The White Knight 9,039 Posted November 24, 2014 we'll always have our memories...worth an awful lot Well said Mike - and very true. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vince 9,458 Posted November 25, 2014 I think the British GP is considered a single event, whilst the Six Nations is a tournament. There are of course many one-off events with larger attendances than 69K - the FA Cup Final being the prime example. I'd imagine that horse racing, boxing and golf would be somewhere behind rugby league and cricket, but ahead of speedway. Boxing probably doesn't really count many live spectators all told, but has a larger following on television. I think the figures for F1 for a complete season would average a whole lot more than 69,000 and count as one competition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 25, 2014 I think the figures for F1 for a complete season would average a whole lot more than 69,000 and count as one competition. With respect - surely only F1 attendances in the UK count? A good point though. Thank you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 20,997 Posted November 25, 2014 I think Cowes sailing event claim something like 200,000 spectators for just a few days which alone without any other sailing event rates well against a season of speedway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
strife 153 Posted November 25, 2014 (edited) Not a very good question ..it's a simple question of cost .. Test matches are not run anymore for the simple fact that the crowds don't make them pay .the same would apply to a World Cup trying to use a test match format with 7 riders . Not *just* cost - the chances of bringing together sufficient riders for even one meeting are minimal. Also ... Test Match format is 18 heats, with six riders per team, plus two reserves (the reserves being the only tactical changes allowed). I can't recall the final score if the fabled England v USA test match at Foxhall (John Cook's classic team riding on World of Sport, see YouTube), but I think it was 36-72 ... Edited November 25, 2014 by Had Enough Too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,960 Posted November 25, 2014 I think the figures for F1 for a complete season would average a whole lot more than 69,000 and count as one competition. There are some pretty sparsely attended GPs as well. The Silverstone figures are also an aggregate over 3 days, when you'd probably imagine the race day figure is closer to the number of unique spectators, so it's difficult to compare like-with-like. I found an average figure of 161k for F1 in 2009, which is presumably a 3-day aggregate, so that would put the number of unique spectators closer to if not lower than the 69k figure. Silverstone pulls something like 120k on race day, which is somewhere around 40% of the aggregate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwoMinuteWarning 69 Posted November 25, 2014 (edited) Football is obviously top in all categories, but I'd think rugby union would be second in term of live audiences (if you include the Six Nations which has highest average attendance of any sports competition in the world), following by rugby league and cricket. Maybe motor racing (non-speedway) might be up next, followed by horse racing, ice hockey and then perhaps speedway. Three-day eventing gets a reasonable following though, and might beat speedway. I've long thought that the biggest paid attendance for a single sporting event is 300,000 to 450,000 at the Indianapolis 500, and that seems to b e borne out by http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/crowd-largest.htm I believe the largest Non-paying audience is reckoned to be the 2 or 3 million who line the roads for cycling's Tour de France. Biggest speedway crowd ever? According to Speedway Star, in 1959 at Prague, a 4-nation tournament attracted 200,000! http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/czsl4team.htm Edited November 25, 2014 by TwoMinuteWarning Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lucifer sam 3,953 Posted November 25, 2014 As for a women's speedway match - is there such a thing? According to Tai, there was an inter-gender clash at Edinburgh some years back. All the best Rob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,649 Posted November 25, 2014 (edited) For a sense of the popularity of various sports go to: https://yougov.co.uk/opi/profiler#/ and type in speedway. you will find that there are 70 speedway fans in the yougov panel. Compared with: 22761 football fans 14440 rugby union fans 13191 cricket fans 7944 golf fans 5530 rugby league fans 3597 american football fans 1847 basketball fans 122 people who like volleyball and 1066 people who like aardvarks. Edited November 25, 2014 by arnieg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A ORLOV 8,628 Posted November 25, 2014 Aardvark racing is brilliant 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The White Knight 9,039 Posted November 25, 2014 For a sense of the popularity of various sports go to: https://yougov.co.uk/opi/profiler#/ and type in speedway. you will find that there are 70 speedway fans in the yougov panel. Compared with: 22761 football fans 14440 rugby union fans 13191 cricket fans 7944 golf fans 5530 rugby league fans 3597 american football fans 1847 basketball fans 122 people who like volleyball and 1066 people who like aardvarks. Says it all really..................................... :sad: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted November 25, 2014 Them figures suggest speedway promoters are doing a good job. The average Premiership football attendance is 36000 so about 150% than in the YouGov Poll. The average Aviva Premiership attendance is 12500 so about 95% of the youGov Poll, the average 2020 cricket attendance is 7000 so about 50% of the YouGov poll. The average Super League (Rugby League) is 9000 so about 190% of the YouGov poll So with there being 70 speedway fans, even if you matched ti tot he best performing sport (Rugby League) there should be about 130 people at the average Elite League meeting in the UK. But promoters manage to get 10 times that (1300 is surely not an unfair average for the EL right?). So well done to the individual members of the BSPA who actually manage to geta greater % of their fan base to meetings that any of the major sports in this country! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,649 Posted November 25, 2014 Them figures suggest speedway promoters are doing a good job. The average Premiership football attendance is 36000 so about 150% than in the YouGov Poll. The average Aviva Premiership attendance is 12500 so about 95% of the youGov Poll, the average 2020 cricket attendance is 7000 so about 50% of the YouGov poll. The average Super League (Rugby League) is 9000 so about 190% of the YouGov poll So with there being 70 speedway fans, even if you matched ti tot he best performing sport (Rugby League) there should be about 130 people at the average Elite League meeting in the UK. But promoters manage to get 10 times that (1300 is surely not an unfair average for the EL right?). So well done to the individual members of the BSPA who actually manage to geta greater % of their fan base to meetings that any of the major sports in this country! But not as good a job as the aardvarks!! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,960 Posted November 26, 2014 (edited) So well done to the individual members of the BSPA who actually manage to geta greater % of their fan base to meetings that any of the major sports in this country! I'm sure the above remark is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the thinking is somewhat flawed. I'm sure the percentage of croquet participants is very high in comparison to the fan base (possibly nearly 100%), but it doesn't mean the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is promoting it well. The more minority the sport, I'm sure the more hardcore supporters remain, but you really want to have a large casual following to be successful as that's what attracts sponsors. I think Rugby League remains the biggest disappointment though, in terms of how much money and promotion has been thrown at the sport in the past 20 years. It seems most people still prefer to see the version where ex-public schoolboys roll on top of each other around in the mud. The legacy of Eddie Waring will never die... Edited November 26, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The White Knight 9,039 Posted November 26, 2014 I'm sure the above remark is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the thinking is somewhat flawed. I'm sure the percentage of croquet participants is very high in comparison to the fan base (possibly nearly 100%), but it doesn't mean the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is promoting it well. The more minority the sport, I'm sure the more hardcore supporters remain, but you really want to have a large casual following to be successful as that's what attracts sponsors. I think Rugby League remains the biggest disappointment though, in terms of how much money and promotion has been thrown at the sport in the past 20 years. It seems most people still prefer to see the version where ex-public schoolboys roll on top of each other around in the mud. The legacy of Eddie Waring will never die... Eddie Waring - all time great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites