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baiden

Grand Prix changes

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Yes, I agree. I mean some of the Middle East countries seem very keen on getting a sporting tradition established. Hosting all sorts of sports and even giving foreigners a fast track citizenship in Handball for instance to establish a world class team. The money is there, they are willing to build stadia etc

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On 11/3/2019 at 10:31 AM, iainb said:

Castanga says

“The main thinking for us is to harmonise our championship scoring system with other big sports events so that the winner always comes away with the most points, which will help attract and retain a wider audience for our sport.”

This is an absurd line of argument from Castagna too. My simple question is: "If that's the case then what new and wider audiences were attracted by the 25pts for the winner system in the early 2000s?"

Show us the evidence, show us the market research.

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If these changes where done to bring us into line with other forms of motorsports, does that mean we can expect bonus points for the rider with the fastest heat time  or  maybe an extra 5 points if you win all your heats ? 

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On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 6:33 PM, PHILIPRISING said:

HOW much:t:

Never been slow before to come forward with your views on the SGP Phil !  The stage is yours !

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39 minutes ago, iwright71 said:

Never been slow before to come forward with your views on the SGP Phil !  The stage is yours !

 

39 minutes ago, iwright71 said:

Never been slow before to come forward with your views on the SGP Phil !  The stage is yours !

WOULD probably subscribe to the view that if it "ain't broke, then don't fix it" as far as the SGP is concerned. Never had a problem with the winner of a particular round not necessarily being the highest scorer. Each SGP is its own event. The accumulation of points is what determines the World Champion.

As far as the SON is concerned, understand why the FIM wanted to broaden the number of participating countries in the finals stages, an incentive for young riders in the lesser nations to ride on the top stage. My real beef is with the name ... just call it the Speedway World Cup. 

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I think the only thing I would change in the new proposed system is the points difference between the winner and 2nd place - it should be greater, as it's the same points difference between 2nd and 3rd. The rewards for winning a GP should be greater. MotoGP / F1 have this increased gap 1st to 2nd, and then 2nd to 3rd etc.

Having said that, in the end, this is really all just "tinkering" - The priority areas are really track prep, the right tracks / stadia that will attract bigger crowds, and expanding speedway's reach. There's a whole generation of people in the UK that don't even know what speedway is, but BSI have hardly put anything back in order to alleviate this. BSI's own original remit was taking it to new places, but they haven't really done this, and where they have tried, it's not worked very well.

'Tinkering' is a favourite pastime of many in this forum, and we need to leave this behind. However, this is probably about the level that BSI operate at, so to them it's probably a big deal.

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1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said:

As far as the SON is concerned, understand why the FIM wanted to broaden the number of participating countries in the finals stages, an incentive for young riders in the lesser nations to ride on the top stage. My real beef is with the name ... just call it the Speedway World Cup. 

Any news on the Venue of said meeting next year Phil?

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3 hours ago, davidncohen said:

I think the only thing I would change in the new proposed system is the points difference between the winner and 2nd place - it should be greater, as it's the same points difference between 2nd and 3rd. The rewards for winning a GP should be greater. MotoGP / F1 have this increased gap 1st to 2nd, and then 2nd to 3rd etc.

Having said that, in the end, this is really all just "tinkering" - The priority areas are really track prep, the right tracks / stadia that will attract bigger crowds, and expanding speedway's reach. There's a whole generation of people in the UK that don't even know what speedway is, but BSI have hardly put anything back in order to alleviate this. BSI's own original remit was taking it to new places, but they haven't really done this, and where they have tried, it's not worked very well.

'Tinkering' is a favourite pastime of many in this forum, and we need to leave this behind. However, this is probably about the level that BSI operate at, so to them it's probably a big deal.

NO doubt we would all like to see SGPs in Auckland, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Stockholm, etc but the fact is that these venues are simply not viable. Imagine if Tony Rickardsson, Erik Gundersen, Hans Nielsen, Jason Crump, Leigh Adams and their ilk were still riding. Bums on seats would not be an issue. Poland have overcome the loss of Tomasz Gollob not least because speedway in northern Poland at least is so high profile. 

Whether it is BSI/IMG or Discovery/Eurosport who are the custodians of the World Championship going forward run 2022, new venues will remain a problem.

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On 11/3/2019 at 7:08 PM, Grand Central said:

Dont agree at all.
I think the title matters quite a bit.
Especially for that illusive 'credibility' everyone seems to value so much.

Spot on, the general public get excited by the term 'World Cup'.. we see it across many sports where people start watching who previously have had zero interest whatsoever.. especially if GB have a chance... which when Tai rides we do.

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14 hours ago, falcace said:

But on the face of it, I would think a place like Qatar where they don't mind losing money on sports events and have a herd of white elephant stadiums-to-be hosting the 2022 World Cup would be an obvious port of call.

Not really. The Gulf countries are trying to diversify their oil-dependent economies by attracting tourists, wealthy tax exiles, and sponsors who might invest in other sectors, but they're after the high-spending types and/or those with something invest. Speedway's audience sadly doesn't tick any of those boxes, is small and even worse is confined to a handful of countries rather than being global.

I'd be amazed if hosting a speedway GP hasn't been investigated in some of these countries, but the rulers of these places aren't completely stupid. 

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7 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

NO doubt we would all like to see SGPs in Auckland, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Stockholm, etc but the fact is that these venues are simply not viable. Imagine if Tony Rickardsson, Erik Gundersen, Hans Nielsen, Jason Crump, Leigh Adams and their ilk were still riding.

Most of those riders were riding when the GP was held in similar stadiums to what it is now.

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11 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

As far as the SON is concerned, understand why the FIM wanted to broaden the number of participating countries in the finals stages, an incentive for young riders in the lesser nations to ride on the top stage. My real beef is with the name ... just call it the Speedway World Cup. 

A glorified best pairs competition is not really a World Cup though, is it? 

Would FIFA turn the Football World Cup into a Wembley Doubles tournament on the above basis? I think the SON format is far more a money saving exercise and to disguise the increasing lack of interest in hosting and participating it.

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11 hours ago, davidncohen said:

BSI's own original remit was taking it to new places, but they haven't really done this, and where they have tried, it's not worked very well.

Their remit was to ensure cash kept coming into the FIM to cover the prize money with a bit leftover, and to make a profit for themselves. That strategy relied on persuading enough promoters and tourist agencies to pay them for the privilege of holding a GP, whilst ensuring the sport got on television to attract sponsors.  

Perhaps in the early days there was some optimism that enough interest could be generated to take the SGP to bigger venues and new countries, but for various reasons the original incarnation of BSI seems to have out of capitalisation, whilst IMG(UK) made some poor investments in other areas and ended-up having to cut their cloth. I don't think the marketing of the SGP has been brilliant down the years, although I do think speedway is a hard sell to both television and sponsors nowadays. Too niche, too geographically restricted, and a difficult fan demographic. 

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1 hour ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Most of those riders were riding when the GP was held in similar stadiums to what it is now.

agreed. they would make zero difference to attendance in Auckland, and I suspect close to nil in Melbourne. tbh even as a speedway fan, Gundersen and Nielsen would be no bigger draw cards for me than Woffy and Zmarzlik. 

As for these changes, what a load of crap. Having got rid of the SWC, arguably the best event of the year, now seems they want to stuff up the GPs as well...

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