Wolves v Sheffield Monday 28th August Live on Eurosport

[ruckerroo 792]

i reckon 99% of speedway enthusiasts are team sport orientated, its a sign of the times with what these companys are doing, motivated by money and balance sheets and seemingly years of tradition mean zero  . Its a dreadful state of affairs really.

The thing that really pisses on my chips as a casual fan is there is no regular  saturday speedway club in the uk bar berwick. The day of the week where anybody can go with the family and be under no pressure time wise .

Lets hope a rye house or eastbourne miracle takes place close season 

[mikebv 10,293]

9 minutes ago, Tinker said:

Agree entirely. Apart from the GP's, never really been a fan of individual events. All about league racing for me and always will be. Just wish we could go back to the halcyon days of say Halifax riding at Cradley with all the rivalry and large crowds etc.

Needs to be more a sense of belonging to a team for both riders and supporters and as MikeBV regularly points out, greater financial rewards for winning the league and a proper trophy to go with it.

There are big financial rewards already in place, which is the frustration...

The Aces for example will have 12 meetings this year in the league itself..

At circa average £20 a punter, with around 1300 a week (maybe more as some good crowds this year), that would deliver over £300k...

Seven teams delivering that as an average would generate well over £2.1M...

And that is without sponsorship.. 

A huge amount for a sport that, in the grand scheme of things, hardly anyone has heard of...

And, given it appears most clubs don't make "tens of thousands" of profit each season, you can only presume most of it goes to the riders...

Smoke and Mirrors maybe but that kind of financial reward needs to be publicised to prick interest...

[DazS 431]

20 hours ago, Noelinho said:

Yeah, individual events are nice, but league racing is the glue.

yes no league racing how can you cheer for a 5-1.

[truthsayer 234]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

There are big financial rewards already in place, which is the frustration...

The Aces for example will have 12 meetings this year in the league itself..

At circa average £20 a punter, with around 1300 a week (maybe more as some good crowds this year), that would deliver over £300k...

Seven teams delivering that as an average would generate well over £2.1M...

And that is without sponsorship.. 

A huge amount for a sport that, in the grand scheme of things, hardly anyone has heard of...

 And, given it appears most clubs don't make "tens of thousands" of profit each season, you can only presume most of it goes to the riders...

Smoke and Mirrors maybe but that kind of financial reward needs to be publicised to prick interest...

You really think £26,000 income a meeting is viable?

[Baldyman 6,243]

Think I prefer individual racing myself,,,, team racing is an utter shower of schitt with the way it's been allowed to implode. I haven't missed a single gp on the TV,,, but I get free BSN on my dodgy firestick and eurosport and I think I've watched 2 british league meetings,,, although I have watched nearly all the Polish leagues meetings,, so it must just be the crap way it's run over here why I don't bother anymore 

[MattB 177]

5 hours ago, IronScorpion said:

We know speedway in the UK is struggling but so are some clubs abroad in Sweden & Poland with non payment of riders. Rules & Regulations(SCB) are not enforced & open to interpretation. The BSP Ltd & other promoters have not helped themselves with self interest.

But look at the main Issues of Landlords(ARC) charging unaffordable rent, land prices where housing development takes place & the general changing of interests(phones, social media, tiktok , influencers). Money is being used elsewhere.

 Look at your own towns & cities. How many schools have closed down & amalgamated with others to be one, parks even industrial areas now being sold on for "affordable housing"? What about the number of boarded up houses on estates that could have a bit of money spent on them by the councils & re-used.

Any club that does not own its own stadium has the same noose hanging over their head that we have and also Peterborough.  If the owner of the site sells it for redevelopment or just decides they don't want you there anymore,  you don't have a leg to stand on even if your a viable operation.  Coventry and Cradley were viable,  but that didn't stop the stadiums being taken from underneath them.

Us, Peterborough, Poole, Birmingham and Edinburgh are all facing that problem and these are just the known clubs.  I know of at least two others that face a real threat of having no home in the next 18 months.

[bellevueace 913]

5 hours ago, Tinker said:

Agree entirely. Apart from the GP's, never really been a fan of individual events. All about league racing for me and always will be. Just wish we could go back to the halcyon days of say Halifax riding at Cradley with all the rivalry and large crowds etc.

Needs to be more a sense of belonging to a team for both riders and supporters and as MikeBV regularly points out, greater financial rewards for winning the league and a proper trophy to go with it.

For me  even the  GP,s are becoming played out, there were great individual meetings in the past the BLRC which usually had a field that was better than the world final, the British Final at Coventry packed with world class talent, and every track had their own big individual meetings again packed with the top talent available. I remember travelling to Kings Lynn for the Pride of the East for example. I suppose those meetings back then were popular due the riders participating, compare to this years British Final for example.

[iainb 5,024]

6 hours ago, ruckerroo said:

The thing that really pisses on my chips as a casual fan is there is no regular  saturday speedway club in the uk bar berwick. The day of the week where anybody can go with the family and be under no pressure time wise .

Is that the sound of the nail being hit on the head?

It's totally obvious you run on the night when you can get your best crowds. British Speedway really could have its cake and eat it. It's been shown at Leicester this year that running on Thursday's with the big stars in town really hasn't added the extra amount of fans needed to pay for it. 

There was a big crowd at Peterborough last night, was that because of the riders on display or because it was a Bank Holiday? The latter I would suggest and it was a local derby of course. 

The British League(s) need to run credible teams on the race night that suits them, this is not rocket science, they need the riders to commit to a full season, contracts to be honoured and if the riders aren't in... they're out and the league(s) structures are adjusted accordingly. That's the having your cake bit. 

The eating it is putting on open individual meetings with your Emil's, Bewley's, Woffy's etc. Like the PCMT has shown crowds will flock to these when there's a decent competitive field. 

Test Matches, crowds used to love to turn out to watch the national team ride and as the national team are doing so well we don't get to see them at all this year in the UK and the extra publicity this would bring

[GeneralMelchett 482]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

Is that the sound of the nail being hit on the head?

It's totally obvious you run on the night when you can get your best crowds. British Speedway really could have its cake and eat it. It's been shown at Leicester this year that running on Thursday's with the big stars in town really hasn't added the extra amount of fans needed to pay for it. 

There was a big crowd at Peterborough last night, was that because of the riders on display or because it was a Bank Holiday? The latter I would suggest and it was a local derby of course. 

The British League(s) need to run credible teams on the race night that suits them, this is not rocket science, they need the riders to commit to a full season, contracts to be honoured and if the riders aren't in... they're out and the league(s) structures are adjusted accordingly. That's the having your cake bit. 

The eating it is putting on open individual meetings with your Emil's, Bewley's, Woffy's etc. Like the PCMT has shown crowds will flock to these when there's a decent competitive field. 

Test Matches, crowds used to love to turn out to watch the national team ride and as the national team are doing so well we don't get to see them at all this year in the UK and the extra publicity this would bring

As a young new to speedway fan my old man took me up to Ipswich to see the England or was it GB test match V's Denmark (1988) - absolutely loved it as I got to see Tatum Wigg Donkey, Morton, Cross, Havelock and Silver  V's Nielsen, Gundersen, Jan O Pedersen, Ravn and co - as a NL fan we never got to see these riders usually. The place was packed and GB won 47-43.

I do prefer team events - the old Autumn triangles and 4TT qualifiers / events always got decent crowds in as it packed 2-3 teams into a night so the away attendance was always bigger.

When I moved to Sheffield I did usually attended the PLRC which again was always pretty packed out and run on a Sunday. In the old days the NLRC was at Coventry on a saturday night which we attended a couple of times. One of the biggest mistakes in my view was the downgrading of the British Final to a weekday slot. I loved the 2 or 3  I attended in the late 80s, always on a Sunday with a packed out Brandon.

On the team front bank holiday double meetings were always a draw. Lunchtime up at Ipswich - back down to Arena in the evening, the crowds at Foxhall in the lunchtime meeting would always be about 3000+ and often 2000+ at Arena in the evening.

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by GeneralMelchett

[bellevueace 913]

The wednesday night British finals were always packed out every time i went, always thought it strange being mid week even though the quality on display was top class.

Edited August 29, 2023 by bellevueace

[iainb 5,024]

2 minutes ago, bellevueace said:

The wednesday night British finals were always packed out every time i went, always thought it strange being mid week even though the quality on display was top class.

A lot of well supported Midlands clubs in those days

Edited August 29, 2023 by iainb

[mikebv 10,293]

4 hours ago, iainb said:

A lot of well supported Midlands clubs in those days

And all the riders due to be there actually turned up..

[StarBoy 165]

12 hours ago, Baldyman said:

Think I prefer individual racing myself,,,, team racing is an utter shower of schitt with the way it's been allowed to implode. I haven't missed a single gp on the TV,,, but I get free BSN on my dodgy firestick and eurosport and I think I've watched 2 british league meetings,,, although I have watched nearly all the Polish leagues meetings,, so it must just be the crap way it's run over here why I don't bother anymore 

Can you access canal+ on your fire stick to watch Polish meetings?

[Baldyman 6,243]

1 hour ago, StarBoy said:

Can you access canal+ on your fire stick to watch Polish meetings?

Yes through nsport and eleven sport,,,, plus get the canal channels anyway. 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Baldyman

[GeneralMelchett 482]

9 hours ago, bellevueace said:

The wednesday night British finals were always packed out every time i went, always thought it strange being mid week even though the quality on display was top class.

Is that when they were running at the old Belle Vue as in Kirkmanshulme Lane? If so yes busy, but not on the Coventry level.