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Speedway's future IMO

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1 minute ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Interesting that even before the AGM clubs are announcing riders signed and riders released ( Kyle Bickley, an upcoming Brit released before the AGM has even started)

This being the case then the promoters surely know exactly what's been decided on points limits etc . We have clubs moving divisions yet no one as ' officially ' been accepted anywhere .

Sounds like it's already decided and the AGM will see the richer clubs get what they want,( bigger points limit) .

The TV deal may have saved the ' premiership ' , it hasn't saved the sport.

 

This has been the case for a few years, there are pre-conference meetings and the actual conference is just for rubber stamping and a few final details...Oh and a nice biscuit selection.

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5 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Interesting that even before the AGM clubs are announcing riders signed and riders released ( Kyle Bickley, an upcoming Brit released before the AGM has even started)

This being the case then the promoters surely know exactly what's been decided on points limits etc . We have clubs moving divisions yet no one as ' officially ' been accepted anywhere .

Sounds like it's already decided and the AGM will see the richer clubs get what they want,( bigger points limit) .

The TV deal may have saved the ' premiership ' , it hasn't saved the sport.

 

With two extra clubs applying you’ll probably find that the leading promoters have agreed that they do not need to pander to one or two lesser clubs who might want a 38 point limit and instead believe they can insist on a 40 point limit and possibly even get 41.

If it’s 41, we might well find Plymouth, Kent and Newcastle underpowered due to insufficient available heatleaders and built to 39.

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I find the comments about young people not being able to attend midweek meetings due to school the next day interesting as throughout my school days I went with my parents to Wimbledon Speedway every week and they used to run on a Monday evening in the early days which then changed to Thursday evenings. My parents had a strict rule that I had to finish my homework before we went to the meeting. If truth were known it was the one day in the week when I did do my homework properly as there was no way I was going to miss the racing! Are today's children really so soft that they are unable to have one or two late nights during the school week? 

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7 hours ago, Chris116 said:

I find the comments about young people not being able to attend midweek meetings due to school the next day interesting as throughout my school days I went with my parents to Wimbledon Speedway every week and they used to run on a Monday evening in the early days which then changed to Thursday evenings. My parents had a strict rule that I had to finish my homework before we went to the meeting. If truth were known it was the one day in the week when I did do my homework properly as there was no way I was going to miss the racing! Are today's children really so soft that they are unable to have one or two late nights during the school week? 

I think the list of other attractions during the week impacts more than not being allowed to stay up..

Since the halcyon days of the sport there are a myriad of things for kids to do post school hours. .

Thousands of kids football/rugby/cricket etc teams now operate and train during the week, my lad trained four nights a week for his several sports teams..

My daughter used to attend two dance classes that were packed mid week..

Schools now do an incredible amount of after school clubs till 8pm or so, covering drama, dance, arts, media production etc etc given so many now have state of the art facilities...

And of course you then have gaming which keeps the little cherubs up to all hours on a school night.. :D

Bottom line is Speedway doesn't maintain the interest of enough kids, many of whom "save the world" each evening on their PS4, narrowly avoiding 'death' each evening to do so..

Hence 'death defying Speedway' leaves them much less impressed than the way earlier generations used to be..

They simply get their adrenaline rush elsewhere these days..

And let's face it, anywhere your Dad and Grandad go to (and most of the crowd are 40 something and above), cannot be cool can it?

Edited by mikebv
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6 minutes ago, mikebv said:

I think the list of other attractions during the week impacts more than not being allowed to stay up..

Since the halcyon days of the sport there are a myriad of things for kids to do post school hours. .

Thousands of kids football/rugby/cricket etc teams now operate and train during the week, my lad trained four nights a week for his several sports teams..

M daughter used to attend two dance classes that were packed mid week..

Schools now do an incredible amount of after school clubs till 8pm or so, covering drama, dance, arts, media production etc etc given so many now have state of the art facilities...

And of course you then have gaming which keeps the little cherubs up to all hours on a school night.. :D

Bottom line is Speedway doesn't maintain the interest of enough kids, many of whom "save the world" each evening ln their PS4, narrowly avoiding 'death' each evening to do so..

Hence 'death defying Speedway' leaves them much less impressed than the way earlier generations used to be..

