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JamesHarris

A British team in the Polish League - would it be a realistic option?

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A random thought I had the other night was if I was a serious promoter with a business brain would I consider purchasing a track/franchise and by-pass the British league and instead enter a team in the Polish League? The BSPA wouldn't like it or probably do their best to block it but would the benefits be for the long term good of the sport in this country? Think about it. Sunday fixtures, Television exposure and having quality riders at every meeting providing the paying public value for money. There would be the logistical problem to deal with but what about striking up a commercial partnership with a low budget airline like Wizz. Probably a crap idea but I must admit if I was a speedway enthusiast with a business brain and a few grand to invest I would be looking at the option.  

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I think this would be a non-starter. Most likely the FIM would block such a suggestion. And would it be financially viable?

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Tried a similar thing in ice hockey.The Russian have a continental league with teams from other countries and wanted to have a team in Hamburg.It was blocked by the German federation.I’d be pretty sure this would be blocked by the British BSPA or ACU or whoever 

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Non Polish teams are not allowed in the Extraliga. Latvian side Daugavpils have been denied promotion on several occasions for this reason.

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6 hours ago, iris123 said:

Tried a similar thing in ice hockey.The Russian have a continental league with teams from other countries and wanted to have a team in Hamburg.It was blocked by the German federation.I’d be pretty sure this would be blocked by the British BSPA or ACU or whoever 

Exactly what is sought by TV and sponsors though, a Euro League. A continental audience rather than national and therefore many more people to sell to. It would have to be FIM endorsed as the national federations are unlikely to relinquish control even if it could raise the profile of the sport.

12 to 14 teams should provide enough fixtures so that the gp riders only ride in the one league providing some much needed credibility.

It's the only way in which league speedway including gp standard riders could be delivered in this country, albeit restricted to one track and 11 to 15 meetings per season.

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21 hours ago, kelvinlapworth said:

A random thought I had the other night was if I was a serious promoter with a business brain would I consider purchasing a track/franchise and by-pass the British league and instead enter a team in the Polish League? The BSPA wouldn't like it or probably do their best to block it but would the benefits be for the long term good of the sport in this country? Think about it. Sunday fixtures, Television exposure and having quality riders at every meeting providing the paying public value for money. There would be the logistical problem to deal with but what about striking up a commercial partnership with a low budget airline like Wizz. Probably a crap idea but I must admit if I was a speedway enthusiast with a business brain and a few grand to invest I would be looking at the option.  

There would need to be a common will from the Poles who seem to 'rule the roost' and they would have to obviously get something out of  it for it to ever happen but maybe not as far fetched as first considered...?

It would certainly raise the bar of the sport considerably over here and give the sport a 'European Competition' feel about it..

Maybe one team from the UK, Denmark and Sweden could be included? Added to the top five from Poland..

Seven home and away matches...

What it possibly would provide, if ran that way, is teams made up of nationals from their own countries which would maybe get better 'local' support as their regional Speedway team take on the might of the best in Europe. And a bigger continental TV audience potential  to entice coverage...

Rugby League do it already with French and Canadian clubs so not a complete leap into the unknown..

Would be a huge gamble though for someone to bankroll it should permission from Poland ever be granted..

It would generate reasonable interest thought I am sure, whether enough to pay the eye watering salaries, or garner enough sponsorship to assist those costs is very debatable. (But a large European and Domestic audience, if delivered, would help this)

You would need a major marketing company to push the sport initially too. Especially given the lack of awareness and interest in Speedway currently in the UK. But maybe with the World Champ as No1 for a British team it would help sell the product over here?

Seven well advertised, well promoted, home matches maybe could deliver crowds of 5000 or so paying circa £20 a head? The issue though is the obvious one in that around three top heat leaders alone after paying the home and away salaries would receive all that money and more..

A nice idea though, and who knows, if Poland ever need to spice up its operations to maintain its status, maybe it could happen in the future?

After all, ten years ago the thought of a French team winning the RL Challenge Cup at Wembley would have been laughed at, but probably not nearly as much as someone suggesting at the same time that Canada would one day have its own Rugby League team playing in Britain...

 

 

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Fair assessment in regard to speedway but isn't rugby league a major sport compared to the bike sport?

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1 hour ago, gustix said:

Fair assessment in regard to speedway but isn't rugby league a major sport compared to the bike sport?

Probably a pipe dream granted, but hardly anyone currently appears interested in so many 'contrived' domestic meetings, ran on Mondays and midweek, often made up of random septets of who happens to be available on any night, so maybe 'thinking big' is the best way to give the sport a shot in the arm it so desperately needs..

Obviously can only speak for myself but if the Aces had a team of say, Woffinden, Cook, Lambert, S Worrall,  Fricke, Bewley and Lidsey I would definitely pay circa £25 - £30 quid seven times a year to watch them race against other top riders at the NSS...

I wouldn't on the other hand, pay circa £20 to watch the current top divisions meetings given the lack of a credible offering...

Whether a 5000 - 6000 or so crowd is possible, and costs covered, is debatable, particularly given the salaries that the riders who ride in Poland have become used to...

Nice to dream it could happen maybe though...

 

 

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Of course it could be done if the will was there. A Latvian and I think even a Hungarian team have ridden in the Polish Leagues, both a Swedish and German team rode in the top Danish League for a year or two, and a Norwegian team rode in the Swedish Leagues for a while (Phil Morris rode for them).

