2017 Grand Prix Venues

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

WHAT movement of staff?

 

Bellamy moved on within the organisation, Nicola Sands left and at least one other seemed to disappear, and I think there were board level changes. You know that perfectly well though. Edited September 15, 2016 by Humphrey Appleby

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

Bellamy moved on within the organisation, Nicola Sands left and at least one other seemed to disappear, and I think there were board level changes. You know that perfectly well though.

YOU are twisting the facts to suit your ill-informed opinions.

 

Paul Bellamy only changed roles last year when he took over as Managing Director of Rallycross, When IMG acquired the rights to rallycross an in-house lawyer (Martin, cannot remember his surname) took the reins under the stewardship of Rob Armstrong, in overall charge of motorsport, and with some help from Paul.

 

When Martin, a top class rugby player, left to run the Pro-12 series, and with Torben Olsen established as Paul's no 2 it was decided to move Paul to rallycross and promote Torben who might otherwise have moved elsewhere. Nothing to do with Gelsenkirchen.

 

Nicola Sands felt that she needed a change after 15 years and to get a normal life after years of working very long hours and being away from home and her husband so often. She was head-hunted by Pro-12 rugby and took up their offer.

 

Any other changes at BSI Speedway were simply staff churn. Two of the commercial managers actually went to Manchester United, one is now with the PGA of America (golf) and the other has set up his own thriving business. Event managers come and go because by and large they cannot move up the chain.

 

Nothing sinister here at all and certainly nothing to do with Gelsenkirchen. Or, indeed, Warsaw.

 

The problems there were well documented at the time and, like Warsaw last year, simply came down to the fact that the material used for the track was too wet when laid and inside a cold stadium and on a concrete base could not be dried sufficiently to allow the meeting to go ahead. Any conspiracy theories that the meeting was never going to take place are pure poppy cock.

Edited September 15, 2016 by PHILIPRISING

[mixxxser44 1]

Speedway Grand Prix 2017:

GP1. Warsaw

GP2. Krsko

GP3. Malilla

GP4. Praga

GP5. Horsens

GP6. Cardiff

GP7. Gorzów Wlkp.

GP8. Sztokholm

GP9. Teterow

GP10. Toruń

GP11. Melbourne

[oldswindonsupporter 42]

Announcement on the Cardiff date is due soon along with pre-sale information - source, emails from BSI Speedway.

[Jacques 3,114]

How soon is soon?!

[KEITH M 850]

How soon is soon?!

After the top officials and hierarchy have booked all the cheaper rates at the hotels in Cardiff

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

After the top officials and hierarchy have booked all the cheaper rates at the hotels in Cardiff

ARE there any cheaper rooms? Had expected an announcement today but it cannot be far away.

[RPNY 608]

HAD better options including Teterow...

WHAT movement of staff?

SORRY Russ but you are wrong. Next time we have a pint I will give you chapter and verse.

Fair enough mate. Probably just sour grapes on my behalf!

[moomin man 76 171]

 

Speedway Grand Prix 2017:

GP1. Warsaw

GP2. Krsko

GP3. Malilla

GP4. Praga

GP5. Horsens

GP6. Cardiff

GP7. Gorzów Wlkp.

GP8. Sztokholm

GP9. Teterow

GP10. Toruń

GP11. Melbourne

 

If that list is to be taken as definitive, it seems that BSI/IMG have spent the past twelve months doing nothing other than renegotiating deals with existing venues, rather than looking at ways and means of growing the series.

In all honesty does the sport really need three GPs in Poland and two in Sweden?

In reality BSI/IMG are doing little to promote the sport in different market places and are content to do little more than collect their staging fees and sell television rights contracts.

The organisation of the series is stale, with seemingly little new thought going into promotion and marketing.

[RPNY 608]

Entitled to your opinion but I really think it's hard to call it stale. The racing has been superb this year. Having been to Cardiff & Warsaw I can only describe them as superb spectacles. Although I'm in favor of new venues I will also hold my hands up and say they have a good mix of great stadiums and tracks now. I don't like there being 3 Polish GPs but the fact is, Warsaw was great, Gorzow was (again) great and I've never seen a bad GP at Torun. So how can you really argue with that. In my opinion (worth nothing of course) we're two riders short of it being the best series possible.

[moomin man 76 171]

I wouldn't disagree that the action on track has been entertaining this year. This aspect of the GPs is not stale.

In my earlier comment, I was really criticising the staleness of thought behind the whole series. There is little by way of innovation of thought, to promote the series above and beyond core speedway countries and core speedway fans. The same venues are being recycled. For instance, I cannot seriously believe that Teterow is the best venue that IMG/BSI could source in Germany to stage a GP.

[RPNY 608]

In their defense though, it's not an uncommon scenario. Venues for F1 for example are the same year in year out..

[Ghostwalker 1,859]

I wouldn't disagree that the action on track has been entertaining this year. This aspect of the GPs is not stale.

In my earlier comment, I was really criticising the staleness of thought behind the whole series. There is little by way of innovation of thought, to promote the series above and beyond

core speedway countries and core speedway fans. The same venues are being recycled. For instance, I cannot seriously believe that Teterow is the best venue that IMG/BSI could source in Germany to stage a GP.

 

While I agree in general. The issue is still not about finding a better venue. I, like you, is also convinced that there are better tracks/arenas for the purpose but the issue

still is to find a local promoter that it is willing to shell out the money that BSI+FIm requires in conjunction with taking the financial risk should the event not be profitable.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Ghostwalker

[Humphrey Appleby 13,955]

For instance, I cannot seriously believe that Teterow is the best venue that IMG/BSI could source in Germany to stage a GP.

 

Of course not, but it's the only one apparently willing to put up the readies.

[moomin man 76 171]

 

Of course not, but it's the only one apparently willing to put up the readies.

In my opinion, there in lies the problem with the series. IMG/BSI are happy to milk the sport for as much as they can in staging fees without actively looking at the wider picture, which would perhaps result in lower staging fees and a concerted strategy to get more spectators into a wider range of venues.

Edited September 16, 2016 by moomin man 76