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f-s-p

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7 hours ago, f-s-p said:

Where exactly are the new venues everyone is after?

Middle-East, Spain and United States are mentioned... Really?

Talk is cheap. Believing what you hear can be quite expensive. Discovery are making some pretty wide promises. Of course the question has to be whether they realise why these new territories haven't been tried or in the case of the Middle East and USA tried and failed at the level required? It all seems so much like the promises made to the BSPA for British coverage - many more potential viewers, new opportunities to attract sponsors.

Eurosport is pay-TV in some countries, not in others. In Britain it's included in most basic pay-TV deals so many don't realise they are actually paying to watch it. 

The argument that switching from premium pay-TV such as BT Sport, NSport+ or C-More to Eurosport will give higher audiences is questionable. There is a much larger potential audience but the reality in Britain is that BT Sport gets a much higher audience than the cheaper Eurosport and even beats sister channel Quest which is a free TV channel.

 

Hopefully that potential can be realised but I do fear that after after the fine promises we'll still be seeing meeting coverage starting with just a few heats to go, or banished to Eurosport Player.

Maybe, maybe in the case of SGP with Discovery running the events as well as the TV coverage there might be a better approach - but their record so far is very unimpressive. It does look like a whole new level so we have to hope it works out. Ten years is a long time to regret a mistake.....

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Main thing is they get some new dolly birds in to replace the monster girls. I will miss Vicki Lund and co:party:

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23 hours ago, RPNY said:

Not sure I am happy about BSI no longer being involved, I think they have been great for the Series. Certainly dont like the thought of them running it the next 2 years knowing the series will soon no longer be theirs. Cant imagine there will be a great deal of effort regarding new venues etc!

Tbh, they don't seem to have had great success with their Rally X efforts . The series went from 13 rounds to just 10 last year. Possible 11 next year but the contract is yet to be signed etc

 

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1 hour ago, iris123 said:

Tbh, they don't seem to have had great success with their Rally X efforts . The series went from 13 rounds to just 10 last year. Possible 11 next year but the contract is yet to be signed etc

 

Recession is knocking at the door. Been 11 years when the lights went out big time last time... If you think about it, WRC only has three teams next year:blink:

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12 hours ago, f-s-p said:

Where exactly are the new venues everyone is after?

Middle-East, Spain and United States are mentioned... Really?

Seen this article from Castagna now. Talk about giving countries where speedway is still just about established some priority. South Africa and of course his old favourite, Argentina. And that Discovery are well established in Asia, so........

https://www.speedweek.com/speedwaygp/news/152697/Exklusiv-Der-Speedway-GP-expandiert-ab-2022-weltweit.html

Barely able to hold a straight face as I post this !!!

Edited by iris123
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On 12/4/2019 at 8:17 PM, RPNY said:

Not sure I am happy about BSI no longer being involved, I think they have been great for the Series.

It remains to be seen what Discovery/Eurosport will do with the SGP, but a change has been long overdue. I do think speedway is a hard sell nowadays, but IMG/BSI haven't taken things forward in recent years and it's time for someone else to have a try. 

Of course, it's a bit strange that the incumbent has to continue to run the SGP for a couple of years after it's lost the franchise. 

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4 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

It remains to be seen what Discovery/Eurosport will do with the SGP, but a change has been long overdue. I do think speedway is a hard sell nowadays, but IMG/BSI haven't taken things forward in recent years and it's time for someone else to have a try. 

Of course, it's a bit strange that the incumbent has to continue to run the SGP for a couple of years after it's lost the franchise. 

Have to give time for Discovery to do their deals with the third world. Their arguments for getting the SGP circus are similar to getting British Speedway - wonderful new opportunities, millions of new viewers, and of course the key aspect - money, loads of it.

Easy talk. Let's see if they deliver. Transmitting the programmes in full and at the right time would be a good start.

 

 

Edited by RobMcCaffery
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On 12/11/2019 at 10:50 AM, Humphrey Appleby said:

It remains to be seen what Discovery/Eurosport will do with the SGP, but a change has been long overdue. I do think speedway is a hard sell nowadays, but IMG/BSI haven't taken things forward in recent years and it's time for someone else to have a try. 

