Armadale Devils v Berwick Bullets (Friday 7 May 7.30)

[Bandits4eva 997]

On 5/8/2021 at 7:39 PM, Fromafar said:

For me the results don’t really matter, if the League can produce young talent it will serve its purpose.Personally for me I don’t see any advantage for riders with CL spots apart from more track time.Slick tracks and wear and tear on machinery is all they will benefit from the meetings and there is always a higher risk of injury racing  inexperienced youngsters.They must be earning enough to make it pay or it seems pointless IMO.

To me, I believe the results do matter for us.... yes, development is important but teams are also in this to win it. We’ve taken the plunge in going into NDL... for it to be viable, particularly the 2 standalone NDL meetings, it’s better that we have a team capable of winning. We’ve seen how fickle fans can be in the championship when we ain’t doing well.. I don’t wanna see a struggle/ empty stadiums for the NDL team! 

[Fromafar 10,325]

28 minutes ago, Bandits4eva said:

To me, I believe the results do matter for us.... yes, development is important but teams are also in this to win it. We’ve taken the plunge in going into NDL... for it to be viable, particularly the 2 standalone NDL meetings, it’s better that we have a team capable of winning. We’ve seen how fickle fans can be in the championship when we ain’t doing well.. I don’t wanna see a struggle/ empty stadiums for the NDL team! 

I can see your point if we only had aTeam in the  NDL.The pricing of the double headers might affect the crowd levels for the Championship meetings IMO.Personally don’t think the doubleheader’s will attract a significant amount more fans ,which might not help with the viability for supporting  and running the NDLteam.

Very difficult to predict how the sport will be affected with aftermath (or otherwise)of the pandemic.Hopefully things will work out OK.

[TMW 533]

On 5/8/2021 at 7:39 PM, Fromafar said:

For me the results don’t really matter, if the League can produce young talent it will serve its purpose.Personally for me I don’t see any advantage for riders with CL spots apart from more track time.Slick tracks and wear and tear on machinery is all they will benefit from the meetings and there is always a higher risk of injury racing  inexperienced youngsters.They must be earning enough to make it pay or it seems pointless IMO.

Of course results have to matter. It’s a sport, winning is the end game. Whether it’s CL PL or 2nd Half. I’ve heard this before you’ve  got to have a will  to win. If the aim is for Championship you won’t get many promoters & Team managers in the CL saying “Just go out and enjoy yourself” and of course they have to be able to challenge weaker CL riders to gauge where they are and where they need to be!! 

Rothery was the stand out rider on Friday 

i felt Edinburgh was let down with the streaming Production team ! I didn’t get any buffeting but I thought the production and presentation was poor,  comparing it to Berwick’s . Hopefully everyone will give this Friday another go  

[Sings4Speedway 3,237]

On 5/9/2021 at 11:35 PM, Fromafar said:

I can see your point if we only had aTeam in the  NDL.The pricing of the double headers might affect the crowd levels for the Championship meetings IMO.Personally don’t think the doubleheader’s will attract a significant amount more fans ,which might not help with the viability for supporting  and running the NDLteam.

Very difficult to predict how the sport will be affected with aftermath (or otherwise)of the pandemic.Hopefully things will work out OK.

The balance when running double headers is generating enough interest to keep people staying behind to watch the second meeting. If there are two matches that serve up plenty of entertainment then the night looks value for money, if the NDL team was getting bashed every week it becomes a harder sell for both products at a higher price. 

[Fromafar 10,325]

37 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

The balance when running double headers is generating enough interest to keep people staying behind to watch the second meeting. If there are two matches that serve up plenty of entertainment then the night looks value for money, if the NDL team was getting bashed every week it becomes a harder sell for both products at a higher price. 

I personally think it would have been more viable to run NDL meetings as stand alone.Obviously the Promotion have good reasons to plan the fixtures as they have done though.

[Sings4Speedway 3,237]

1 hour ago, Fromafar said:

I personally think it would have been more viable to run NDL meetings as stand alone.Obviously the Promotion have good reasons to plan the fixtures as they have done though.

Ive never been a fan of double headers and have often seen the second meeting get second billing and secondary levels of respect BUT i can fully appreciate that financially it makes a lot of sense, time will tell with the couple of stand alone meetings that teams are planning to run but i fear that the numbers could be way below what is required to run teams individually.

[George Dodds 310]

2 hours ago, Sings4Speedway said:

The balance when running double headers is generating enough interest to keep people staying behind to watch the second meeting. If there are two matches that serve up plenty of entertainment then the night looks value for money, if the NDL team was getting bashed every week it becomes a harder sell for both products at a higher price. 

Trouble is some seem to equate winning directly with entertainment.

You can have a cracking race with all four riders going hell for leather and still be on the wrong end of a 5-1. Surely that's entertaining?

Alternatively you can have 12 gate and go 4-2s win by 20-odd points but not see a pass all meeting. Victory but entertained?

Some argue that some of the best speedway at Berwick in recent years was 2017 - others said they wouldn't watch again because they were getting beaten every week.

Opinions - well you know what they say about them.

As for double headers against stand-alone NDL. Again you pays your money and takes your choice but, in addition to the obvious VFM of one rent, one set of medical cover, insurance etc I'm not sure (without actually totting it up) that we would have enough Saturdays to stage standalone NDLs bearing in mind that ours and the opposition reserves may very well have other commitments ... and midweek speedway tends to be pretty disastrous in terms of crowds at Berwick, even when it's been a British Final.

Time will tell.