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Midland Red

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Reduced ticket prices

Free tickets for schools

Attendance:  over 28,000 v Accrington Stanley

Lesson to be learned for speedway promoters?

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You must have worked as "an everything in triplicate" civil servant lol 

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Any road up - back on track

 

Anything for speedway promoters to learn from this initiative?

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Accrington Stanley, who are they?

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I think he's on the waiting list to ride for Poole.

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9 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Reduced ticket prices

Free tickets for schools

Attendance:  over 28,000 v Accrington Stanley

Lesson to be learned for speedway promoters?

When I was involved with Belle Vue, we did a huge push one summer with publicity on local radio and the MEN newspaper for much reduced adult admission and children free. The results were overwhelming with double the normal crowd (though the same turnstile income as usual). We were so pleased with the out-turn that we ran it for the next week. The crowd returned to pre-offer levels meaning we lost a fortune. 

I concluded that reduced entry pricing was unlikely to increase crowd levels on a long term basis - but were likely to bankrupt the business

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1 hour ago, Gordon Pairman said:

When I was involved with Belle Vue, we did a huge push one summer with publicity on local radio and the MEN newspaper for much reduced adult admission and children free. The results were overwhelming with double the normal crowd (though the same turnstile income as usual). We were so pleased with the out-turn that we ran it for the next week. The crowd returned to pre-offer levels meaning we lost a fortune. 

I concluded that reduced entry pricing was unlikely to increase crowd levels on a long term basis - but were likely to bankrupt the business

So people were interested enough in the prospect of Speedway to double your crowd?  That sounds like an excellent result.

Did you attempt to attain any feedback from those new customers as to why they wouldn't/didn't come back?

I would suggest that the reasons were:  1.  The racing spectacle was virtually none existent, how many heats any had passing beyond the back straight of lap 1?  Quite possibly none.

2.  And very much a secondary reason would be that the presentation would be rather low-key.

The conclusion to come is that people are not interested in watching boring, processional "races" with little to no passing, or anything resembling any drama.

Of course at Belle Vue, you now have an excellent advantage over every other club in the country, i.e. the best Speedway track.

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I think Belle Vue had the right approach last year by effectively using the Colts to try to get people to attend and then hopefully, to want to see the Aces. Entrance fees for the Colts were £10 for adults, £8 for concessions and under 18's free. Most families could afford that, it gave those new to the sport an opportunity to see what it was all about and the risk to the promoters was minimised.

Edited by Aces51

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43 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said:

So people were interested enough in the prospect of Speedway to double your crowd?  That sounds like an excellent result.

Did you attempt to attain any feedback from those new customers as to why they wouldn't/didn't come back?

I would suggest that the reasons were:  1.  The racing spectacle was virtually none existent, how many heats any had passing beyond the back straight of lap 1?  Quite possibly none.

2.  And very much a secondary reason would be that the presentation would be rather low-key.

The conclusion to come is that people are not interested in watching boring, processional "races" with little to no passing, or anything resembling any drama.

Of course at Belle Vue, you now have an excellent advantage over every other club in the country, i.e. the best Speedway track.

You draw some rather unnecessarily offensive conclusions based on what can only be surmise, ignorance  and prejudice. Why did you do that when I was trying to be open?

And, pray tell me, how would you expect us to find those that turned up the first week but not the second?

I was simply stating facts. We picked the fixture and worked flat out promoting the night. My recollection, bearing in mind that this was some time ago, was that the atmosphere was superb and the crowd reaction gave us the impetus to repeat it. I also remember how deflated we were the following week.

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11 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

You draw some rather unnecessarily offensive conclusions based on what can only be surmise, ignorance  and prejudice. Why did you do that when I was trying to be open?

And, pray tell me, how would you expect us to find those that turned up the first week but not the second?

I was simply stating facts. We picked the fixture and worked flat out promoting the night. My recollection, bearing in mind that this was some time ago, was that the atmosphere was superb and the crowd reaction gave us the impetus to repeat it. I also remember how deflated we were the following week.

I think there is quite a bit of evidence around that shows free (reduced) admission doesn't lead to an overall upswing in attendances in the medium or even long term. Mr Pairman's experience just backs that up.

My memory says Lakeside was packed one week when it was free – the next, when it was normal admission prices, the attendance was also 'normal'

In the early days of Sky, Eastbourne dished out loads of free tickets – lots of people attended; never to be seen again.

All this, of course, begs the question what can speedway do to retain people in such circumstances? 

 

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12 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

You draw some rather unnecessarily offensive conclusions based on what can only be surmise, ignorance  and prejudice. Why did you do that when I was trying to be open?

And, pray tell me, how would you expect us to find those that turned up the first week but not the second?

I was simply stating facts. We picked the fixture and worked flat out promoting the night. My recollection, bearing in mind that this was some time ago, was that the atmosphere was superb and the crowd reaction gave us the impetus to repeat it. I also remember how deflated we were the following week.

said this before and i expect i'll say it  again - free or reduced price tickets in return for email addresses (mail the tix to that address) and bombard with info  and adverts, ask questions and act on the answers.

Its the first day of GCSE Marketing. It costs at first but once you have contact its free

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I went to the Lakeside v Poole meeting when it was free entry several years ago. Over 7,000 and a very good match as well. The roads around Lakeside were completely gridlocked. Remember hearing the following week it was back to normal service.

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1 hour ago, Richard Weston said:

All this, of course, begs the question what can speedway do to retain people in such circumstances? 

Presumably, the key is loyalty to the team. I've been to the greyhounds at Swindon and enjoyed myself, but I wouldn't go every week. Similarly, people without team affiliation may well have the same experience of speedway. 

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