increase the number of clubs in the top flight.

“This should only happen when the sport can financially and operationally sustain such growth – including player supply – and where it will not negatively affect the current financial distribution to clubs,” they said.

There was also a recommendation to take matches to neutral venues around the country and globe.

The Challenge Cup, which was first played in 1896, has come under heavy scrutiny in the past few years, with changes made to try and increase interest in earlier rounds.

This year is the second time the final is being played in May since 1999 and the review said that the sport should have a fixed weekend for the final to be held annually.

In addition, they suggested a “Magic-Weekend style” round for the competition where all ties would be held at one neutral venue across a weekend.

They said that this could “truly put the magic back into the competition” and should be used for the round of 16.