mikebv

Utopia is eight teams in the top league and all have two World Class riders... The reality is though that laying out circa £14k per two riders, per team, for two meetings, currently, simply isn't justifiable... Especially without any TV contract, and also being reliant on Sponsors who may not always afford to keep underwriting the costs. A Speedway team should only be paying out that kind of money if they are also spending several thousand a week in "non Speedway Bubble" advertising and have a (at least), three times per week online presence on the various digital platforms.. I have just watched a YT content done by a lad who owns a sandwich shop in Yorkshire.. In it, he shares his costs to highlight why a sandwich isn't "a quid" to buy... During the content he talks about how over the past four years his shop has evolved.. About 12 months ago he went "viral" using his personality and quality of food, now the day to day running is done by his staff, as he is the "face" of the business... Meaning he spends his time less "hands on" at the shop, but more releasing content and, very importantly as he mentions, monetizing the content as it is bringing in some big money.. Big money from people travelling in from far and wide who have seen him on the various platforms, plus what the considerable amount the gigital platforms are paying him.. As he says, if you don't have major online presence nowadays, you won't be successful... Who are the online "faces" of the Speedway teams in the UK? Who are the ones getting paid to keep the team in the digital public eye and generating likes, subscribers, and ultimately, more customers?.. The World Class riders, sadly, don't seem to bring 1000 extra so, in this modern world, why not invest in someone who could?... Richard Coleman isn't looking at the sport like a fan, or as an ex rider, (which the other promoters were/are), therefore, hopefully he will keep that cold analytical approach and start to influence better use of what is, given the size of the sport, a huge outlay each season to the riders.. Upon reflection. Maybe "utopia" could be one World Class rider per team, with a costed plan to increase their numbers as and when income streams justify it?.. However. With no aggressive digital platform presence, it will all be irrelevant anyway..

They certainly are a crowd puller, but only within the context of the meeting meaning something... And only within those who already know who they are... If BZ suddenly turned up for Northampton then their crowds would double and every away meeting would have their best crowd by miles... As it would be a huge noveoty so "lapsed fans" would attend, (the very large amount that exist).. The challenge would be maintaining that level of crowd over the next few years... The Aces had two of the top three riders last season, but crowds were not good compared to even five years ago with no World Class top three riders. As I said previously, when this country had all the best riders over here, crowds dropped, which suggests it is either that their presence is over emphasised, or it is the events themselves that don't engage enough fans to regularly attend..

But crowds were dropping annually when Sky showed the sport and pretty much every World Class rider rode over here... There were plenty of inflation busting price increases though at this time, so maybe that was the reason for the drop off, rather than the riders who were there?.... (Or not there as the case often increasingly became, due to "other commitments elsewhere"....)

So, it wasn't the Witches that the fans who have dropped off went to see?... Instead, for them, It was their two top riders?... Presumably, if what you say is correct about the crowds, (and I don't doubt it), then it means that there musn't be enough emotional attachment to the team, but there is to the two top riders?.. If correct, and given the lack of any real prize for wnning it does make sense, you might as well drop the leagues and run individual meetings with big prize purses, with the best riders there... Like the Manchester GP's showed, make it relevant and you can still get very good attendances..

The mantra of the past twenty years on here.... And yet, here we are, still doing the same thing!!.

Of course they put bums on seats in comparison to non World Class riders... The more salient question is though... Do they put enough bums on seats to justify the outlay for them?... It has been mentioned on here, by some who appear "in the know" at their local tracks, that between 3500 and 5000 quid is the going rate for a World Class rider... Therefore, taking the lower number, that is 14,000 quid laid our for two World Class level riders, from your home meeting income, for the home and away meetings.. Now, I know sponsorship will cover a fair amount, however, I would suggest laying out around 8,000 quid for those two meetings for "decent" riders, and using 6,000 quid to actually promote the meeting, on a night that is maybe better to attract a crowd, would be the more sensible business plan to follow.. Ipswich fans have suggested that crowds have, in the main, held up this season without last years "Superstars".. Which, even if there was a drop off of a couple of hundred, must mean a fair net saving on outlay this season, given their current One and Five won't be in the same pay bracket .. Utopia is every team to have two World Class riders, reality though means they wouldn't cover their income by increasing gates enough to pay their salaries... My old company has made many managers redundant/retired over the past decade, with, on many occasions, those highest earners the ones who have taken the attractive redundancy/retirement terms on offer.. Are their replacements as good? Nowhere near, given the disparate level of experience and capability, however they are 30-40% cheaper and will gain experience and capability as they develop.. The bottom line though is you could have King Charles himself at No1 for any team, but if hardly anyone outside a select few know the sport itself, never mind the team, exists, then you won't be needing the " House Full" signs outside...

