League to run over two seasons

[mikebv 10,242]

47 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Am I understanding correctly that the UK Govt. yesterday refused to lift the 14 day quarantine rule for so-called incoming 'elite sportsmen'?  If so, unless its lifted later on in say July, then that will have the biggest effect on any on-track action in 2020 - especially for Premiership teams.

And even if they lift the 14 day quarantine over here, Poland may still keep theirs in place meaning riders wont dare leave Poland as to return would see them miss meetings for a fortnight..

Lots of hoops to jump through to get any Speedway this year in the UK I would think..

 

[DC2 11,150]

4 hours ago, mikebv said:

And even if they lift the 14 day quarantine over here, Poland may still keep theirs in place meaning riders wont dare leave Poland as to return would see them miss meetings for a fortnight..

Lots of hoops to jump through to get any Speedway this year in the UK I would think..

 

 

That’s why I suggested a British League with just British or British based riders for this year only.  Although it would be a chance to trial an interesting option!

[HGould 2,213]

12 minutes ago, DC2 said:

 

That’s why I suggested a British League with just British or British based riders for this year only.  Although it would be a chance to trial an interesting option!

So you propose to rip every team up and impose rider control communist style for 2 months?

Who would the team's be?

Premier? (Would be novel for wolves to have Brits)

Championship? (Would Scottish Clubs be able to race?)

Clubs with most Brits? (What about those that don't have many)

Selecting this way would alienate Clubs left out - probably 12 to 14. Their fans may walk and never come back.

 

[DC2 11,150]

11 minutes ago, HGould said:

So you propose to rip every team up and impose rider control communist style for 2 months?

Who would the team's be?

Premier? (Would be novel for wolves to have Brits)

Championship? (Would Scottish Clubs be able to race?)

Clubs with most Brits? (What about those that don't have many)

Selecting this way would alienate Clubs left out - probably 12 to 14. Their fans may walk and never come back.

 

Calm down, dear, this was my post:

“I guess if travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season.

Some clubs might be willing to run and others not.

We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32!

We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones.

Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team.”

We might increase the standard or the number of teams if foreigners (including Aussies) base themselves here.

Each team could have a home and away meeting each week and conclude the league meetings after week nine, leaving one spare week for rain offs and two weeks for the play offs and final. 

Without being dependent on foreign riders, clubs could generally run on their preferred race nights and there would be no double uppers! Your rider would be solely your rider!

Edited May 19, 2020 by DC2

[mikebv 10,242]

11 minutes ago, HGould said:

So you propose to rip every team up and impose rider control communist style for 2 months?

Who would the team's be?

Premier? (Would be novel for wolves to have Brits)

Championship? (Would Scottish Clubs be able to race?)

Clubs with most Brits? (What about those that don't have many)

Selecting this way would alienate Clubs left out - probably 12 to 14. Their fans may walk and never come back.

 

I think if they want to run a league with any credibility they will need riders who are 100% available, and with so many overseas riders with team places currently you would think that this would mean mainly British riders (excluding those lads with Polish and Swedish contracts)..

If it all becomes a bit 'Mickey Mouse' then it would probably be better to run individual events to see the season out, maybe give the riders more meetings too. 

Some could do five or six a week which would be a struggle to do if they were in teams I would think..

 

 

[HGould 2,213]

12 minutes ago, mikebv said:

I think if they want to run a league with any credibility they will need riders who are 100% available, and with so many overseas riders with team places currently you would think that this would mean mainly British riders (excluding those lads with Polish and Swedish contracts)..

If it all becomes a bit 'Mickey Mouse' then it would probably be better to run individual events to see the season out, maybe give the riders more meetings too. 

Some could do five or six a week which would be a struggle to do if they were in teams I would think..

 

 

I think 2 or 3 meetings is all most are likely to manage so individuals best hope.

 

[HGould 2,213]

20 minutes ago, DC2 said:

 

Calm down, dear, this was my post:

“I guess if travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season.

Some clubs might be willing to run and others not.

We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32!

We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones.

Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team.”

We might increase the standard or the number of teams if foreigners (including Aussies) base themselves here.

Each team could have a home and away meeting each week and conclude the league meetings after week nine, leaving one spare week for rain offs and two weeks for the play offs and final. 

Without being dependent on foreign riders, clubs could generally run on their preferred race nights and there would be no double uppers! Your rider would be solely your rider!

I'm glad that you think the good folk of Swindon would have the cash to turn up every week for 10 weeks from around middle of August!

Would be a financial disaster. Would ruin all the great work done at Swindon.

 

[DC2 11,150]

3 minutes ago, HGould said:

I'm glad that you think the good folk of Swindon would have the cash to turn up every week for 10 weeks from around middle of August!

