BSPL AGM

[Chadster 221]

A few weeks ago there was a big golf tournament (The Masters?) and I was reading a preview of it (not much else to do in lockdown). The article mentioned something called 'bifurcation', arising from a fear that improved equipment (clubs, balls etc) and the fact that players were getting generally more powerful was threatening to reduce famous courses to ruin and threatening to turn golf into a sort of pitch and putt. Bifurcation was the view that the top pros should use the old style equipment and leave the modern stuff to the recreational player. Apparently, the article went on, in Baseball the pros use wooden bats not aluminium ones to keep the distance they can hit the ball in check. The problems for golf and baseball are similar to those afflicting speedway but the proposed solutions seem to be the reverse. Wouldn't it be better in speedway if the top riders rode standard bikes? The best way to achieve this would be perhaps for the FIM to insist that their competitions (GP, SoN) would be raced using standard equipment. The practical details would need to be resolved, but if at the highest level you couldn't ride a 'rocket ship', why would you do so at league level? The benefits would be widespread, but whether the FIM would ever do something like this would have to be severely doubted.

[mikebv 10,242]

8 hours ago, Ghosty said:

MY VIEW.... The best we can hope for is a 4 month season July to September, the whole of U.K. should be revamped NOW but only for 2021. Teams to be made-up of  U.K. based riders.

Meanwhile every effort should be made for a complete relaunch of our once great sport for 2022, this to include:

1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running.

2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost.

3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income,

4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks.

5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover.

6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved).

7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again.

All very valid points, but the No1 priority has to be getting the National Team to consistently be seen as the No1 in the World..

That will get the wider sporting media involved and have a big positive impact on the domestic teams too..

Rugby League is a great example of how a 'minority' sport suddenly started to get excellent coverage for its domestic game when "Great Britain" started beating the Aussies in the late 80's/90's...

Players like Martin Offiah, Ellery Hanley, Jason Robinson et al, became known nationally through their international success being beamed into homes via the BBC and Sky, yet not many of the population could probably name which club sides they played for, nor had any interest in the game until that national success came along..

However, those who did know which clubs these players represented domestically, started to go and watch these 'stars' in much greater numbers than before...

Cricket and Rugby Union also made national success their overiding objective many years ago and even have central contracts to protect the top players from "burn out"...

They knew, quite correctly, that national success would bring far more fans to the sport than any individual teams winning their various competitions could ever do..

Let's hope the penny has finally dropped at the BSPL that this should be far and aware their major objective to try and make the sport successful in the UK...

Edited January 29, 2021 by mikebv

[Triple.H. 1,982]

5 hours ago, enotian said:

Not to mention that compared to 20-30 years ago we now all spend a considerable amount of disposable income without ever leaving the house (even if we could).

Internet, mobile phones, TV subscriptions (SKY, Netflix, Disney etc etc), Spotify, Amazon Prime even Deliveroo.

Someone should run a free training school for Deliveroo moped riders. If they ride in the rest of the country like they do in Oxford there's a fair few entertaining fence scrapers out there

I daresay there could be a chance of a young rider possibly getting some Sponsorship from them. A nice photoshopped picture of a rider going full tilt around a bend  photoshopped so his racesuit and bike covers had Deliveroo branding and colourscheme with a topbox on the rear mudguard. Throw in a nice snappy slogan about fast food delivered faster, the countries the rider could potentially be visible in. They can only say No but they might say yes. Even if it was only a couple of grand its better than a kick in the proverbials.

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Triple.H.

[uk_martin 1,606]

On 1/29/2021 at 12:23 PM, Ghosty said:

Meanwhile every effort should be made for a complete relaunch of our once great sport for 2022, this to include:

1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running.

2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost.

3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income,

4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks.

5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover.

6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved).

7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again.

Great sentiments but...

1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running. - Have you seen the state of those stadiums? Who's got the millions needed to bring them back, fit for human habitation?

2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost. - Didn't they try to reduce riders costs with the bulk purchase of those Gerhard engines? What a failure that was.

