Will British Speedway Survive ?

[Falcon1983 557]

33 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

No it doesn't have a 'death rate' of between 6 and 10%.

When in doubt, make it up eh?

Correct

The only way you can calculate the death % is on closed cases I.e recovered or dead.  At the moment the death % on confirmed closed cases is 21%

On open cases only 4% are critical but that doesn't mean the 96% non critical will not suddenly get worse as the virus takes a tighter grip

But anyway we'll all be fine once the 5G masts get taken down

Edited April 9, 2020 by Falcon1983

[BWitcher 12,453]

Just now, Falcon1983 said:

Correct

The only way you can calculate the death % is on closed cases I.e recovered or dead.  At the moment the death % on confirmed closed cases is 24%

But anyway we'll all be fine once the 5G masts get taken down

Incorrect again, but hey, lets make it up again shall we! Death rates are impossible to calculate accurately as the overwhelming majority who have it are not tested.

5G masts has nothing to do with it, that's for the lunatics.

Some people are just too brainwashed to understand how many lives are lost to flu/pneumonia.

It is mentioned, NOT to dismiss the severity of covid-19, or claim that covid-19 doesn't kill people. It is mentioned to give CONTEXT. There are people who were thinking that 100-200 people dying a day was something unprecedented and worthy of locking yourself up inside. If the country took that line of thinking, it would be locked down every single winter. 

Personally I think it says a lot about a person when they casually dismiss upwards of 30,000 deaths in just over three months as 'inconsequential' or 'irrelevant'. It's a virus, spread by social contact in the same way as Covid-19.

Covid-19 is of course very very serious,  for a very small % of people and it is they whom the measures in place are trying to protect.

Anyhow, the point of this debate was simply to do with the discussion of when people would feel 'comfortable' to get back out there business as normal. 

Once the covid-19 deaths are back down to around 200-250 a day, then it will be no different to a normal Dec/Jan/Feb day... with the exception being children are more at risk on a normal Dec/Jan/Feb day than they are at any time from covid-19.

[Falcon1983 557]

Its not incorrect its fact using statistical websites.  Again with any stats you can only use them on confirmed cases so its irrelevant how many people have not been tested etc. 

Stats on ant disease is all based on confirmed information at on closed cases the death rate is 21% worldwide. Fact 

I think you want the last say on it as you keep backing yourself up then casually saying "we're not here to discuss this" so let's put this discussion to bed....

Nobody has the answer of when people will feel comfortable to return to spectator sports, every person is different and will feel differently 

My opinion only tho

In speedway if some feel they need to stay away it will damage the sport immensely, if 50% of football fans in the premier league decide to stay away then there will be the same amount of people who will probably buy the tickets up anyway as there is always a bigger demand

Minority sports will suffer this year

[HGould 2,213]

Some people seem to think we have to wait for all the foreign riders to arrive, we have to wait until Covid 19 is totally eradicated, we have to have perfect conditions, perfect team strengths, perfect crowd levels.

If we wait too long for the second wave, scared to go out late summer, the second wave will arrive in winter and be 10x more dangerous as a result.

Herd immunity idea is not dead, it has to be allowed once the NHS can cope.  We have to go out and every day we all take "a risk" in any form of life.

Things to some degree will never be the same.

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

seems some on here want to see speedway die so they can say "I told you so". 

 

[iris123 20,979]

8 minutes ago, HGould said:

Some people seem to think we have to wait for all the foreign riders to arrive, we have to wait until Covid 19 is totally eradicated, we have to have perfect conditions, perfect team strengths, perfect crowd levels.

If we wait too long for the second wave, scared to go out late summer, the second wave will arrive in winter and be 10x more dangerous as a result.

Herd immunity idea is not dead, it has to be allowed once the NHS can cope.  We have to go out and every day we all take "a risk" in any form of life.

Things to some degree will never be the same.

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

seems some on here want to see speedway die so they can say "I told you so". 

 

Some people.....not us. We are only speedway fans, the important 'some people' are those in government or health experts. I doubt many if any know what speedway is, but even if 'we' get back to work because we are then deemed 'essential' we just have to accept that sport and concerts most probably won't fall into that category

This from yesterday's Guardian

But, the researchers warn, if normal life is allowed to resume too quickly and the lifting of controls is too extensive, the reproductive number will rise again. Governments will need to keep a close watch on what is happening, they say.

“Although control policies such as physical distancing and behavioural change are likely to be maintained for some time, proactively striking a balance between resuming economic activities and keeping the reproductive number below one is likely to be the best strategy until effective vaccines become widely available,” said Wu

[BWitcher 12,453]

10 minutes ago, Falcon1983 said:

Its not incorrect its fact using statistical websites.  Again with any stats you can only use them on confirmed cases so its irrelevant how many people have not been tested etc. 

Stats on ant disease is all based on confirmed information at on closed cases the death rate is 21% worldwide. Fact 

I think you want the last say on it as you keep backing yourself up then casually saying "we're not here to discuss this" so let's put this discussion to bed....

Nobody has the answer of when people will feel comfortable to return to spectator sports, every person is different and will feel differently 

My opinion only tho

In speedway if some feel they need to stay away it will damage the sport immensely, if 50% of football fans in the premier league decide to stay away then there will be the same amount of people who will probably buy the tickets up anyway as there is always a bigger demand

Minority sports will suffer this year

Yes it is incorrect as you have no idea of the amount that have contracted it.

