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so Sheffield have come out with 10 meetings for £250. £25 a meeting in an even worse league. Surely take a hit on price and try get more through the door?

Birmingham, with Cradley, Coventry and Wolverhampton, (and even Stoke), within reasonable commutable distance, certainly would back up that opinion... Getting a new track should be something to celebrate, but you do feel that there is a certain amount of desperation with this venture, with allowing riders to double up (as we know how important that is), being the main reason for another top tier team... Let's hope whoever takes over can truly promote a high octane, adrenaline fuelled, exciting and dangerous sport, which brings in plenty of fans who then become regulars... If they can, then maybe it can become a template for others to do fhe same...?

I agree. We would pick and choose meetings at Somerset and Swindon after Newport closed down but it never felt the same. Probably 5 a year at Somerset and even less at Swindon. I actually think we went to Somerset more when Newport were running than after

I think regularly attracting any worthwhile amount of supporters from defunct tracks is a myth...

YOUNG STARS 2026: Simon Lambert 9.20, Jake Mulford 8.67, Mickie Simpson 8.42, Jacob Clouting 7.03, Connor King 3.39, Kenzie Cossey 3.25, Ollie Binns 2.00. Total 41.96. this is from the kings lynn press release, although i havent checked if the averages are correct.

It's such a big stadium that it's hard to estimate, but 10k is very ambitious. I would say the average attendance for an F1 meeting would be around 3-5k. Bigger meetings obviously drag a few more, maybe 6-7k, but the only time it might have reached 10k since the reopening would have been the 2021 World Final. Sadly for the promoters, it was their turn to host the WF again this season, but instead of having the opportunity for a big payday in the best stadium they have now had to hire Northampton for the weekend instead.

Its about the same distance for me as Ipswich so I'll certainly be attending a few at both

Without disrespecting the other second half/MDL riders you can only beat whats in front of you and the level in those meetings is way down on previous years. Eli is a steady rider, he gets round and a lot of his points last year were picked up when others fell (not his fault). He has improved his gating and knows how to be a road block which helps a lot of slick tracks. That said there aren't really any riders missing out by him taking the team place so i hope he makes a go of it.

I know last winter it was said he asked for more than Louis was willing to pay him and hence we stuck with king over him instead. No idea if that figure was more than Doyle was getting, that to me sounds somewhat exaggerated and most likely hyperbole but as I say no idea on the actual numbers. he rode well for brummies for the most part last year, was decent in the grand final second leg too guesting for Ellis, solid in the Aussie champs and a decent year on the continent last year, for me he’s a rider who’s career is on a decent upwards trajectory and one id have liked to see back with plenty of room for average improvement.

Why is that? Meadows was impressive riding in second halves at Birmingham last season.

Well, when I was involved in it 10 years ago, there were plenty of riders taking part in a dozen MDL teams. Any shortage of riders now is the result of the complete indifference shown by the BSPL or whoever is in charge. No effort has been made to encourage new riders, so what do they expect?

Good post. Promoters are always bleating about the lack of punters coming through the gate despite their (apparent) efforts to promote the sport, yet here we are with a team supposedly ready to compete in the next few weeks and nobody in the area is aware of what is going on! If this was a business venture, you'd expect the owner to at least make the public aware of their intent and efforts to be up and running this season, with a back up scenario of being ready for the following season if time runs out. This happened when Leicester returned, with the initial intention of running in 2010, but did not come to tapes (can't remember the reason) until 2011. The difference here though is that Leicester had a fan base in place because their campaign to brought the sport back to the City. The situation is being totally driven by the BSPA. My glass remains half empty, but like everyone else on the forum, I'd love to see it work.

I think Ipswich made a small profit last year and I would imagine Buster breaks even as he own's the stadium but the rest I would imagine loose money year on year.

Northampton 'Load of Cobblers'.....

Of course Northampton will lose money, all of the Premiership clubs do. It can only be viewed as a hobby for any promoter now and if you don't believe that ask Cairns, Tolley, Buster etc

Who are we talking about?

When you see stocks at Odsal on youtube there doesn't seem anything like 10k watching Neil.

The premiership with 6 teams is still a joke. Northampton have no fans as of yet. These are stone wall hard truths. I'm really hopeful Northampton gets thousands turning up week in week out but there aren't even any fixtures out yet. No advertisement. No news. Nothing told to the locals of Northampton speedway. Just rumours. So the people turning up are already speedway fans but they don't even support Northampton. I'm positive there is a new club, but I'm not exactly jumping for joy either. That's because we've lost so many clubs in recent times. Sorry for the negativity but if we all stop moaning nothing changes. Everything just carries on as normal. The fact that many fans online have voiced there concerns of a 4/5 team league has forced Phil Morris to add a new club. I honestly think if everyone pretended everything is great they would have done a 4 team league. Without us negative trolls things would get even worse. Fans have a voice and I'm using it to force change. Change like Northampton which is great news. Shame this couldn't have been sorted months ago...

Doesn't the lad want more dollar than Doyle though for turning out, maybe Mayfield aren't going to be as generous with the wages as Tolley was last season.

At the moment there's some disappointing names in the seven, must be struggling to get riders.

I would’ve wanted rew in my engine room this coming season

You know what team pushed hugely for the limit to be increased. 😉

Morley will always be a decent signing, think Meadows will get found out once again now that the league is back up to a decent strength and be very surprised if he lasts the season.

Can I borrow your crystal ball?

Looking at the teams, they seem a lot stronger than last year, not surprising given the increase in points limit. I wonder if this is why a lot of teams dropped out. Was wondering if this may work for next year, to try to get more teams back; Have two leagues, bit like NDL and NDT last year, but call them NL1 and NL2, with a, say 42 point limit for NL1, and 36 for NL2, (NL2 for any teams who would want to run in a cheaper league). Riders can still double up, but would give more opportunities for lesser riders, more matches for those hoping to improve, and more fixtures for stand alone clubs, like Buxton, who initially implied they wanted to enter both NDL and NDT.