They simply get their adrenaline rush elsewhere these days..

And let's face it, anywhere your Dad and Grandad go to (and most of the crowd are 40 something and above), cannot be cool can it?

I think as well, yesteryear there was more interest in motorcycles. 16 year olds were able to ride a 250cc motorbike on a provisional licence and of course if you were 13 years plus in years, many would be counting down the days to their 16th birthday. To get a motorbike licence nowadays, you have to 'jump through' many hoops and have to obtain your licence in stages, so for a youngster to be naturally interested in motorcycles and motorcycle sports, is going to be few and far between.   

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There is one change I would like to see from 2020.

Scrap "golden heats" as the way to decide tied scores after two legs of a playoff match. 

If the two matches produce level aggregate scores, the winner is determined by the league place the teams finished the season in.

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1 hour ago, Big Al said:

There is one change I would like to see from 2020.

Scrap "golden heats" as the way to decide tied scores after two legs of a playoff match. 

If the two matches produce level aggregate scores, the winner is determined by the league place the teams finished the season in.

What? The team that finished lower as it was a better than expected play-off performance?!

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On 11/6/2019 at 11:39 AM, Chris116 said:

I find the comments about young people not being able to attend midweek meetings due to school the next day interesting as throughout my school days I went with my parents to Wimbledon Speedway every week and they used to run on a Monday evening in the early days which then changed to Thursday evenings. My parents had a strict rule that I had to finish my homework before we went to the meeting. If truth were known it was the one day in the week when I did do my homework properly as there was no way I was going to miss the racing! Are today's children really so soft that they are unable to have one or two late nights during the school week? 

I do hope we are not drifting into the cheap "snowflake generation" argument here are we? I'll give my own experience as an example...

I was first taken to the sport aged 7 to Belle Vue's Hyde Road and was hooked..we then went every Saturday. Not a school night, no problem. Though I suspect it might have been a problem had it been a midweek track at that young age....less so 2-4 years later.  Then, we certainly had the odd midweek trip to follow the Aces to Sheffield and Birmingham. 

I am now a father of six year old twins, they will be 7 by the time of the next speedway season, so the right age (I think) to have a grasp of what's going on and potentially engage with it. Bedtime at ours is 7-7:30, later at the weekend. So a midweek track is out for now.

Additionally, even when they are a little older and could cope with a later midweek night, we - unlike my parent's boomer generation - are much more squeezed for time...and disposable income beyond the mortgage and bills. Like many in the 30s-40s generation, both us parents work and after the kids get back from after school club and we rush to make dinner, there's little time left for anything before bed.

In contrast, as a child, I had the luxury of a stay-at-home mum who could get us kids home at a decent time, have dinner ready early for the whole family and much more time for any possible midweek outing. Society has changed.

Now, this isn't all about me, speedway can draw from older and younger groups. But I do think that appealing to my (current) demographic is absolutely key for speedway now and in the future. We only really have time- and money - for weekend outings and if speedway can't cater for us, it is going to miss out on thousands of families like mine. 

 

Edited by falcace
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2 hours ago, falcace said:

I do hope we are not drifting into the cheap "snowflake generation" argument here are we? I'll give my own experience as an example...

I was first taken to the sport aged 7 to Belle Vue's Hyde Road and was hooked..we then went every Saturday. Not a school night, no problem. Though I suspect it might have been a problem had it been a midweek track at that young age....less so 2-4 years later.  Then, we certainly had the odd midweek trip to follow the Aces to Sheffield and Birmingham. 

I am now a father of six year old twins, they will be 7 by the time of the next speedway season, so the right age (I think) to have a grasp of what's going on and potentially engage with it. Bedtime at ours is 7-7:30, later at the weekend. So a midweek track is out for now.

Additionally, even when they are a little older and could cope with a later midweek night, we - unlike my parent's boomer generation - are much more squeezed for time...and disposable income beyond the mortgage and bills. Like many in the 30s-40s generation, both us parents work and after the kids get back from after school club and we rush to make dinner, there's little time left for anything before bed.

In contrast, as a child, I had the luxury of a stay-at-home mum who could get us kids home at a decent time, have dinner ready early for the whole family and much more time for any possible midweek outing. Society has changed.

