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It'll be interesting to see how the Wroclaw "partnership" with Ipswich goes, maybe other Polish teams will be interested in something similar?

I guess Simon Lambert turned them down …

I now have no local track This season I've been to 2 Northampton meetings (3 hour round trip) with a further one planned plus 1 visit to Ipswich (2 and a half hour round trip) That's my lot and will probably remain so each season under this format

Ultimately though, it all goes back to the lack of any major prestige, publicity and financial rewards for winning any of the competitions... If the "size of the prize" was massive, so would the crowds be... If winning really meant something, people would attend... The crowd numbers reflect the apathy that UK Speedway engenders by being so (almost), irrelevant within a sporting context... How do they get that major financial backing?.. With such poor "optics" across a breadth of issues, when looking into the sport from the outside, I am sure it must be truly difficult, if not maybe impossible, to deliver that game changing, fundamental to success, major backing...

3 things can happen Sheffield can either get sponsorship.and investment externally, they can accept that Speedway in 2026 has to be owner funded or they can pack up No doubt they've done their best to arrange the first one and are still trying, the second one is ongoing which leaves.....

I guess Simon Lambert turned them down …

All these reasons that are being said are truly valid and obviously costing speedway a lot. I go to Redcar regularly, but it is becoming a luxury. The working man’s wage just hasn’t risen with inflation over the past X number of years. In 2024 I went to Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Worky, Scunny, Oxford, Cardiff and more. Never been to an away match since May 25 so far. Moneys tight, fuels expensive, admission high but not excessive. All reasons the fan has to contend with. Missed 4 home matches early this year so I could go on holiday, extra £200 to spend in the sun. All coming down to priorities now I’m afraid🤷‍♂️

Tell me who has shown you the 2027 plan??? This was marked "Top Secret"...

👋 Surely the likes of Dan Thompson can't make a living from watching Speedway sat in the pits in Poland? And he needs to remember that when signing his contracts.

exactly this, last year the top four were decided by May what was the point in waiting months for the play offs, it turned 75% of the season into dead rubber meetings.

It’s a combination of all of those where Ipswich is concerned. Doyle and Sayfutdinov were incredibly popular at Foxhall. To lose not just one but BOTH in one hit, and promoting your third heatleader to number 1, is a really hard sell I’m afraid. The new stream has compounded the issue. £15 to watch with your feet up at home, or £25 to travel to the outskirts of Ipswich after a day at work? 🥴

Crowds will probably return for the pay offs (the effort matches)... and who can blame them? Where's the jeopardy in the rest of the league meetings when the top 4 in a league of 6 qualify🤷‍♂️ It's truly laughable! Although, perversely, the injury to Jack Holder has probably made Sheffield's season a bit more interesting with King's Lynn on their heels for the final pay off slot.

As someone else mentioned on the forum if you factor in the loss of the tv deal and main sponsor pulling out they were possibly 100k down on 2025 from the get go, plus it seems some promoters helped get Northampton started if Sheffield chipped in that could be another 10-25K ? (guessing). Throw in all the problems over the winter making it nigh on impossible to plan things also, I do also remember someone saying the Bates main business was also struggling so wouldn't be as much money available to bail out the Tigers. Really hope they can pull through but looking at the above there's a lot of headwinds now really hitting speedway and the possible saviors are thinner on the ground than twenty years plus ago.

Problem is, We won't just be waving goodbye to your GP riders, It's now riders like Dan Thompson and co as well. Think we're in a lot of trouble now tbh.

He's had a bit of a nibble 🤬

Sounds Great!!! Ticks almost every box!!!! The last box to tick...??? They just now need to advertise it across Gtr Manchester, to the Three Million people who all live within a 45 min drive of the NSS, letting them know when the meeting is taking place, and how much to get in, (things like that).. Do that well, and the place could be rammed... Who knows? If it works, they could then do the same advertising when the Aces are racing.... (Maybe not every box will get ticked then eh?)

I will give the Tigers there due I have seen them putting a lot of content out on social media of late - I hope they can get a few more through the turnstyles. I think the issue with streaming is whilst its great for people who have no chance to attend a meeting, for example I am never going to drive to to say Workington, it also means the locals can stay in watch it and save money so the stay aways are perhaps having a disproportionate effect on the crowd levels. I've been to Ipswich twice this season so far and to my mind crowd levels are down on 2025. Part of that maybe the loss of top line riders like Emil, Jason etc, part of this might be due to lack of competitive sides visiting, or Steaming etc - who knows a- without open and transparency in attendances we have no chance to judge for ourselves. One of the things I would like to see is Mayfield saying right last week we had 2000 in or whatever it might be! When Neil Machin stepped down as promoter in April 14 the Tigers had a very modest deficit on their books - in 11 years this has ballooned to 500k+ which co-incides with operating at the top level! Machin was always insistent (if i recall things correctly) whilst he was promoter they would never operate the top level!

Following the Bates announcement on Monday, it's clear that the Premiership can't continue to exist in its current form in 2027. In the past 18 months we've lost Oxford and Birmingham and it seems certain that Sheffield won't be back for another year. Decades of the sport's mismanagement has finally come to a head. Bending over backwards to comply with an agenda dictated by Poland has had its day. British speedway needs to set its own agenda and not kowtow to foreign stipulations. If it means saying a permanent goodbye to riders preferring to seek their fortunes elsewhere, so be it. For survival we need a single nationwide league of 12/14 teams of riders committed 100% to British racing between March and October. A 24/26 match league programme plus a further 8/10 matches in a split north-south KO cup competition will guarantee teams a weekly match programme (just as it used to be!) The loss of a few "fancy-Dan" racers to Poland will mean much more money available to the rest who wish to compete in the UK, and a sensible rider payment policy will provide ample earnings potential for riders over a guaranteed 36-match season. It now really is a battle for survival of the sport; was it Einstein who said that to go on doing the same things expecting different results is the definition of madness?

I'd like to know for sure as it's an interesting topic imo. 2 fans staying at Home purchasing a stream at £15 each = 1 Adult Fan paying to attend on the night after the extra's are added on to the entrance fee. Live streaming is a good alternative for fans with Disabilites, I just ask the question as to whether it's too much of a saver to a point where it's being taken advantage of by the Younger fans to a point where Clubs could up the prices by an extra £5 per live stream in order to up their race day revenue whilst still offering a small saver to those staying at Home?

Does this mean you'll be leaving the forum? 🤞😉

Does anyone know the cut the host club takes from the meetings?? Has to be 40/50% at least no?? What's the viewing numbers during live and replays?? It's possible more profit could be had with totally empty stadiums & streamed meetings only.

Good for the elderly who have helped to keep the clubs running in the past. So therefore a nice gesture for them

Could be the Bates final season

Anyone know why Alejandra Fernandez isn't riding in the rookies cup at the minute. She appeared on the riders standings at 26 but has missed the last few races