Could be wrong, but I also seem to recall a Russian team in the Finnish League.

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Some good views on here. I really do like the idea of a Euro Super League. Could it work? In current circumstances probably not. But maybe, just maybe. 

It would have to be franchised and administered and marketed by an independent body affiliated to the FIM. The BSPA or other national bodies would never be allowed to run it.  I like some of the comparisons to Rugby League which now has French and Canadian teams involved. Before Super League and Sky Sports investment, RL was a rough n' ready northern sport played in the middle of winter and followed by a die-hard fan base. Pretty much could be said for speedway these days. However since Super League was launched, it's franchising and marketing has brought a whole new fan base to the sport and also enjoys huge media exposure. 

So how about if for Speedway? Such a competition could still run alongside the domestic leagues and most importantly the Grand Prix series. There would have to be brand new teams (or in this case franchises) set up to successfully market such a competition to a wider audience. 8 teams - say 2 from UK, 2 from Poland, 2 from Sweden and 2 from Denmark. You could possibly make it 9 by inviting a franchise from one of the other main speedway nations on a yearly basis providing they meet strict entry and financial criteria. So that would be 8 home meetings over the year and of cause probably 1 more depending on a Grand Final play-off series. As someone has rightly pointed out I don't think fans would mind spending £20 admission to see 15 action packed heats featuring the best riders in the world (I love the idea of Woffinden, Cook and Lambert as the heat leaders). It would also have to do away with stupid team points limits. Some will say what about the away fixtures? - Nobody will want to travel over? Wrong. Not every meeting no, but some fans would want to travel over to say Poland or Denmark and make a long weekend out of it. I remember going over to Perpignan in France a few years ago and the city was rammed with 3000 Leeds Rhino fans there to see their team take on the Catalan Dragons. 

Broadcasting rights and big sponsorship deals would be key for such a competition to work but if left in the hands of the right management this could be done. 

Maybe such an idea is just a fart in the wind, but if Speedway is to generate a new fan base with a new exciting future could such a competition be the cure? 

Cheers :)

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1 hour ago, kelvinlapworth said:

It would have to be franchised and administered and marketed by an independent body affiliated to the FIM. The BSPA or other national bodies would never be allowed to run it.  I like some of the comparisons to Rugby League which now has French and Canadian teams involved. Before Super League and Sky Sports investment, RL was a rough n' ready northern sport played in the middle of winter and followed by a die-hard fan base. Pretty much could be said for speedway these days. However since Super League was launched, it's franchising and marketing has brought a whole new fan base to the sport and also enjoys huge media exposure. 

There isn't anything like the money or global appeal in speedway as there is for even Rugby League, and I'm not convinced Canadian teams in RL makes much sense. Certainly people have lost interest in Super Rugby since it added the teams beyond its core base, and the huge time differences make the whole thing a bit of nightmare for television. 

League speedway is really only run in Europe so time zones wouldn't be the same issue, but a European competition would only make sense if some decent television or sponsorship deal was secured on the back of it. You couldn't really run such a thing on the expectations of crowd revenue, and I'm not convinced the likes of Poole v Falubaz Zielona Gora on a cold Wednesday night would really have as much appeal as Poole v Swindon for the average fan, although you could maybe stage away 'tours' as a couple of matches at a time which might appeal to some fans.

I don't honestly think Poland would have much to gain from this nowadays, and it would appeal more to those national leagues where a team or two would like to run at a higher level of competition, but there aren't enough teams in their own country to form a league at the desired level. I actually think it more likely that British teams would run in the Swedish Leagues than the Polish ones.

The time to have done a European League was 20 years ago when there was more equality between the three or four main leagues and cable and satellite televisions were looking for cheap content. It would also have been a good opportunity for those leagues to have taken control of the SGP and SWC and run those competitions for their own benefit. But no-one wanted to look at the big picture, speedway is now way off the radar as a marketable sport and everyone within the sport is just fighting over scraps these days. 

Edited by Humphrey Appleby
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On 1/5/2019 at 8:33 AM, Humphrey Appleby said:

Of course it could be done if the will was there. A Latvian and I think even a Hungarian team have ridden in the Polish Leagues, both a Swedish and German team rode in the top Danish League for a year or two, and a Norwegian team rode in the Swedish Leagues for a while (Phil Morris rode for them).

Could be wrong, but I also seem to recall a Russian team in the Finnish League.

St Petersburgh was in the Finnish league, Daugavpils also and for this season Auseklis from Riga wants to come. Team Finland was for several years in the Swedish 1st division. Also Rivne has ridden in the Polish bottom tier.

It’s all about the will to make it happen. And such a will is not there for a any foreign team to just come and ride in the Ekstraliga. IMO.

 

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On 1/4/2019 at 9:21 AM, HertsRacer said:

Non Polish teams are not allowed in the Extraliga. Latvian side Daugavpils have been denied promotion on several occasions for this reason.

Not strictly true  - it’s more Daugavpils have not agreed to the Extraleague requirements which amongest others is Polish U21 riders at reserve.

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Interesting to read somewhere that there are efforts being made to establish a Baltic League with teams from Russia (St P'burg) Finand, Estonia and Latvia. Possibly even Lithuania, (can't remember for sure) But this will be at the very junior level, almost semi-professional at best. From what I remember from the article I read, they tried this last year, I think, but it fell flat on it's face, but they are going to try again this year. Where there's a will, as they say...

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