Now, this isn't all about me, speedway can draw from older and younger groups. But I do think that appealing to my (current) demographic is absolutely key for speedway now and in the future. We only really have time- and money - for weekend outings and if speedway can't meet that demand, it is going to miss out on thousands of families like mine. 

 

I think it's a very good point. After all, you wouldn't expect to watch Moto X, Grass Track, Moto GP, F1 during the week. The only other mid-week stuff I can think of is TT racing and other road racing motorcycle events. If there was a mid-week Moto X event, I wonder how many fans would turn up, compared to a weekend? Years ago, when speedway was more popular and had more tracks, the bulk of the fans could probably walk to the tracks or use public transport, but now with far fewer tracks and fans thin on the ground, those fans who are interested, have to travel and that is a put off for a mid-week event. It would still work in a city, such as London, with the good public transport it has. 

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1 hour ago, Ray Stadia said:

I think it's a very good point. After all, you wouldn't expect to watch Moto X, Grass Track, Moto GP, F1 during the week. The only other mid-week stuff I can think of is TT racing and other road racing motorcycle events. If there was a mid-week Moto X event, I wonder how many fans would turn up, compared to a weekend? Years ago, when speedway was more popular and had more tracks, the bulk of the fans could probably walk to the tracks or use public transport, but now with far fewer tracks and fans thin on the ground, those fans who are interested, have to travel and that is a put off for a mid-week event. It would still work in a city, such as London, with the good public transport it has. 

You only have to look at Poland as to when the best time is to run Speedway..

They wouldn't dream of running at any time other than weekends..

Play offs get decent crowds over here but I would suggest it doesn't make up in any way shape or for how many don't attend during the season due to riding Monday to Thursday..

The other glaring issue is how very few teenagers go..

Meaning free admission to Kids with a paying adult simply doesn't maintain enough interest..

Letting 18 and unders in for free, if still a student, would at least possibly deliver some return when they become 19 and have to start paying..

It would also mean they could attend in groups which teenagers so love to do...

And not have to stand with Mum, Dad, Gran and Grandad..

And wouldn't be any financial loss really as they are not there now. But you may make some money at the bar and burger van!

 

Edited by mikebv
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56 minutes ago, mikebv said:

You only have to look at Poland as to when the best time is to run Speedway..

They wouldn't dream of running at any time other than weekends..

Play offs get decent crowds over here but I would suggest it doesn't make up in any way shape or for how many don't attend during the season due to riding Monday to Thursday..

In short, speedway is saying to Dave and his family down the road that it cannot cater for them because it has to accommodate the wishes of some Danish bloke you've never heard of, so he can also ride in a Polish town you've never heard of either. Bonkers :blink:

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44 minutes ago, falcace said:

In short, speedway is saying to Dave and his family down the road that it cannot cater for them because it has to accommodate some Danish bloke you've never heard of, so he can ride in a Polish town you've never heard of either. Bonkers :blink:

Pretty much so..

Maybe if you said to 'Dave', "You can bring you, your missus and three kids for thirty quid on a Friday evening, Saturday evening or Sunday late (ish) afternoon". He might take you up on the offer..?

Ask him to spend forty quid plus for him and his family to attend, on a school night during the week, and I would suggest the likelyhood is he won't..

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The clubs who run in the uk at weekends  hardly do any better do they ?  if the product is better on a weekday rather than a weekend Dave will go on the week day . More things to do at a weekend now in the uk than go to speedway a fact lost on some .

 

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1 hour ago, falcace said:

In short, speedway is saying to Dave and his family down the road that it cannot cater for them because it has to accommodate the wishes of some Danish bloke you've never heard of, so he can also ride in a Polish town you've never heard of either. Bonkers :blink:

 

No, it isn’t.

It’s saying we have speedway on a certain day, come along.

In the same way that all sporting events choose when they run without consulting Dave.

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Like most things, there is no one size fits all solution. Sheffield have just abandoned weekend racing to return to Thursday night, Poole are so determined to race on a Wednesday that they've dropped a league to do so, ex-Saturday tracks like Swindon and Kings Lynn now happily run in mid-week and all the indications are that if they had a choice Belle Vue would run on a Friday rather than the Saturdays which I remember so fondly from the Hyde Road days. Incidentally, I think Falcace is absolutely right in his analysis of the social changes that have taken place.

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