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The current business model is clearly unsustainable. Premiership club dies so a Championship club has to step up to keep the Premiership afloat. Rinse and repeat. This Groundhog Day can only repeat itself a finite number of times, before long there will be no teams left. It’s concerning the number of fans who think things should carry on this way, let alone that the people running the sport seem to agree.

You can’t force a business into spending money they don’t want to or operating in a way that’s not profitable just because it would benefit others. If Glasgow were given the ultimatum you suggest it would end up in court very quickly. The club is run by very successful business owners who I can’t imagine will be easy to push around. If the premiership want more clubs they need to make it an attractive prospect not try and force more clubs in.

Some Sunday League, and Semi Pro football teams, have tens of thousands of followers due to their own in house coverage and editing... With the YT algorithms taking you to them after you have watched one... It has been a perfect media for Speedway for at least five years since these type of programmes started... People eating loads of food quickly, get millions of followers!!!! Nearly a quarter of a million has watched the Wright/Allen fight, and over 400,000 have watched the final of the 2025 British Championship.. Imagine if just a tenth of those numbers attended a track each week?! The template to follow is out there due to what other sports teams do, so just follow it... Plenty of money can be made if you get the views and subscribers, and you don't need to spend loads to earn it, nor do a lengthy video... 15 to 20 mins featuring riders arriving, pre match team talk, some action, some during the meeting conversations between team and manager, post match team talk, and the riders post match thoughts, is sufficient... Fast paced, small soundbites, and race snippets from the best races, and not lengthy conversations and full races (unless a cracker)... People don't sit and watch two hours of sport like they used to, they now often just watch the fifteen to twenty minute highlights on YT... I have got into Baseball by watching 20 mins highlights, but wouldn't sit and watch three to four hours of the sport, watching pitch after pitch not getting hit... Speedway desperately needs some modern thinkers involved rather than those who have led the sport with the mantra "we have done it this way for decades"..

They have had almost 30 years of coverage and the fanbase is probably (at best), half what it was 30 years sgo... Promoters have had hundreds of two hour advertisements for their businesses and done nothing to make the sport look "popular" via the optics... I am always impressed the way the directors can focus in on thirty or forty people stood, or sat, together to make it look like a "crowd" is in attendance... Unfortunately, they then have to show the racing using a wider angle and the swathes of empty spaces and seats become clearly evident... When Sky first covered the sport, kids got in for free and they had face painters there, bouncy castles etc, and a "roving camera" that focused on the face painted groups of kids waving and shouting into the camera. This then often led into the adverts, and was the first thing you saw when they came back for the break. Giving the impression I presume that Speedway is great to take your kids to, and "fun".... Nowadays nothing appears to be done to create a "fun" atmosphere when on TV... A 2 hour advert that others in the entertainment industry would kill for and use to create interest. Imagine several restaurants being filmed for two hours, several times a year, with just four people eating in them each time they were on TV? They would ensure the place was packed, even if they all didn't pay!!! Sports that can only half fill their stadiums often close parts down to squeeze the crowd together and use the closed sections for large banner advertising of their sponsors... I always think the NSS, as an example, there are many others, that could benefit from that when on TV, ie fill the grandstand so the camera inside the circuit covering the start makes the place look full, (rather than it looks now due to hardly anyone sitting in the sections at the start of the home straight), and advertise your sponsors on the back straight... Just charge standing prices for one night in the grandstand, and credit the ST holders with any difference. (If they moan about it)... Put simply, Speedway, uniquely when measured against other "niche" sports, hasn't progressed one iota via the huge amount of TV coverage it has had... And you have to question why?.. So not sure what positive difference any other satellite or streaming service would make to it now.. The real issue without the TV coverage will be the lack of the six figure payment that the teams got rather than if it grew the sport or not...

Bosses need to grow a backbone and refuse starting permission for Glasgow in the Championship imo. It's a club with a Premiership business model in place on all fronts. Under no circumstances can the Premiership take place with 5 Teams.

No rider should be bigger than the sport or an individual club. Clinging on to the top riders by satisfying their financial demands is not the way to evolve British Speedway. The current crop of GP riders in this country will move on/retire before you know it and the sport in this country still needs to be standing when they do so. Powers that be need to be brave and if necessary have a total reset instead of applying fresh sticking plasters to see the sport through following season. Competitive racing with riders of a similar ability distributed across teams has to be the focus. How else do you attract fresh interest which the sport desperately needs? The people whose interest and money we need have probably never heard of the sport’s current elite. A league of five teams that can borrow riders from each other now and again isn’t the way to attract outsiders.