When my lad played for a League Two U21 Academy the first team had 4,000 there each week... Laying out £22 to get in... About 100 came to watch his U21 team play.. And it was free to get in... Watching Youth Racing and Senior racing is like comparing Apples to Oranges .. And, if that Youth Racing had took place on a Monday night, the crowd, (and participant) numbers would have been even less...

I think iainb set up most meeting threads on here.... And only probably did that, usually on the day, due to no one else from either team involved bothering... There has been a growing feeling of "what's the point?" I would say since Sky stopped showing Speedway, and their seven figure input also stopped.... With the ever increasing constant sharing around of riders, even with an ever reducing number of teams, suggesting even those running it don't take it too seriously, and, for them, just putting on a Speedway meeting, of any degree of relevance and credibility, is the only box to tick for them... Apathy is probably the feeling of many, either on here, or even those dwindling number of die hards who still attend tracks regularly... The two nights in Manchester for the GP's though must have delivered circa seven figures in income, therefore, there still must be hope for the sport in the UK if they can make it a credible offering...

More Steve's previews of Poole's matches....

I think what it showed, clearly, is that Leicester are the firm favourites for the title... Plucky Belle Vue will do their best as underdogs but it is so obvious that it is Leicester's to lose... Let's hope, for UK Speedway, that the Aces can at least keep it close if they meet in the final... 😉

Had a good run for my money though... After five heats the dough was done... And then the Lions roared!!!!! Exciting stuff....

In the Richard Coleman YT interview he mentioned how difficult it had been for Mark Lemon to put a team together... Quite an incredible scenario in reality isn't it?...😁 Sometimes, the lack of outside media interest, and therefore scrutiny, isn't the worst thing in the world...😁

Leicester -4 is 10/11... Bet365.. Worth a go???

I get the sentiment, however, to many Promoter's, they are doing "their job"... Which, to them, is to put on a Speedway meeting with, (hopefully and ideally), 14 riders in attendance.. Any 14 riders within some ultra flexible adhoc framework... To the majority of Promoters they see funding their hobby, giving riders a chance to earn money, and putting on a Speedway meeting for people to attend, as being their contribution to the sport in the UK... Moving it forwards isn't on their agenda... Independent governance, jeopardy and consequence of meetings, prizes worth winning, and scrutiny of your infrastructure, costs money...

Interesting that he says "Poland + One League" next season means exactly that... Not "Poland and One Country"... Which means DU'ing for many, should they decide to ride over here and not Sweden or Denmark, will not be an option... As for his ideas for Speedway in the UK?... All very basic, and common sense, however, they are exactly the same as has been discussed ad nauseum on here for around 20 years at least.. And are all clearly needed... Hence, you can only presume that those running the sport are acutely aware of all the issues they have themselves caused by their lack of vision... But that they simply don't have the capability, be it either financial or the individual leadership skill set, to unpick everything that obviously will need to be unpicked.. Because, given how glaringly obvious the issues are, they would have already started to do so if they were capable people wouldn't they?.. Having personally been fortunate to work with CEO's and Main Board Directors of one of the world's largest retailers, for many years, Richard Coleman comes across to me, as someone with the same political nuance and "bigger picture" skill set that I used to see and hear from those at that rarified level... Not sure how the significant number who are quite happy in their own insular, hobbyist world will receive him though... As his positive vision for the sport in the UK will be a million miles away from theirs..... Best of Luck to him though, UK Speedway is certainly as low as it has been for probably 60 years, so what an opportunity for positive change.. Should those who run it be open enough to allow it..

Never in doubt.....

