Phil The Ace 2,860 Posted May 5, 2018 What do we think now we're a few month into the season? We have since found out Denmark take priority over Wednesday's meetings. So we've already had guests in 1 meetings. 3 to be precise. I can only speak for belle vue but our crowds have fell probably approx 500 ppl moving to Monday from Friday. And that's when we have had nice weather and the world champ in town. Clearly for my club who have had to change race nights it's not working. What about the others that have changed what's your crowd like????? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel Smith 5,661 Posted May 5, 2018 (edited) From most reports the signs have been encouraging. Shame our league went with Monday's & Wednesday. Had it of been Thursday's I'm sure Belle Vue would have gone with that and would of been less damaging. Having said that, Belle Vue is proof that a state of the art stadium still can't pull in punters to make it pay. There's far more wrong with the sport than just a clean and tidy seat. Promoting is evidently void for almost every club. It still amazes me that huge city clubs are pulling similar or smaller attendances than small town clubs though. Belle Vue, Wolverhampton etc should be double the likes of King's Lynn, Poole etc but these promotions are failing the club's. Edited May 5, 2018 by Daniel Smith 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lastword 200 Posted May 5, 2018 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Phil The Ace said: What do we think now we're a few month into the season? We have since found out Denmark take priority over Wednesday's meetings. So we've already had guests in 1 meetings. 3 to be precise. I can only speak for belle vue but our crowds have fell probably approx 500 ppl moving to Monday from Friday. And that's when we have had nice weather and the world champ in town. Clearly for my club who have had to change race nights it's not working. What about the others that have changed what's your crowd like????? Hi,Phil, As a regular at Aces meetings I agree that the attendance appears below expectations. But do you have access to attendance figures or are you just taking a guess? Edited May 5, 2018 by lastword Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Catalan 717 Posted May 5, 2018 Do you think the start stop beginning to season is not helping at the moment? Also feel the crap standard of the league not helping. If I wanted 2nd division riders I would go to a championship club. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil The Ace 2,860 Posted May 5, 2018 8 minutes ago, lastword said: Hi,Phil, As a regular at Aces meetings I agree that the attendance appears below expectations. But do you have access to attendance figures or are you just taking a guess? Just a guess mate. Nobody as access to attendces. So it seems anyway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Najjer 2,890 Posted May 5, 2018 (edited) 42 minutes ago, sugarray said: Do you think the start stop beginning to season is not helping at the moment? Also feel the crap standard of the league not helping. If I wanted 2nd division riders I would go to a championship club. The price to attend vs. The standard on offer is the biggest stumbling block. £17 for 15 x 1 minute races no matter what way you look at it isn't great value for money. As a comparison it makes the 2nd division even more of a rip off as they're getting a lot less of a standard for around £15. In answer to the original question though of how is fixed race nights working out, I think it will benefit Somerset. Whilst it was nice to end the week at Speedway instead of mid week, the traffic and surrounding areas on a Friday as a nightmare at the best of times. I can't see any reason why crowds would drop at Somerset, they should only prosper. Edited May 5, 2018 by Najjer 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wealdstone 3,454 Posted May 5, 2018 As Ric Frost said before he quit in exasperation BSPA not even competent to operate a burger van 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrss 691 Posted May 5, 2018 The problem with British speedway is its a professional sport being run by amateurs. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ouch 1,191 Posted May 5, 2018 The big problem with speedway and it’s difficult for us to understand is that people don’t like speedway. We’ve all had the “is that still going” chat and even with that they don’t come again. Similarly I have mates that I keep asking to come along without success. Belle Vue have done school visits, work visits, radio adverts, city wide posters, been on both local evening news channels, been on Sky, ran cheap entrance meetings both Aces and Colts, we’ve been in shops, we’ve had posters for fans to give out, the list goes on and on but people just look and think it’s not for them. The demographic of fans is and has always been the most precarious as once money gets tight then speedway or similar is the first to go. Multi channel tv and the screen society has diverted their attention way from a night at the speedway. Dont get me wrong though the powers that be have done a great job of turning away fans, a mind boggling achievement in my eyes. 2000-3000 crowds are still possible as we had only two decades or so ago, if the current group of promoters stop being dicks. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawk127 1,359 Posted May 5, 2018 Fixed race nights arevOK as long as they are the right nights for the club. The way it is set up now is simply putting a sticking plaster over what is so wrong with speedway in this country. Currently pandering and be dictated to by other European nations it really is time to think about what is good for British Speedway and get on with it. As it stands you still have doubling up, race nights that do not appeal to many, no weekly speedway fixtures for many clubs and with irregular meetings the likelihood of more fans drifting away. When will the custodians of this sport start to think about what they are doing. If those clubs that voted for less meetings were making losses with home and away twice, the chances are they will be out of business by the end of this season. I could see a situation where a few clubs find it no longer viable to continue and in 2019 they may have no option but to have just one league plus the NL in order for clubs to cover the stadium rental. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aces51 2,778 Posted May 5, 2018 There is obviously much wrong with the sport but the there is no significant difference between this year and last year so the only explanation for the significant drop in crowd numbers at Belle Vue must be the change in race night. Monday may work for a team like Wolverhampton, who have a long history of racing on that night but it is probably the worst night of the week for the entertainment and leisure industries. That is why many offer incentives to try to attract people in. If you want the best chance of getting a decent slice of the leisure pound you have a far better chance on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I suspect that it was for those very reasons that the previous promotion changed from Monday, which was forced on them by their landlord and never successful, to Friday. It may be that as the season progresses crowds will improve but I have my doubts. In fact, when the TV coverage starts in a couple of weeks I think that is going to tempt some more fans to stay away especially if the weather is bad. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cityrebel 2,960 Posted May 5, 2018 The crowds are well down at rye house since the switch. Financial suicide springs to mind. Although it's strengthened the championship by reducing the doubling up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,274 Posted May 5, 2018 5 hours ago, Phil The Ace said: What do we think now we're a few month into the season? We have since found out Denmark take priority over Wednesday's meetings. So we've already had guests in 1 meetings. 3 to be precise. I can only speak for belle vue but our crowds have fell probably approx 500 ppl moving to Monday from Friday. And that's when we have had nice weather and the world champ in town. Clearly for my club who have had to change race nights it's not working. What about the others that have changed what's your crowd like????? Phil, everyone knew Denmark had priority for Wednesdays... It's their night... Hence British Speedway was granted Monday and Thursdays as theirs... Then they changed.. Why? Well, once again, the tail wagged the dog... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted May 5, 2018 Of course if you're a regular Monday or Wednesday night track then the new arrangement's great. That takes care of three tracks, while Swindon have mainly kept their Thursdays. Now what about the other half of the league? The argument to adopt fixed race nights was to avoid guests caused by fixture clashes. The situation with Denmark blows that straight out of the water. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RobMcCaffery 2,752 Posted May 5, 2018 1 minute ago, mikebv said: Why? Well, once again, the tail wagged the dog... If that 'tail' didn't keep supplying your league with tracks you'd be in even a far worse position than you are now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
