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Happy Hunter

Behind closed doors?

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8 minutes ago, Speedway fan said:

and who pays the bills?

 

Exactly, it will be cost negative so it won't happen.

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34 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

Could start behind closed doors on Monday.

i think donald trump mentioned something like that. but then again, he is a clown . covid 19 will re emerge bigger and more deadly . lockdown could be on again until christmas !

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Monday April 27, 2020

BRITISH Speedway is unlikely to resume behind closed doors.

Rob Godfrey, chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Ltd, has stated the financial impact of no fans makes meetings unviable.
Poland’s top league look set to start their season on June 12 with no spectators – but they have record levels of revenue from TV and sponsorship deals.
Godfrey said: “As a sport in the UK under the current financial structure it’s not possible for us to run behind closed doors.
“The only way it could happen is if revenue came in to underpin it, but right now we cannot see it happening so all talk of this is irrelevant.”

https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38043

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i think there will be a two season gap before any fans are allowed inside a stadium . its for the greater good , as some one said !

Edited by jenga

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Its been reported that polish fans will be allowed in but at 25% capicity. 

Not for the first round  of matches  thats still behind closed doors but for the second round think its around 19th June

Edited by DBP
Correcting date

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3 hours ago, iainb said:

Monday April 27, 2020

BRITISH Speedway is unlikely to resume behind closed doors.

Rob Godfrey, chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Ltd, has stated the financial impact of no fans makes meetings unviable.
Poland’s top league look set to start their season on June 12 with no spectators – but they have record levels of revenue from TV and sponsorship deals.
Godfrey said: “As a sport in the UK under the current financial structure it’s not possible for us to run behind closed doors.
“The only way it could happen is if revenue came in to underpin it, but right now we cannot see it happening so all talk of this is irrelevant.”

https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38043

Total missed opportunity for speedway in this country. They've correctly identified that the sport can't run, as intended, behind closed doors.....  and then done nothing about it.  So now they wait until a potential further relaxation to allow x number of spectators, which at this point has to be as likely as a return of tighter restrictions.  They seem to be planning for an August to November season by which time most other sports will be under way in some form or another.

Speedway could have returned from Monday if the promoters had given some consideration as to what format would have allowed the sport to have returned behind closed doors.

Clearly due to no supporters and a lack of riders there's no way of holding fixtures, as intended, across the country. But if you could arrange one event per week featuring each of the clubs (say pairs or fours) and make it available pay per view then you might have had a viable product.  If you got 10,000 subscriptions around the UK (or globally) at £10 that should provide enough revenue to cover costs. Supporters who are normally paying £15+ per week are literally a captive audience so if the product was good enough the events could be weekly.  You could even offer season tickets for a series of events. 

You never know a broadcaster might have even paid for the content and made it free to their subscribers, given how desperate the sports channels are for content.

Driest May on record and not any shale shifted in anger.....  lets hope that November is just as dry.

Edited by enotian

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It could be due to Government/Health restrictions.

My personal view is that they are easing restrictions too early as it is still not under control. I am expecting a spike & the "R" number to go above 1 because of the publics stupidity to enjoy the sunshine not locally, thus, not being able to keep the pandemic local as people have travelled too far. There are plenty of parks/grassland areas in towns & cities without travelling to the seaside putting undue pressure on seaside locals.

 If the weather had not been so good, we would still be "housed up."

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12 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

According to the BBC ( Guernsey cricket stages first game of summer in British Isles - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/52861230 ) a live stream of a cricket match in Guernsey attracted over 80,000 YouTube viewers.

Massive difference between You Tube viewers (free) and paying for streaming. (far from free).

Excellent initiative though from Guernsey Cricket

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2 hours ago, DBP said:

Its been reported that polish fans will be allowed in but at 25% capicity. 

Not for the first round  of matches  thats still behind closed doors but for the second round think its around 19th June

If something along those lines were given the go ahead by the government here British speedway could Re start no problem at all. 

The BSPA plan over the last 25 years of making speedway such a niche market could finally bear fruit. All those supporters who have been driven away makes social distancing at speedway matches totally possible. 

See the BSPA are genius and have been creating a business model that works in a pandemic crisis. 

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There really is no debate to be had here. Speedway is barely profitable with paying fans, it won’t happen behind closed doors here. If it does it is financial suicide. 

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Totally agree.  The shoestring speedway runs on makes it impossible to run with no income coming through the turnstiles.

The social distancing aspect is tricky as well.  It can probably be implemented at some tracks, but not others.  Wolves can only accommodate supporters in a relatively small section of Monmore as it is.  

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7 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

Just for the record. 3.8k people watched Birmingham v Peterborough last night.

VIEWING figures for televised speedway meetings between 80 and 100 thousand

 

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