Alan_Jones 1,005 Posted November 2, 2013 ... The best riders wont ride here in the (elite league) the name alone suggests thats what it should contain.... The Elite ( THE BEST RIDERS) ... Of course the Elite League should consist of elite riders, in the same way that in the Gulf Oil British League the bikes ran on petrol and in the Sunbrite League they were coal fired. Unfortunately, finding enough prime ministers to fill the Premier League is still proving problematical... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebrum 6,824 Posted November 2, 2013 There is a good thread about it here. Common sense would suggest that having your product beamed into millions of households would boost crowds, but this obviously hasn't happened. So maybe less speedway on TV might encourage people off their sofas? IMHO the only thing that will tempt people off their sofas is a STRONG EL. The TV coverage is vital but i doubt it would change the viewing figures by having it pay per view. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunty 189 Posted November 2, 2013 Posted it before For the Elite League it needs a better league structure! It makes no sence to race some teams more than others! Elite League North Division Elitle League South Division 5 Teams in each league who race each other home and away twice = 12meetings Then You race the other leagues teams home and away once = 8 meetings 20 Meeting Season where you dont have to travel to far to watch away meetings to much and save petrol for many riders with less fixtures! Then the Play Offs Top of North plays 2nd of South and Visa Versa Then the final So all in all the maximum a team could ride in the league would be 24 matches instead of the 32 that happens now if a team gets through. Just a Thought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T.N.T. 355 Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) Elite League North Division = Elitle League South Division 5 Teams in each league who race each other home and away twice = 12meetings Then you race the other leagues teams home and away once = 8 meetings 20 Meeting Season where you dont have to travel to far to watch away meetings to much and save petrol for many riders with less fixtures! Then the Play Offs Top of North plays 2nd of South and Visa Versa Then the final So all in all the maximum a team could ride in the league would be 24 matches instead of the 32 that happens now if a team gets through. Just a Thought! First of all the North / South riding each other twice would mean 16 meetings and not 12 ....... You then race the other divisions teams which gives you 10 meetings not 8 Trouble is then, who is in the North ? ..... Belle Vue, Birmingham, Wolves, Coventry and Kings Lynn ? So Kings Lynn don't get to ride their closest rivals (Peterborough) in the same division What happens if Leicester are moving up ..... do they go in the North to make 6 teams which gives the North 4 more meetings than the South !! Don't have to travel so far for away meetings ? ....... So Swindon have to ride Peterborough but don't get to ride Coventry, Birmingham, Wolves or Leicester which are closer !! ..... same for Poole However the South then get 16 meetings in their group then 10 against the North teams giving you 26 meetings ..... thats just 13 home meetings all season !! Get back to basics and get 11 or 12 teams, ride each other twice giving you 20 or 22 home meetings and the same amount away. End of the season the top four play off and the Champions are then crowned in the first week of October. Forget the Midland Trophy .... the Anglia Trophy ..... The South Coast Challege etc ...... just ride the league meetings and let each track hold one or two of their own meetings in October like the Olympique, the Pride of the East, Brandonapolis etc If the top riders or foreign riders that ride week in eek out in Poland, Sweden, Denmark and other competitions can't make some fixtures then they don't feature and we go with the riders like Doyle, Batchelor, Ward, Holder, Woffinden etc that are based here and only ride on Tuesdays in Sweden and the weekends in Poland or GP's. Cut your cloth to suit what you have and don't bow to the needs of the big guns who make the most of their earnings away from these shores and only ride here for extra cash, testing bikes or the variety of tracks from Lakeside to Peterborough, Cut back on doubling up riders and only allow riders to double up that have a starting average under five points a meeting and each team can have a maximum of just two. (2015 cut it to just one each). Remember that riders like Barker, Doyle, Cook etc who hold good EL averages will now be getting a minimum of 40 meetings in the EL compared to 28 at present and the PL look to be losing Leicester so less meetings there any way. If they want more meetings then let them gain experience in Poland or Sweden where they will learn more to compete in the bigger meetings or move their careers forward towards the GP's or SEC should they be able to. Look after British Speedway first and make it a product worth watching with a regular fixture list and not have to wait three weeks for the next home match. This doesn't mean you need Pedersen v Gollob or Hancock v Hampel as Doyle v Cook or Harris v Batchelor can be just as good and for considerably less pay !! Edited November 2, 2013 by T.N.T. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunty 189 Posted November 2, 2013 Blinking heck my maths was bad! I did rush it!! Oh dear but that would be 16 + 10 so 26 meetings with 30 if you get to play offs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Had Enough 233 Posted November 2, 2013 Because we are a big club with large revenue which would allow us to compete in a Super League with Poole. So you post as a Pirates fan and a Peterborough fan, using "we" for both! Perhaps you can attend all the matches in the Poolterborough league, cheering for both teams. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T.N.T. 355 Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) Blinking heck my maths was bad! I did rush it!! Oh dear but that would be 16 + 10 so 26 meetings with 30 if you get to play offs 30 if you get to the play off final ...... thats still only 15 home matches from mid March - the end of October !! ..... 13 if you don't make the play offs ............. that's on average one every 18 days whichisn't going to do much for the sport or attract fans especially if the rain puts paid to a few of those. Let's just use Wolves as an eample ...... Taking into ccount 11 teams in the EL 17 March - Olympique (from 2013) 24 Mar - League 31 Mar - XXX (NZ GP) 7 Apr - XXX (NZ GP) 14 Apr - League 2 21 Apr - League 3 28 Apr - League 4 5 May - League 5 12 May - League 6 19 May - League 7 26 May - League 8 2 Jun - League 9 9 Jun - League 10 16 Jun - ....................... Half way break 23 Jun - League 11 30 Jun - League 12 7 Jul - League 13 14 Jul - League 14 21 Jul - League 15 28 Jul - SWC 4 Aug - League 16 11 Aug - League 17 18 Aug - League 18 25 Aug - League 19 1 Sep - League 20 8 Sep - 15 Sep - Play Off 22 Sep - Play Off 29 Sep - Play Off Final 6 Oct - Play Off Final 13 Oct - 20 Oct - Olymique 27 Oct - There are a few free weeks and Wolves could run a meeting when the NZ GP is on if they wish against a team that doesnt feature a GP rider (which could be most of them) and use PK or Bomber as a guest for Tai (hoping he returns) EXAMPLE ONLY !! Edited November 3, 2013 by T.N.T. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BluTiger 21,701 Posted November 3, 2013 30 if you get to the play off final ...... thats still only 15 home matches from mid March - the end of October !! ..... 13 if you don't make the play offs ............. that's on average one every 18 days whichisn't going to do much for the sport or attract fans especially if the rain puts paid to a few of those. Let's just use Wolves as an eample ...... Taking into ccount 11 teams in the EL 17 March - Olympique (from 2013) 24 Mar - League 31 Mar - XXX (NZ GP) 7 Apr - XXX (NZ GP) 14 Apr - League 2 21 Apr - League 3 28 Apr - League 4 5 May - League 5 12 May - League 6 19 May - League 7 26 May - League 8 2 Jun - League 9 9 Jun - League 10 16 Jun - ....................... Half way break 23 Jun - League 11 30 Jun - League 12 7 Jul - League 13 14 Jul - League 14 21 Jul - League 15 28 Jul - SWC 4 Aug - League 16 11 Aug - League 17 18 Aug - League 18 25 Aug - League 19 1 Sep - League 20 8 Sep - 15 Sep - Play Off 22 Sep - Play Off 29 Sep - Play Off Final 6 Oct - Play Off Final 13 Oct - 20 Oct - Olymique 27 Oct - There are a few free weeks and Wolves could run a meeting when the NZ GP is on if they wish against a team that doesnt feature a GP rider (which could be most of them) and use PK or Bomber as a guest for Tai (hoping he returns) EXAMPLE ONLY !! And this illustrates the downside of the playoffs. If you come 5th, your season ends on Sept 1st, and that's ridiculous... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted November 3, 2013 .....TNT...... Get back to basics and get 11 or 12 teams, ride each other twice giving you 20 or 22 home meetings and the same amount away. End of the season the top four play off and the Champions are then crowned in the first week of October. ........Plus the rest of the post. TNT.....your best ever post which echoes my thoughts exactly. Trouble is one of your fellow Wolves fans is very much against not having the top riders and will probably stop going. Can't please everyone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skthecat 90 Posted November 3, 2013 Why not have the play offs like this: League winners straight through to final. 2nd and 3rd race each other home and away, the winner face the team that finished #1 in 2 leg final. Still provides end of season finale, gives team at top some advantage by going straight to final.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted November 3, 2013 I'm pretty sure that method has already been used before but the top team ended up missing out on a lucrative semi-final so it was ditched. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DiamondsRock 79 Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) Get back to basics and get 11 or 12 teams, ride each other twice giving you 20 or 22 home meetings and the same amount away. End of the season the top four play off and the Champions are then crowned in the first week of October. EL sides seem to barely be able to afford the current league "and a half" campaign, never mind running the league twice. Get back to basics, and just run it once, and mess on with the KOC / Craven Sheild if the fixture list needs padding out. Edited November 3, 2013 by DiamondsRock Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
New Science 1,059 Posted November 3, 2013 I believe there was one South Coast promoter who could afford a secret supply of his own Hob Nobs in case the others ganged up on him and voted for custard creams. Two others threatened not to take part because they were promised Ginger Nuts and wanted an independent body to make a decision on the choice of biscuits. On a more serious note the two biggest events to affect British Speedway in the past twenty years are the rise of the Polish League, once the shackles of communism were removed, and secondly the increase in the number of GPs. Financially we can't compete with Poland but we did have Friday and Saturday tracks where the riders could earn a few bob. Since we now have a GP every other week it's no longer practical to run in the Elite League on one of those nights so these tracks have moved to midweek where they obviously don't attract the same number of spectators. Of these two I would say the GPs have had the biggest affect as no Elite league track raced on a Sunday anyway so that didn't affect anyone riding in Poland. The suggestion that this is just an Elite League problem and nothing to do with the Premier League is a bit short sighted. If the Elite League was to fold what would happen to the clubs, no real Speedway fan would want a club to close down so they would apply to join the Premier League which would then by default become the top league. As riders developed they would qualify for the GPs and want every other Fri/Sat off so we'd be back to square one. I really have no idea how this conundrum can be solved, lots of fans have put forward suggestions on this forum all of them worthy of consideration, but equally some other fans would be thinking "If that happens I'm not going anymore" The wrong thing is for the BSPA to do nothing and let things get worse but doing the right thing might just prove to be very tricky. Eastbourne run on a Saturday night,have no grand prix riders,have about 19 free Saturdays in a 30 week season and they still lost £70,000 .Just having more weekend speedway will not fix speedway's problems,improving the core product will.Just to cheer myself up I watched a rerun of the Poole/Coventry play off final 2010,nobody was complaining about rundown stadiums,poor presentation,double points etc just revelling in watching great speedway.If we can get good speedway regularly former fans will return,people will literally 'stand on a grass bank' to watch a good product ! not sure how we get a better product thou ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebrum 6,824 Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) And this illustrates the downside of the playoffs. If you come 5th, your season ends on Sept 1st, and that's ridiculous... Whereas if you don't have the play offs you could be cast adrift towards the bottom and your season ended well before September. A bit like several times who aren't in contention to top the league. Plus didn't Poole qualify for the play offs right on the cut off, which was well after 1st Sept?? Edited November 3, 2013 by stevebrum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
