moxey63 1,785 Posted August 27, 2019 Speedway Star did a piece the other week questioning speedway clubs' season-long chopping and changing of riders. The article was bang on. The season is just a continuation of practice matches. Perhaps if sides lost a certain number of match points for every change they made, they wouldn't be so hasty. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midland Red 2,383 Posted August 27, 2019 12 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said: OR it could be that tracks racing on a Bank Holiday hope for bigger than usual crowds and don't want TV to affect that. So . . a confession from Mr R that televised speedway DOES affect attendances trackside I’ve said this all along, and I still see no benefit to the sport in having league matches televised live in the UK It’s not as if it’s a great product to advertise to the wider public in the current format Much better would be a carefully edited weekly highlights package - just show the races, and sensible interviews post-meeting instead of the gap-filling chats as at present Put together a package that just might attract new spectators and ex-attendees to the tracks 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,246 Posted August 27, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Midland Red said: So . . a confession from Mr R that televised speedway DOES affect attendances trackside I’ve said this all along, and I still see no benefit to the sport in having league matches televised live in the UK It’s not as if it’s a great product to advertise to the wider public in the current format Much better would be a carefully edited weekly highlights package - just show the races, and sensible interviews post-meeting instead of the gap-filling chats as at present Put together a package that just might attract new spectators and ex-attendees to the tracks Me and you same...I've being saying it for years. Who is the target audience? Those who already go or to attract new fans or indeed new sponsors? Edited August 27, 2019 by steve roberts 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jenga 2,998 Posted August 28, 2019 On 7/26/2019 at 6:45 PM, steve roberts said: If I recall it was 1996 although they had been banned from the British League for a year but, as everything, got overturned and hence costs spiralled even more out of control. from what i can make out of these lay down engines , they look like uprights (poss same) but with engine plates made up to put the engine on a forward tilt . inlet/exhaust manifold and exhaust need re tweaking . other than that . looks like a bog standard speedway engine . there is no reason why the cost of speedway should be rising so quickly . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moxey63 1,785 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, steve roberts said: Me and you same...I've being saying it for years. Who is the target audience? Those who already go or to attract new fans or indeed new sponsors? Those who already go are probably best suited to introduce new fans. I was introduced by a current fan. I introduced my youngest brother when he was 11, giving him a blank programme and showing him how to fill it in before he even attended a match. As he has said a few times, if he didn't know what it was all about and didn't know the scoring, he'd probably have not returned. That is why live matches on TV might not be encouraging new fans. It is a great spectacle but after a while, even cake becomes boring. New fans have got to understand the scoring system. Forget the rules, as they would have new fans running to the hills. Edited August 28, 2019 by moxey63 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) Neither my sons or grandsons have ever show interest in speedway despite my taking them to meetings several times. I particularly recall one meeting at Wimbledon. We were upstairs in the stand with a wonderful view of the track and the racing. My sons spent most of the evening kneeling on the floor racing toy cars! Another time I was there with two grandsons who kept asking "...how long does this all go on for..." and conceded "we keep seeing four men ride round on motorbikes. What else happens?" Edited August 28, 2019 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
topsoil 2,498 Posted August 28, 2019 23 hours ago, moxey63 said: Speedway Star did a piece the other week questioning speedway clubs' season-long chopping and changing of riders. The article was bang on. The season is just a continuation of practice matches. Perhaps if sides lost a certain number of match points for every change they made, they wouldn't be so hasty. I blame forums like this as much as anything for team changes. There are loads of pages full of "we need to replace xxx". 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted August 28, 2019 16 hours ago, steve roberts said: Me and you same...I've being saying it for years. Who is the target audience? Those who already go or to attract new fans or indeed new sponsors? PROBABLY three times as many people watch British speedway on television than actually attend. TV is good for general awareness that speedway still exists and for sponsorship both with riders and tracks. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robbie B 262 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) A full list of all the team changes this season are available to view as I keep the SGB Premiership, Championship and National league pages upto date on Wikipedia. SGB Premiership https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGB_Premiership_2019 SGB Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGB_Championship_2019 National League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_National_League_speedway_season Edited August 28, 2019 by Robbie B 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moxey63 1,785 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) I genuinely label speedway in the same bracket as wresting, or even when Popeye steps in to save Olive Oil from the hands of Bluto in the vintage cartoons. In wrestling, the guy who is being thrown about like a Bonfire Night Guy, but summons enough strength in the end to win the day. We know it's not real, genuine. Popeye's the same. He uses his available tin of spinach and comes come at the end. The good guy always wins. Speedway has gone the same. I'd say (usually) Poole have fathomed out the precise time to use the spinach, having gone much of the summer looking like that home-made Guy doll. Edited August 28, 2019 by moxey63 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
auntie doris 2,342 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said: PROBABLY three times as many people watch British speedway on television than actually attend. TV is good for general awareness that speedway still exists and for sponsorship both with riders and tracks. But most homes don't have BT Sport. They had a bigger audience on Sky. So less than 50000 watch on tv? I've attended 2 Swindon matches this week, neither on tele, good crowds and good racing, in good weather. Was VFM. And thrashing the top 2 Poole and Ipswich made it more enjoyable! Edited August 28, 2019 by auntie doris Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OveFundinFan 4,143 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, auntie doris said: But most homes don't have BT Sport. They had a bigger audience on Sky. So only around 60000 watch on tv? I've attended 2 Swindon matches this week, neither on tele, good crowds and good racing, in good weather. Was VFM. ONLY 60,000. Is that bad? I basically only with BT for the speedway, it doesnt cost much for a BT TV box, and we watch "normal" tv programmes through freesat. When you say they had bigger audiences on SKY. Maybe, but SKY didnt want British speedway, fortunately BT picked it up. I not willing to pay £20 plus travelling (an hour each way) to my local team no matter how good the racing is there (BV). In fact, if only the GP's were on BT then I would still subscribe. The other benefit of me being with BT is I am one of the 7% in the UK who get fibre to the house. I went from 1.2mbps to 52mbps (and more if I wanted to pay for the speed). Edited August 28, 2019 by OveFundinFan 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flagrag 704 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) I really do hope that the BSPA see sense and do not allow Eurosport to get the British Speedway broadcast rights as it will be a budget production gone will be your UHD coverage with multiple camera angles they will look at doing a more remote production with around 4 cameras and commentary done from London to save costs. As much as it pains me to say it but BT sport have done a good job in broadcasting Speedway since taking over with new innovation and fresh sense of broadcasting Edited August 28, 2019 by flagrag 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flagrag 704 Posted August 28, 2019 6 minutes ago, flagrag said: I really do hope that the BSPA see sense and do not allow Eurosport to get the British Speedway broadcast rights as it will be a budget production gone will be your UHD coverage with multiple camera angles they will look at doing a more remote production with around 4 cameras and commentary done from London to save costs. As much as it pains me to say it but BT sport have done a good job in broadcasting Speedway since taking over with new innovation and fresh sense of broadcasting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
racerback 36 Posted August 28, 2019 got to love all the replys about having no tv coverage how about us people that work odd hours and cant get to live matches as often as we would like or the fan thats house bound through injury or illness we apprieciate tv coverage as it keeps our interest in the sport alive i hope it can stay on bt for a long time to come 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites