The Little Un 47 Posted October 3, 2016 Whatever the Sky deal is, it is irrelevant financially. Rugby League, Darts and Speedway all changed in 1995 with the introduction of Sky Sports. Rugby League has gone from strength to Strength because of the restructuring it has made in conjunction with Sky television. Darts crowds now outnumber speedway fans at meetings due to the restructuring it made in conjunction with Sky television. Over that period speedway has stagnated because the sport has constantly refused to restructure the sport in a way that would create a vibrant sport with ten times the number of fans it has today. Speedway fans have not helped as they are resistant to change but as in RL and Darts the changes need to be made in order to create new fans, not solely to retain the ever decreasing fans that currently go to speedway in Britain. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CookieIpswich 249 Posted October 3, 2016 Best post ever there mate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,452 Posted October 3, 2016 Agree. Just showed shots of the crowd at Monmore. Big tonight as its the final, but in ten years time the majority of that lot will be pushing up daises. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CB252 1,376 Posted October 3, 2016 Agree. Just showed shots of the crowd at Monmore. Big tonight as its the final, but in ten years time the majority of that lot will be pushing up daises. Encouraging for Wolves fans then as that will give them, on average, about 8 years longer to live than those that frequent the main grandstand at Wimborne Road. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reliant Robin 492 Posted October 4, 2016 Hope there's a get out clause on the deal You think the sport would be better off without the TV money? I doubt you'll find many EL Promoters who would be in the same hopeful boat. Whatever the Sky deal is, it is irrelevant financially. Rugby League, Darts and Speedway all changed in 1995 with the introduction of Sky Sports. Rugby League has gone from strength to Strength because of the restructuring it has made in conjunction with Sky television. Darts crowds now outnumber speedway fans at meetings due to the restructuring it made in conjunction with Sky television. Over that period speedway has stagnated because the sport has constantly refused to restructure the sport in a way that would create a vibrant sport with ten times the number of fans it has today. Speedway fans have not helped as they are resistant to change but as in RL and Darts the changes need to be made in order to create new fans, not solely to retain the ever decreasing fans that currently go to speedway in Britain. A good and sensible post on the subject Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CookieIpswich 249 Posted October 4, 2016 I hope there is a get out clause because speedway is on the wrong channel, as I've said before speedway is a filler product with sky sports, speedway needs to be on BT Sport who do great things for other minority sports such as cage warriors. Reckon Gospeed took the money they wanted as a down payment then didn't care how long the sky deal was for, the sport needs an injection to boost it 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reliant Robin 492 Posted October 4, 2016 I hope there is a get out clause because speedway is on the wrong channel, as I've said before speedway is a filler product with sky sports, speedway needs to be on BT Sport who do great things for other minority sports such as cage warriors. Reckon Gospeed took the money they wanted as a down payment then didn't care how long the sky deal was for, the sport needs an injection to boost it Read The Little Un's post a few up from yours....much more on the money and sensible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugwash 3,208 Posted October 4, 2016 If this is aimed at me, I was born in Kent and moved to Swindon as a child. Only lived there just under 10 years of my life and had no choice as a minor. As soon as I became of age I was gone and moved to Dorset, where I have been ever since. Best thing I ever did was getting out of Swindon. Oh, and I moved to Swindon from Peterborough. Does that mean I should be a panthers fan first? ' We've a bit of tarmac left over from a job up the road'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,664 Posted October 4, 2016 (edited) I hope there is a get out clause because speedway is on the wrong channel, as I've said before speedway is a filler product with sky sports, speedway needs to be on BT Sport who do great things for other minority sports such as cage warriors. Reckon Gospeed took the money they wanted as a down payment then didn't care how long the sky deal was for, the sport needs an injection to boost it Maybe - but how many BT Sport subscribers are there compared to Sky Sports? BT's Champions League viewing figures are nowhere close to what Sky's were previously. Mainstream TV is the answer - maybe channel 4 or 5 - but with a 'highlights' package rather than live meetings every week. If the sport gets on mainstream TV - it may even attract some major sponsors?! Edited October 4, 2016 by Skidder1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted October 4, 2016 SKY regularly getting over 100,000 viewers for speedway which is pretty good in this day and age and just goes to show that many only watch on TV rather than attend meetings. The Sky money, both the season by season pay-out and the staging fees (£10,000 I believe) are vital to the EL tracks. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CookieIpswich 249 Posted October 4, 2016 Speedway will never get on mainstream TV well not at present anyway. BT Sport is the way forward so it can sit on the same channel as the GP, as MotoGP and other sports that BT Sport are adding, but it would only work if there was a fresh approach to how the sport was run (as per the excellent post above). BT Sport I feel would push the sport more and more and advertise it within the production of other two wheeled motorsports which will only help push the sport forward. They of course will struggle initially against SKY Sports numbers for Champions League etc. but the numbers are growing, they are even getting 30,000 people viewing Cage Warriors, Is it not cheaper to run BT Sports than the SKY Sports package as a speedway fan? It's pretty clear that speedway in this country is in the wrong hands - where is the title sponsor for the Elite League? Also it would be good to use any additional revenue to explore the opportunity to have a British Speedway TV Pass online channel similar to what the UFC do with UFC Fight Pass - Yes, UFC is a multi-billion dollar organisation with fans worldwide but something can be achieved on a smaller scale Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,452 Posted October 4, 2016 What the hell is cage warriors? Sounds like WWE wrestling. Why would speedway be better off on BT? Less viewers is not good. And most speedway fans are not at all interested in motogp and Superbikes. The only benefit speedway could have is that BT come in and try to take the speedway from Sky, meaning a bidding war which will increase the money speedway gets. Lets hope that happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baldyman 6,243 Posted October 4, 2016 But you never know the moto gp and superbike fans may just be interested in speedway. By the way I'm a huge superbike and moto gp fan, just as much as speedway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CookieIpswich 249 Posted October 4, 2016 Cage Warriors is the biggest event in Europe for Mixed Martial Arts, basically what UFC is and BT Sport also have the rights to UFC altho SKY Sports are looking to take that off their hands. Speedway sits alongside Golf, Cricket, Football etc. on Sky - some big audiences but not really their target profile, sitting on BT Sports aligns it against other similar sports. Would you run a promotion and reach 250,000 people and get a few orders, or target your audience to 25,000 people and get 25 orders, I know what I would do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rocketman77 41 Posted October 4, 2016 SKY regularly getting over 100,000 viewers for speedway which is pretty good in this day and age and just goes to show that many only watch on TV rather than attend meetings. The Sky money, both the season by season pay-out and the staging fees (£10,000 I believe) are vital to the EL tracks. I would like to see more premier league matches 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
