what next for Aussie speedway?

[Guest tapebreak]

With the withdrawal of the promoter of both the Australian and New Zealand Gp's the growth of the sport in Australia is slowed again. With the reputation as the quickest growing sport in the world and Australians being very competetive you would expect that it is popular down under. The fact is that 90% of people dont know it exists and alot of that 90% are speedway fans. The promotion of the revious SGP round in sydney was appalling, i myself as a seasoned speedway follower only found out that there was something on in sydney by checking the speedwaygp.com webstie. I hope in the future now that the benfield team are supposedly taking over the promotion of these events that there is some kind of television advertising and paper advertisments country wide.

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

Nice to have another aussie on the forum tapebreak. I sort of half agree and half disagree with you.

 

First the promotion. I know speedway has had a hell of a time getting any air time on commercial TV, nobody's fault, just a fact of life. Early last year I even wrote to a few of the sports (especially motor sport) programs trying to get even 3 minutes of highlights of the GP's and didn't get anywhere, nor did I get a reply. However, there was plenty of advertising on pay TV and in the months leading up to the GP they did show all of the previous rounds of the GP plus the World Cup from England (and has anyone seen them ride in worse conditions than they did at Sheffield ?). The obvious reply is "but not everyone has pay TV" and that's true but at least there was an effort made. It's fair to say though that a large percentage of sporting fans were blissfully unaware that an Aussie GP was on.

 

As for the promoter I don't blame him for pulling out. His rumoured loss ranges from $800,000 to over $1 million and I defy anyone to come back for more of the same after that. It's all about money, I would be glad if someone can explain to me how we can run a GP out here at a profit while having to transport half way round the world (say) 100 (?) people (riders, mechanics, FIM people, Benfield people etc) plus all their equipment, plus accomodate them, plus hire an expensive stadium, plus lay and then take up a temporary track, plus pay for heaps of advertising and promotional activities.

 

I think the ball is in Benfield's court now, I will be interested to see how committed they are to an Australian GP and how they go about making it work and run at a profit. Having said all that I went last year and apart from a dubious track I enjoyed it immensely.

[Guest matty wigs]

...and I enjoyed it too - I thought it was a great spectacle, and the Aussie crowd really warmed up as the meeting progressed. In respect of the track, I thought that it was the best 'one-off' track we saw at any of the GP's last season.

 

It's a shame only 30,000 turned up, as Stadium Australia would have rocked if there had been say 50,000 there. I think a lot can be learned from the event. There's obviously a solid fan base Down Under, and a good number of Brits, Poles and Swedes also made the journey half way round the world to witness the event. The trick will be, as was mentioned before, increasing the number of locals foe future Aussie GP's.

 

Improved marketing of the event can only help this.

 

The marketing lines of 'we'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge of it' and 'Thunder Down Under' were awesome in my opinion - so come on......let's hope some rich, ambitious Aussie steps up to the plate and decides to take the bull by the horns. I'd be gutted if there weren't any more Aussie GP's.

[shazzybird 10]

I am waiting for my insurance money to come through and was planning a trip to New Zealand & Australia to visit relatives next year the fact they were planning Grand Prix's in New Zealand & Australia was purely coincidental :roll: :roll: and I was dissappointed to say the least when I was told they had cancelled them especially as they were within a time limit that I could have made!

[Guest matty wigs]

I'm gutted too Shazzy as I was due out there then anyway for the Rugby World Cup!!

 

Having an Australian partner and realistically looking at a permanent move over there within the next 18 to 24 months - you can see I have a vested interest too!!

 

It'll be hard enough waving goodbye to the Speedway season as it is - worse if I don't have at least a GP to look forward to!

[shazzybird 10]

Matty that is so sad. You will have to invest in SKY when you get there !

[Guest matty wigs]

I think you're right Shazzy......but we all know there's nothing in the world like the rumble of the engines, the smell of methanol, the sound of an airhorn going off right in your ear....

 

Oh my.....I'm beginning to fill up already!

[RogH 0]

Agree it was a great Aussie GP, but I get the impression that if it's not Aussie rules, Rugby League or cricket the Aussies don't really want to know. I suppose the large distances betwwen cities in Oz don't help.

[full-throttle 182]

as i understood it, the promoter had budgeted to looose about A$500,000.

the attendance was above the expected so the loss was not as big, but other factors got in the way. I understand that at a lot of these 'one off' stadia, clean up cost are phenominal, that is why at Cardiff (for example) you see lots of seats covered to prevent dust/shale mess. I don't think this was done in Aus so the cost of cleaning afterwards took the tatol loses well above the budget.

I am not sure if these are true facts, but reading between the lines of what I was told that is what I think happened

[21st century heathen 220]

It's a real shame to lose the Aussie/Kiwi G.P's . If the marketing was as bad as suggested then I think 30,000 turn out if pretty good. Perhaps you should advertise it as another one on the list of sports you beat the Brit's at :?: :-( The problem, as with Cardiff, is that a crowd that size in a large stadium can look a little lost. If the G.P.'s are going to expand and thrive how bout this. Norway could be run 1st week of November and Cardiff the week after so as to avoid clashing with domestic matches here in the U.K. No problems with the weather as they're both indoor. Aussie and Kiwi could be run end of Jan early Feb again avoiding any dates clashing over here. Perhaps even two rounds in Aus would help to justify the costs in shipping everyone/everything out there. I would also suggest the remaining European rounds be 'tinkered' with to avoid a long break between Aus/Kiwi rounds and, as scheduled this year, Poland in May. What do you think :?:

[Guest matty wigs]

full throttle - the seats nearest the track (about 15 rows deep) were covered - as is the case with Cardiff - I always thought this was more fpr safety than anything else????

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

The story I heard was that all the unexpected additional costs came from the late taking up of the track and repairing the damage to the infield. The seating / stadium etc wasn't the problem.

[poona 0]

Fingers crossed, I'm in the running for $18 mil tonight & if my numbers come up I'll be off to follow the GP tour over there (should have enough to shout a few fellas down here along). Back to reality, the Oz 02 Gp was a great spectacle, sure more bums on seats would have added to the atmophere but it was the best array of talent I've seen since I was a pup & all the big boys from overseas would come down annually for our season, THAT INCLUDED OUR OWN GUNS!. Even if we don't have a GP here if someone with a few bob, a bit of ticker & some passion for the sport could get the talent back down here (test matches etc) I believe the crowds would come flooding back. I know it's all about $$$ but they did it in the old days so why not now? Maybe after tonight I'll be the man for the job(touch wood). Anyways, I,m off to Gosford to watch Mick Poole flog everyone, oh & the NSW sidecar titles.

HOOROOOO...........

[shazzybird 10]

how bout this. Norway could be run 1st week of November and Cardiff the week after so as to avoid clashing with domestic matches here in the U.K.

 

 

Theory ok but not really as there are two many other events that go on inside the Millennium stadium to take the pitch up for a one off meeting in the middle of the football season they would just be laughed at, that is why the grand prix is at the end of the season after the FA cup has been played there in May (ish) in fact last year they only had a little while to prepare the track to due another sporting event there close to the grand prix. I think anyway

[full-throttle 182]

The story I heard was that all the unexpected additional costs came from the late taking up of the track and repairing the damage to the infield. The seating / stadium etc wasn't the problem.

 

Thanks Luncy, I recall being told that the costs had come from something that needed doing after the meeting, and the cleaning was what I thought , but in retrospect I think your acount is more accurate.