Would be a financial disaster. Would ruin all the great work done at Swindon.

 

 

The good folk of Swindon frequently complain about “stop, start” seasons and say they want a home meeting every week. 

Nine home meetings in nine weeks seems ideal to me.

[waytogo28 2,054]

On 5/19/2020 at 7:00 PM, HGould said:

I'm glad that you think the good folk of Swindon would have the cash to turn up every week for 10 weeks from around middle of August!

Would be a financial disaster. Would ruin all the great work done at Swindon.

 

You can be assured that with their past "form", the BSPA will choose the least positive option. Not that I beleive any matches will be run this season ( unless extended ). 

[mikebv 10,242]

1 hour ago, waytogo28 said:

You can be assured that with their past "form", the BSPA will choose the least positive option. Not that I beleive any matches will be run this season ( unless extended ). 

Big IF I know, but..

IF there is any racing, then it shouldn't be hard to coordinate a decent amount of meetings for clubs and, (possibly more importantly), the riders..

Run individual meetings and each club could run once a fortnight on nights that they feel could deliver their best return..

That would mean plenty of meetings for riders and the meetings would, I would suggest, get more fans than the usual individual meeting crowd levels given the speedway fraternities longing to see some action..

It would also mean the fans, who could be under financial stretch at the time of going back to 'normal', wouldn't be expected to fork out weekly just to get a 'league' completed in just a few months...

22 clubs riding over a 14 day cycle (presuming all come through this), would mean some clashes, but with basic planning you could ensure they are kept geographically apart and I would also suggest that there needn't be any restrictions on levels of riders who can ride where, ie The NL clubs could run with Premiership riders if they saw fit and felt it was an earner for them to do so..

And with a clear 'set in stone' fixture list, with consistent race nights, and riders booked well in advance, (so can be advertised) ,clubs would have a fortnight between meetings to promote their next offering..

The meetings themselves could take on any format, eg a traditional 16 man, 20 heat meeting or something much more innovative which could give some pointers for the future based on customer feedback...

The important thing would be giving as many riders the chance to make as much as possible in the short time available.

With the added bonus that their equipment will still be 'nearly new' next year so may not need upgrading...

It always seems to be widely publicised by many clubs that they lose money each year so maybe this break from paying out those thousands and thousands of pounds that dont get covered by income, may help down the line?

For those it applies to, it may also be a good time to renegotiate rental costs with landlords who may be pretty desperate to see their facilities used again and could be more open to discussion, which again can only be a good thing for the sport going forward. (And maybe could help subsidise some lower admission costs upon restart)?

Lots of mainly British riders riding the length and breadth of the nation every night of the week, for however many weeks it is possible, can't be a bad thing can it? Maybe even wrap some meetings up in a several round 'British Championship' to add interest?

I am sure though that 'behind the scenes' the Promoters are working on a plan...

Edited May 21, 2020 by mikebv

[00000 1,279]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Big IF I know, but..

IF there is any racing, then it shouldn't be hard to coordinate a decent amount of meetings for clubs and, (possibly more importantly), the riders..

Run individual meetings and each club could run once a fortnight on nights that they feel could deliver their best return..

That would mean plenty of meetings for riders and the meetings would, I would suggest, get more fans than the usual individual meeting crowd levels given the speedway fraternities longing to see some action..

It would also mean the fans, who could be under financial stretch at the time of going back to 'normal', wouldn't be expected to fork out weekly just to get a 'league' completed in just a few months...

22 clubs riding over a 14 day cycle (presuming all come through this), would mean some clashes, but with basic planning you could ensure they are kept geographically apart and I would also suggest that there needn't be any restrictions on levels of riders who can ride where, ie The NL clubs could run with Premiership riders if they saw fit and felt it was an earner for them to do so..

And with a clear 'set in stone' fixture list, with consistent race nights, and riders booked well in advance, (so can be advertised) ,clubs would have a fortnight between meetings to promote their next offering..

The meetings themselves could take on any format, eg a traditional 16 man, 20 heat meeting or something much more innovative which could give some pointers for the future based on customer feedback...

The important thing would be giving as many riders the chance to make as much as possible in the short time available.

With the added bonus that their equipment will still be 'nearly new' next year so may not need upgrading...

It always seems to be widely publicised by many clubs that they lose money each year so maybe this break from paying out those thousands and thousands of pounds that dont get covered by income, may help down the line?

For those it applies to, it may also be a good time to renegotiate rental costs with landlords who may be pretty desperate to see their facilities used again and could be more open to discussion, which again can only be a good thing for the sport going forward. (And maybe could help subsidise some lower admission costs upon restart)?

