Message To The Leicester Promotor

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

If I was to give a message to the Leicester promoter I would say that the racing at BP has been miles better in my visits this season than any (with one exception) in the past.

 

I'd give him a great deal of credit for that.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Halifaxtiger

[justathought 374]

Generally speaking the racing has got better.

 

If you think that Leicester will pack in your living in fantasy land, just look at the crowd there on Sunday far bigger than most premier league tracks, no question.

[Glennylion 89]

Generally speaking the racing has got better.

 

If you think that Leicester will pack in your living in fantasy land, just look at the crowd there on Sunday far bigger than most premier league tracks, no question.

 

Whilst I agree with both statements generally, crowds levels to a a point are relative. Just because other teams may survive on say 600 doesn't mean we can. Financial viability will be different from team to team noting also that ours is the newest and should likely carry the greater overheads

 

I don't feel it will go to the wall now but if with the decent crowds we still have not got the correct track equipment for Glyn to prepare a track (if costs or finance were the reasons) then it wouldn't take a huge drop to make it completely non viable. If you can't have the finance in place to provide the very basics that are required then it must be a concern.

[1 valve 558]

Well, how about this for an alternative view.

• The quality of racing has improved this year v previous seasons.
  
• The Lions have for the most part ridden more competitively home and away than previous seasons.
  
• The track is more conducive to better racing (though shortening the straights would make it even better)
  
• The promoters have been successful in bringing speedway back to the City and their ambition to bring big time Elite League racing here along with local rivalry with The Bees, The Brummies the Wolves and Panthers should be encouraged.
  
• The promoters cant please all of the people all of the time, so they shouldn’t bother trying but just carry on doing what they are doing which is pleasing most of the people most of the time and improving what is on offer year on year. i.e. from Nothing to Elite League racing in 4 years
  
• Go for it!
  

Oh and finally, I took a 25 year old first timer to Speedway on Sunday and guess what, she thought it was utterly fantastic and can’t wait to go again. I didn’t bother telling her it wasn’t the best racing to be seen; I just let her enjoy the experience.

[wandersome 281]

Well, how about this for an alternative view.

• The quality of racing has improved this year v previous seasons.
  
• The Lions have for the most part ridden more competitively home and away than previous seasons.
  
• The track is more conducive to better racing (though shortening the straights would make it even better)
  
• The promoters have been successful in bringing speedway back to the City and their ambition to bring big time Elite League racing here along with local rivalry with The Bees, The Brummies the Wolves and Panthers should be encouraged.
  
• The promoters cant please all of the people all of the time, so they shouldn’t bother trying but just carry on doing what they are doing which is pleasing most of the people most of the time and improving what is on offer year on year. i.e. from Nothing to Elite League racing in 4 years
  
• Go for it!
  

Oh and finally, I took a 25 year old first timer to Speedway on Sunday and guess what, she thought it was utterly fantastic and can’t wait to go again. I didn’t bother telling her it wasn’t the best racing to be seen; I just let her enjoy the experience.

 

Your points are all reasonably valid and i can't really disagree in principle with anything you written. I don't have a problem with someone looking on the bright side of life but most the points you make, whilst valid, don't quite give the whole picture. I think unless you are from Newcastle or Workington or some such place and make it to Leicester once in a blue moon, if at all in some cases, then you'd have to be fooling yourself not to see the issues that are surrounding the promotion and track at Leicester. They are clear for all to see. Actually, it was perfectly summed up by the 2 posts above yours. It's all very well saying how our crowd is the envy of the premier league but it doesn't mean a thing if that size of crowd isn't paying it's way still and is on a undeniably downward spiral. The sport at BP appears to be getting bankrolled by a 'baffle barrier' of rubble from waste tipping that has now risen in places to above the height of the trees surrounding it (it's appears to be rising by 6 foot a week!). Even so, the promotion still doesn't appear to have the finances to even keep the basics such as track equipment in place. Surely the tipping can't go on indefinately. What happens when it stops.

 

It's all very well saying the racing has improved, and i don't disagree it has, but other than on a couple of occasions it's still not great and due to the hopelessly stupid track dimensions, when not prepared to perfection, it still has the tendency to produce racing so dire as to make you forget a good meeting just past.

 

Unfortunately you don't need to come on here know the issues surrounding Leicester. It's there for everyone to see week in, week out if you are unwilling to just ignore it on your visits. Whether it's fall outs with the staff, the riders, the actual promoters, the main sponsors, the small time sponsors, the people who have worked on the stadium, the people who rent stuff, the people who lent stuff, it's just goes on and most of it in a very public way. As a Leicester fan i'm afraid i find it bloody worrying.

 

Mick.

Edited August 14, 2013 by volty

[jackson2 17]

What if the fans try and buy the team and see if he would rent the stadium to them until enough funds could be raised to buy just the speedway side of things not the rest

[robert72 845]

What if the fans try and buy the team and see if he would rent the stadium to them until enough funds could be raised to buy just the speedway side of things not the rest

I think there would be several people who would buy it if the price was sensible.

 

What would happen to leicester speedway if the dumping was stopped? They don't seem to to have the machinery to do the track and that's with a fair crowd and money from the dumping.

 

Worrying times I feel with the possibility of no play offs

[TMW 533]

I think there would be several people who would buy it if the price was sensible.

 

What would happen to leicester speedway if the dumping was stopped? They don't seem to to have the machinery to do the track and that's with a fair crowd and money from the dumping.

 

Worrying times I feel with the possibility of no play offs

 

What do you class as a 'sensible' price? I think DH could do with a laugh

 

Well, how about this for an alternative view.

• The quality of racing has improved this year v previous seasons.
  
• The Lions have for the most part ridden more competitively home and away than previous seasons.
  
