pvm 115 Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) In order to solve a problem, first you need to understand what the problems are. Judging by the comments on here. Comments like “too few fixture”, “not enough variety”, “poor standard in the top league” “doubling up/down” “excessive use of guests” etc. When you look at some of the problems, the main cause is too few riders to go around, to fill the number of teams wishing to complete in the current league structures, so how do you solve the problem, well unless you find 50-100 new rider of the required level, the problems will never be solved. This year the Premiership was made up of 7 teams, meeting each other twice at home and twice away, 24 matches (12 home/12 away). The Championship was made up of 11 teams, meeting each other once at home, once away, 20 matches. Plus, the National development League. All these fixtures take place between March & October To solve these problems the sport, needs to get radical, why does each leagues fixture’s need to be over 6 months. To expand on an idea put forward in this thread, why not have a 12-week season for each of the two main leagues. Championship League: - 12 teams, 22 matches (11 Home/11 Away) at the same level as now. But here's the radical bit, it runs from March 28th till June 12th (11+ weeks), teams involved can run any night they chose including Monday & Thursdays, but all fixtures must be completed by June 12th. On the weekend of June 20th-21st you hold the Championship Play-off finals at a neutral venue (National stadium? assuming Bell Vue are not in the League), this could be 2 semis on the Saturday and Final on Sunday, or 2 semis and Final on the same day. Teams based on Averages, with Total team average limits. Premiership League: - Made up of 10-12 teams, 18-22 matches (9-11 Home/9-11 Away) raced Mondays/ Thursdays from July 1st- Mid September (7th/14th) with Plays-Offs run as they currently are. Each Premiership Team can sign up to two riders who did not take part in the Championship League e.g Doyle, Batchelor, Iverson, Lambert, Fricke, Musielak etc. The remainder of each team will be made up by way of a draft system based on riders' averages in Championship league fixture. Not based on total team averages. The draft The top 10-12* in the averages are grade 1, the next 10-12* grade 2 and so on. The first year would need a bit of fine tuning, but the second year the Draft would work on the principle of the team finishing bottom would have first choice in round 1, Promoters could do a bit of horse trading with other promoters around positions in each round of the draft. *Numbers dependent on numbers of teams in Premiership. National Development league: - would run as it currently does from April to September at the level it currently runs at but split into two competitions, National trophy Apri-June, National League July-September. Some Championship teams could run a team in the National League once the Championship is Finished. Theoretical Leagues: - Championship : Birmingham, Berwick, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester, Newcastle, Poole, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Somerset. (NB I would be tempted to replace a team with Peterborough due to their problems running fixtures in August). Premiership: Belle Vue, Ipswich, King’s Lynn, Swindon, Wolverhampton plus up to 7 teams who could race on Mondays & Thursdays between July 1st and October. Rider & Stadium availability would determine how many teams would make up the Premiership. Championship teams not in the Premiership would have the option of running Open meetings or a junior team in the National League between July & Oct, Riders not picked up in the Draft could race in the National league subject to National league pay rates (if you're not good enough to get a team spot, don’t expect a big pay-packet from a national league team spot). Again, Rider availability would be a determining factor. From a rider point of view, the big boys can ride abroad and have 18-22 meeting in Britain between July-October, Riders willing to commit to British Speedway or only ride in Britain will find a team place in the Championship (March- June), and subject to how well they perform, a team in the Premiership (July-Oct). From a fan’s point view, you have a season that still runs from March to October, with meetings every week, the team you support may not run every week from March to October, but when they do it will mean something. And theirs's nothing to stop fans of Premiership teams attending Championship matches between March & June and vice-versa. Premiership: 3 months of Meetings, with a home Meeting every week, with teams made up of riders of a better quality than the Championship, two top riders + 5 of the best championship riders on current form. All trying to reach the play-offs. Championship: 3 Months of Meetings, with a Home Meeting every week, a Meaningful League with the target of getting to the play-off finals, and with riders who are trying to get their average as high as possible to get a better pay-rate in the Premiership. Edited October 17, 2019 by pvm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fromafar 10,359 Posted October 17, 2019 Weekly Speedway April to September would be a good start at most tracks.The season has become to disjointed . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,253 Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) 10 week season, no thanks. Edited October 17, 2019 by SPEEDY69 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
