Sky Red Button Tonight ... Discuss!

[Chris H 0]

I caught up with the replay that was shown this morning at 8am. Obviously it was edited as they didn't show the Nicki Pedersen interview, just wondered what Nicki had to say.

[HenryW 1,178]

I caught up with the replay that was shown this morning at 8am. Obviously it was edited as they didn't show the Nicki Pedersen interview, just wondered what Nicki had to say.

Strangely, this interview wasn't shown on the live coverage either, even though Pearson made mention of it...I think Sky were actually on an ad break when the interview was done.

[ballinger 32]

Strangely, this interview wasn't shown on the live coverage either, even though Pearson made mention of it...I think Sky were actually on an ad break when the interview was done.

 

It no doubt went out on the world feed, for which Nigel and Chris Louis are providing the live comms. This is new for 2010 which is why BSI are flying them out to the GPs, rather than Sky employing them to voice it back in London.

 

Sky dip to the world feed when they are ready which is why when Keith Heuwen says 'back over to Chris and Nigel' there is sometimes no comms for a few seconds, or sometimes they are already talking.

Edited August 15, 2010 by ballinger

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

I do realise it point i was making was speedway has changed for tv but what has it got in return so do we need it.

 

The SGP would be finished without television, although whether the sport needs the SGP is of course the great debate...

[Jacques 3,114]

The SGP would be finished without television, although whether the sport needs the SGP is of course the great debate...

 

I agree with you that the SGP would be finished without TV.

 

Sky needed to improve the product from the last awful few years. I have no idea if they had any influence in the removal of Mr Olsen?? But, this years GP series, for me, has been fantastic. I don't know how much you've seen of it , but it would be hard to pick out a meeting that failed to deliver in the form of entertainment. For me, it's been brilliant and a breath of fresh air . The new director of Speedway seems to have made a difference, the tracks are producing some fantastic racing...

[Squire 0]

I agree with you that the SGP would be finished without TV.

 

Sky needed to improve the product from the last awful few years. I have no idea if they had any influence in the removal of Mr Olsen?? But, this years GP series, for me, has been fantastic. I don't know how much you've seen of it , but it would be hard to pick out a meeting that failed to deliver in the form of entertainment. For me, it's been brilliant and a breath of fresh air . The new director of Speedway seems to have made a difference, the tracks are producing some fantastic racing...

 

Does it matter really what the colour of the button is?

[Jacques 3,114]

Does it matter really what the colour of the button is?

 

Eh?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

I don't know how much you've seen of it , but it would be hard to pick out a meeting that failed to deliver in the form of entertainment.

 

I finally gave up on watching the SGP last year, such was the dullness of the competition in the preceding couple of years. However, I have caught a couple of GPs this season and I'll admit they seem a lot more entertaining.

 

I would have watched the last one as well, but with the overrunning of the cricket, it was moved to the red button which doesn't work on Virgin Media. That I think sums up the relative standing of the sport, and despite the supposedly good viewing figures (as some posters on here recently suggested these have been exaggerated), it's clearly little more than a filler sport for Sky.

 

Regardless of the entertainment though, what does the SGP actually mean for bread-and-butter speedway? Does it bring more fans through the turnstiles or otherwise bring more money to local tracks through sponsorship or other means. Do the benefits of having the SGP on pseudo prime-time television justify the loss of 11 prime weekends during the season?

 

I suspect the SGP has prevented a more rapid decline in interest in the sport than would otherwise have happened, and has probably tapped into the latent market of 'people who used to go to speedway'. It may even have attracted some new fans, but the ever declining attendances at British tracks would suggest this doesn't really translate into direct benefits at the national level.

[topaz325 1,859]

I will probabaly drop sky sports at the end of the season and sign up again in April.

[mickthemuppet 976]

The Grand Prix are the worst thing that could have happened to British Speedway. The time must come one day when riders must choose between GP's and league racing, especially if the GP's expand to more countries. Riders drop Britsh League matches if they are on a Friday and Saturday and even Thursday's now. They have killed Speedway in this country on what are the two best night's of the week(Friday and Saturday) for racing. Take tonight's Belle Vue v Poole meeting, perhaps 1000 punters. On a Saturday night maybe 2000-3000.

Nobody would run on a Monday night is they could have a Saturday. The decline in British Speedway mainly began when the GP's started on TV. The GP's bring nothing into British Speedway and how BSI got control of this arm of Speedway is a tragedy. At least with the old individual world championship the profits went back into Speedway. I wonder where all the money goes to from Cardiff. Somewhere in the region of £1.5+ million, is generated. It certainly does not go to the riders who get roughly £75.000 between them which has to pay for all their expenses including mechanics,travel and accomodation.What Speedway could do with a share of those profits.The sooner that Speedway gets back to how it used to be with weekend racing the sooner the decline will stop.

[orion 7,615]

The Grand Prix are the worst thing that could have happened to British Speedway. The time must come one day when riders must choose between GP's and league racing, especially if the GP's expand to more countries. Riders drop Britsh League matches if they are on a Friday and Saturday and even Thursday's now. They have killed Speedway in this country on what are the two best night's of the week(Friday and Saturday) for racing. Take tonight's Belle Vue v Poole meeting, perhaps 1000 punters. On a Saturday night maybe 2000-3000.

Nobody would run on a Monday night is they could have a Saturday. The decline in British Speedway mainly began when the GP's started on TV. The GP's bring nothing into British Speedway and how BSI got control of this arm of Speedway is a tragedy. At least with the old individual world championship the profits went back into Speedway. I wonder where all the money goes to from Cardiff. Somewhere in the region of £1.5+ million, is generated. It certainly does not go to the riders who get roughly £75.000 between them which has to pay for all their expenses including mechanics,travel and accomodation.What Speedway could do with a share of those profits.The sooner that Speedway gets back to how it used to be with weekend racing the sooner the decline will stop.

 

Plenty of pl treams who have no gp riders and run on a saturday and have lost fans about the same % as Elite league who don't run at weekends .

 

Swindon crowds are no less and are in fact bigger than when they ran on a sat night in the nineties when it was one big league .....me and host of other people i knew came back to speedway after watching the gp's on tv and it's was a massive shot in the arm from a sport that dead on it's knees at the time .

 

Speedway crowds have going down and in decline long before the Gp come along and Speedway in the early nineties was a sorry state and not even on tv .

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

The time must come one day when riders must choose between GP's and league racing, especially if the GP's expand to more countries.

 

Riders can't make a living from SGP, and I suspect that's unlikely to change in the future even if IMG/BSI eke out a few more rounds. However, they'll continue to juggle the SGP and league racing whilst they're allowed to do, and it's up to the league promoters to find/force a more optimal arrangement (for them).

 

This won't happen by the British leagues taking unilateral action though, as even if they ignored the GPs, domestic attendances on Saturday nights would be affected if they're up against a GP on television. However, whilst you can't blame IMG/BSI for looking for business opportunities, it's an absolute nonsense that a third party is allowed to own and operate the premier event in the sport without sanction from, or compensation payable to the promoters who provide the riders with a living. However, until the British, Swedish and Polish stop trying to compete with each other and insist on a better deal, then the sport will muddle on indefinitely. I suspect the SGP doesn't make as much money as people imagine, but it would be better if that were going directly back to the sport rather than to an Anglo-American corporation...

[ladyluck 1]

The trouble with any front uni is that the Poles seem in thrall to the SGP series and the effects on their domestic competitions is minimal. With a smaller league programme the Poles are easily able to arrange things around the various demands of FIM events and Polish tracks get a fair share (some would say a more than fair share) of said FIM events. There was an attempt a couple of years ago by the PZM to eliminate what John D Rockefeller might've termed the "ruinous competition" between Polish tracks for SGP events, but the self-interest of clubs seems to have shot that down. Basically, it would've seen the formation of a sort of co-operative (cartel might be a more appropriate word) of tracks that would negotiate with BSI either themselves or through the PZM. Naturally, this would potentially have undermined Poland's attractiveness to BSI, but what other options do BSI have available? They obviously have television commitments to meet and it seems the only way of meeting said commitments is to have an increasing number of GPs hosted in Poland.

[mickthemuppet 976]

I finally gave up on watching the SGP last year, such was the dullness of the competition in the preceding couple of years. However, I have caught a couple of GPs this season and I'll admit they seem a lot more entertaining.

 

I would have watched the last one as well, but with the overrunning of the cricket, it was moved to the red button which doesn't work on Virgin Media. That I think sums up the relative standing of the sport, and despite the supposedly good viewing figures (as some posters on here recently suggested these have been exaggerated), it's clearly little more than a filler sport for Sky.

 

Regardless of the entertainment though, what does the SGP actually mean for bread-and-butter speedway? Does it bring more fans through the turnstiles or otherwise bring more money to local tracks through sponsorship or other means. Do the benefits of having the SGP on pseudo prime-time television justify the loss of 11 prime weekends during the season?

 

I suspect the SGP has prevented a more rapid decline in interest in the sport than would otherwise have happened, and has probably tapped into the latent market of 'people who used to go to speedway'. It may even have attracted some new fans, but the ever declining attendances at British tracks would suggest this doesn't really translate into direct benefits at the national level.

When you say Speedway is just a filler sport for SKY, I have watched a tennis tournament throughout the week live for sometimes 8 hours a day. When they have got to the final on the Saturday the final was not show live and a recording was shown later on in the evening. So you could have 40 hours of live tennis and the final recorded. I would not regard Tennis as a minority sport.

[fullbore 129]

When they have got to the final on the Saturday

 

Dammit I was sure I watched Andy beat Roger live last night, rain delays and all

 

Niamh