Agree can’t see hardly anyone being there to be honest. Strange time when people are at work and seems hastily arranged too. Not enough time for people to even book the day off work as not enough notice given. At least the groups of Romanian’s will be there to see it! Gathered around the cornhill on a daily basis making everyone else feel uncomfortable 🙄

Why should Glasgow prop up the top league. The top league over the years have pocketed fortunes from the TV deals. Now because they haven't got a TV deal you expect 2nd division clubs to throw them a rope. I would tell them to get stuffed. The only reason the top league might only run with 5/4 teams is down to them. They stood by and watched Tolly skint himself last season and now you think other clubs should follow suit?. They made their bed. Let them lie in it.

I have always thought it strange that anyone still at school isn't allowed in for free... The Aces (I think), let U12's in for free on the back straight, which is a good idea... However, just as they become more interested and nuanced in the sport the person who takes them now has to pay for them... Just at a time too when they start going out with their mates, and going somewhere (by yourself), that your Dad and Grandad attends suddenly becomes "very uncool".. Let all school kids in for free, let them bring their mates for free, and let them "sod off" by themselves if they so wish... Some will never become "paying punters" but some will, and some of those will be "mates" who never attended Speedway, until their mate who did, took them.. These "teens" are not there now in any numbers worth a mention, so let them in for nothing as you have nothing to lose, but maybe something longer term to gain... It is barmy that at somewhere like the NSS (particularly on TV), swathes of seats and terracing lie empty when thousands of kids attend local schools and play in local sports leagues... One of the positives of internet purchasing is that you gauge well in advance as to what your ticket sales will be like on the night, as the "walk up and pay on the gate people" will have an average number too... Therefore if your capacity is 2000 more than you expect to turn up, flood the local schools, kids groups, sports teams etc etc with free tickets... They, and their parents/guardians, will not be turning up to pay anyway, so nothing to lose... And if the odd few parents, who do actually attend, get a free ticket then its a small price to pay to give the optics out that you are a "popular sport"... People are very much sheeplike and get easily led by seeing a "big crowd", and just automatically latch on to it, and follow it.... The opposite also is true, ie. If it looks unpopular, it must be unpopular, and something I won't be interested in following...

It feels like boiling the frog with some people. It's crazy to think we've gone from an 8-team Elite League, 18-team Premier League, plus a decent conference league to what we have now in a little over 20 years. If that happened overnight there'd quite rightly be serious questions asked, if not something more serious. Yet here we are, still being told the sport is in good shape and has an exciting future.

Spot on... "Let's find another way to fudge through another season"... Without the TV six figure sum per team, you cannot see how the GP lads can be afforded anyway... Even if presently a significant part of their salaries is paid by sponsors, the TV money then paid for either rent and other meeting costs, or assisted towards the salaries of other riders.. That £100k leaves a huge black hole to be filled if no TV deal bears fruition...

Is that a joke. Premiership is in trouble why should Championship prop it up.

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True & absolutely not true. BSN is just 'preaching to the already converted' & won't add anything in growing the sport. At the same time, Sky & BT/TNT added absolutely nothing to attendances for British Speedway too. Even with these "Mainstream" channels, British Speedway has continually declined & clubs disappeared. There is only one last step for British Speedway to attempt, almost everyone's favorite platform, YouTube. Free to all, the largest viewing platform & a potential global audience. If the BSPL don't want to offer the product 'free to air', have Live meetings on YouTube under "Members Only" at £10 a month, then release the meetings to all a week later. British Speedway needs to look at a 10 year growth plan rather than just looking at the now, chasing whomever will pay up the biggest bucks. YouTube is THE biggest growth plan the BSPL could use & it's cheap

British Pathe News????? 😲

All the thoughts and ideas on here have some validity but the unknown factors are the state of the TV coverage, the level of sponsorship for the sport and to a large extent the set up of the leagues which are largely determined by the self interest of the business owners who are ploughing money into a sport in decline. It seemingly has no major media coverage in the U K and is largely ignored by the average person on the street and or is unknown to the average sports follower in the UK nor does it have any profile beyond the anoraks. Despite this it can be one of the most exciting two wheeled sports and needs to be marketed correctly. Take a look at the recent Polish Gala event and watch some of the races of each season going back to 2016 and watch the likes of Gollob winning races and find another sport that can match it. Like almost all on here we do not put money into the sport other than the entrance fee and whilst some have the answers to its failings we are not the custodians and until the club owners work for the overall best interest of the sport it will stagger from one crisis to the next and without a major change in 2026 it is the same old same old followed by a further decline in attendees.

Can't agree that there's a need for the Championship to "serve" the Premiership. Both leagues are equally reliant on each other to prosper, it isn't a one-way thing. Your last point is sadly an indictment of the situation we've sleepwalked into. If the riders are demanding twice the money due to only having one team place: good for them. Equally, the clubs are justified in only offering what they're happy to pay. Sadly, we're now in a situation where this isn't practical because even a handful of riders quitting would be catastrophic, so the tail continues to wag the dog.