 Of course, it's a bit strange that the incumbent has to continue to run the SGP for a couple of years after it's lost the franchise. 

Whats to take forward? Each major speedway country has been in decline for the past decade. Just because Poland has Ekstraliga on TV doesnt mean the sport is doing well there.

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20 hours ago, f-s-p said:

Whats to take forward? Each major speedway country has been in decline for the past decade. Just because Poland has Ekstraliga on TV doesnt mean the sport is doing well there.

Krakow and Pila both out of racing this year. Most of the Ekstraliga teams on supervised conditional licences, including the champions, Leszno. Huge crowds and high income are great, as long as you don't have higher costs. Pila withdrew because the local council wouldn't subsidise this year's losses.

Sometimes you need to look past the glitz. 

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There is an interview with Castagna in this week's Speedway Star, and he promises us "big changes" from 2022 on, when Discovery/Eurosport/OneSport take over the sport at world level. It is anyone's guess as to what they are up to!  

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39 minutes ago, Bavarian said:

There is an interview with Castagna in this week's Speedway Star, and he promises us "big changes" from 2022 on, when Discovery/Eurosport/OneSport take over the sport at world level. It is anyone's guess as to what they are up to!  

Huge changes in 2022 then total reversal in 2023 when the bills come in?

 

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16 hours ago, Bavarian said:

There is an interview with Castagna in this week's Speedway Star, and he promises us "big changes" from 2022 on, when Discovery/Eurosport/OneSport take over the sport at world level. It is anyone's guess as to what they are up to!  

Five laps a heat clockwise and a one-off final heat for the title after 16 GP’s around the globe with one on each Ekstraliga track in Poland.

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36 minutes ago, f-s-p said:

Five laps a heat clockwise and a one-off final heat for the title after 16 GP’s around the globe with one on each Ekstraliga track in Poland.

Nah, one will be in Argentina. He won’t let that dream drop

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8 hours ago, iris123 said:

Nah, one will be in Argentina. He won’t let that dream drop

Castagna says he will soon go to Argentina to take a look at a potential new track for SGP there, in the remotest of provinces - Patagonia !

Local speedway enthusiasts, including the former rider Claudio Schmit and current rider Mariano Diaz, had built their own track down there about ten years ago. It is located near a small village called Cervantes, several miles east of the town of General Roca, and about 100km east of the region's major city called Neuquén, which has an urban population of 225,000. The city and surrounding area have a population of more than 340,000 making it the largest in Patagonia. 

See Wikipedia for more information about the City of Neuquén https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuqu%C3%A9n

See Google maps for the exact location of the speedway at Cervantes https://www.google.de/maps/@-38.9760665,-67.7428178,34373m/data=!3m1!1e3 

 

The speedway track at Cervantes (Rio Negro Province) is not much more than a dirt oval track with hardly any facilities, and they have not even held any Argentinean national champioship meetings so far. But since Neuquén has hosted a few FIM Motocross World Championship meetings in recent years, Castagna thinks they might want to host a Speedway Grand Prix there, too. That's why he is travelling there to have talks with local polititians. Another nice trip for Castagna, shortly after he and SGP race director Phil Morris had been in Australia.

I quote a short passage of what Castagna said in the Speedway Star interview: " [...] In Australia I have been based in Adelaide for three days. We had meetings there and ran an FIM Oceania training school. Phil Morrris and Leigh Adams ran it. I was just there supervising and having meetings. Soon I am going to Argentina and I will visit a completely new Stadium. I am also visiting Bahia Blanca, but I am going to visit a new track very far from Buenos Aires, which is in a state called Neuquén. They are already staging other FIM World Championships there. I am going to have a meeting with the polititians there looking toward the future. My dream is to have a GP there in 2023 or 2024 [...]" 

The complete interview with Castagna in this week's SS makes interesting reading. 

 

Here is a link to the Rio Negro Speedway facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FOXMOTOSCIPOLLETTI/

 

And this is a YouTube Video of the speedway track at Cervantes how it was five years ago in 2014. They are currently completely re-building their speedway track, so we will have to wait and see what they come up with. But will we ever see a SGP in Patagonia? With the F.I.M. and Castagna You never know! :icon_smile_clown:

 

 

 

Edited by Bavarian

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