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hulvik

Thank you Sky for nothing

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23 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

... name me one premier league football club, premiership or superleague rugby club or cricket club that has not lost money year on year, despite huge injections of TV cash. Why would speedway - with a much lower fanbase - be any different?

You name them for me, I can't be arsed. We are discussing speedway and, as you mentioned, the much lower fanbase that is... err... rapidly growing lower.

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Sky has also thrown money at Angling, but its in serious decline like many outdoor sports. Golf is another that is struggling to attract youngsters, and it's just another outdoor sport suffering because of the cost and the digital age.  Things are not going to improve for many sports, including grass roots football which struggles for funds while the 'big clubs' fill their coffers with TV money ...

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8 minutes ago, BluPanther said:

Sky has also thrown money at Angling, but its in serious decline like many outdoor sports. Golf is another that is struggling to attract youngsters, and it's just another outdoor sport suffering because of the cost and the digital age.  Things are not going to improve for many sports, including grass roots football which struggles for funds while the 'big clubs' fill their coffers with TV money ...

Right..

So the argument is, Sky has pumped money into lots of sports, given them massive exposure and that is what has caused them all to 'decline'.

No other reasons.. all Sky's fault? 

Seriously? lol

Just think for a moment where some of these sports would be if Sky hadn't got involved with them....

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1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said:

The money Sky poured into British speedway was never well spent. It largely went to fund rider payments and never to improve the infrastructure of the sport. Cannot really blame Sky for that either.

Don't forget a certain cockney gentleman who also skimmed the cream off the top of the pie!

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22 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

You name them for me, I can't be arsed. We are discussing speedway and, as you mentioned, the much lower fanbase that is... err... rapidly growing lower.

There aren't any but you're trying to make out that speedway promoters are the only club owners so inept that they cannot make a profit from their sport. I'm making the point that they are following the blueprint of many sports, such as football, perceived as being run properly and successfully but actually in a worse state than speedway. The entertainment provided by riders is not enough to attract the crowds to cover their wages, most obviously in Britain but also in Sweden and Poland despite their much higher attendances. The problem is a sport living beyond its means. It will not change unless riders - and the "I'll only go to watch the top riders" type of fans take a large dose of reality

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Whenever the Elite League clubs went back for more money or to extend the term for "advances" Sky and GoSpeed questioned the wisdom of not reinvesting in the sport. At contract renewal they suggested putting some of the money into grass roots schemes, Team GB and other long term initiatives. Terry told the BSPA "you do know you are going to run out of money" but the cry was "who are they to tell us how to spend our money". Admittedly some found it's way into those initiatives but nowhere near enough and the BSPA Office was partly funded from TV money.

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6 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

 the "I'll only go to watch the top riders" type of fans take a large dose of reality

I'd say they already have had a reality check and just stopped going to Speedway

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6 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

There aren't any but you're trying to make out that speedway promoters are the only club owners so inept that they cannot make a profit from their sport.

Except there are. I've listed all the ones who made a profit in 2016/17. There were only 3 Premier League sides who didn't.

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10 minutes ago, iainb said:

Don't forget a certain cockney gentleman who also skimmed the cream off the top of the pie!

I think this needs rephrasing, he earned a percentage of the Sky fee in line with the BSPA's finders fee payments policy, the fact that he took less overall than he was entitled to seems to go unrecorded. They chose to outsource their broadcast rights just like they've outsourced Team GB now, the fact that Terry was and Rob may be successful with it seems to go against Speedway's grain hence Terry is still begrudged what he justly earned. How can you say to someone "get us on TV and we'll pay you X per cent" and then "now you've got us on TV we don't want to pay you any more"?

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43 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

Just about everyone - perhaps bar the OP - agrees that it was the Speedway Promoters themselves that did not make best use of the Sky Money when it was flowing into the sport freely. And that some better choices should have been made to 'invest' for the future.

But this oft repeated criticism that it was wasted by just being given to the riders needs a little more scrutiny surely.

I think it's true that it did go to them and then to engine tuners and travel costs etc. But isn't that how WE wanted it spent at the time, if we are honest.  Didn't we all want to our own club to pay the money to the top guys to have them in our team in those years.

Wouldn't we have all voted with our feet back then in even greater numbers sooner if the big money was not spent on a strong team like they rest?

If we had a big TV deal starting today isn't the first thing we would want it spent on is getting Tai, Emil, Freddie and the rest back ASAP.

I think we are just being a bit 'holier than thou' when we scream at the promoters today for doing what really was our bidding then.

I am not and I would have nothing but respect for a promoter who says we tried to get this rider but I'm not prepared to meet their demands.  It does need all of them to operate a similar stance otherwise they will migrate to those who pay more but if points limits and replacements are found then the opportunities for those with big demands dry up.  I accept there will always be differences but they should never go beyond what they can afford in order to make a profit.

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15 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

Except there are. I've listed all the ones who made a profit in 2016/17. There were only 3 Premier League sides who didn't.

... having taken into account their TV money - ie they spent it on players wages, same as speedway did. Speedway operates on crowd levels in line with National League football crowds but are paying League one wages ... it doesn't work

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Seem to remember it was a three hour show virtually EVERY week during the season when Sky first showed British Speedway....

And then they had a further two full repeats, as a minimum, at the two other time lots of morning and afternoon....

A minimum NINE hours in which to SHOWCASE your largely forgotten/unheard of Sport..

NINE hours per week of coverage going out on one of, (if not THE) fastest growing global media platforms at the time and also since...

You then had the GP's with similar coverage featuring riders who virtually to a man appeared in the British League..

This meant circa 18 hours of coverage most weeks!

For a Sport with very, very little TV coverage in the preceding 10 years or so... 

PLUS wasn't it over £1M to be shared amongst a fluctuating 11 to 8 teams each Season?

Yep...

British Speedway's problems are all definitely down to Sky. In fact they should be ashamed of themselves..

Providing the Sport with just hours and hours of prime time coverage virtually every week, and giving it seven figure sums each season, just to have the 'honour' of showing it.. 

I mean,  no wonder the Sport didn't prosper...!

:rolleyes::blink:

 

 

 

Edited by mikebv
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2 minutes ago, mikebv said:

British Speedway's problems are all definitrlydown to Sky...:rolleyes:

 

 

 

no but it also gave people an opportunity to stay at home and for the cost of entry at one meeting see between four and ten from the comfort of their living room on TV along with other sports for the rest of the month. Rugby League has huge TV viewing figures - second only to football on Sky - around the country but those people do not travel to watch it live.  

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31 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

... having taken into account their TV money - ie they spent it on players wages, same as speedway did. Speedway operates on crowd levels in line with National League football crowds but are paying League one wages ... it doesn't work

So you want clubs to make a profit without taking into account their income.

The second part of your statement I agree with.. the rest you are wrong on.

Edited by BWitcher

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1 hour ago, iainb said:

Don't forget a certain cockney gentleman who also skimmed the cream off the top of the pie!

Also don’t forget if it wasn’t for him British Speedway would have had nothing off Sky. 80% of something is better than 100% of nothing 

Edited by Argos
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