Lots of mainly British riders riding the length and breadth of the nation every night of the week, for however many weeks it is possible, can't be a bad thing can it? Maybe even wrap some meetings up in a several round 'British Championship' to add interest?

 I am sure though that 'behind the scenes' the Promoters are working on a plan...

That's a smart idea.

[scunny1 434]

Think its quite obvious that we will get little speedway this year.  Premier league looks a bit of a mess with travel and rider disruption. Championship will run North and South split league -probably one home and one away meeting at most? Cardiff GP cancelled until next year? Looks bleak and we just know as soon as any sort of programme is put together this balmy weather will be a thing of the past and rain offs will further destroy the proceedings.

Who would be a speedway promotor, or track owner right now when half your potential customers fall into the at risk category to compound the serious problems even more.

[DC2 11,150]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

Big IF I know, but..

IF there is any racing, then it shouldn't be hard to coordinate a decent amount of meetings for clubs and, (possibly more importantly), the riders..

Run individual meetings and each club could run once a fortnight on nights that they feel could deliver their best return..

That would mean plenty of meetings for riders and the meetings would, I would suggest, get more fans than the usual individual meeting crowd levels given the speedway fraternities longing to see some action..

It would also mean the fans, who could be under financial stretch at the time of going back to 'normal', wouldn't be expected to fork out weekly just to get a 'league' completed in just a few months...

22 clubs riding over a 14 day cycle (presuming all come through this), would mean some clashes, but with basic planning you could ensure they are kept geographically apart and I would also suggest that there needn't be any restrictions on levels of riders who can ride where, ie The NL clubs could run with Premiership riders if they saw fit and felt it was an earner for them to do so..

And with a clear 'set in stone' fixture list, with consistent race nights, and riders booked well in advance, (so can be advertised) ,clubs would have a fortnight between meetings to promote their next offering..

The meetings themselves could take on any format, eg a traditional 16 man, 20 heat meeting or something much more innovative which could give some pointers for the future based on customer feedback...

The important thing would be giving as many riders the chance to make as much as possible in the short time available.

With the added bonus that their equipment will still be 'nearly new' next year so may not need upgrading...

It always seems to be widely publicised by many clubs that they lose money each year so maybe this break from paying out those thousands and thousands of pounds that dont get covered by income, may help down the line?

For those it applies to, it may also be a good time to renegotiate rental costs with landlords who may be pretty desperate to see their facilities used again and could be more open to discussion, which again can only be a good thing for the sport going forward. (And maybe could help subsidise some lower admission costs upon restart)?

Lots of mainly British riders riding the length and breadth of the nation every night of the week, for however many weeks it is possible, can't be a bad thing can it? Maybe even wrap some meetings up in a several round 'British Championship' to add interest?

I am sure though that 'behind the scenes' the Promoters are working on a plan...

 

Why would you run individual meetings every two weeks rather than team matches every week?

Team matches are far more important to me than individual meetings.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

The dreadful attendances for individual meetings below SGP level in Britain, plus their virtual disappearance from most tracks' fixture lists does rather suggest that they have lost their appeal; far more than team events. There will obviously be those who like individuals but I do sense that they are a very small if highly vocal minority. 

Regarding splitting the season over two years - do we really want to have two seasons fouled-up? One is bad enough.

Even if we only ended up with September and October the option is there to run a six home, six away Premiership and two regionally split Championships, five home and five away, with possibility of play-offs at both levels. That of course is if we can sort out team strengths to cope with rider absences. 

It is an awful situation but there is no point in throwing the baby out with the bathwater to fulfil a misguided attempt to, after 90 years turn speedway back into an individual sport. There are many things wrong with speedway but team racing is far from the problem. 

Let's just wait and see, and have various permutations ready so we can react to whichever date we are given, if at all, to resume. Just giving up and standing in a corner sneering at those determined that we can hgave some speedway this year in a futile attempt to look and sound clever is no help to the sport, and THAT is realism. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[mikebv 10,242]

26 minutes ago, DC2 said:

 

Why would you run individual meetings every two weeks rather than team matches every week?

Team matches are far more important to me than individual meetings.

Three main reasons..

1. You would be very lucky to run team speedway every week to anything like a consistent fixture list, at least with any semblance of credibility, given how many riders may not be available at any given night due to the many who DU, and also how many will need to ride in their own leagues abroad as a priority..

2. Individual meetings will give riders more chances per week to ride thus more earning potential, eg two league meetings or the chance to ride seven nights a week if they so wish and were capable..

And 3. When everyone has to start paying bills again, and pay back the bills they were allowed to miss/pay less, during the current crisis, I would think paying out for Speedway four times a month may be very, very low down their priorities..