Adam Bednar will be at Lynn, so he’s a cert at BV

Again I don’t think singling out one business for being successful and exposing financial risk upon them would be legal. If one club is going to be forced into anything. Every club would have to be given the same “ultimatum” British speedway is in a very difficult position but it isn’t for one or two clubs to fix it

As a dad of a NDL rider who actually rode on Sunday conditions were not brilliant but because Redcar is such a good track it was rideable and racing was good imho, my biggest concern is what you pointed out, there is not a endless supply of riders at this level, no consistency with meetings is a massive concern because lads lose interest etc, hopefully they will look at this at the agm and realise it requires some serious thought

They would need three rider teams if all those came back...

I think I miss Peterborough the most out of those, fantastic racetrack.

First team a mile off There is no way Ipswich will not have a team with 2 of King Rew and Ellis in it You have also missed Dan T off of both teams and he will be back We have 3 certain starters … Doyle , Brennan and Thompson … the rest will be dependent on the new points limit

Neither teams fits into anything, the points limit has not been announced...

I totally agree with you. The premiership is doomed as costs to run without major sponsorship is astronomical. Championship over last decade at least has and is the best competitive league

Or..... They could just tell everyone that speedway is a family sport... And that the bikes go for from nought to sixty quicker than an F1 car.. And also that they have no brakes... Oh. And obviously ask everyone to bring a friend.... If it ain't broken, and all that.

I was reading on another thread Northampton may not happen as the costs to get up and running have been way under stated, it looks a massive risk for anyone to take on even at Championship level let along premiership, if anyone does take it on they will either need six figure sponsorship or be seriously minted and happy to lose 100-150k without blinking is my take.

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No one will move up , rumour is Northampton will enter premiership

Still keeping an eye out, don’t see us leaving Armadale any time soon nobody buying that land for the price they want it for, it’s pretty much worthless cause of what’s under it.

In fairness to the family Bob was always strong enough to stand up to the BSPA and threatened to close it many times if it didn't work for them. I know you are part of the consortium to revive the Eagles but the Dugards have seen and heard it all before. Bob was never my favourite promoter but he did give it every best shot.

My mistake, deservedly finished second bottom !

None. The largest range they've ever worked to in recent years is a 3yr plan. At that, in the main, they've folded after a season. The issue is always the 'self importance' of the promoters. Their minds can't see past 12 months. Their interest is not about the sport overall, but only the functionality of the club they're running.

It says it all really when a family steeped in Speedway history doesn't want the sport at the stadium it owns and runs.

I would imagine they will avoid it seem to remember last time it was run half the top riders avoided it and you ended up with low crowds and the same old faces appearing.

Ultimately though... They prop up each other... If no top tier existed then the Championship teams would need to lay out more to cover the shortfall to the riders who are no longer riding in two leagues.. And it would need to be a fair few quid too...

I agree most weeks it turns up Monday or even Wednesday by which point it’s no longer really relevant. i have not renewed for this reason. need to make digital copy available for paper subscribers to ease the pain as some weeks I didn’t even bother to open the envelope.

Royal Mail deliveries are very haphazard, but I'm pretty lucky with mine. My post normally comes between 10am - 11am. I'd say that 60%-70% of the time my Star arrives on Thursday. When it doesn't, it almost always arrives on Friday morning. Very, very rarely it's the following Monday morning. However last week it arrived at 4pm on Saturday. I rarely get post on a Saturdfay, and never at 4pm, so I don't know what happened.

But if your the owner of that business and lets say your just about breaking even as is and you also have all the agg of running the business. The likelyhood is your going to think mmm Birmingham went up and lost a packet, Oxford tried three leagues and knocked it on the head after one season, I'm probably going to do six figures, there's no tv deal either, I might as well shut down anyway and spend the 100k I would have lost on cruises for my family for the next five years and have more time to myself. Worst case they could start running stocks which seems to generate more money than speedway or join nora and do the odd open meeting.

How many 5 or 10 year growth plans have these Amateur's at BSPA tried too implement with total failure.

