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54 minutes ago, heathen52 said:

Cradley Stadium,  I was never aware of a Pugh family member riding Speedway (maybe a horse), as for the Stadium itself the Pughs only held a minor share of the Stadium it was the Bridgewaters that were the major owners of Dudley Wood Stadium, being Stadium owners they can take a minimal rent with all the hassle of complying with H&S etc etc, or they can take a lump sum and retire to sun drenched beaches without a care in the world its really not a choice especially with property prices continuing to go through the roof, I can say persons with an interest in seeing the return of Cradley Heathens were the under bidders in a property/land sale within the last 12 months.

You are missing the point of my post. A stadium owned by the promoter is no guarantee of continuance, was my point! It was in response to the suggestion that speedway suffers closure, due to most promoters being tenants of a stadium.  

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3 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

You are missing the point of my post. A stadium owned by the promoter is no guarantee of continuance, was my point! It was in response to the suggestion that speedway suffers closure, due to most promoters being tenants of a stadium.  

I've just re-read Reg Fearman's excellent book and that's something he highlighted when he broached the subject of stadium ownership.

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2 hours ago, steve roberts said:

I've just re-read Reg Fearman's excellent book and that's something he highlighted when he broached the subject of stadium ownership.

Actually, I could have added Stuart Bamforth of Belle Vue. He owned Hyde Road, but 'sold out'. 

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The bottom line is whether your a super speedway fan owner of a stadium or just a Business person earning money out of such a facility, if the moneys right you'll sell out!

 

Lets say that you own a stadium which earns you £250,000 PA from the various activities taking place there after costs have been deducted. - Then you get offered £5 million from a housing developer to sell the land to them. - That amounts to 20 years (5 million divided by 250,000) income, working to keep the stadium running given to you in one hit which you can then invest and be financially secure for life without the hassle of running a stadium or having to do any sort of work. 

When you look it at like that it would be tempting for anyone I suspect.

 

This scenario is probably close (different figures probably) to what happened when Cradley was sold in the 1990's and when the Ochiltrees sold Coventry to Sandhu who obviously had longer term plans to sell to developers. Indeed the GRA (alleged greyhound racing association!) made it their primary Business plan selling of their Stadiums to developers.

 

Stuart Balmforth selling Belle Vue stadium in 1987 is another example like the previous poster states. No doubt his family are still very wealthy through this?

 

This also happened in the 1960's to two of the biggest speedway clubs in the Country, Southampton and my beloved Norwich Stars.

 

Combine this with Councils bending planning rules which are meant to protect sports facilities from being built on and thats where we are at now. - Apparently the Custom House home of West Ham speedway was meant to have such protection but it was gotten round by stating that people living in houses built on the land would have TV's which counted as leisure!

 

I suppose that Odsal being in a bowl, an ex quarry which then became a landfill tip site wouldn't be good land for housing which could ensure its future as a stadium? - Just need a very brave person(s) to reopen speedway there! - Though in reality if it was viable speedway would be reopening there this season?

  

  

 

 

Edited by 25yearfan
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Odsal is a fantastic facility and could draw big crowds for big meetings - GP, SEC, World Cup, BLRC, etc so could BSPA Ltd run it in a league sharing whatever losses and preserving an excellent facility. 

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8 hours ago, ch958 said:

Odsal is a fantastic facility and could draw big crowds for big meetings - GP, SEC, World Cup, BLRC, etc so could BSPA Ltd run it in a league sharing whatever losses and preserving an excellent facility. 

It's a better natural stadium than the new BV for sure! 

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Isn’t Berwick stadium owned by the football supporters club? It makes you wonder why fans within speedway circles don’t pursue  some kind of share ownership in a similar way

Edited by Deano
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11 hours ago, Deano said:

Isn’t Berwick stadium owned by the football supporters club? It makes you wonder why fans within speedway circles don’t pursue  some kind of share ownership in a similar way

You'd need some rich fans out there but yes in theory, great idea ....

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56 minutes ago, Trees said:

You'd need some rich fans out there but yes in theory, great idea ....

yes in some instances it would be considered impossible, but 51% holds the balance of power.

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There is actually another way to do it to try and protect a facility. Dumbarton supporters owned a ‘ransom strip’ round their old ground and when the ground was sold off for development they were able to secure a new built ground on the outskirts of the town as part of the deal.

Edinburgh Accies are trying to do the same but their case is more difficult because it’s historical and Scotland’s positive prescription laws could come into play.

I always saw it as worth looking at though. It won’t ultimately stop a club loosing its home but could be the difference between surviving elsewhere and going out of existence 

obviously that’s no help for clubs already lost though :(

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18 hours ago, Deano said:

Isn’t Berwick stadium owned by the football supporters club? It makes you wonder why fans within speedway circles don’t pursue  some kind of share ownership in a similar way

I think the council own the stadium and the supporters hold the lease.:cheers:

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1 hour ago, tyretrax said:

I think the council own the stadium and the supporters hold the lease.:cheers:

Think your right.

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I think to own a stadium you need a money tree, if Berwick council own the stadium and supporters hold the lease, the supporters have an affordable venture.

How many millions would 10 years at Odsal cost do you think.

2000 spectators at £20 each isn’t making much profit per meeting. 

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The fact that no speedway promoter has come forward at this stage probably tells us what we need to know.

 

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