Taylor Swift concerts won’t stop Murrayfield hosting potential Glasgow Warriors URC final - why Celtic Park ruled out

Rugby bosses are confident Murrayfield can be turned around in time after the Taylor Swift concerts should it be required to host the final of the BKT United Rugby Championship.

The American pop sensation is playing three sold-out concerts at the national stadium this week and a huge amount of work has gone into transforming the arena into a concert venue. There’s a chance it may need to revert back to a rugby ground by June 22 when the final of the URC is scheduled to take place.

Hosting rights go to the highest ranked finalist and although Glasgow are ranked fourth of the eight teams who have qualified for the play-offs, there is a scenario where they could progress to the final as the highest ranked side. If that is the case, the match would be played at 67,000-capacity Murrayfield. Scotstoun, the Warriors’ home ground, is too small and Celtic Park is unavailable due to work taking place at the ground.

Murrayfield Stadium will host three concerts by Taylor Swift this week.

Glasgow play the Stormers in the play-off quarter-finals at Scotstoun this Saturday. Should they win, they will meet either Munster or Ospreys in the semis. If they get to the final and their opponents are either Ulster or Benetton, Glasgow would be given home advantage as they would be highest ranked.

“We would play that at Murrayfield if they got through to the final [as the home team],” confirmed Martin Anayi, chief executive of the URC. “We spoke to Celtic Park after having a final there a few years ago between Glasgow and Leinster. They’re doing some refurbishments inside the ground so that wasn’t available. So we’ll play it at Murrayfield.”

Anayi admitted that having the URC season go on through June presents some challenges in terms of stadiums being required for other events but he was confident those hurdles could be overcome. “At this stage we might as well be Swifties as Taylor Swift comes up [in discussions] about our final more than anything else!” he joked. “She’s obviously doing an unbelievable world tour right now. It’s the yin and yang of playing in June. The yin, if that’s the positive, is that you see younger audiences engaged and coming to watch rugby, while the yang might be that it’s a little bit more difficult to secure some of these big stadiums. But we’re in good shape with Murrayfield, I think.”

The Pretoria-based Bulls could also be searching for a new venue should they make it to the URC final as the top-ranked side because Loftus Versfeld may be required to host the South African presidential inauguration.

Glasgow Warriors are in the quarter-finals of the URC against Stormers.

Logistical challenges notwithstanding, Anayi was delighted with the conclusion to the regular URC season which served up an exciting couple of days of rugby on Friday and Saturday, with five teams chasing the final two play-off spots. Benetton and the Ospreys got there in the end at the expense of Edinburgh, the Lions and Connacht but it all went down to the final match involving Cardiff and Ospreys which began later than the others. Ospreys went into the game knowing they needed a bonus point win and they duly delivered.

Most elite leagues in rugby and football have simultaneous kick-offs in the final round to ensure it is as fair as possible and Anayi acknowledged it was something that would be considered in the future for the URC. However, at the moment, the broadcasters prefer the staggered start, with two games on Friday night and the other six spread throughout the Saturday.

“In Pro12 and Pro14 we had simultaneous kick-offs [in the final round],” said Anayi. “There is so much riding on these games that it would make sense to do that from a sporting point of view. Where we are in the world of broadcast, it tends to be something that they like spread throughout the weekend. It’s about balance between what we as fans want, which is probably to see the games kick off at the same time, and what our partners require as a business need, which is having them spread out.

“It’s certainly something that would have enhanced what was a pretty cool end to the season. It tends to be broadcast-led. When we move into the next TV cycle, which is 2025-26, we’ll try to fill that in and see where we get to. Everybody in our office and around the world was waiting for that last try in the last game and that’s what you want - you want that jeopardy, you want that unknown quantity to your league and you want every game to mean something. I feel that in the last round we had almost every game being really meaningful and that’s great credit to the clubs pushing all the way through the season.”

Celtic Park is not an option due to work at the stadium.

It’s the third season of the URC, the hybrid league which succeeded Pro14 and brought in four franchises from South Africa to join sides from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy in a 16-team set-up. Anayi feels the league is growing in popularity and viewing figures back that up. He also believes that having half the teams qualifying for the play-offs is the right number because it keeps more sides involved for longer.

“Eight was brought in by our clubs, our sporting community, and we all collectively agreed to the format,” he said. “I think it gave our teams a sense of continuing to play right throughout the season - there’s always something to play for. The top four are clearly getting home advantage [in the play-offs], so there’s something for each layer of that top eight to play for. And then obviously from the EPCR point of view the top eight qualify through to the Champions Cup, unless like the Sharks did one of our teams win the Challenge Cup, and then it goes to the top seven.

“I genuinely feel that actually the competition is in rude health. We’ve had almost every game being really meaningful and that’s what you try and aspire to in terms of getting jeopardy in your league, meaningful games in your league. So I’m really pleased with how it’s gone, genuinely. I wouldn’t change it.”