The White Knight 9,039 Posted March 9, 2015 I would like to pose some questions: With the amount of negativity to those who run Speedway in this Country, which is currently running at a very high level, and the necessity of having Promoters. How will they react to possible fall of Crowds and loss of revenue due to the Recession and even less disposable income for their Customers/Supporters? How will Speedway emerge from the Recession? The current Government are hell bent on pushing their Austerity Policies for another five years, if they get elected. With further 'Cuts' prophesied, what effect do you think this will have on our Sport? The current Austerity 'Cuts' appear to have had a very bad effect on Crowds over the last four years, with no improvement in the situation from Government - can things only get worse? Will people have less disposable income, or will the recovering Economy trigger an easing of the aforementioned 'Cuts'? If so, and if people feel better off - does anyone think that the Crowd levels will improve? Discuss. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OveFundinFan 4,143 Posted March 9, 2015 Good question White Knight. I wish i knew the answer. but I think after the election I think the man in the street will be worse off. I reckon figures can be fudged to show we are better off but in reality we are probably not and new austerity plans will hit hard again. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted March 9, 2015 Promoters will just make the annual price increase £2 rather than £1. Problem solved - until June anyway, by which time the fans will release they're being mugged off again. £17 to watch EL speedway? They're having a laugh. Doesn't cost must more than that for a GP in the Millenium Stadium. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robert72 845 Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) ELRC £25 plus programme is what is killing speedway, its becoming a rich persons sport Speedway needs to be a £10 sport Edited March 9, 2015 by robert72 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pete cc 322 Posted March 9, 2015 come & watch the national league, cost less to get in 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Panda 366 Posted March 9, 2015 Apart from the fact I work funny hours so only can get to 2 out of every 3 home meetings even the cost of that is prohibitive to an extent............. I need to justify the £100 it would cost to take my family to every home meeting (4 adults and a 14 year old) and just cannot do it........... Bring the costs down and better promotion from a lot of the teams would be ideal............. RP 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Countershaftcounter 360 Posted March 9, 2015 I'm lucky enough to be in a position where the entry pice is not a problem, but i can understand it puts newbies off and most of the stadiums seem to be stuck in the 60/ 70's in terms of facilities / presentation / music etc which is also off putting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YAMYAMBANDIT 560 Posted March 10, 2015 Don't think for one second the recession is the main fault, it's more likely to be the product and an aging fan base.. However the 1 million new jobs even if full time will be in the main on minimum wage (£6.50 per hr), leaving the recipiants employed but having to top up with family credit. The cost is therfore mainly irrelevent, if it was a £5 to get in it would still be unaffordable to those people. Hey Ho ! 'We Are All In It Together' 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chewbacca 653 Posted March 10, 2015 The recession is not the major issue.Speedway's problem is that it's support base is literally dying. I'm 51 and I'm probably in the youngest 10% of the crowd at most speedway meetings I attend. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Woz01 3,589 Posted March 10, 2015 Speedway is probably one of the cheaper sports for families but I'd say 15 quid for adults would be reasonable at Elite level. I've had a few people ask me how much prices are in the last 2 weeks, they find 18 pound a tad excessive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cityrebel 2,960 Posted March 10, 2015 Admission prices might be just about bearable if you have a local track. My nearest circuit is a sixty mile round trip away, that's when the cost starts to mount up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted March 10, 2015 Admission prices might be just about bearable if you have a local track. My nearest circuit is a sixty mile round trip away, that's when the cost starts to mount up. I have an 80 mile round trip but we have 4 of us who share the diesel costs these days, that is def the way to go if poss! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ch958 2,395 Posted March 10, 2015 ELRC £25 plus programme is what is killing speedway, its becoming a rich persons sport Speedway needs to be a £10 sport God help you when I said this I got roasted It's true though They need somehow to make bikes cheaper and riders need to go semi pro Crowds of 500 can't support professional riders And we need to stop flying people all over Europe to ride in front of sub 1000 crowds 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
foamfence 2,917 Posted March 10, 2015 Too many tracks are only accessible to car owners, years ago it was quite common to go to Belle Vue, Sheffield, Halifax and Odsal by public transport. Some people would visit at least two of them a week by public transport (I often did at times). Two of them are closed, one was replaced by a rubbish track, which leaves Sheffield. These days the costs are too high for everyone involved but I don't think the recession will further spoil things, as wages are starting to pick up. I think the biggest problem is that the sport in this country is trying to live beyond it's means, the only real answer is to not try and compete with other countries and adopt a more insular approach. Nothing much will happen in the foreseeable future though, it'll just stumble along much as now. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E I Addio 15,845 Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) Speedway is probably one of the cheaper sports for families but I'd say 15 quid for adults would be reasonable at Elite level. I've had a few people ask me how much prices are in the last 2 weeks, they find 18 pound a tad excessive. True about the price compared to other sports. I just did a bit of checking and discovered that to get in to see a crumby second division football match between Southend United and Redbridge and Dagenham costs £21 in the stands and £18 in the terraces so roughly the same price as speedway. Plenty of others par £35+ to see top league football. Personally I wouldn't pay 5p for a football match but the point is that plenty of people do like it and find as much if not more than a speedway meeting costs. If they like the sport so cost in itself is not an issue. The trouble is speedway seems to attract more than its fair share of moaners who bleat about the cost but in reality prefer to spend their money on other things, which fair enough is their choice but you can only spend your money once. Speedway is not cheap but live entertainment of any sort is generally not cheap. At the other end of the scale we have people complaining that 14 home league matches is not enough. By the time you knock off the VAT element. and average out concessions, kids for a quid etc, the promotion get around £13 on average for every punter through the gate. Whether the entertainment value is good enough is debateable but that varies from track to track, Edited March 10, 2015 by E I Addio 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
