mikebv

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 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...

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

None.... They always only last 3 months....

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...

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...

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.

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...

With Manchester Uni guesting for one or the other...

Who has leaked you the plan for next season?

Home and away twice is just eight home meetings,... With a maximum ten if you reach the play off final.. And what do you do with KO Cup as at least three teams are in the semis? Mickey Mouse made up nonsense...

And it goes to show.... You can still have credibility and jeopardy in this sport.... If those who run it could deliver it every meeting... Well done Redcar....

Tommy Jansson also had a great style... Smooth, controlled and fast... So lucky to watch the likes of him and PC race in my first few years of watching the sport.. An absolute tragedy what happened to him...

But you cannot run a five team league and expect fans to follow it... And to get teams to move up just to employ many of the same riders that they do now, but on more money, doesn't look like something too many would bite your hands off to take the opportunity... Any TV money will be key if anyone decides to move up, with, at least, a decent six figure income from it being the requirement... We have said in the past on here quite a few times that the sport is on life support but it has struggled on, often due to its capability in making things up to get by on an adhoc basis... You do feel that now though it truly does need to stop the sticking plasters and get the patient healthy and out of hospital with a clear, well thought out and fit for purpose health plan to complete a long term full recovery.... But. Given where the sport currently sits, that will be a huge challenge for those who have seemed to be quite content as to what they have delivered over the past decade or so...

The dog bowl at Belle Vue had a betting box where you could bet on each race... Wasn't a well known betting company from what I remember... Didn't last too long, so presume not enough interest.

Bobby Ott ... I once saw him "fall off" but kept hold of the handlebars, kept astride the machine, and then uprighted the bike as it was still sliding across the track!! He got excluded because Ronnie Correy laid his bike down behind him thinking Bobby had come to grief.... As Ronnie lay there, Bobby was flying down the home straight . 😁 And then was going mad that he got excluded... He used to practice his balance by riding a unicycle and certainly could ride a bike at angles, but still with speed,that few others could muster...

I accept all that Ian, My point was more about how the sport would manage to fill these teams with riders of any decent standard nowadays, than if there was enough fan interest to keep the track going .. However, on that point, it has to be recognised that at most of those tracks no more than 1500 regulars would have been impacted by any closure (and well under 1000 at some), which doesn't help the cause when it comes to gaining the traction needed to deliver a large level of local protest, and engaging those big numbers to get maximum publicity... We can only hope that the last decade doesn't get repeated and Speedway can turn it's current fortunes around...

I think it goes back to the 70's and 80's when football had a major issue with hooliganism... Hence, it seemed a potential marketing idea to advertise itself as somewhere you could take your kids to watch a team sport in a "safe environment". Sadly, in line with so much that still exists within the sport, something that may have have been fit for purpose 40 to 50 years ago is still being used in today's very different times... Any marketing company worth their salt would focus on the danger, speed and almost gladiatorial nature of the racing, and focus on the personalities of the competitors to let them become "stars", (with the odd bit of personal needle a bonus, even if made up for a bit of hype!) You only have to see how Nicki P became "box office" playing the pantomime villain, with the producer even ensuring his return to the pits was filmed after a defeat knowing a reaction would come... The well meaning custodians of the sport really do need to take a leap of faith and bring outside marketing people in to almost relaunch it with a fresh 21st century approach... After all, as you say, doing what they done for decades isn't showing any sign of getting the cut through required is it?

At one time, the ruling body cracked down on it as it was felt it wasn't a "good look" for the sport, and damaged it's brand given other major US sports didn't have such things happening with such regularity.... I don't think the crack down lasted even a season due to the fans complaining... Gloves off! As you were lads!!!...😁

Over a quarter of a million views on two YouTube channels (so far), of Wright v Allen fighting... There is interest if those who run it can facilitate something that can prick the interest of those who are not regular followers... Whether they have the required skill set to do so, is a different matter...

But they don't charge me twenty seven quid to watch it happen...

Add in that we have lost 15 teams in the past decade.... Wolves, Coventry, Birmingham, Somerset, Lakeside, Rye House, Peterborough, Swindon, Stoke, Newcastle, Eastbourne, Oxford (top tier), and the IOW and Mildenhall, (NORA), (Kent got replaced 'ish'), and Cradley stopped riding at Wolves, and you have to wonder what standard we would have today if all these teams were in any of the 3 leagues, given the lack of rider numbers.. As the song goes... "The Only Way Is Up!!!".. Edit. Add in Buxton, but they are coming back.. (Dean, get that Wessie out, you are their No1!!!)...😁

Sounds promising....😁

Hopefully... "Anything" that delivers 21st Century marketing being that hope.... A great piece in the Speedway Star today from Tony Mcdonald covering how similar so many of todays issues are with the sport 40 years ago, and the way so much of what we have today is a legacy of failing to change when, often, the writing was clearly on the wall by carrying on doing the same thing each season... You have to wonder, looking at the crowds now, if we are now at "ground zero" and necessity will actually truly be the mother of invention, and those in charge actually start to work collectively realising that they are really "one entity" and only as strong as their weakest link... One team getting 5000+ for a play off final is all well and good, however, dozens and dozens of meetings around the county being ran in front of circa 500, or even less, each season far outweighs that one night when the sport looked "popular".... Dozens and dozens of meetings with 500 MORE in attendance each meeting, has to be the initial momentum building target...