That’s a good signing 

If everybody had the sponsors the model works, unfortunately not every club does, all PL clubs do have the TV money though (at the moment) but not all of them have the crowds, so some of that money would have to offset the lack of crowd numbers. If we say Sheffield, Ippo, BV & Leicester (I think) have decent sponsors, Lynn & Oxford also have sponsors but they're not synonymous with the club and Brum are sponsored by their owner! Brum are gone, we know that and we expect Spires to end... which other clubs in the UK have a sponsorship deal that allows them to fund these "best people"... there will always be "best people" at clubs even if they're NDL level.  The only way to keep the "stars" and entice more, would be for Mr Morris & Co to approach one of the TV broadcasters with a proposal that blows the Poles out of the water, a £10m-£15m per season deal... now stop laughing!     Taken from Google: Gathering precise and regularly updated viewing figures for sports like speedway in the UK can be challenging, as broadcasters and governing bodies don't always release granular data, especially for niche sports. However, we can glean some insights from historical data and current commentary: General Trends & Historical Context:  * Modest but Passionate Audience: Speedway has a dedicated and passionate fanbase in the UK, but its overall viewership is significantly smaller than mainstream sports like football or rugby.  * Decline from Peak: Historical BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) figures, particularly from the 2000s and early 2010s, indicate a decline in average live British speedway viewing figures from a peak around 2007-2009. For instance, the average audience on Sky Sports for Elite League speedway in 2011 was around 80,611, which was down significantly from 145,550 in 2008. By 2013, it had fallen to an all-time low of 62,615.  * Lowest Figures: Before BT Sport (now TNT Sports) took over, the least popular live British speedway meetings on Sky Sports would sometimes hover around 40,000 viewers. Current Situation with TNT Sports / Discovery+ / DMAX:  * Shift to Pay-TV/Streaming: The move of British Premiership Speedway and the FIM Speedway Grand Prix to TNT Sports (formerly Eurosport/BT Sport) and its streaming counterpart Discovery+ means that viewing figures are primarily within a subscription model. These platforms do not typically release specific per-event viewership numbers for individual sports in the same way free-to-air channels might.  * "Millions of Viewers" (Platform Reach): When Discovery+ and Eurosport promote their speedway coverage, they often talk about making the action available to "millions of viewers" through their platforms. This refers to the potential reach of their subscriber base, not necessarily the number of people actively watching speedway. For example, TNT Sports 1 had monthly viewing figures of 5,864,000 in December, while Eurosport 1 had 2,035,000. Speedway is just one of many sports on these channels.  * Free-to-Air Highlights: The inclusion of highlights on DMAX is crucial for broader exposure. While these figures are also not often broken down by sport, free-to-air channels generally have a much wider reach than subscription services.  * Focus on Fan Engagement: The broadcasters emphasize attracting new viewers and delivering an engaging experience for passionate fans, using features like live data (rider heartbeat, reaction time) and additional editorial content. International Comparison (Poland): It's worth noting that speedway has a much larger following in some other countries, particularly Poland. For example, in May 2022, the Orlen FIM Speedway GP of Poland in Warsaw reached 6.6 million viewers over the weekend across TVN Group's channels and platforms in Poland, with an average live audience of 442,000 on the free-to-air channel TTV. This highlights the significant difference in popularity and viewing habits for speedway across different territories. In summary, while precise, recent UK viewing figures for speedway are hard to come by, it's understood to be a niche sport with a dedicated, but relatively small, linear TV audience on pay-TV channels. The focus for broadcasters like TNT Sports and Discovery+ is on serving that passionate fanbase within their subscription offerings, while using free-to-air highlights (DMAX) to attract a wider audience.  

Poole get better attendances than when last in the Prem and no GP stars. They are not the be all and end all imo. They are great to have but you cannot hold other clubs to ransom for sake for 4-6 riders.

Some rain forecast between 2 and 5 pm , then drying up with sunny weather.

Laughable that anyone thinks Kerr was at fault for that 

Yep it was quite clearly a fair move, but in the context of the meeting situation and Thompson going down you can understand why some Ippo fans didn't like it seeing it in real time, would have been exactly the same at Lynn in reverse.