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PolskiZuzel

The Bsi As Seen From Pl

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Well there are always 2 sides to every story. I'm sure there are some valid points in the original post, however as I say it is merely one side of the story.

 

BSI have made many mistakes over their 17 (?) years in charge. And yes be in track problems, access to stadium, acts of god, they do like to point the finger...However on the whole I feel like they have run the GPs brilliantly. The old World Finals and pre BSI GPs were dated, no pre/post entertainment, old stadiums. It definitely needed modernizing and I feel they have more than done that,

 

The Saturday night/ruined the British league argument is tough. To my knowledge, all World Finals were held Saturday nights so we cant use that argument. And, as I've said in previous posts the day Hans Nielsen opted out of riding in Britain the writing was on the wall and sure enough most riders followed suit. Some have fluttered in and out of riding in Britain but I cant think of one top rider who hasn't opted out of riding in the UK at some stage. Tines changed. When we dominated world Speedway we basically only gave the Poles Sunday. As it turned out, that's a great day to watch sport and now British Speedway is paying the price.

JUST for the record, Swedish World Finals up to and including 1980 were held on a Friday.

 

What a pity...I would love to be acquainted with the things you could dispute...even if it would take all afternoon

IT would take all afternoon and I have more important things to do ... like washing my hair. Probably something you don't do in fantasy land.

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However on the whole I feel like they have run the GPs brilliantly. The old World Finals and pre BSI GPs were dated, no pre/post entertainment, old stadiums. It definitely needed modernizing and I feel they have more than done that

I'd say BSI made a reasonable start to revamping the World Championship by getting a GP at the Millennium Stadium and returning to a couple of other former 'prestige' venues, although to be honest I think it was a slam dunk. The World Championship had been (deliberately?) run down by FIM by holding World Finals and then GPs in mostly obscure venues, even though crowds at the bigger World Finals in latter years had held up reasonably well.

 

The BSI 'innovation' was more getting television and to some extent sponsorship on the back of that, but again, it was during an era of satellite and cable television growth desperate for cheap content. And the television and sponsorship deals weren't really spectacular by the standards of some minor sports.

 

As for the entertainment - well I'd rather they spent the money on a decent track, and I could quite frankly take or leave the likes of Edwin Starr and a boy playing an accordion.

 

However, I think BSI seriously took their eye off the ball at some point, which culminated in several fiascos that were largely down to poor planning and organisation. That led to various changes of personnel that Philippe has claimed were planned anyway, but ultimately have led to less obvious problems since.

 

And what BSI has done badly throughout the years, is taking responsibility for ensuring that individual GPs are not only properly organised, but promoted as well. How many times have we heard 'lessons will be learned' despite the fact BSI have been running these things for close to 20 years now? A series promoter to me, should have responsibility for setting standards and ensuring those are met at every GP - if they can insist upon it for their own personnel coming to GPs, then it shouldn't be a big leap to ensure the fan experience is good too.

 

The fact that only a couple of GPs have had any longevity is testament to the lack of building decent relationships with local promoters. And then you have the subsequent slating of former GP promoters through the resident BSI proxy, which seems unprofessional to my mind and unlikely to rebuild any bridges in future.

 

So could anyone else do better? Maybe, maybe not - the bar is not very high in speedway. But of course, the FIM signing 20+ year agreements doesn't leave any opportunity for others to come along and improve things. Something like F1 that requires multi-billion dollar investments will need the security of long-term deals, but speedway isn't anywhere in that league and 5-10 year agreements would be more than reasonable for the level that the sport is at.

 

The Saturday night/ruined the British league argument is tough. To my knowledge, all World Finals were held Saturday nights so we cant use that argument.

Well you can, because the World Final was only one Saturday (or Friday) not 12 every year. And even if you include the qualifying rounds, it was really only 3 or 4.

 

The British leagues were already on their way to ruin before the SGP came along, but the SGP was certainly the nail in the coffin.

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IT would take all afternoon and I have more important things to do ... like washing my hair. Probably something you don't do in fantasy land.

 

I am surprise that you still got yours, because I already went bald

 

Seriously though, I wonder why do you bother being here. Everyone is eager here to put their views accross.

That's why we are here.

Edited by PolskiZuzel

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I'd say BSI made a reasonable start to revamping the World Championship by getting a GP at the Millennium Stadium and returning to a couple of other former 'prestige' venues, although to be honest I think it was a slam dunk. The World Championship had been (deliberately?) run down by FIM by holding World Finals and then GPs in mostly obscure venues, even though crowds at the bigger World Finals in latter years had held up reasonably well.

 

The BSI 'innovation' was more getting television and to some extent sponsorship on the back of that, but again, it was during an era of satellite and cable television growth desperate for cheap content. And the television and sponsorship deals weren't really spectacular by the standards of some minor sports.

 

As for the entertainment - well I'd rather they spent the money on a decent track, and I could quite frankly take or leave the likes of Edwin Starr and a boy playing an accordion.

 

However, I think BSI seriously took their eye off the ball at some point, which culminated in several fiascos that were largely down to poor planning and organisation. That led to various changes of personnel that Philippe has claimed were planned anyway, but ultimately have led to less obvious problems since.

