Attendances

[Ben91 1,743]

Did you not read it fully, you will not be seeing same teams and riders every few weeks at your track !

 

If you used all current elite and premier plus 2 like Birmingham & Eastbourne moving up then that would be 24 teams so 12 in both north and south, you face teams in your region twice home and away and you would face each team from other region once either home or away and if you went to there track one year, they would come to to your track year after.

 

You would still get variety but also a better league system for teams and hopefully cut costs for travelling fans/riders etc

 

 

And if people are scared of change then keep things as they are and lets all watch speedway die a slow and painful death because clearly things as they stand are not working.

 

It's just a non-starter for me, teams change every year, you can't run a two year system, fans wouldn't buy into it, especially if it means they are stuck with a gash side for two years rather than one. As a country we are not that big we don't need to follow American style regionalism. If the sport was just promoted properly and meetings were run properly the fans would come back.

 

Where is your mid point? There will be teams in the midlands only getting one local derby a year with some rivals and that is either home or away, while they will be expected to travel to Edinburgh/Berwick/Glasgow or Plymouth/Somerset for league meetings and vice versa because they are in the North or South half of the league.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Ben91

[AJK86 180]

 

It's just a non-starter for me, teams change every year, you can't run a two year system, fans wouldn't buy into it, especially if it means they are stuck with a gash side for two years rather than one. As a country we are not that big we don't need to follow American style regionalism. If the sport was just promoted properly and meetings were run properly the fans would come back.

 

Where is your mid point? There will be teams in the midlands only getting one local derby a year with some rivals and that is either home or away, while they will be expected to travel to Edinburgh/Berwick/Glasgow or Plymouth/Somerset for league meetings and vice versa because they are in the North or South half of the league.

Teams would still change as they do now, it is not a two year system ! All it is that if Sheffield (North) face Somerset (South) at the Oak Tree in 2016 then in 2017 Somerset would visit Sheffield, it is quite a simple system.

 

Cut of point you work from the top on map until you have your 12 for north then the 12 teams or whatever amount into south.

 

It could at least be tried and i know the next argument, not enough riders blah blah blah ! Reduce teams to 6 man teams or whatever.

 

Let's finally be radical and stop making crappy little changes every year like they do and create a real game changer, get sky sports on board who would have more variety of meetings with one hell of a superbowl finale of the speedway season, they could market that and hype it up good style.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

Agree with that. Even the bit about the rules. Some people cry "the rule are complicated" and "rewrite the rulebook". It won't make any more people attend - the most complicated rulebook in sport is F1 and look how many people watch that!

 

Speedway fails because promoters thing 15 races spread over 2.5 hours with some old guy chatting to himself between the songs on "80s hits" and "now 23" is entertainment.

This is what you see. Not everyone is necessarily so shallow and ageist.

[Ben91 1,743]

Teams would still change as they do now, it is not a two year system ! All it is that if Sheffield (North) face Somerset (South) at the Oak Tree in 2016 then in 2017 Somerset would visit Sheffield, it is quite a simple system.

 

Cut of point you work from the top on map until you have your 12 for north then the 12 teams or whatever amount into south.

 

It could at least be tried and i know the next argument, not enough riders blah blah blah ! Reduce teams to 6 man teams or whatever.

 

Let's finally be radical and stop making crappy little changes every year like they do and create a real game changer, get sky sports on board who would have more variety of meetings with one hell of a superbowl finale of the speedway season, they could market that and hype it up good style.

 

This is my point, the 12th side down would be somewhere in the midlands probably? So then they will be missing out on a lot of local derby revenue as they only host some of their local rivals once every two seasons. For that reason alone I can't see it working/being voted in if it went to the AGM.

 

I'm an advocate of keeping teams as they are actually, there's not a shortage of speedway riders by any means.

 

Unfortunately we wouldn't get that Superbowl style season finale, we'd just get two teams racing each other over two legs like they do at present in the play-offs. A radical change is all well and good but it has to work, this would be a huge gamble and could be the death knell for many clubs. While we have to think of the sport as a whole in Britain first and foremost there are ways that the current system could be made to work.

[AJK86 180]

 

This is my point, the 12th side down would be somewhere in the midlands probably? So then they will be missing out on a lot of local derby revenue as they only host some of their local rivals once every two seasons. For that reason alone I can't see it working/being voted in if it went to the AGM.

 

I'm an advocate of keeping teams as they are actually, there's not a shortage of speedway riders by any means.

 

Unfortunately we wouldn't get that Superbowl style season finale, we'd just get two teams racing each other over two legs like they do at present in the play-offs. A radical change is all well and good but it has to work, this would be a huge gamble and could be the death knell for many clubs. While we have to think of the sport as a whole in Britain first and foremost there are ways that the current system could be made to work.

End of day something has to be done and this could work if all promoters just finally go radical and realise any idea even if not this one could be better for the future, we cant keep saying what if what if what if ! Life is full of compromises and promoters have to view the bigger picture and hope it benefits speedway in this country as a whole.

 

And I disagree when you say you wouldn't get that superbowl style finale, teams battling it out to finish top of their respective region and pick up north & south title go head to head over two legs to decide british league title or whatever name can be decided for it, I am sure some marketing person at Sky/BSPA could come up with something which can be sold over the season.

 

Come on promoters even if not this sort of system be radical and stop tinkering, speedway has to be sold to the public and the current set up doesn't inspire regular fans now so what chance have we got of getting new fans in, this system with great promoting and a well run professional meeting would be great for fans and sure the promoters could well see more money coming in.

 

Go big or go home !!

[Deano 1,318]

Not sure regionisation would even bring in additional crowds. I started to get bored of speedway towards the end of last season, so a new league set up would not have given me the wow factor again.

