Warsaw Gp Saturday 18th April

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

GPs at the London Arena, Bradford and Coventry and then Cardiff. Seems a bit more than a few inches to me.

The Millennium Stadium wasn't built before BSI took over the SGP, neither was Parken or Stockholm, so it's a pointless comparison. Bradford and Coventry were certainly also as good as some of the current GP venues. Edited May 15, 2015 by Humphrey Appleby

[Grand Central 2,654]

The Millennium Stadium wasn't built before BSI took over the SGP, neither was Parken or Stockholm, so it's a pointless comparison. Bradford and Coventry were certainly also as good as some of the current GP venues.

Yes it always makes me smile when Philip does his rewrite of history. Again and again.

 

Going back in his time capsule.

I just wonder where BSI would have staged the 1997 British GP, for instance.

 

Or how 'John P the Great' would have found better venues in the 1990s in other countries?

 

Even today they cannot do better than the Marketa in Prague, simply because there isn't an alternative built yet.

Well it was the same everywhere else back then.

Edited May 15, 2015 by Grand Central

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

Yes it always makes me smile when Philip does his rewrite of history. Again and again.

Going back in his time capsule.

I just wonder where BSI would have staged the 1997 British GP, for instance.

Going back in his time capsule, he'd be able to retract all his former denouncements of the GP system and tell the Star readership what a wonderful idea it was...

[baldinhio 16]

ASK yourself what the FIM do with the money that BSI pay for the commercial rights. Not their responsibility to develop riders.

 

I refer to "People at the top" being short sighted. That can include both the FIM & the BSI. I am not privy to knowing what figure is paid to the FIM and can only look at the BSI retained profit figure which was last reported at £2,000,000 plus per annum. I totally acknowledge the BSI have no contractual obligation to develop riders and as part of IMG their primary motivation is profit. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with making a profit but at the same time some may question the distribution of the "Cake". That said, my guess is nothing will change given the riders rarely act together and there is no pressure group to fund development.

 

In a previous response you stated the BSI were "Beyond reproach" which I questioned not least because of a non personal email response to a hand written letter. I appreciate you are a fan of the BSI and as declared to others do business with them but do you really believe they are beyond reproach on Warsaw and the nature of their response?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,960]

 

I I am not privy to knowing what figure is paid to the FIM

 

About 1.5 million pounds per year.

[severnsider 197]

I think I remember it correctly but there were critical comments in the Speedway Star about the slowness of the original response on the SGP site and the response to the calling off. Something along the lines of 48 hours to respond wasn't good enough etc.

 

No longer have that week to check as it gets passed on to relatives.

 

Regarding some of the comments I got back in to watching speedway and going to the most local tracks (25 miles each way to Newport or 50 miles each way to Swindon) after watching the GP coverage on Sky at the end of the 1990s so without the GPs I may not have started attending tracks again. I know of a few others that were the same.

 

I also regard the GP trips as my holiday time and have learned a lot more about European history and culture than I did when I was at school. There are some amazing places to visit than I would never have come across otherwise.

 

I also feel lucky that I live in a time when it is very easy to travel throughout most of Europe unlike the previous generations who were commemorated in the VE celebrations last week and those in the cold war generation.

[baldinhio 16]

 

About 1.5 million pounds per year.

 

Do you know how this sum is distributed?

[The White Knight 9,039]

 

It's not for BSI or even the FIM to fix the issues in British speedway, and certainly British speedway is largely the architect of its own demise. However, the SGP did affect the British leagues much more than other national leagues because it took away several prime weekend race nights on which the more economically successful tracks generally rode. No-one would suggest it was the sole reason for the sport that was already in decline, but it certainly didn't help.

 

Getting back to the issue at hand though, the sport's premier event should be run for the benefit of that sport, as it is with most other professional sports. IMG have a reputation for going after sports with low barriers to entry and little in the way of obligations, and whilst you can't blame them for seeking those opportunities, speedway stupidly continues to allow itself to be sold short to an organisation that cares little for the sport or its future.

 

Ultimately yes, the FIM are to blame for not extracting better commercial value, although I suspect they were just happy to off-load the running of an unfashionable discipline in return for a few shekels. I'm sure the money they receive (aside from what they pay out as prize money) does go towards the furtherance of motor sport (after all the wining and dining of officials has been taken care of), but the extent to which it benefits professional speedway is questionable. What really is to be gained by running U21 World Finals halfway round the world or staging meetings in countries where there's little or no organised speedway - the money would be far better spent on facilitating local practice circuits and junior competitions.

 

The promoters running professional speedway (i.e. in Britain, Poland, Sweden and Denmark) are also to blame for allowing the FIM to sell a product that they provide the substantive ingredients for (the riders and their wages), without negotiating any percentage of the returns. They're even more foolish for not doing exactly what IMG/BSI are doing in the first place, but instead running the SGP for their own benefit. It's not rocket science, even if they're incapable of organising 12 meetings a season and getting them on television, there's plenty of sports management organisations out there that would have done it for them for a cut of the profits. If womens' netball can get several millions to be on television every week, then it really does put into perspective what a poor effort speedway makes.

 

Instead, we get the endless repeated mantra of how BSI have 'raised the bar' etc.. etc.. despite the fact that the bar was on the ground to start with and it's only been raised a few inches in 15 years. Even worse, is how many fans unquestioningly buy into this myth, to the point of becoming apologists for what is in reality a not especially well run competition, nor one that much benefits the wider sport.

This is without doubt one of the best Posts you have done on this Forum Humphrey. I commend you for it. The only bit I could possibly argue with is my highlighted bit.

 

I think you are exaggerating the height.

 

GPs at the London Arena, Bradford and Coventry and then Cardiff. Seems a bit more than a few inches to me.

To quote Mandy Rice Davies:

 

"Well he would say that, wouldn't he"?

[waiheke1 4,295]

 

Do you know how this sum is distributed?

They pay the riders prize money, which from memory is under half that figure. And the rest is a mystery.

[SCB 0]

They pay the riders prize money, which from memory is under half that figure. And the rest is a mystery.

Hotels for the FIM officials at the GPs too - that won't be cheap!

[Grand Central 2,654]

Hotels for the FIM officials at the GPs too - that won't be cheap!

Surely, they don't come out of that money either.

I imagine it is the local promoters who foot the bill for their stay.

[iris123 20,994]

.

 

British Speedway needs all the help it can get at present, the Sport is dying. BSI are creaming off the top talent from our Tracks for their own benefit without a thought of the consequences of their actions.

Whilst I don't want to be defending BSI at this time I really feel British speedway only has itself to blame for the situation they are in now.Shortsightedness with having no real scheme to train and bring on the youngsters and shortsightedness in not being in charge of their own destiny regards to having virtually no speedway owned stadia.They relied on kids coming through local grasstrack and they relied on stadium owners giving them access on good nights.Without their own stadiums they had little chance to train up youngsters of their own and relied more and more on foreign rider and had to lump whatever days/nights they were given by the stadium owners.That isn't good,regardless of what BSI do.And you/we can hardly complain about them "creaming off the top talent from our Tracks" as most comes from abroad

[The White Knight 9,039]

Whilst I don't want to be defending BSI at this time I really feel British speedway only has itself to blame for the situation they are in now.Shortsightedness with having no real scheme to train and bring on the youngsters and shortsightedness in not being in charge of their own destiny regards to having virtually no speedway owned stadia.They relied on kids coming through local grasstrack and they relied on stadium owners giving them access on good nights.Without their own stadiums they had little chance to train up youngsters of their own and relied more and more on foreign rider and had to lump whatever days/nights they were given by the stadium owners.That isn't good,regardless of what BSI do.And you/we can hardly complain about them "creaming off the top talent from our Tracks" as most comes from abroad

That is very true iris123 - but - if BSI wish to run their GP Series as a truly International Event then surely they need to contribute to the development of Riders of all Nationalities not just British Riders..

 

They (BSI) are making a lot of money off the backs of these Riders, surely it is down to them to help to ensure a continuous flow of said Riders into the GP ranks.

 

I am not saying that BSI should not make a Profit - of course they should - what I am saying is they should be investing in the future of Speedway to ensure that their Event continues to grow and improve.

[oldace 1,678]

That is very true iris123 - but - if BSI wish to run their GP Series as a truly International Event then surely they need to contribute to the development of Riders of all Nationalities not just British Riders..

 

They (BSI) are making a lot of money off the backs of these Riders, surely it is down to them to help to ensure a continuous flow of said Riders into the GP ranks.

 

I am not saying that BSI should not make a Profit - of course they should - what I am saying is they should be investing in the future of Speedway to ensure that their Event continues to grow and improve.

 

 

Why do Poland, Sweden Denmark etc seem to manage to develop riders of their own ? What is it you would like BSI to actually do. Even if the ploughed every penny they make into the four or five speedway nations it would amount to £15,000 or so per track. What part of British development is wholly dependent on the odd £15,000 and how would it help.

 

The promoters of the 60s and 70s are where you should be directing your anger. They were happy to go home in Rolls Royces with suitcases full of cash without putting a single penny onto the infrastructure of the sport that was providing for them.

[racers and royals 8,736]

That is very true iris123 - but - if BSI wish to run their GP Series as a truly International Event then surely they need to contribute to the development of Riders of all Nationalities not just British Riders..

 

They (BSI) are making a lot of money off the backs of these Riders, surely it is down to them to help to ensure a continuous flow of said Riders into the GP ranks.

 

I am not saying that BSI should not make a Profit - of course they should - what I am saying is they should be investing in the future of Speedway to ensure that their Event continues to grow and improve.

I`m glad you are saying that BSI should make a profit-I suppose how much depends on the turnover /profit ratio. A usefull comparison could be made with someone like Dorna.