3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income, - Dumbing down to the lowest common denominator? National pay rates governed by what Mildenhall and IoW can afford? Less pay will mean less spent by riders on bike maintenance, leading to more engine failures, leading to lower quality of racing leading to crowds seeping away. No, I don't think that's the answer either.

4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks.- someone needs a definition of "creditable". How do you guarantee a creditable meeting before the first race is run?

5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover. - Have you done the mathematics? 24 current teams, plus Swindon plus Somerset plus the three Phoenix's out of the rubble piles that you refer to... you could need 168 - 203 riders, who you say have to be British based. I challenge you to name them all. If you haven't got the riders, you won't have the teams. Something has to give. 

6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved). - How exactly? I see kids on smart phones trying to cross the roads and nearly getting killed. What's the point of being at a meeting if you are staring at your phone all the time?

7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again. Mission Impossible...I can just see that lit fuse burning away at the bottom of my screen now  

[Gambo 1,338]

59 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

Great sentiments but...

6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved). - How exactly? I see kids on smart phones trying to cross the roads and nearly getting killed. What's the point of being at a meeting if you are staring at your phone all the time?

 

Smart phones could be used to stream live video from the pits and interviews during delays and or the interval. Smart phones can be used for keeping tabs on the scores instead of filling in a programme with a pen. There are free apps already out on the 'net for these.

[Grachan 7,314]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2021 at 6:13 PM, uk_martin said:

 What's the point of being at a meeting if you are staring at your phone all the time?

 

Spot on. Even my own kids pretty said the same thing. Why would you want a speedway app? You go to speedway if you're in to speedway.

 

 

 

[Grachan 7,314]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2021 at 7:16 PM, Gambo said:

Smart phones could be used to stream live video from the pits and interviews during delays and or the interval. Smart phones can be used for keeping tabs on the scores instead of filling in a programme with a pen. There are free apps already out on the 'net for these.

If you are going to stream live interviews during a meeting then surely it's best to put them up on a big screen so that everyone can see them as part of the experience. A stadium full of people wearing headphones and staring at a phone is not going to attract people to speedway. It just makes it less interesting for those who are not doing it.

[Sings4Speedway 3,246]

The only benefit i can see of an app would be to remove the need for a physical program. A scorecard with the actual riders and updated meeting scores and actual times so that nobody has to rely on shoddy PA systems. They would get around any cancellation and reprints plus the dreaded insert. Obviously there are plenty who still enjoy the physical program but in a green sustainable world e-programs feel like the future.

[Skidder1 7,632]

33 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

The only benefit i can see of an app would be to remove the need for a physical program. A scorecard with the actual riders and updated meeting scores and actual times so that nobody has to rely on shoddy PA systems. They would get around any cancellation and reprints plus the dreaded insert. Obviously there are plenty who still enjoy the physical program but in a green sustainable world e-programs feel like the future.

Notwithstanding that the traditional programme sales and advertising revenue are a vital income to many clubs - especially those that don't own their own tracks - as they only have turnstile sales, advertising and sponsorship monies to cover their costs. I'm not sure that charging for an app would be very economical?

I'm all for new technology but only if it can be viable.

[mikebv 10,242]

I personally think it would be far easier to get the many thousands of 'adults' who used to go to attend again. Rather than try to attract loads of younger members of the population to go...

Many of these thousands being fans who still follow the sport regularly via TV but simply "lost belief" in the way the sport was ran and presented in the UK..

Maybe they should just focus on fixing the reasons why so many no longer go and see if that works? 

[Sings4Speedway 3,246]

22 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Notwithstanding that the traditional programme sales and advertising revenue are a vital income to many clubs - especially those that don't own their own tracks - as they only have turnstile sales, advertising and sponsorship monies to cover their costs. I'm not sure that charging for an app would be very economical?

I'm all for new technology but only if it can be viable.

I completely agree but with printing costs on the rise and an increasing demand for better value for money how much revenue do program sales generate over a season? The programs on sale are often printed prior to team changes due to injury/unavailability, rain offs cause either redundant stock or repurposed scruffy examples plus of course the surplus of unsold items. More fans are printing their own sheets and filling in trackside as circa £3 for a document that is rarely read or adverts noted is a pricey addition to each visit. Advertising space could still be sold just to be displayed on the app and with links to companies websites may actually create some genuine trackable sales. Throw in a link to any team merchandise and it could be a very usable item. 

[enotian 562]

14 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

Notwithstanding that the traditional programme sales and advertising revenue are a vital income to many clubs - especially those that don't own their own tracks - as they only have turnstile sales, advertising and sponsorship monies to cover their costs. I'm not sure that charging for an app would be very economical?

I'm all for new technology but only if it can be viable.

It's a good point as printing costs are replaced by hosting costs etc but you can gain advertising revenue via apps.  The trouble is it's digital advertising so your local plumber etc who'd advertise in the programme might be excluded, although it's not that difficult to make a digital advert.

However, rather than having individual club apps this rather lends itself to an App which covers the whole league(s) so you subscribe to the App and get every scorecard for every match. Have the updates linked directly from the referee so you find out first who has won or been excluded first.  That would be something no other sport has.

As with any successful App content is key and speedway has that in abundance.  As has been suggested rider interviews (live or pre recorded) but also statistics.  Whilst I personally don't gamble betting culture is massive.  Knowing pre heat each of the riders stats for that heat number and that gate position against those opponents on that track. Whether you gamble or not everybody loves it when their prediction is correct. Even if you're not at the meeting.

As for people not using Apps at sporting events I don't think that's true.  Maybe it's because Sunderland games have been dreadful over the past few seasons but I've witnessed many people using their phones during games.  Gambling Apps encourage it with Cash Outs etc but I'm sure some people are doing their on-line shopping!!  Certainly having a meeting App would make those boring seemingly increasingly frequent track grading sessions more palatable.

As with everything in businesses it's content and scalability.

[winstoncigar 23]

On 1/30/2021 at 6:13 PM, uk_martin said:

Great sentiments but...

1. To get Coventry, Oxford & Bradford up & running. - Have you seen the state of those stadiums? Who's got the millions needed to bring them back, fit for human habitation?

2. To standardise bikes for the 2 lower leagues therefore lower (overall) cost. - Didn't they try to reduce riders costs with the bulk purchase of those Gerhard engines? What a failure that was.

3. Cap pay rates in all leagues that are affordable via tracks income, - Dumbing down to the lowest common denominator? National pay rates governed by what Mildenhall and IoW can afford? Less pay will mean less spent by riders on bike maintenance, leading to more engine failures, leading to lower quality of racing leading to crowds seeping away. No, I don't think that's the answer either.

4. Stage creditable regular home fixtures @ all tracks.- someone needs a definition of "creditable". How do you guarantee a creditable meeting before the first race is run?

5. Stop double up/down & guest other than injury cover. - Have you done the mathematics? 24 current teams, plus Swindon plus Somerset plus the three Phoenix's out of the rubble piles that you refer to... you could need 168 - 203 riders, who you say have to be British based. I challenge you to name them all. If you haven't got the riders, you won't have the teams. Something has to give. 

6. Introduce the use of smartphones as part of the live meeting experience (to get the young involved). - How exactly? I see kids on smart phones trying to cross the roads and nearly getting killed. What's the point of being at a meeting if you are staring at your phone all the time?

7. Getting promoters heads out of the sand, take a step back & look again. Mission Impossible...I can just see that lit fuse burning away at the bottom of my screen now  

Whatever happened to all those engines? Does anybody know where all the money went?

[cityrebel 2,960]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

I personally think it would be far easier to get the many thousands of 'adults' who used to go to attend again. Rather than try to attract loads of younger members of the population to go...

Many of these thousands being fans who still follow the sport regularly via TV but simply "lost belief" in the way the sport was ran and presented in the UK..

Maybe they should just focus on fixing the reasons why so many no longer go and see if that works? 

Making it affordable for families to attend, would be a start.

[tyretrax 2,252]

On 1/30/2021 at 7:16 PM, Gambo said:

Smart phones could be used to stream live video from the pits and interviews during delays and or the interval. Smart phones can be used for keeping tabs on the scores instead of filling in a programme with a pen. There are free apps already out on the 'net for these.

So no programme= no adverts= less income= less money to pay riders/stadium rent= no speedway.

Sounds like plan.