 

I'm with a previous poster, there is no atmosphere these days, so perhaps a new style of presentation needs to makeup for that.

 

I went to a twenty20 cricket match perhaps we need an equivalent. Have a home and away "current" 15 heat format league meeting, then have another competition with a completely different take on the sport.

 

Have races pitched over two laps and/or have the races handicaped, make it four man teams or six, change the scoring, each club to hold a set of standard engines that get pulled from a box randomly by each rider before the meeting. Obviously not those suggestions, but radically different to what speedway is now. But keep the thrill and speed element.

 

The league what is now the National League, was radical and quite exciting when it first appeared. It survived the test of time and has probably kept a lot of clubs open in troubled times. Perhaps speedway needs to do something radical again.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Deano

[AJK86 180]

Not sure regionisation would even bring in additional crowds. I started to get bored of speedway towards the end of last season, so a new league set up would not have given me the wow factor again.

 

I'm with a previous poster, there is no atmosphere these days, so perhaps a new style of presentation needs to makeup for that.

 

I went to a twenty20 cricket match perhaps we need an equivalent. Have a home and away "current" 15 heat format league meeting, then have another competition with a completely different take on the sport.

 

Have races pitched over two laps and/or have the races handicaped, make it four man teams or six, change the scoring, each club to hold a set of standard engines that get pulled from a box randomly by each rider before the meeting. Obviously not those suggestions, but radically different to what speedway is now. But keep the thrill and speed element.

 

The league what is now the National League, was radical and quite exciting when it first appeared. It survived the test of time and has probably kept a lot of clubs open in troubled times. Perhaps speedway needs to do something radical again.

This is more like it, everybody will have different ideas of course as to how they think Speedway can be improved but radical is needed now and not the same old same old with little things getting changed that have no effect on improving situation.

[SCB 15]

This is what you see. Not everyone is necessarily so shallow and ageist.

Which bot of my post is ageist? Or shallow even.

[New Science 1,059]

Shocking crowd for the Olympique at Wolves tonight. Five years ago we used to get as many at Press and Practice night as we got tonight.

[secsy1 215]

Promotion is the act of encouraging something to happen or develop.

 

Promoters are supposed to help forward or encourage (enterprise or result); publicize and sell (product); initiate (project).

 

In the Speedway Star several articles have been printed regarding the lack of support for teams up and down the country and also several letters published that state no local publicity has been made regarding meetings or events at tracks.

 

Preaching to the converted is witnessed in churches up and down the country every Sunday, where attendances have dwindled also.

 

Until heads are taken out of the sand by the ones who run the sport nothing will happen.

 

Changing the rules year in and year out will not resolve issues.

 

Making a change in League structure and race days, will help in short term with personal finances for the converted.

 

EMPHASIS must be made by every club to get out into their communities and PROMOTE the clubs.

 

NEW, YOUNG, ENERGETIC AND ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTERS ARE REQUIRED FOR NEXT SEASON.

 

TO ACHIEVE THIS IT BEGINS AT THE END OF THIS SEASON.

[Tommy Sweetman 480]

Shocking crowd for the Olympique at Wolves tonight. Five years ago we used to get as many at Press and Practice night as we got tonight.

Said on the Wolves web-site there was a large crowd.

 

Dont know what they would put as a large crowd,but since mid July the crowds have been abysmal.

 

How much was it to get in last night ?.

[SGP 49]

CLUBS run as inividual businesses and thus have their own promotional activities. Location is also important too, for example Poole which benefits from seasonal tourism.

 

In an ideal World, the BSPA should employ a dedicated company to promote the clubs and sports equally with set targets. To my knowledge, they [bSPA] never have once put out a tender for such activity.

 

If the younger audience is the prime target - which it should be - second to families, then the influences of Monster Energy would be great. Personally, such companies are not my thing - but having a British World Champion backed by Monster Energy is an ideal platform.

 

On the whole though, right now, promoting speedway is like trying to sell a ticket on the Titanic.

[topsoil 2,498]

^{I honestly don't think speedway needs to re-invent itself, the core product, four riders, four laps is fine. All that needs to happen in my opinion is for promoters to start promoting the sport to gain new fans and regain lost ones. Then when the fans have come, they need to be entertained.}

^{Ensure meetings are run efficiently, give the winner of heat 1 enough time to do a lap of honour, then straight on with the 2 minutes foe heat 2. Only after every 3 or 4 heats have a track grading interval, even that shouldn't take any longer than 5 minutes. Scrap the rider replacement rule. This will eradicate the need for two races in succession. Riders take their scheduled rides unless injured. Then they are replaced by track reserves. If this means going to six man teams then fine.}

^{Extend meetings and develop young riders for the future by insisting every team have a junior team. Race against other local teams to save on travelling. A junior meeting after every league match.}

^{Provide some sort of entertainment for fans during the grading intervals. Many different forms this can come in and doesn't need to be expensive.}

^{Promoters would do worse than to follow the excellent work done by Glasgow this season, promoting the team and keeping fans happy during the meetings. They are getting big crowds in now and reaping the benefits.}

[New Science 1,059]

Said on the Wolves web-site there was a large crowd.

 

Dont know what they would put as a large crowd,but since mid July the crowds have been abysmal.

 

How much was it to get in last night ?.

The usual 18 quid for adults

Big crowd ? Definitely the lowest ever for the Olympique .

Suppose if you keep saying things often enough people might start believing them.

Edited October 13, 2015 by New Science

[cityrebel 2,960]

The usual 18 quid for adults

Big crowd ? Definitely the lowest ever for the Olympique .

Suppose if you keep saying things often enough people might start believing them.

 

too right, they're not gonna say there was a pathetic crowd here tonight!