Odsal

[iris123 20,939]

2 minutes ago, eric i said:

I didn't say the speedway promoter can get a right bargain but the owners need the rental money and they will just rent to the speedway promoter who will pay the most.

Exactly. You didn’t say that, but said they could make a crowd of 500 pay !!! You aren’t making sense economically 

[Ringitsneck 348]

33 minutes ago, eric i said:

The owners are desperate to make odsal pay they will want the best rental price they can get from the speedway, even with weekly crowds of 500 a promoter could come to deal and make this work. 

With your estimated crowd figure and the rumoured cost of rent you expect the ‘ promoter ‘ to pay his running costs including riders wages, ref, maintenance costs and staff out off around £3,000 of left over income and still have a profit with no extra coming from food or drink outlets ?

Think again....

[Racin Jason 72 1,272]

Rent is rumoured to be 4K per meeting.  Huge risk for any promotion 

[eric i 610]

10 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Exactly. You didn’t say that, but said they could make a crowd of 500 pay !!! You aren’t making sense economically 

I didn't say they could make it pay I said they could make it work. Its not unusual for a promoter to bankroll a team, that's not to say it couldn't make money that would depend on the rental cost. The rental cost would depend on how much competition there is from other speedway promoters, I think the rumoured cost of rent is just the owners seeing if anyone will bite. Of course there will be a minimum amount of rent the owners will accept i.e enough to cover basic expenses caused by the speedway.

[iris123 20,939]

2 minutes ago, eric i said:

I didn't say they could make it pay I said they could make it work. Its not unusual for a promoter to bankroll a team, that's not to say it couldn't make money that would depend on the rental cost. The rental cost would depend on how much competition there is from other speedway promoters, I think the rumoured cost of rent is just the owners seeing if anyone will bite. Of course there will be a minimum amount of rent the owners will accept i.e enough to cover basic expenses caused by the speedway.

Like I and others have pointed out. Maybe look back at your last couple of posts and see they don’t really make sense unless we have a promoter who is willing to live in a fantasy world and has money to burn

[eric i 610]

11 minutes ago, iris123 said:

Like I and others have pointed out. Maybe look back at your last couple of posts and see they don’t really make sense unless we have a promoter who is willing to live in a fantasy world and has money to burn

I guess we will see next year.

[25yearfan 476]

13 hours ago, foamfence said:

The redevelopment was by the council and they offered the speedway (by then at Odsal) a place in it, they refused so no track was included.

I never knew this!

 

Another massive error of judgement in the history of British speedway. Like I said before Halifax was well supported a hotbed on a par with the likes of Cradley and Coventry. - The 1986 - 1997 Bradford Dukes era was largely a story of bankrolling by the local Council and the Ham brothers to compensate for unviable crowd levels. - I'm sure that had speedway been reintroduced to a redeveloped Shay grounds in Halifax in the early 90's it would still be operating today and probably in the top flight. I wonder why the Ham brothers didn't take the opportunity to move back to a stadium in an area that undoubtedly would have supported speedway in greater numbers?

Edited May 4, 2021 by 25yearfan

[Humphrey Appleby 13,942]

1 hour ago, 25yearfan said:

I wonder why the Ham brothers didn't take the opportunity to move back to a stadium in an area that undoubtedly would have supported speedway in greater numbers?

Wasn't there some idea that Odsal was going to become the new 'Wembley' of British Speedway, and that staging elite league speedway in such a venue would pull the crowds?

The reality is that speedway thrived in some odd places (e.g. King's Lynn), and failed in some places that should in theory have much bigger catchments. 

[mikebv 10,243]

Have they finished putting that roof on yet?

[Grand Central 2,654]

On 5/4/2021 at 6:16 AM, foamfence said:

The redevelopment was by the council and they offered the speedway (by then at Odsal) a place in it, they refused so no track was included.

Please can you give more details on this offer ... I have no memory of ever hearing of this at the time or since.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Grand Central

[George Dodds 310]

20 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

Please can you give more details on this offer ... I have no memory of ever hearing of this at the time or since.

Also curious.

From memory all terraced areas were closed after The Popplewell Report into the Bradford City fire. Capacity of The Shay in 1985 was under 2,000 so speedway would have been struggling anyway there and it may have had something to do with switching to a stadium which met "modern" safety criteria. Also remember plans to build a supermarket on The Shay and a new ground at a nearby leisure centre. Another was for a smaller ground to be built on the site and the rest redeveloped - a bit like Crayford stadium. The council owned the lease, the football club was a financial basket case. If any offer was made to the speedway I suspect it would have involved them bringing a substantial amount of money to the table - probably a bit like Startrax at Odsal.

I seem to recall that there was little change to the stadium configuration until the rugby club sold Thrum Hall and moved in at The Shay in the late 1990s so speedway could have returned, even after it had ended at Odsal. Perhaps the sums never added up.   

[foamfence 2,917]

43 minutes ago, Grand Central said:

Please can you give more details on this offer ... I have no memory of ever hearing of this at the time or since.

I remember someone from Halifax (think it was council) coming to Odsal and speaking to the Hams about Speedway returning to the Shay, they declined the offer and so the redevelopment took place without the inclusion of a Speedway track.

[foamfence 2,917]

13 hours ago, 25yearfan said:

I never knew this!

 

Another massive error of judgement in the history of British speedway. Like I said before Halifax was well supported a hotbed on a par with the likes of Cradley and Coventry. - The 1986 - 1997 Bradford Dukes era was largely a story of bankrolling by the local Council and the Ham brothers to compensate for unviable crowd levels. - I'm sure that had speedway been reintroduced to a redeveloped Shay grounds in Halifax in the early 90's it would still be operating today and probably in the top flight. I wonder why the Ham brothers didn't take the opportunity to move back to a stadium in an area that undoubtedly would have supported speedway in greater numbers?

Probably because they got the pick of the top events at Odsal.

[George Dodds 310]

2 minutes ago, foamfence said:

I remember someone from Halifax (think it was council) coming to Odsal and speaking to the Hams about Speedway returning to the Shay, they declined the offer and so the redevelopment took place without the inclusion of a Speedway track.

maybe the terms weren't attractive - something along the lines of "you bail out the football club, pay to bring the stadium up to acceptable standard and we'll allow you to take on the financial burden of the lease - and hope that the fans who wouldn't make the short trip to Bradford will pay to watch you in Halifax". Hardly a cast-iron opportunity

[Grand Central 2,654]

3 minutes ago, foamfence said:

I remember someone from Halifax (think it was council) coming to Odsal and speaking to the Hams about Speedway returning to the Shay, they declined the offer and so the redevelopment took place without the inclusion of a Speedway track.

I was thinking of something a little more factual than 'somebody from Halifax (I think it was the council)' ... Doesn't really add to my understanding at all