 

And what BSI has done badly throughout the years, is taking responsibility for ensuring that individual GPs are not only properly organised, but promoted as well. How many times have we heard 'lessons will be learned' despite the fact BSI have been running these things for close to 20 years now? A series promoter to me, should have responsibility for setting standards and ensuring those are met at every GP - if they can insist upon it for their own personnel coming to GPs, then it shouldn't be a big leap to ensure the fan experience is good too.

 

The fact that only a couple of GPs have had any longevity is testament to the lack of building decent relationships with local promoters. And then you have the subsequent slating of former GP promoters through the resident BSI proxy, which seems unprofessional to my mind and unlikely to rebuild any bridges in future.

 

So could anyone else do better? Maybe, maybe not - the bar is not very high in speedway. But of course, the FIM signing 20+ year agreements doesn't leave any opportunity for others to come along and improve things. Something like F1 that requires multi-billion dollar investments will need the security of long-term deals, but speedway isn't anywhere in that league and 5-10 year agreements would be more than reasonable for the level that the sport is at.

 

 

 

 

Well you can, because the World Final was only one Saturday (or Friday) not 12 every year. And even if you include the qualifying rounds, it was really only 3 or 4.

 

The British leagues were already on their way to ruin before the SGP came along, but the SGP was certainly the nail in the coffin.

 

Outside of messing a few tracks and then shirking responsibility for it I dont see what they have done wrong. F1 for example isnt without problems they mess plenty of stuff up.

I enjoy GPs - you obviously dont, but I dont defend it blindly. I've had pretty heated discussions with John Posstlethwaite, Paul Bellamy and even Nicola Sands over the years after traveling long distances to GPs only for them to be canceled. But on the whole they have upgraded an already great product. Not just the stadiums, the whole presentation, before, during and after is just so much slicker. Any friends Ive taken to a GP have absolutely loved it then gone to a league mate and thought sod this. You cannot just rely on the racing anymore, it has to be an event. BSI to their credit have done that.

Edited by RPNYC
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Outside of messing a few tracks and then shirking responsibility for it I dont see what they have done wrong.

Having an indoor GP 'rained off' (Gelsenkirchen), another abandoned because of lack of a functional start mechanism (Warsaw), and yet another moved with a day's notice to another city because the original venue was insufficiently prepared (Riga), is totally inexcusable and simply down to very poor organisation.

 

That's before we get to other abandonments due to state of the track (e.g. Gothenburg), and the poor experience in some other venues because of lack of suitability (e.g. Tampere). They may be argued to be unfortunate circumstances, but after 20 years of organisational experience, I think the excuses are wearing a bit thin.

F1 for example isnt without problems they mess plenty of stuff up.

Can't recall any F1 GPs being cancelled because the track wasn't properly prepared or the wrong kind of tarmac used, nor GPs being moved to another city with a day's notice. There was the Indianapolis GP fiasco a few years back, and a Bahrain GP was cancelled because of civil unrest, but I can't think what else has been messed up in that sport.

 

I enjoy GPs - you obviously dont, but I dont defend it blindly.

It's not a matter of whether I enjoy the GPs or not. They can sometimes be quite good, although I dont get much opportunity to watch them these days as despite Philippes claims that the SGP is shown all around the world, Ive only seen it shown in a couple of the 100+ countries Ive been to.

 

Its just that I don't think BSI does that brilliant a job, nor do I agree with private promoters taking out what limited money there is in the sport. The latter is the fault of the FIM not BSI, but I think it should be questioned whether the SGP is bringing benefits to the wider sport, or is just there to enrich US shareholders.

Edited by Humphrey Appleby
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Having an indoor GP 'rained off' (Gelsenkirchen), another abandoned because of lack of a functional start mechanism (Warsaw), and yet another moved with a day's notice to another city because the original venue was insufficiently prepared (Riga), is totally inexcusable and simply down to very poor organisation.

 

That's before we get to other abandonments due to state of the track (e.g. Gothenburg), and the poor experience in some other venues because of lack of suitability (e.g. Tampere). They may be argued to be unfortunate circumstances, but after 20 years of organisational experience, I think the excuses are wearing a bit thin.

Can't recall any F1 GPs being cancelled because the track wasn't properly prepared or the wrong kind of tarmac used, nor GPs being moved to another city with a day's notice. There was the Indianapolis GP fiasco a few years back, and a Bahrain GP was cancelled because of civil unrest, but I can't think what else has been messed up in that sport.

 

It's not a matter of whether I enjoy the GPs or not. They can sometimes be quite good, although I dont get much opportunity to watch them these days as despite Philippes claims that the SGP is shown all around the world, Ive only seen it shown in a couple of the 100+ countries Ive been to.

 

Its just that I don't think BSI does that brilliant a job, nor do I agree with private promoters taking out what limited money there is in the sport. The latter is the fault of the FIM not BSI, but I think it should be questioned whether the SGP is bringing benefits to the wider sport, or is just there to enrich US shareholders.

Spa Francorchamps was cancelled the one year due to track braking up, I should know I drove there to find it cancelled! cant remember the year off the top of my head

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