Just my opinion. Championship clubs are nothing without Premiership clubs, It's the Premiership clubs that keep the sport alive in the UK even though it leaves some of the club bosses out of pocket. The day the Premiership collapses that see's all of the GP / Ekstraliga riders exit is the day when British Speedway collapses for good. Nowhere near enough good riders to go around for one big league, 27 out of the 49 riders that finished the season in an official Premiership 1-7 also rode in the Championship. Say we have One Big League featuring 15 Teams (Inc. Northampton) and 5 Riders per a Team = 75 Riders 85 Riders in Total (Exc. D/UP's) finished the 2025 Premiership & Championship seasons in an official 1-7. One big league then see's mass exits from British Speedway altogether due to race nights being scattered throughout the week (21 Riders Minimum) 5 GP Riders (Kurtz, Bewley, Doyle, Fricke & J. Holder) 7 Ekstraliga Riders (Lidsey, Blodorn, Rew, Sayfutdinov, B. Cook, Janowski & Tungate) 9 Ekstraliga 2 Riders (Musielak, Zagar, Brennan, Kvech, Iversen, Douglas, Becker, Pickering & C. Holder) That then takes the total No. of riders down to 64 to a point where lower ranked riders from the NDL have to fill those spots, The same lower ranked NDL Riders who Championship clubs aren't even interested in using. Premiership has to continue until the day British Speedway collapses for good and someone has to step up and fill one of the voids left by Oxford/Birmingham. Whisper is that Northampton may be the one to dive in head first at the deep end by running in the Premiership but everything with them would be a guessing game as to how many punters they get through the turnstiles and stuff. Glasgow on the other hand have everything in place to run Premiership Speedway, Facilities, Track, Attendances, Sponsorship, Finances so instead of potentially putting Northampton at risk before they've even returned, Club bosses need to block Glasgow from competiting in the Championship and instead give them an ultimatum -> Premiership or Nothing and they'll soon bite the bullet and say Premiership.

Awards night on Friday night so I guess it’s a last minute decision along with the council to hold it that day.

The Royal Mail got fined (again) last week for failing to meet delivery targets... They have, (once again), asked for the targets to be lowered.... They are useless...

Everyone seems to be forgetting the financial side of things when talking about Teams moving up.

You’ve literally contradicted yourself in two sentences. If those people haven’t heard of the “current elite”, then they won’t know who’s been borrowed and from which club either and wouldn’t be bothered with it.

https://gorka-speedway.blogspot.com/2025/10/v-140-250-500-26-2025-1400.html

If you weaken the product with only 1 rider over 8 points, as the season goes on the riders on say 7 point average have less 8 point riders to come up against, then there average goes up, by the end of the season you have more riders over 8 points, then what are you going to do to move forward ?

Remember in the 90's and 00's when bright colurs were the rage. Remember Eastbourne riders having some lary kevlars back in the day. Kids used to like the Joe Screen zebra kevlars with green tassles. Looking at the SGP riders the modern trend seems to be black or blue kevlars in the main. As for leathers has to be the Wiggy Green !!

Speedway is fighting in the face of extremely challenging and unhelpful outside forces too. The list above kind of suggests it is speedway's fault or a lack of interest causing these clubs to shut down. I believe were it not for the lure of land development or one particular greyhound operator who dislikes speedway with a passion, the majority of those would still be running today. Wolves for example you cannot in a million years suggest was a failing prospect as a speedway team. Yes there are many things in speedway which could be improved, but the biggest and most complex issue is stadium ownership / land to race speedway. Taking that list: ARC Greyhound Racing have effectively shut down Wolves, Birmingham & Newcastle for various excuses. Land being sold for development has claimed: Coventry, Cradley, Lakeside, Rye House, Peterborough, Swindon, Stoke and Covid brought things to a head with Somerset which has also now been developed on part of the land. Eastbourne - Owners down want to run speedway There are still tracks at Mildenhall and IOW, that's down to other decisions and personal arguments as to why they are not in the league, but the tracks are there. So as we can see, the big issue here before we get into the sport itself is land ownership. That is the reason why most of these clubs are no longer here. Birmingham would absolutely be running next year if the stadium hadn't been taken away, as for most of the rest of that list. It is a massive problem, however just saying use it or lose it doesn't make a difference, the developers do not care even a tiny bit. They also don't care about the letters of support or petitions which are sent in when a track is under threat. But there is good news, the Coventry appeal ruling is now a significant piece of case law, and it is going to make life an awful lot harder for people to do what they have done in the past again, without first providing a suitable alternative for a sporting venue. And that means not just whacking a 5 a side court down in place of a 100 year old speedway stadium. To this effect, I have only this week recorded a podcast with a man called Brian Connolly, he is a speedway fan but also a former solicitor and planning expert. He played a significant role in getting the team together to defend Coventry, and he's also had some success this week with Peterborough. He's also working on Rye House, Lakeside and Swindon. You can listen to it here https://pod.fo/e/3430a4 it is the 2nd part after the Poole stuff. It is interesting and shows the realities of what has gone on, and how there can be a way back for these tracks, but speedway has to learn to outsmart the developers, and we are getting there thanks to people like Brian and his contacts. There are many battles to be had in speedway but this is the biggest one, and hopefully the tide is turning, slowly.

Good one for doing this, the biggest farce in the whole of my 50 years following speedway, signed and forwarded. Many Thanks