Magic Round will stay in Brisbane until 2032 after the Queensland Government struck a six-year deal with the Australian Rugby League Commission, ending months of uncertainty over the NRL’s showpiece event. The current hosting agreement was due to expire at the end of next year, but the new deal was confirmed on Friday afternoon in Brisbane by Premier David Crisafulli and ARLC chair Peter V’landys.

From 2027, the event will expand to nine NRL games and open with two matches on the Thursday, while Townsville will host a Women’s State of Origin game on the Wednesday. Crisafulli said the event would go to a level no one had ever seen before and said it made Queenslanders proud.

The deal keeps one of the NRL’s most recognisable weekends in the city where it was built, after several states and countries showed interest in hosting it. New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand governments all tried to pull the event away from Queensland, but V’landys said there were many interested parties while the game always wanted it in Queensland. He said the event was worth a lot and joked that when he first met the Premier on Friday afternoon, he offered him his wallet because Queensland had bled the league dry. He also said Crisafulli had done a very good deal with Brisbane.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said Magic Round was born in Brisbane and it’s here to stay, adding that it delivers a huge boost for local businesses, supports local jobs and showcases the city to a massive national audience. He said Brisbane knows how to host major events better than anywhere else in Australia and that the weekend has become one of the biggest on the city’s calendar, calling the agreement a huge win for rugby league fans and local businesses while further cementing Brisbane’s reputation as Australia’s lifestyle and sporting capital.

The expanded format is tied to the Perth Bears’ arrival to the NRL, giving the competition more flexibility to reshape the round from 2027. But the main result is simple: after months of outside interest, Brisbane has kept the event it created, and for the next six years the rest of the country will still have to come north for the game’s biggest gathering.