Gemini 4,894 Posted May 29, 2019 5 hours ago, waytogo28 said: As for improving the show - laughable attempts at for example stopping gardening and tactical delays decided by team managers which extend the grading and tractor racing joys. Oddly suddenly great racing returned to the Peterborough track with hardly any between races grading. Hmmm. Strange isn't it? Something so simple that could be done at all tracks ~ well perhaps with the exception of Poole ~ to keep the flow of the meeting going and stop us being bored stiff watching tractors go round. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,244 Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) 23 hours ago, iris123 said: As I said Mr Rising, who is more of a media expert than either you, me or even Martin Rogers dare I say puts that scandal up there as the main reason the media interest dropped off. And in general unless you are Stock Cars, media interest plays a major factor in the success or failure of a sport. Ask any decent sports promoter or retail boss Darts and Snooker flourished at a time speedway was failing. Cycling for instance had a lot of problems because of their scandal. It isn’t just down to immediate falls in attendances, but lack of sponsorship etc from large companies or medium and speedway is left with local hairdressers and builders To be fair speedway has rarely enjoyed continual sustainable sponsorship...although during it's last 'Golden Era' Gulf Oil, Marlboro, Durex and Volkswagon were branded sponsors and I recall that during the middle/late eighties Sunbrite came on board. The Mirror Newspaper group were high profile sponsors (which included The Sunday People) but they withdrew their interest before the 'scandals' claim if I recall but I am open to correction? It's a sport that traditionally relied/relies upon small to medium size businesses to back either teams or individuals however many riders have achieved considerable success with personal high profile sponsorship over the years. I remember that Peter York was apppointed by the BSPA to become Commercial Manager but I don't recall how sucessful that post was and whether he was able to attract any big time sponsors? Unfortunately the sport appearing regularly on SKY for many years failed to initiate much in the way of sponsorship at domestic level to the best of my knowledge (?). How other sports have attracted sponsorship and/or media attention despite some having their own 'issues' with drugs and match fixing etc I have no idea as I have no personal interest in other sports and gave up buying newspapers years ago but no doubt there are lots of theories and/or reasons out there. Edited May 30, 2019 by steve roberts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,270 Posted May 29, 2019 1 hour ago, steve roberts said: To be fair speedway has rarely enjoyed continual sustainable sponsorship...although during it's last 'Golden Era' Gulf Oil, Marlboro, Durex and Volkswagon were branded sponsors and I recall that during the middle/late eighties Sunbrite came on board. The Mirror Newspaper group were high profile sponsors (which included The Sunday People) but they withdrew their interest before the 'scandals' claim if I recall but I am open to correction? It's a sport that traditionally relied/relies upon small to medium size businesses to back either teams or individuals however many riders have achieved considerable success with personal high profile sponsorship over the years. I remember that Peter York was apppointed by the BSPA to become Commercial Manager but I don't recall how sucessful that post was and whether he was able to attract any big time sponsors? Unfortunately the sport appearing regularly on SKY for many years failed to initiate much in the way of sponsorship at domestic level. How other sports have attracted sponsorship and/or media attention despite some having their own 'issues' with drugs and match fixing etc I have no idea as I have no personal interest in other sports and gave up buying newspapers years ago but no doubt there are lots of theories and/or reasons out there. The main issue the sport has is that it simply doesn't promote itself as a collective entity so the vast majority of the country don't know it exists.. The potential though is huge.... Over 60,000,000 people live within an hour or so of a speedway track.. And the club they live not too far away from have a virtual monopoly in that area... However, standing in a supermarket foyer with a bike and a wallpaper pasting table full of car stickers and photos, advertising just one club is a compete waste of time.. Tracks will pay tens of thousands out this week alone to riders who will barely put one extra person through the turnstiles.. Yet nothing to a marketing company who could.. Clubs will spend hours trying to put one over their rivals by using some convaluted method of team equalisation, manipulating ambiguous rules to their own ends and gain, and all to try and win a competition that their own nonsense rules and behaviours renders completely worthless.. Yet will spend hardly one second working together as a collective to get themselves noticed both locally and nationally... Buster seems to have spotted the opportunity by taking over three reasonably geopraphically close clubs, meaning he can advertise all of them together... Getting them all kitted out similarly/professionally too will also help raise Speedway's 'brand awareness' amongst those who live in and around East Anglia.. Millions must be paid out amongst all three Leagues each season to riders.. Obviously not privy to actual figures but, at a guess, Premiership teams alone must have a wage bill of around circa 250-300k for 30 matches or so.. And Championship teams 150k to 200k each for 30 matches maybe? A huge pot of money exists in Speedway to potentially invest in selling itself if used right.. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,244 Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, mikebv said: The main issue the sport has is that it simply doesn't promote itself as a collective entity so the vast majority of the country don't know it exists.. The potential though is huge.... Over 60,000,000 people live within an hour or so of a speedway track.. And the club they live not too far away from have a virtual monopoly in that area... However, standing in a supermarket foyer with a bike and a wallpaper pasting table full of car stickers and photos, advertising just one club is a compete waste of time.. Tracks will pay tens of thousands out this week alone to riders who will barely put one extra person through the turnstiles.. Yet nothing to a marketing company who could.. Clubs will spend hours trying to put one over their rivals by using some convaluted method of team equalisation, manipulating ambiguous rules to their own ends and gain, and all to try and win a competition that their own nonsense rules and behaviours renders completely worthless.. Yet will spend hardly one second working together as a collective to get themselves noticed both locally and nationally... Buster seems to have spotted the opportunity by taking over three reasonably geopraphically close clubs, meaning he can advertise all of them together... Getting them all kitted out similarly/professionally too will also help raise Speedway's 'brand awareness' amongst those who live in and around East Anglia.. Millions must be paid out amongst all three Leagues each season to riders.. Obviously not privy to actual figures but, at a guess, Premiership teams alone must have a wage bill of around circa 250-300k for 30 matches or so.. And Championship teams 150k to 200k each for 30 matches maybe? A huge pot of money exists in Speedway to potentially invest in selling itself if used right.. Yes I was once initiated to stand at the entrance of Tesco's handing out leaflets and I completely agree with your analysis. I did a few talks at schools but they were totally underwhelming and not particularly inspiring as I had little to show the kids in which to grab their attention or stretch their imaginations. Edited May 29, 2019 by steve roberts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted May 29, 2019 Somebody change the name of the title please . every time is see it I'm singign the song in my head all day . 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted May 29, 2019 How about Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. That seems more appropriate for a Speedway race night these days. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adonis 1,454 Posted May 30, 2019 9 hours ago, Gemini said: How about Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. That seems more appropriate for a Speedway race night these days. Sometimes it just turns out that way !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RS50 359 Posted May 30, 2019 10 hours ago, Gemini said: How about Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. That seems more appropriate for a Speedway race night these days. Sadly the Boomtown Rats "I don't like Mondays" may be more appropriate. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted May 30, 2019 20 hours ago, Gemini said: Strange isn't it? Something so simple that could be done at all tracks ~ well perhaps with the exception of Poole ~ to keep the flow of the meeting going and stop us being bored stiff watching tractors go round. APPARENTLY Rob Godfrey has stopped grading the Scunthorpe track during the meeting and racing has been terrific 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,637 Posted May 30, 2019 10 hours ago, Gemini said: How about Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. That seems more appropriate for a Speedway race night these days. "But whenever Monday comes you find me cryin' all of the time" 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Halifaxtiger 5,318 Posted May 30, 2019 6 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said: APPARENTLY Rob Godfrey has stopped grading the Scunthorpe track during the meeting and racing has been terrific Definitely stopped grading the track but the racing I have seen has been slightly below par for Scunthorpe (still better than most, that is). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,270 Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) Seem to remember in the 'olden days' at Hyde Rd there used to be rakers who would take back the dirt from the bottom of the fence.. Pulling it back to half/two thirds track... The tractor would then run over this area... Leaving the inside half untouched.. It does appear nowadays that every inch of the track gets a full covering with the tractors doing several laps, which brings the dirt back down to the inside again, thus creating plenty of grip on the line.. Not conducive usually to good racing I would suggest.. Edited May 30, 2019 by mikebv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
George Dodds 310 Posted May 30, 2019 59 minutes ago, mikebv said: Seem to remember in the 'olden days' at Hyde Rd there used to be rakers who would take back the dirt from the bottom of the fence.. Pulling it back to half/two thirds track... The tractor would then run over this area... Leaving the inside half untouched.. It does appear nowadays that every inch of the track gets a full covering with the tractors doing several laps, which brings the dirt back down to the inside again, thus creating plenty of grip on the line.. Not conducive usually to good racing I would suggest.. and the tractors came out at the end of every heat, instead of every four which meant it often took over two hours to run a 13 heat meeting - which apparently would be too long for some. The biggest reason for delays is medical attention after crashes. Thankfully riders are no longer manhandled onto a stretcher, covered with a blanket and carried through the crowd to a medical room and the rerun called immediately - but proper treatment takes time and sometimes causes delays ... but meetings are rattled through compared to the "golden" era. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tsunami 10,219 Posted May 30, 2019 2 hours ago, mikebv said: Seem to remember in the 'olden days' at Hyde Rd there used to be rakers who would take back the dirt from the bottom of the fence.. Pulling it back to half/two thirds track... The tractor would then run over this area... Leaving the inside half untouched.. It does appear nowadays that every inch of the track gets a full covering with the tractors doing several laps, which brings the dirt back down to the inside again, thus creating plenty of grip on the line.. Not conducive usually to good racing I would suggest.. You must be joking. Another one of your Theories, like it's no good going to schools and shows and handling out flyers as nobody uses them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,270 Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Tsunami said: You must be joking. Another one of your Theories, like it's no good going to schools and shows and handling out flyers as nobody uses them. Not sure where you think I don't view visiting schools as a good idea. Going to schools is a great idea from a business perspective. In fact getting them onside is a huge plus for any business... Hence I am a governor of one locally and raise thousands in funds for another two adjacent to my shop.. And guess what? Most of the parents and guardians of the kids shop with me... I also do the same with one church, two mosques and three local food banks. Who would have thought forming a professional relationship with thousands of kids, parents and guardians and other professional organisations would be so successful..? I don't though hand flyers out in supermarket foyers... As that doesn't work... I know because those who do it in my supermarket end up picking them all up from my car parks floor after giving them out.... There is though no point in visiting a school, charity, religious body, community project etc etc without a long term plan of action to mutually build a lasting relationship which benefits both parties... Thats when businesses gain from being a 'key player' in the local community.. And the local community benefits from their support.. And I still think there is too much tractor racing which puts back the quality of racing just when the dirt has moved out enough to improve the spectacle.. Just a theory... As is another one I have.. And that's the sports marketing (in this country) must often be devised by some people who still think it's 1979... Edited May 30, 2019 by mikebv 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
