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Midland Red

Value for money

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Just come across a ticket I purchased in 1970 for a grandstand seat at Exeter Speedway - cost = 7 shillings (35 pence to the younger members of the forum!)

I know there are several ways of comparing prices from one age to another, but here's what one such site came up with:

According to the Office for National Statistics composite price index, today's prices in 2019 are 1,434.09% higher than average prices throughout 1970. The pound experienced an average inflation rate of 5.73% per year during this period.

In other words, £0.35 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £5.37 in 2019, a difference of £5.02 over 49 years.

So, speedway shouldn't be a £10 sport, as some suggest, but something closer to £6!!!!

And if I remember rightly, it was a night of thrilling action at the banked County Ground circuit

 

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2 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Just come across a ticket I purchased in 1970 for a grandstand seat at Exeter Speedway - cost = 7 shillings (35 pence to the younger members of the forum!)

I know there are several ways of comparing prices from one age to another, but here's what one such site came up with:

According to the Office for National Statistics composite price index, today's prices in 2019 are 1,434.09% higher than average prices throughout 1970. The pound experienced an average inflation rate of 5.73% per year during this period.

In other words, £0.35 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £5.37 in 2019, a difference of £5.02 over 49 years.

So, speedway shouldn't be a £10 sport, as some suggest, but something closer to £6!!!!

And if I remember rightly, it was a night of thrilling action at the banked County Ground circuit

 

What is interesting here is that I am at Berwick tonight and there is a payslip from 1968. 

Riders were paid 10s a point and 10s a start......

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39 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said:

What is interesting here is that I am at Berwick tonight and there is a payslip from 1968. 

Riders were paid 10s a point and 10s a start......

Yes, and 95% of them did all the work on their own bike and had a second job. They didn't have to pay an engine tuner or a mechanic, they did their own tuning and a friend or relative was their mechanic who was happy with free admission, a drink and a fish and chip supper. Very different times.

Back in the late 50's and early 60's there were also a number of Stock Car drivers whose full time job was racing, something that would be totally impossible nowadays. Again showing how times change. 

Edited by Chris116
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4 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Just come across a ticket I purchased in 1970 for a grandstand seat at Exeter Speedway - cost = 7 shillings (35 pence to the younger members of the forum!)

I know there are several ways of comparing prices from one age to another, but here's what one such site came up with:

According to the Office for National Statistics composite price index, today's prices in 2019 are 1,434.09% higher than average prices throughout 1970. The pound experienced an average inflation rate of 5.73% per year during this period.

In other words, £0.35 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £5.37 in 2019, a difference of £5.02 over 49 years.

So, speedway shouldn't be a £10 sport, as some suggest, but something closer to £6!!!!

And if I remember rightly, it was a night of thrilling action at the banked County Ground circuit

 

Was the price you paid back in 1970 a child's admission price? Would obviously make some difference for the comparison. 

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1 hour ago, RS50 said:

Was the price you paid back in 1970 a child's admission price? Would obviously make some difference for the comparison. 

No, adult, best seat in the grandstand - obviously was even cheaper standing around trackside

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3 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

What is interesting here is that I am at Berwick tonight and there is a payslip from 1968. 

Riders were paid 10s a point and 10s a start......

So a 4 ride maximum would pay £8 meaning that 23 supporters at 7/- (or 35p) a time would pay the maximum man.  In 2019 CL, the top guy gets no start money but, say £80 a point? 12 points = £960 which, at £15 a head is 64 supporters, or nearly three times the number needed in 1970. Makes you wonder if it’s riders rather than promoters who are making it so expensive?

 

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29 minutes ago, Wee Eck said:

So a 4 ride maximum would pay £8 meaning that 23 supporters at 7/- (or 35p) a time would pay the maximum man.  In 2019 CL, the top guy gets no start money but, say £80 a point? 12 points = £960 which, at £15 a head is 64 supporters, or nearly three times the number needed in 1970. Makes you wonder if it’s riders rather than promoters who are making it so expensive?

 

I thought we all knew that

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2 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

I thought we all knew that

So why then do supporters idolise riders and slag off promoters?

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10 hours ago, Wee Eck said:

So why then do supporters idolise riders and slag off promoters?

Good point!

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If I recall, as a matter of interest, when I first went to Cowley aged 12 in 1972 the admission charge was 30p (6 shillings) for those under a certain age. The programme was 8p.

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This is pretty much the same over for every sport. I bet if you did the same thing for football especially the comparisons would be frightening. The wages / salaries for professional sports has escalated almost out of control over the past 20 / 30 years, mainly driven I would say by satellite TV contracts for football, rugby and cricket. Speedway has tried to follow suit, but doesn't have the TV contract in place to fund the costs.

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When engine tuners are paid 350 quid a day no wonder it's so expensive. The spiralling costs for the riders make it difficult to compete. Perhaps introduce standard 2 valves, as they trialled at the IOW recently.

The recent Kings Lynn matches at Swindon was 18 quid entry attracting a 1000 or so for both meetings. In 2017 over 3000 turned up for a fiver.

Edited by auntie doris

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19 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Just come across a ticket I purchased in 1970 for a grandstand seat at Exeter Speedway - cost = 7 shillings (35 pence to the younger members of the forum!)

I know there are several ways of comparing prices from one age to another, but here's what one such site came up with:

According to the Office for National Statistics composite price index, today's prices in 2019 are 1,434.09% higher than average prices throughout 1970. The pound experienced an average inflation rate of 5.73% per year during this period.

In other words, £0.35 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £5.37 in 2019, a difference of £5.02 over 49 years.

So, speedway shouldn't be a £10 sport, as some suggest, but something closer to £6!!!!

And if I remember rightly, it was a night of thrilling action at the banked County Ground circuit

 

Am I right in recalling that if you sat in the grandstand at Exeter - other than in the front row - you couldn't see the start line or home straight?

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Comparison I heard a few years back. Top division footballers fifty years ago would earn 6 times the amount of the average working man in the crowd. Today they earn 200 times the average working man. 

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