Gresham 928 Posted June 1, 2017 Interesting regarding ages...When I go to watch Football, Rugby or Cricket...the age of the people watching is very similar to what it is at Speedway. In fact the average age of a football fan in this country is nearly 50yo. I've noticed a lot more of the younger generation watching Speedway live this season. At Somerset there is a good mix of older and younger and everything else in between. When visiting Buxton v Cradley the other week...there was a lot of women watching, and a lot of teenagers. Percentage wise, I bet Speedway isn't far off other sports, age wise. Trying to compare Poland with here, regardless of whether Speedway or any other sport, is futile imo. Totally different mentality and health and safety is pretty much ignored over there it seems. Poland in many ways reminds me of how it was in the 80's...in pretty much all walks of life over there. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted June 1, 2017 I've noticed a lot more of the younger generation watching Speedway live this season. Always quite a lot of children and younger people at Leicester. Mind you I don't know how long this is going to last if the Lions don't start winning soon. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keef robin 551 Posted June 2, 2017 British speedway fan average age is around 50 and numbers are dwindling by the week and not being replaced by the youth supporters , look at the crowds in Poland ,full of young fans average age 20 boys and girls , all wearing team scarfs on their wrists or team tershirts , so who is doing things right ? You may not like the answer cause it doesn't appeal to you but as far as I can see there is no next generation speedway in Britain, 42,000 fans attended 4 polish extra league meetings on Sunday and 2 of them were live on tv ,plus all the other polish league that took place , how many attended British speedway last week ? Probably 24000 on a good week. Wouldn"t want the hostile Polish-type crowds here, good to chat to other fans. Most fans at Swindon are under 50. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waytogo28 2,054 Posted June 3, 2017 I am not sure that there is a significant increase in new under 40's attending speedway OR if there is a slight increase they seem not to be attracted enough to stick with it ( does it turn them on? ). They do not seem to be spreading the word positively enough to bring in others ( so far ) from that age group. Another poster has got it right ( in my opinion ) that even if you put an average figure of 1,000 per UK match it amounts to no more than 20,000 per week, making it very much a minority , niche sport. The efforts of the BSPA over the last fifteen years, while they had the Sky income should have been with innovative marketing ideas. They gave that away to retain foreign names believing that those star names would hold the fan base or even increase it. That strategy failed - Thank Goodness that the BSPA are not standing for Election as a party on June 8th. Even with a change of leadership they seem not to have grasped the nub of the problem. That is that it is more and more a "hidden", secret sport in the UK. Even now they are "investing" in ( and hoping ) that the Gerhard engine catches on among riders, but how will that in itself attract new fans from within the 25 - 50 age group. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The White Knight 9,039 Posted June 4, 2017 I am not sure that there is a significant increase in new under 40's attending speedway OR if there is a slight increase they seem not to be attracted enough to stick with it ( does it turn them on? ). They do not seem to be spreading the word positively enough to bring in others ( so far ) from that age group. Another poster has got it right ( in my opinion ) that even if you put an average figure of 1,000 per UK match it amounts to no more than 20,000 per week, making it very much a minority , niche sport. The efforts of the BSPA over the last fifteen years, while they had the Sky income should have been with innovative marketing ideas. They gave that away to retain foreign names believing that those star names would hold the fan base or even increase it. That strategy failed - Thank Goodness that the BSPA are not standing for Election as a party on June 8th. Even with a change of leadership they seem not to have grasped the nub of the problem. That is that it is more and more a "hidden", secret sport in the UK. Even now they are "investing" in ( and hoping ) that the Gerhard engine catches on among riders, but how will that in itself attract new fans from within the 25 - 50 age group. If I knew the answer to that - I would be the greatest Speedway Promoter ever. I'm afraid I don't - so I'm not. :sad: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
