ColinMills 1,728 Posted July 27, 2014 If Speedway is the product then its an excellent product. The problem is in the management and the presentation short but correct post, a presenter can make or break atmosphere. im not bothered if its joe bloggs 22nd birthday myself, a presenter needs to hold the attention from the off 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
allister cov boy 1 Posted July 27, 2014 I fully agree with Crump99 about presentation and communication. I now pick and choose my meetings. At Brandon the presentation is DIRE. Meetings regularly drag on and on with a PA system that is inaudible on the back straight. What was the promoters answer to this poor presentation ? Did they slicken their show ? NO they just brought the start time forward so they could drift along at their usual pace. Earlier this year we rode at Monmore Green and the meeting started 30 minutes late because of a rainstorm. CVS certainly ran a slick show as the meeting was completed in 90 minutes. Pity the Cov promoters couldn't follow his example. I am sure the reasons for the decline in attendance will vary from track to track but we can't put the clock back to when Britain dominated and every rider wanted to be riding here. We will never have enough money coming into the sport to have EL teams full of world stars and we fans have to realise this. The product is going to be diluted even further if promoters are not going to follow Birmingham and Eastbourne and I know it is sad for us that have seen much better times. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted July 27, 2014 Promoters want to stand on the terraces and experience the show from a fan's point of view and then work out what they can do to improve it!!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
topsoil 2,498 Posted July 27, 2014 I would like to see the BSPA (I know they wont do it, but I would like to see somebody carry it out) ask a few people who have never been to speedway before to stand on the terraces and see what they say, then perhaps carry out some of the suggestions they make. Get an outsiders view on the sport. As people have said, the basic product of speedway is fine, you see all the riders, all the time, all the race. It's short, sharp, bursts of action. The problem is the rule changes in the sport, which a lot of outsiders cant understand or find strange, the promotion and presentation of the sport. Promoters and administrators are constantly complaining about numbers falling, but are they willing to seek any help / advice on changes? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted July 27, 2014 My 2 twenty something children went to Lynn yesterday, much to my annoyance!!!! They won't go to Lynn for a league meeting. The main reason was because of the better atmosphere and the expectation of a good meeting! Perhaps Wolves and Sheffield have the best idea of only having half or third of the stadiums available to fans so the atmosphere the fans generate is contained? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enotian 562 Posted July 27, 2014 The basic product isn't too bad but it needs completely rebranding with fresh promotional ideas and rider absences need to be eradicated either by squads on set nights OR by only using riders committed to all of their clubs fixtures. Top level British speedway is at a crossroads and needs to go one way or the other, at the moment it is dithering in the middle of the carriageway. I agree. Go genuine Elite or do without the top riders. The current hybrid is poor. Domestic speedway needs a T20 style shot in the arm. Could the WTC format offer that? 16 teams (pick the best stadia/track/brand). Each team has only 5 home matches and 15 away. 1 set race night (Monday or Thursday?) to allow GP riders involvement. Rider ranking to determine team strength. World top 20 graded 4 to PL heat leader standard graded 1. Maximum 10 grade points per team. With only 5 home matches at Elite level, tracks either run Premier League standard team or operate more than 1 Elite franchise (i.e. Wolves and Cradley both from Monmore) No guests no R/R. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss 10,781 Posted July 27, 2014 My 2 twenty something children went to Lynn yesterday, much to my annoyance!!!! They won't go to Lynn for a league meeting. The main reason was because of the better atmosphere and the expectation of a good meeting! Perhaps Wolves and Sheffield have the best idea of only having half or third of the stadiums available to fans so the atmosphere the fans generate is contained? I can understand their viewpoint Trees, a good atmosphere amongst a big crowd can make a good night out at speedway even if the racing isn't great. Maybe less would be more in the EL, less meetings but with stronger teams and hopefully better racing, bigger crowds and a better atmosphere? Something to really look forward to like the SWC last night. No guests no R/R. Whatever they decide this needs to happen, people are fed up with incomplete teams. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted July 27, 2014 Trouble is can they rely on these fans turning up to league racing and what about the clubs that have to rent their stadium by the season? What do they fill the spare weeks with? Wish it was as easy for British Elite League Speedway as it is for BPL, Swedish, Danish and Polish speedway!! I reckon Buster needs to go back to Huggy type tracks, see if that improves the racing at Lynn :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crump99 4,476 Posted July 27, 2014 Promoters want to stand on the terraces and experience the show from a fan's point of view and then work out what they can do to improve it!!! As the ones who serve it up they'd think that it was triffic don't you think? No guests no R/R. That's fine if it's like for like changes and a team is not disadvantaged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted July 27, 2014 I have my doubts if some of them give it any thought tbh!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crump99 4,476 Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) I have my doubts if some of them give it any thought tbh!!!!! I think that they do but can't be seen to be bowing to the vocal minority so the wheels move very slowly, if at all! short but correct post, a presenter can make or break atmosphere. im not bothered if its joe bloggs 22nd birthday myself, a presenter needs to hold the attention from the off Is it? The product is the overall product which is the racing and presentation together. They are not mutually exclusive. Edited July 27, 2014 by Crump99 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve0 5,517 Posted July 27, 2014 The basic product isn't too bad but it needs completely rebranding with fresh promotional ideas and rider absences need to be eradicated either by squads on set nights OR by only using riders committed to all of their clubs fixtures. Top level British speedway is at a crossroads and needs to go one way or the other, at the moment it is dithering in the middle of the carriageway. The basic product IS bad - after years of watering down the league it is inevitable that the product is poor! Whether the promoters can recover the situation or not remains to be seen but I'm personally not putting up with it anymore. You do raise some good points though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldtimer 340 Posted July 27, 2014 Promoters want to stand on the terraces and experience the show from a fan's point of view and then work out what they can do to improve it!!! Great idea, wish they would. Most tracks presenters are ex train station announcers. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCORPIO 7 Posted July 27, 2014 I've got an idea on how tof get fans back and stop them from getting bored. Lower the admission by a couple of quid as for a night out at the speedway with my wife costs best part of £75 by the time fuel costs accounted for. Run the meetings quicker, stop all the farting about between races, get on with it, stop all the patting about at the gate gardening. Have a proper interval with parade of winning team then a few second half races and people will think they have got value for money. 2/3 hourso to run a meeting with no incident is ridiculously stupid. I also say go back to keep it simple, get rid of gimmicks like the tactical ride double points nonsense, what's wrong with the good old fashioned tactical substitute. If a rider excluded for exceeding the time allowance, breaking or touching tapes...tough, excluded, no replacement, no 15 metres. Get on with it. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weatherwatcher 664 Posted July 27, 2014 I don't want to see any stadiums close. We have lost to many over the years. But we are losing the fan base that used to follow the sport. Half the country don't even know about it. The stadiums are run down. How many new stadiums have been built in the past 10 year very few or how many have had any work done to them in the same time. The money that came in from Sky sport was squandered on paying for the top riders to come to our clubs. Now that money is gone and there has been no replacement sponser, fans are moaning about the way that the EL has been watered down with the FTr's. I for one am glad to see it if it helps the young riders along then all well and good. But the promoters had thier chance and lost it. They can no longer afford to bring in lot of top names. So we will have to make do with what we have got now, or speedway will be athing of the past. It would not take to much of an effort to get some of the stadiums looking a bit better than they are now. Some are just a track with a fence around them with a old wooden stand that has seen better days. I went to Long Eaton when they raced there and it was just like a lot of the tracks are now, they just haven't moved with the times. At least Long Eaton are still riding even if they do track share at Leicester. Shame that are sport is looking so glum. Half the Long Eaton meeting never come off as the visiting teams cant find enough riders to make up a team. The MDL is the starting point for riders and here in GB we are short of up and cominmg riders. If we lose these lads that are just starting out. Then in a few years time it rolls along with all the other leagues until we have a mass shortage of riders. So it is not just the fan bas that are driffting away from the sport, it is also the riders. As for the coment you made I am no Idiot just a realist. That see that unless some investment is made into our sport to bring it forward, then I am afraid that as the saying goes " We are flogging a dead horse" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
