Bristol to make Cardiff their home for one Premiership match next season
Bristol have announced they will host one of their ‘home’ Gallagher Premiership fixtures next season at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
The Bears will stage round 16 of their domestic league campaign in the Welsh capital in May next year against a yet-to-be-named opponent.
A Bristol statement read: “We are excited to launch ‘Big Day Out’ as Bristol Bears takes a home Gallagher Premiership fixture to one of the world’s top rugby arenas, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, for the very first time in 2024-25.
“Bears fans can look forward to a mouthwatering occasion in Round 16 on the afternoon of Saturday, May 10 (time to be confirmed), with the opposition to be revealed when the league fixtures are released next Tuesday, July 23.
“By taking a home game to a 75,000-capacity international stadium, we will deliver a world-class event on and off the field to reach new audiences and grow our commercial revenue in line with Premiership Rugby’s big game strategy following the success of Harlequins’ and Saracens’ marquee fixtures.”
Saracens have played their last four ‘home’ Premiership fixtures against local rivals Harlequins at Wembley, London Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (twice), with the last two games attracting crowds of 55,000 and 61,000.
Bristol added match tickets will go on sale next Tuesday and “have ensured that all of our Season Ticket holders can access some of the best seats in the house in Categories A, B, C or D”.
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Very clever move from Bristol. Definitely tanks on the lawn time which threatens to capture some of the Cardiff / Newport rugby bases. Teams like Bristol have developed a big picture approach. They will have a big crowd for this game and it will invariably be the first of many in Wales.
Nia makes some good points. Welsh club (and international) rugby is rapidly declining and will be threatened to a great degree in future by initiatives such as this one by Bristol. As a Newport RFC fan, who never bought into the regions, I will go along to see the Bears match, out of curiosity, to see how they present their match day.
Oh look, more English money! Those lot would sell their NaN for an extra quid! Everything the WRU does seems to be in service of the English.
Looks as if I was right. Cardiff has become West Bristol. Always assumed it was the capital city of Wales? How wrong was I. Sadly I can forsee Welsh rugby aping Welsh football where our regions struggle on a shoestring budget where one man and his dog watch empty stadiums becoming merely feeder clubs. And once fans of Llanelli Scarlets ,Cardiff Blues, Ospreys , Newport Dragons will be lured to supporting Bristol, Gloucester and other English premiership clubs like Welsh football fans do when they travel from North Wales over the border to watch Liverpool & Manchester City over Welsh… Read more »
English money coming into Welsh rugby coffers, so no problem for me with this. Just need to make sure they pay up front as a quarter of the top dozen clubs in England have gone bust in the last couple of years.
Our national stadium is 5 times larger than any rugby stadium in the west of England, so seeing most of the stadium empty may make it a short term gimmick. As for Welsh rugby fans paying near international prices to watch an English club – we only do that in football.