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How Do We Attract A New Young Audience?

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Get rid of the rubbishy tatty stadia and rebuild with clean modern ones, look at the danish & swedish stadia.

You'd need to actually own the stadiums to do that.

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Interesting article!

 

I gave a talk at a school some years ago and the teacher was keen for me to explain how the starting technique was administered. I seem to recall that he was a physics teacher and wanted to know how power translated to grip without causing too much wheel spin! In John Louis' recent excellent book John explains his own technique with tremendous incite and sums it up by saying that clutch and throttle control is somewhat similar to starting in second gear in a motor car. Having ridden a speedway bike I can equate with that.

Insight

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Get rid of the rubbishy tatty stadia and rebuild with clean modern ones, look at the danish & swedish stadia.

 

Well Imo the Danish stadiums, except maybe Esbjerg, Holstead and Vojebns the Danish arenas aren't that good.

 

The Swedish arenas are pretty decent but far from every arena is top quality.

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Speedway was a good family Sport and in some ways still thinks it is a family Sport ,

 

The lack of a young audience has been a concern for a long time,

 

At a time when many families are struggling to keep their head above water financially then perhaps Speedway should be bold and aim at young families needing a viable entertainment.

 

For me, it is simple

 

1. Keep the prices as they are now but ADD a FAMILY TICKET AT A REALISTIC PRICE .... say £ 25 for mum , dad and the kids in the EL ; £20 for the PL and £ 15 for the NL.

 

No doubt they will buy a programme and if they have kids then they will want a burger and a drink etc.

 

2. Keep the meting moving along ... when I started at Belle Vue there were 23 heats , a 10 minute interval and all within 2 hours so that the crowd could get in to the fairground by 2100 hrs

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Having read the Speedway Memories book about two years ago, it displayed that many were taken to their first match by an elder relative or friend. Rules and the like aren't important initially, it's the spectacle and the show that people will go away with the memory of. Huge gaps between races and music that doesn't appeal to the younger people will bring certain ridicule from young 'uns. The racing is what they are attracted to, but that is such a small part of the entire 90 minutes you are stood there. It's a long time with nothing to do. Youngsters have much more to do with their time nowadays; even we oldstagers notice the gaps between the heats more than we did in the past. Letting anyone under 16 in for nowt is a good idea, it will certainly persuade some. But you have got to be of that ilk to want to return. I mean to say, because I subscribe to SKY Sports for the speedway, I don't sit there 24-7 watching every other sport, because they are on. There has to be that interest from anyone to want go back again.

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Because otherwise when we die out, speedway dies out. :wink:

 

What's the difference between attracting 1,000 new fans aged 15-30 and 1,000 new fans aged 40-55? I'd hazard that speedway looses far more fans due to lose of interest, cost, rules etc. than through death.

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I think we should get a young rider an Australian with British entitlement would be ok , someone with a youngish outlook towards , Tattoos, piercings and clothing . then fast track him through the national league , premier league , into team Gb and give him the British selection for the GPs. then he will become popular with the younger generation and have them flocking to British tracks to see him in action . the only worry though is that having had all he can get from British speedway and it's supporters , he will then get so big for his boots that he will want to change the whole way the sport is run to suit his schedule , and when that doesn't happen turn his back and ride in another country ,

Sadly I agree with your statement :cry:

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Having read the Speedway Memories book about two years ago, it displayed that many were taken to their first match by an elder relative or friend.

 

I think you have hit the nail on the head here. Most of us were introduced to speedway by our Dads, not because some fancypants promoter came into our school with a bike and a rider.

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You won't attract the youngsters, the Sport is finished, just accept it, the same as milk in glass bottles, it's a thing of the past, if it hasn't got a touch screen nowadays, you've got no chance.

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Having read the Speedway Memories book about two years ago, it displayed that many were taken to their first match by an elder relative or friend. Rules and the like aren't important initially, it's the spectacle and the show that people will go away with the memory of. Huge gaps between races and music that doesn't appeal to the younger people will bring certain ridicule from young 'uns. The racing is what they are attracted to, but that is such a small part of the entire 90 minutes you are stood there. It's a long time with nothing to do. Youngsters have much more to do with their time nowadays; even we oldstagers notice the gaps between the heats more than we did in the past. Letting anyone under 16 in for nowt is a good idea, it will certainly persuade some. But you have got to be of that ilk to want to return. I mean to say, because I subscribe to SKY Sports for the speedway, I don't sit there 24-7 watching every other sport, because they are on. There has to be that interest from anyone to want go back again.

