Newcastle vs Edinburgh SGB Championship KO Cup 1st Rnd 1st Leg Sun 17 Apr 5.30pm

[gazzac 1,015]

3 minutes ago, Gambo said:

Or.. Keep the current format and allow the Team Manager a bit of tactical options, replacing the 'missing' rider.

Maybe could call it rider replacement,  oh......

[Terrace Grumbler 337]

50 minutes ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

Honestly

You don't need to weaken the league... go to 6 man teams... reduce the build average to 32 points for the first year you run with the 6 man team until everyone's average is realigned then build to 45 points the following season and going forward from there...

The first year you run with the 6 man teams it should free up around 10/11 riders with averages ranging from 5 to 8.5 which potentially opens up another two team slots in the league should the likes of Eastie Reading Coventry Worky or Bradford fancy a return...

You talk of weakening the product but if all those clubs were to make a dramatic comeback where would the additional riders come from... the pool of riders is what it is at present... you can't weaken that pool any further... instead of double ups go north and south in the second tier and allow triple ups? Where does it end?

Regards 

THJ 

 

Especially in the circumstances of the present rider shortage, this analysis is spot on.

As regards Newcastle, there have been decent crowds so far but also healthy away followings from Redcar and Edinburgh within them. Given that it became all too plain last season that the hard core support (the "through thick and thin" brigade) is not enough to keep the club's head above water, as I see it if there is any doubt about BWD's long term fitness and/or commitment and that GC will start to at least beat opposing reserves at home, then - funds permitting - hard decisions should be considered, and sooner rather than later, to give the team a better chance of achieving the home wins that might attract the less committed among the supporter base.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Terrace Grumbler
Can't spell

[TotallyHonestJohn 3,078]

2 hours ago, gazzac said:

Would that still be a 15 heat format with 6 riders? 

Yes and the new format was trialled in 2015 I think to mixed reviews which were well debated at the time however there was not this chronic rider shortage back then...

Regards 

THJ

 

[enotian 562]

I've been working on a 5 man 10 heat format (I'm not allowed out at the minute due to treatment so have time on my hands) which could be run as double headers. 

So that's 20 heats instead of 15 which has to be better VfM. If you're all about quantity.

That would be 10 more rides for the home promoter to pay for at home matches but 10 less rides to pay for at away fixtures. And two less travel expenses if that's still a thing.

Plus you'd get two sets of away supporters, which is more important if you're selling streaming.

The number of teams in the league would have to increase or the season would be over in 5 weeks. So maybe playing each team twice would be required otherwise you don't solve the rider shortage. As well as adding a two to four more teams. But then you end up having a wider range of ability between the 1st and 5th riders.

The trouble is once you reduce the rider numbers per match there's inevitably far more duplication of riders facing each other (making rider averages even less relevant) and covering injured riders becomes impossible or open to abuse. 

To the extent that  I still get back to there being a two tier structure more akin to the old British League and National Leagues with a career path to develop British youngsters. Where each club can ride on the day that optimises their crowd levels.

And not because Newcastle have a poor team (or rather are a No1 short of being competitive) as per a short sighted comment earlier in the thread. But because all the evidence indicates that the sport in this country is failing terribly, with fewer tracks and riders and most importantly supporters.