New Zealand Gp.

[Skidder1 7,634]

For someone who is so clearly disillusioned with Speedway, you do your best to put the boot in on many threads don't you!! Surprised you have the time, with running a successful company and all that!!!!

[Odds On 373]

Don't think your summer weather (hope it lasts until third week in March!) will impact on track. Ole Olsen and his team will arrive early next month and start again from scratch using the materials that were taken up and stored after the 2012 event. Ole thinks he can make it even better which would be quite an achievement.

 

the track was awful last season and may I say in just about every GP, for the sake of speedway do away with Ole and his grand ideas at preparing a track, the public and the sponsors want entertaining, the sport needs to get away from the rolled roads that we witness week in week out, entertainment is the name of the game.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

POPPYCOCK ... the track was terrific, as were many last year. Don't take my word for it ... ask any of the riders.

[waiheke1 4,295]

 

 

the track was awful last season and may I say in just about every GP, for the sake of speedway do away with Ole and his grand ideas at preparing a track, the public and the sponsors want entertaining, the sport needs to ge]t away from the rolled roads that we witness week in week out, entertainment is the name of the game.

utter bollocks. bar the rut which emil hit i thought tgectrack was exceptional for a first time effort- would u have had a race like heat 20 if the surface was crap? did u actually watch the gps last year? most gps were, in my opinion of course, of a very high standard of racing

[Dave_minall 232]

the track was awful last season and may I say in just about every GP, for the sake of speedway do away with Ole and his grand ideas at preparing a track, the public and the sponsors want entertaining, the sport needs to get away from the rolled roads that we witness week in week out, entertainment is the name of the game.

 

Were you watching the same GP as the rest of us? The track in NZ was one of the best prepared one off surfaces we've ever seen - every rider loved it, and from what I remember this is the first time a one off track has been given universal praise.

[Odds On 373]

POPPYCOCK ... the track was terrific, as were many last year. Don't take my word for it ... ask any of the riders.

 

ever wondered why GP speedway isn't on Sky this year, the sport needs a radical view and a directive from somebody outside of the speedway world?...perhaps the sport isnt entertaining enough, speedway is competing in a market where the customer wants to be entertained, people dont want to watch 60secs of dross, of course "some" of the riders enjoy the track, three quarters of the time it is gate and go, if all was great with the speedway GPs, why haven't Sky jumped at the chance of showing it?

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

ever wondered why GP speedway isn't on Sky this year, the sport needs a radical view and a directive from somebody outside of the speedway world?...perhaps the sport isnt entertaining enough, speedway is competing in a market where the customer wants to be entertained, people dont want to watch 60secs of dross, of course "some" of the riders enjoy the track, three quarters of the time it is gate and go, if all was great with the speedway GPs, why haven't Sky jumped at the chance of showing it?

 

IF you had found the time to read many of the other threads on here you would know why Sky will probably not show the GPs this year ...

[Humphrey Appleby 13,953]

IF you had found the time to read many of the other threads on here you would know why Sky will probably not show the GPs this year ...

 

Yes there's undoubtedly some truth in this, but the bottom line is that speedway just isn't considered indispensable by Sky...

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

THERE are probably few sports that are indispensable to Sky, soccer obviously being the major one.

 

From conversations I have had a few things are clear: first and foremost is timing. Had the BSI contract with Sky not expired at the end of the 2012 season we would not be in this position. Those involved with speedway production at Sky are huge advocates of the GP product but the decision has been taken out of their hands. Budgets have been cut and the easy targets were contracts up for renewal, especially for sports that as you say aren't indispensable.

 

The Sky viewing figures for the GPs are considered quite acceptable given that they occupy one of the most difficult slots on the schedule. Events that generally start at 6pm British time face a tough task attracting an audience especially in the summer months. And, of course, anything on Sky Sports on a Saturday evening will be up against some of the most popular family orientated programmes on terrestrial TV.

[Lord Skid 425]

Sooner or later the powers that be will realise that the coffin lid is nearly nailed down for good, unless you buy the SStar, nobody knows the sport even exists, and i'm sure that you could go and buy 80% of the EL tracks at present, such is the poor financial state that the sport is in, and no, i'm not a doom and gloom person, far from it, just a realist, when you see an EL Club with an average crowd of 600 surely someone must know things are drastically wrong, but no, they start another year with the head buried in the sand, unfortunately they've cried wolf so many times, the general public are not that bothered what they say any more.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,953]

THERE are probably few sports that are indispensable to Sky, soccer obviously being the major one.

 

I'd think cricket and rugby league would be considered indispensable as well. Rugby League is particularly interesting as I'd have thought that it and speedway were comparable popularity wise in the 1970s and into the 1980s.

 

The Sky viewing figures for the GPs are considered quite acceptable given that they occupy one of the most difficult slots on the schedule.

 

As others have pointed out though, it's also about attracting advertisers and with the best will in the world, the speedway clientele is not the investment banking set...

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

NEITHER is darts in all probability. I have stated on here previously that the reason Sky shifted the GPs to SS4 (other than Cardiff) was that the size of its audience (not necessarily the demographic) attracted better advertising revenue than anything else shown on that particular channel at that particular time.

[flagrag 704]

The ad revenue last year for GP coverage and league racing was more than acceptable it is kind of a shame that it was Monster energy that decided to back the GP series and World Cup. As they don't spend their advertising budget on tv ads and prefer new media and online instead along with extensive sponsorship.

If it had been Red Bull the ad revenue for Speedway coverage would have been even higher at present they just have their short 15 sec ads to remind people their are other energy drink brands than Monster.

Asking around there is a number of people within Sky sports who really wanted the GP to return even certain board members but with the cutbacks and rights having to be renewed Speedway has had to be cut back along with some other sports

[Humphrey Appleby 13,953]

The ad revenue last year for GP coverage and league racing was more than acceptable it is kind of a shame that it was Monster energy that decided to back the GP series and World Cup. As they don't spend their advertising budget on tv ads and prefer new media and online instead along with extensive sponsorship.

If it had been Red Bull the ad revenue for Speedway coverage would have been even higher at present they just have their short 15 sec ads to remind people their are other energy drink brands than Monster.

 

Somehow sums up speedway.

 

Just how much us Monster putting into the SGP anyway?

[New Science 1,059]

The ad revenue last year for GP coverage and league racing was more than acceptable it is kind of a shame that it was Monster energy that decided to back the GP series and World Cup. As they don't spend their advertising budget on tv ads and prefer new media and online instead along with extensive sponsorship.

If it had been Red Bull the ad revenue for Speedway coverage would have been even higher at present they just have their short 15 sec ads to remind people their are other energy drink brands than Monster.

Asking around there is a number of people within Sky sports who really wanted the GP to return even certain board members but with the cutbacks and rights having to be renewed Speedway has had to be cut back along with some other sports

Which are the other sports to be cut back on sky ?