Daniel Smith 5,666 Posted March 15, 2020 I genuinely believe this will kill British Speedway stone cold dead. As said, most attending are over 60 & have been going for their lifetime. Once the habits are broken the majority will not come back to Speedway. This virus may not kill as many of the elderly as first expected but it most certainly will kill this sport. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scoobydoo 2,254 Posted March 15, 2020 Only goes to show that speedway was really reliant on paying customers being attracted though the turnstiles, its a pity its taken something like this for some promotions to finally realise this was the case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piotr Pyszny 206 Posted March 15, 2020 6 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said: I genuinely believe this will kill British Speedway stone cold dead. As said, most attending are over 60 & have been going for their lifetime. Once the habits are broken the majority will not come back to Speedway. This virus may not kill as many of the elderly as first expected but it most certainly will kill this sport. I suspect this will hit badly a lot of sports. For many, watching sport is a habit. Plenty of opportunity, in the months to come, to get out of the habit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wealdstone 3,454 Posted March 15, 2020 10 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said: I genuinely believe this will kill British Speedway stone cold dead. As said, most attending are over 60 & have been going for their lifetime. Once the habits are broken the majority will not come back to Speedway. This virus may not kill as many of the elderly as first expected but it most certainly will kill this sport. I think you are right Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toto 197 Posted March 15, 2020 No.dont think the season will start at all Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris116 756 Posted March 15, 2020 I think we will have a very short season if any racing takes place at all. The Premiership and Championship are going to have massive problems with riders who race in other countries not being available due to fixture congestion everywhere. The only league that has a chance of running a meaningful short season is the NDL which the two top leagues seem to want to kill by next year so I fear they will say that if the top two can't run then the NDL is not allowed to. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tellboy 3,662 Posted March 15, 2020 In response to my own question.It won't start on time imo.But if we lose a couple of months at the start of the season why can't we go back to the old days and run up to the end of October.Push the play-offs into a couple of weeks rather than how it is spaced out now.I'm sure the clubs could survive like that.The only problem that may arise is how many months they could lose due to the virus.If it's a couple i think they could survive,anything longer and it could become a serious problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,290 Posted March 15, 2020 16 hours ago, scoobydoo said: Someone said on the Ben Fund meeting updates that any sport that requires an ambulance to be on stand by wont be permitted to run irrespective of crowd size That would make sense.. I would imagine all ambulances will be instructed to be on standby 'just in case'... Having one parked up for the best part of three hours or more wouldn't be seen as being best use I would think.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Speedtiger 327 Posted March 15, 2020 5 hours ago, Phil The Ace said: I'm sure I read somewhere that the government will compensate any sport clubs affected by this mass gatherings ban if it comes to that Phil, I wouldn’t hold out any hope of financial help for speedway. Trillions will be wanted by airlines, business, hospitals, social services, football etc etc...speedway will be well well down the list, if it’s even on it. Many Clubs and the sport were already in financial mess before Coronavirus and all riders are self employed and sadly won’t be helped. This is now a worldwide disaster of epic proportions and the ruin of speedway is just a very minor consequence. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Third Man 2,217 Posted March 15, 2020 7 hours ago, Phil The Ace said: I'm sure I read somewhere that the government will compensate any sport clubs affected by this mass gatherings ban if it comes to that No way will the government open themselves to this, they wont even compensate people who need to self isolate except to give them an extra £20 in the first week. They expect people on minimum wage who live from one wage packet to the next to take a massive drop in wages for one or two weeks minimum, so sport or any other industry wont get compensation Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cityrebel 2,960 Posted March 15, 2020 If by some miracle the season does start. They could scrap the cup fixtures and run A league matches only. It's not ideal, but could be a solution. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MattK 3,447 Posted March 15, 2020 7 minutes ago, cityrebel said: If by some miracle the season does start. They could scrap the cup fixtures and run A league matches only. It's not ideal, but could be a solution. Better still, scrap the league and just have a cup competition and the league play-offs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MattK 3,447 Posted March 15, 2020 25 minutes ago, The Third Man said: No way will the government open themselves to this, they wont even compensate people who need to self isolate except to give them an extra £20 in the first week. They expect people on minimum wage who live from one wage packet to the next to take a massive drop in wages for one or two weeks minimum, so sport or any other industry wont get compensation Of course, the devil is in the details. The govt have announced support for businesses, but these are likely to be in the form of loans and could even include personal guarantees. As you say, they are unlikely to throw free money at companies who suffer losses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Doctor... 1,478 Posted March 15, 2020 5 hours ago, scoobydoo said: Only goes to show that speedway was really reliant on paying customers being attracted though the turnstiles, its a pity its taken something like this for some promotions to finally realise this was the case. Yep, and one in particular who are melting down in front of our eyes on this forum aswell. There's a lesson to be learned for them in particular that's for sure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevehone 3,430 Posted March 15, 2020 On 3/14/2020 at 5:31 PM, The Third Man said: From next week speedway will be banned unless it is limited to 500 spectators and if that were the case would the 500 limit include people in the pits as that would be 70+ people down on the 500 paying straight off 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites