Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 1, 2004 This includes many free holidays to meeting , dinners, nice cars and big pay packets. But is this no differant to all sports. Well they must still be going some to burn through GBP 750K per year! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted November 1, 2004 So a second rate ice hockey player who can't make it in Canada or Europe/Scandinavia ends up in Bracknell playing for the Bracknell Bees can get £40,000 for seven months, a car to run around in(ok it has the sponsor plasted all over it) and gets free accommodation while here: and the team pay for the travel off all players to all games: "WHY DO SPEEDWAY RIDERS PUT UP WITH IT Is it because there aren't many of these canadian/european/scandanavian players in the league and perhaps they are intregal to the team's success and so are able to ask for nice big pay cheques? Bear in mind I know nowt about ice hockey .... lol ....... just wondering?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> When I went to watch the Cardiff Devils a few years ago when they had there "2nd rate" team (bearing in mind that all UK clubs are 2nd rate to US/Canada so we're talking the players who in the Us/Canada would not even be looked at) and it had 2 Brits (both Welsh) and a load of Canadians in it. From my breif view of GB ice hockey I'd be prone to say that there's a greater % of foreignors in the ice hockey that there are in the the speedway leagues!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted November 1, 2004 Does Ice Hockey have a bigger fan following than speedway? One thing though, we are talking pay rate of the GP's not domestic league pay rates and of course they are TOP SECRET Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bill leahy 0 Posted November 2, 2004 Bracknell Bees have 6 Canadian's, 2 Czechs, 1 Slovakian, 1 Welsh and five Englishman, with one of them Being Lee Richardson, not sure if he's related to the other Bracknell Based Lee Richardson.............surely not the same one ! ref the pay rates: a ground floor seat is just £6.50 and it's cheaper up north, even the Balcony is just £9.50, some rinks are sold out each game though ! with 5,000 crowds, when Bracknell won the league they had a ave of 3,000, but with teams in Guildford, Basingstoke, Slough the competition is hot ! the Elite league winners do go into a European competition though, you can't play in any other country, just the one team: and World Championships GB are well done in Group 3 I think !...........but they struggle just like speedway to get any attention, at least speedway is on TV , whether we love them or hate them sky is doing a good job. and some one's being paid well Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 2, 2004 The fundamental difference between speedway and ice hockey is that British Speedway features most of the top riders in the world, whereas British ice hockey is a third-rate by world standards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted November 3, 2004 Great Britain won the Olympics twice? in the thirties in ice hockey, thats not bad =) What comes to british hockey being third rate in world ice hockey, now that would give me every right to say finnish speedway is second only to SGP! 4th rate and 40 year old hasbeen's finnish players come to UK to play... and get pretty good money. I think Manhcester Storm played in the now dead and buried European Hockey League. If I remember right they played in a 15000+ capacity ice rink, for reasonable crowds. The current European Cup for ice hockey isn't too respected in ice hockey countries. I'm also quite proud to say that Finland is currently number two in world ice hockey after losing against Canada in the World Cup final a month ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 3, 2004 Great Britain won the Olympics twice? Yes, but I think I'm correct in saying that every player in the Olympic-winning side was either Canadian or had moved there at a young age. They were able to play for Great Britain by virtue of Canadians having British passports in those days. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted November 4, 2004 Yes, but I think I'm correct in saying that every player in the Olympic-winning side was either Canadian or had moved there at a young age. They were able to play for Great Britain by virtue of Canadians having British passports in those days. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thats the only way Finland is ever going to make it in football. We played against Albania or Romania, and won 2-0 or something. Goals scored for Finland Shefki Kugi, originally from Kosovo, and Alexei Eremenko jr, from somewhere. His father came to Finland in the 80's to play, and his son got finnish passport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted November 4, 2004 Got off the subject of the thread here a little It's obvious that Ice blooming Hockey attracts larger crowds than speedway hence the larger pay packets. Having said that, there is more money to be had from the product and it seems that BSI is pocketing it all, right or wrong. The FIM sold out to them and unless the crowds go down dramatically at GP's I guess they are on board for the foreseeable future. The FIM were so wrong to sell out, think we all agree with that?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevehone 3,430 Posted November 4, 2004 The fundamental difference between speedway and ice hockey is that British Speedway features most of the top riders in the world, whereas British ice hockey is a third-rate by world standards. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> but riders are still happy to put British speedway as 3rd choice in priorities Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 4, 2004 (edited) Trees, The FIM were so wrong to sell out, think we all agree with that?? I think it depends. The SGP was at a low-ebb at the time, and was possibly losing money. Therefore, it an organisation comes along that promises to rejuvenate the competition and generate some income for the FIM, then I'm not sure it was not such a bad thing. However, the question must be asked why the World Finals were allowed to deteriorate so badly in the first place. A conspiracy theorist might suggest it was done deliberately to ensure that the creation and selling-off of the SGP was a fait accompli. Even if you don't believe in conspiracies, why couldn't the likes of the BSPA and the Polish and Swedish authorities have done what BSI did? Finally, it's one thing to award five-year contracts, but a twenty-year contract is ridiculous, particularly as it appears that BSI can pull out if television and sponsorship money doesn't reach certain levels. That's the thing that's a sell-out. Edited November 4, 2004 by Kevin Meynell Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Derwent 271 Posted November 4, 2004 On the face of it, the GP is not generating much income for the riders involved - however, I wonder how much extra sponsorship they receive from being involved ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 4, 2004 riders are still happy to put British speedway as 3rd choice in priorities Only because they're allowed to. If you made an ultimatum between the SGP and British speedway, it would be interesting to see how many would opt for the SGP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unibabe 0 Posted November 4, 2004 Has nobody thought how little money would matter if you had just been crowned Speedway World Champion. It is what almost every rider aspires to be and i am sure the feeling is priceless. Like the mastercard adverts, Hotel bills £200 travel expenses £350 being world champion priceless! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Meynell 2 Posted November 4, 2004 Has nobody thought how little money would matter if you had just been crowned Speedway World Champion. I think it's irrelevant what the riders want or think. The issue is whether the national leagues who pay the bulk of the rider wages, should allow their schedules to be disrupted without getting any benefit in return (in terms of income or improved exposure). If the SGP can be turned into a competition employing the top riders full-time, then that's fair enough, but that's far from being the case at the moment. I have no doubt that riders could not afford to do the SGP without the existence of one or more of the national leagues, and yet the national leagues arguably get no benefit from the SGP at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