• The track is more conducive to better racing (though shortening the straights would make it even better)
  
• The promoters have been successful in bringing speedway back to the City and their ambition to bring big time Elite League racing here along with local rivalry with The Bees, The Brummies the Wolves and Panthers should be encouraged.
  
• The promoters cant please all of the people all of the time, so they shouldn’t bother trying but just carry on doing what they are doing which is pleasing most of the people most of the time and improving what is on offer year on year. i.e. from Nothing to Elite League racing in 4 years
  
• Go for it!
  

Oh and finally, I took a 25 year old first timer to Speedway on Sunday and guess what, she thought it was utterly fantastic and can’t wait to go again. I didn’t bother telling her it wasn’t the best racing to be seen; I just let her enjoy the experience.

 

Nice try !!!!!!

Edited August 15, 2013 by TMW

[robert72 845]

 

 

What do you class as a 'sensible' price? I think DH could do with a laugh

 

 

 

Nice try !!!!!!

not a million quid as he mentioned, that really did make people laugh

[TMW 533]

not a million quid as he mentioned, that really did make people laugh

 

But you wouldn't just be buying the stadium you would be buying the whole complex wouldn't you? in what I would say is a sort after area. You can't just chose the bit you wan to buy.

Edited August 15, 2013 by TMW

[flagrag 704]

There is a couple of interested parties in buying the promoting rights and speedway side of Leicester but in the current fiancial climate do not want to take on the whole complex which is quite reasonable as would be huge investment.

If these persons could just buy the rights and then pay Hemsley stadium rent like most clubs do I believe that there is decent money to be made at Leicester with the correct people involved and promotion of the club. The problem with this proposal is the amount that DH would want to rent the stadium weekly in excess of 8k a week just to open the gates then you would have the refs fees,paramedics,ambulance and officials fees that is before you pay a rider

Edited August 15, 2013 by flagrag

[robert72 845]

There is a couple of interested parties in buying the promoting rights and speedway side of Leicester but in the current fiancial climate do not want to take on the whole complex which is quite reasonable as would be huge investment.

If these persons could just buy the rights and then pay Hemsley stadium rent like most clubs do I believe that there is decent money to be made at Leicester with the correct people involved and promotion of the club. The problem with this proposal is the amount that DH would want to rent the stadium weekly in excess of 8k a week just to open the gates then you would have the refs fees,paramedics,ambulance and officials fees that is before you pay a rider

yes I know of a couple of people who would be interested but not at the amount DH has said he wants,I do fear for the future of Leicester speedway.

 

Isn't the whole site rented off the council ?

[40-38 308]

yes I know of a couple of people who would be interested but not at the amount DH has said he wants,I do fear for the future of Leicester speedway.

 

Isn't the whole site rented off the council ?

 

I think it's a 99 year lease.

[LionsDen 124]

yes I know of a couple of people who would be interested but not at the amount DH has said he wants,I do fear for the future of Leicester speedway.

 

Isn't the whole site rented off the council ?

 

Yes, but on a very long lease. 99 years as 40-38 says above.

 

Makes me laugh to hear the place still described as a "Complex", as if it actually resembled the original plans rather than the reality of an eyesore collection of extremely high mud hills, made from construction industry waste, outside a fenced off enclave containing a track.

[arthur cross 492]

The problem with this proposal is the amount that DH would want to rent the stadium weekly in excess of 8k a week just to open the gates then you would have the refs fees,paramedics,ambulance and officials fees that is before you pay a rider

 

I fully respect flagrag's good reputation for well-connected and accurate information on many other threads on this forum so I'm certainly not questioning the accuracy of whether any new promotion at Leicester could face a weekly rent of £8,000

 

Instead, I'll simply point out that such a figure is massively in excess of the weekly rent any other British track pays its stadium landlord (and that includes the Elite League) ... it wouldn't be fair on other clubs to reveal what any of them are currently paying but I suspect every one of them would seriously consider if it's worth remaining open (probably most of them would close down at once) if they were suddenly faced with so big a demand for weekly stadium rent.

 

To put it into context, the reported financial figurework for Belle Vue's new national stadium involves the Aces effectively renting the track by repaying an initial £4,500,000 building loan from Manchester City Council over 60 years.

 

If the council loan is interest-free and the Aces staged just the basic 14 home meetings in the Elite League each year, their rent would be costing them £75,000 per year so that would work out at approximately £5,350 per meeting to rent a stadium designed to a high enough standard to host a World Cup final or other FIM events ... that rent might also include a cut of the profits from food, drink and the car park.

 

I suspect Belle Vue's rent bill would also include some interest payments on top of that simple calculation of £75,000 per year ... but equally, they'd be looking to stage more meetings than just the basic home league schedule so effectively those extra meetings would be the ones whose rent covered any interest (and any showpiece meetings attracting bigger crowds would make a cut of the food/drink/carpark profits even more useful)..

 

Hence it could still be reckoned that somewhere around £5,350 for a shiny new World Cup stadium would be one of the starting-points for working out how much rent to charge elsewhere (although even that big an amount with some food/drink profits to offset it would still be way out of reach for most clubs) ... on that basis, good luck finding anyone queuing up to offer £8,000 rent every weekend just to get the front gate open at Leicester !!

 

I suspect the current promoter is finding it tough to keep up the repayments on any loans that were taken out to finance the building of the stadium a few years ago and so the pressure from those repayments has led him towards wanting such a high weekly rent from any new promoter ... however, he'll have to take a giant chunk out of that £8,000 before making any progress.

 

By the way, is that £8,000 "the price with VAT" or "the price without VAT" ? !! ... because that might be another £1,600 that needs stumping up.

Edited August 15, 2013 by arthur cross