Is the constant grading of the track not at the behest of the riders because of the demands of the engines being used in modern speedway .I didn't mind grading at Ellesmere Port in the 70's as Frank Varey used to throw hand fulls of sweets to the kids happy days :D.IMO there is no simple answer to this problem but think that there should be an aim to attract new fans of all ages .One idea that was mooted was to build a viewing area( within the safety fence) fully glazed along the straights so that fans were as close to the action as possible .I believe riders safety ruled this out which is of paramount importance but just image being that close to the action again as we used to be .

Edited by FAST GATER

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Yes, I was taken by my Dad when I was 8 and 67 years later I'm still going, but some have already pointed out the thing that annoys me the most these days ~ long gaps between races. :mad: According to Peter York it's to 'get the shale back on the racing line.' Okay so where exactly is the racing line at Coventry and is there only one? The tractors just go round and round and don't touch the inside because apparently that has to be left as it is. So if the shale has moved out why can't it stay where it is so we can see exciting blasts round the outside from Chris Harris...for instance? I'm not convinced all this grading is necessary and think it's just something that's done to make the meeting last longer so we feel we've had our monies worth. It is boring watching tractors go round, I get cheesed off so I'm sure children do as well. I only go to 3 tracks nowadays Coventry, Leicester and Peterborough, plus a holiday visit to Kings Lynn and I wouldn't go back there again as there is a sun break as well as grading. :lol: Peterborough and Leicester are the worst for track grading and at Peterborough the tractor often comes out after heat 2. I just don't get it but I'm sure someone will explain why it has to be done.

 

 

 

.....FAST GATER.......One idea that was mooted was to build a viewing area( within the safety fence) fully grazed along the straights so that fans were as close to the action as possible .

 

Presumably fully grazed by a few Sheep? Lucy would like that. :wink:

 

 

 

....MattK......There are actually very few products which have universal appeal across all age ranges, so why does speedway think it is special enough to appeal to everyone? The answer is actually surprisingly simple, why doesn't speedway target itself at an older market.

 

Thank goodness SCB isn't able to post at the moment. :P

Edited by Gemini
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I think if Darts can have a radical make over that appeals to all sorts, then so can speedway. I think Speedway has a real image problem, promoting it as a family sport just gives it a fuddy duddy image that just preaches to the converted and attracts no one. When I bought along my biking mates, they're surprised by the excitement, overtaking and danger. I think it certainly could be promoted as a dangerous and exciting extreme sport, as well as being priced to suit a family budget.

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one only has to look at the old uns bickering on here over .25 of a point etc... the rules are far too complicated in what is inherently a very simple sport. The risk of bumping into someone like TWK would make yourt avarage teenager run a mile

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Speedway was a good family Sport and in some ways still thinks it is a family Sport ,

 

The lack of a young audience has been a concern for a long time,

 

At a time when many families are struggling to keep their head above water financially then perhaps Speedway should be bold and aim at young families needing a viable entertainment.

 

For me, it is simple

 

1. Keep the prices as they are now but ADD a FAMILY TICKET AT A REALISTIC PRICE .... say £ 25 for mum , dad and the kids in the EL ; £20 for the PL and £ 15 for the NL.

 

No doubt they will buy a programme and if they have kids then they will want a burger and a drink etc.

 

2. Keep the meting moving along ... when I started at Belle Vue there were 23 heats , a 10 minute interval and all within 2 hours so that the crowd could get in to the fairground by 2100 hrs

agree with the prices absolutely , it's no good keep comparing speedway to football as an excuse for trying to sell a £10 sport for £20

Edited by speedibee

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It might minimally detract from programme sales – although not if the editorial content of the programme is good enough to still warrant purchasing – but this progression to the digital age is long overdue.

It doesn’t require any wi-fi connection and would appeal to those youngsters who are joined at the hip to their smartphones.

Again though, this demonstrates the thinking in the sport. Whilst I'd agree that filling in the programme used to be part of the appeal for me, it's perfectly possible in 2015 to relay results directly to an app, so no filling in is necessary. And if wifi was made available in the stadium, maybe kids would be more willing to come along if they can do whatever they do on their phones in between the indeterminable delays between heats.

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