Nor are people tested 'again' in general for a case to be 'closed'.

If you applied the same theory to flu/pneumonia, you're looking at a death rate of over 50% so it's nonsense.

I don't need the 'last say'... as I am 100% correct in the figures I've given. Folks are triggered because it makes them look rather silly in the way they've been reacting... That's their issue.

[MattK 3,447]

2 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

A reason why your notion of  bringing  back the big stars is a risky one it is completely the wrong time to implement it.

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

[MattK 3,447]

30 minutes ago, HGould said:

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

What upfront outlay do clubs have and how much profit do they make per meeting? Are I've said, most clubs run at a loss during a "normal" season, so fewer meetings means fewer losses.

Same for riders. All the equipment they've bought for this season can be used next year. What is perishable? Some will lose money on contracts they've signed to lease vans and maybe even rent houses, but they all have get out clauses.

[DSC67 1,465]

10 minutes ago, MattK said:

What upfront outlay do clubs have and how much profit do they make per meeting? Are I've said, most clubs run at a loss during a "normal" season, so fewer meetings means fewer losses.

Same for riders. All the equipment they've bought for this season can be used next year. What is perishable? Some will lose money on contracts they've signed to lease vans and maybe even rent houses, but they all have get out clauses.

The equipment you talk about wil need to be paid for by someone  at some point , with no income this could prove difficult 

[Ben91 1,743]

43 minutes ago, MattK said:

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

It isn’t the “scattergun” approach that is failing. It is the lack of good promotion/marketing in general. The target audience for Speedway, as a sport, can be vast in terms of age and gender. The issue is that it isn’t promoted enough and when new fans do somehow stumble across it the way the sport is run and presented doesn’t leave them wanting to come back. 

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

36 minutes ago, MattK said:

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

Alot of the problems we have in the UK speedway wise,90 per cent of the time is of our  own doing.As much as it would be great to have the stars back for me it is to risky a proposition.Also we should now stop pandering to the Poles/Swedes / Gp series and get all our race nights back and run on the night's /Bank Holidays or whatever days we want to run.In our league now we only have Doyle, Iversen,Lambert who would be missed so let's start again !!!! the riders i named also how long will they keep committing to the UK.??? Speedway can still be exciting whatever level the product is , also  if you had seven available race days/nights  you could work around the kids and schooldays. That  is the market that you were talking about Matt that is the area i would aim at Kids how many parents don't go and miss meetings on a school night.? 

[MattK 3,447]

19 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

It isn’t the “scattergun” approach that is failing. It is the lack of good promotion/marketing in general. The target audience for Speedway, as a sport, can be vast in terms of age and gender. The issue is that it isn’t promoted enough and when new fans do somehow stumble across it the way the sport is run and presented doesn’t leave them wanting to come back. 

It can, but it is extremely difficult and expensive. Most business focus on a particular target market for that every reason. Not only to know who to market towards, but also to tailor their product to suit their customers needs.

I think it would be a very difficult balancing act for speedway to appeal to both its core supporters and whatever new group(s) it is trying to attract.

[HGould 2,213]

1 hour ago, MattK said:

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

That's a generalisation. There is no Leadership at the top that's true.

There are some Clubs though who using their own initiatives are seeing crowd growth and are seeing newcomers coming to Speedway. A number in the Championship I saw with my own eyes at Birmingham and on travels last season.

It works locally, that may be the way to go.

[MattK 3,447]

26 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Alot of the problems we have in the UK speedway wise,90 per cent of the time is of our  own doing.As much as it would be great to have the stars back for me it is to risky a proposition.Also we should now stop pandering to the Poles/Swedes / Gp series and get all our race nights back and run on the night's /Bank Holidays or whatever days we want to run.In our league now we only have Doyle, Iversen,Lambert who would be missed so let's start again !!!! the riders i named also how long will they keep committing to the UK.??? Speedway can still be exciting whatever level the product is , also  if you had seven available race days/nights  you could work around the kids and schooldays. That  is the market that you were talking about Matt that is the area i would aim at Kids how many parents don't go and miss meetings on a school night.? 

As I've said before, I don't believe tinkering with the format or structure will make one iota of difference when it comes to attracting new fans.

You can stop pandering to other countries, but the number of riders impacted is much greater than the three you mentioned, as I shown here.

Marketing to kids is fine, but it requires complete overhaul of how a speedway meeting is run. Everything from the music to the presentation to programmes needs to be thrown in the bin and re-designed to appeal to your target market. I think that is too much of a step change and risks alienating existing customers. A far more sensible approach is to market speedway to exactly the people who already make up the majority of your customer-base, which is the over 50s.

[MattK 3,447]

21 minutes ago, HGould said:

That's a generalisation. There is no Leadership at the top that's true.

There are some Clubs though who using their own initiatives are seeing crowd growth and are seeing newcomers coming to Speedway. A number in the Championship I saw with my own eyes at Birmingham and on travels last season.

It works locally, that may be the way to go.

Marketing has to be done locally due to the geographical spread of the clubs. I used to think advertising league speedway during the televised meetings was a potential option, but viewing figures are now so insignificant I don't think that is worth the effort.

If clubs are having local success, then that's great. Unfortunately, due to the lack of transparency around speedway we are completely reliant on anecdotes, rather than having hard evidence though.