They will certainly have plenty of meetings left to do that... Good planning on their part... If you want a run of fixtures close together, it is best to do it as the season ends, as the fan attendance momentum you build then lasts into the play offs... Ending your racing around the end of July/early August, even if you qualify for the play offs, will lose momentum with the fans... "See you in a month for the play offs" isn't a marketing person's dream..

https://www.britishspeedwayforum.co.uk/

Isn't this the third one in the past three years? Not kept count though too closely so might be wrong .😁

I think the issue is how often this one goes down, which is much more than on other forums I am on.. And the lack of FB or X "sister forums" means no communication is forthcoming as to whether the Forum is only temp down or permanently... Plus, of course, the lack of moderating which allow "multis" to get involved with their often nonsense input to many of the threads, which doesn't help the threads develop...

It simply doesn't matter what they come up with if hardly anyone from the 80 million people in the UK know that you exist... What does a Premiership team cost? £350k a year maybe??. Shave off £50k and pay someone that money to work full time to run your marketing and commercial operations, plus running the "fan experience" on the night itself... With their remit to bring in a tangible extra £100k a season in sponsorship, and attendance increases... Give them full remit to do "whatever they need to", to get, at least, 2500 in the stadium... Free tickets, reduced tickets, database collation, even direct cold call marketing, their role will be to get the team noticed and get "new" money into the club... The more who attend, the better the atmosphere as we know, currently any "newbie" attending would have been in louder, more atmospheric libraries.. You can pay out six figures for a top two world class riders who, due to their small public profiles, will bring in hardly anyone extra to watch, or pay someone a decent figure, (with performance bonus), to get them noticed , and then bring people in to watch them.... I visited a pub on Monday to meet up with an old workmate, a pub I had never used before... I signed up to use their WIFI... Within 24 hours I had a 15% off voucher emailed to me for this Sunday in their restaurant, and thanking me for my custom... The circa 3000 or so who still follow most Premiership teams, should all be known to "someone" at the club,(via the clubs database), and that "someone" then keeps constantly communicating and doing anything, and everything, they can to encourage repeat visits... 500 empty seats just get colour faded in the sunshine... 500 full ones, even at a tenner each, will bring in £50k over a season, and create far more of an "event feel" and atmosphere, plus increase bar, food and merchandise takings... UK Speedway brings in big money in relation to its size, and pays out even more!! It needs to redistribute the money going out to people who could help bring more people in.. And currently, that isn't the riders..

They have had literally thousands of pieces of unsolicited feedback down the years, via the written Speedway media, in person at the tracks, and obviously via Social Media.. With so much of it focused on the same repeating issues that were gradually turning even die hards away.. The only thing they chose to do with it was ignore it...

And that's the most baffling thing of all... They have been doing the same thing for a long, long while, whilst Rome has been constantly, slowly, and gradually, burning around them... Many of us on here have "forever" pointed out the only inevitable conclusion to the situation, given all the evidence in front of our eyes... You certainly didn't need a crystal ball to be now saying "we told you so", nor any hindsight... You have to hope that, finally, those who have buried their heads firmly into the sand, are now, at last, going to make those radical changes so desperately needed... The ones they should have made after COVID... A huge undertaking to be honest given there is so much self inflicted nonsense to unpick, and the fact no one has already done it given its obvious need doesn't exactly inspire confidence that the leadership skill set exists, (as surely someone would have already stepped forwards to try and sort things).. However. Good luck to whoever is leading the plan... Getting the leagues to mean something, be relevant, have tangible rewards that create interest, and a joined up national marketing plan, has to be the main objective, as everything else will fall into place when delivering that..

Indeed.... Well meaning people doing things that once may have worked... By now, every team should have the emails, mobiles, and personal details of each of their fans who attend... Eg, if they haven't seen that fan purchase a ticket for two matches, send them an email and text offering reduced entrance to the next one.. Send them Xmas cards, birthday cards etc etc, plus to their family if they have young kids.. A complete database would be not more than 3,000 (if that),... With circa 600 seats empty every week in the GS, you would have someone sending emails and texts all day Saturday to Monday from 8am, offering reduced price, free kids tickets etc.. By Monday morning you will know what the crowd will be like given those who pay on the night will be a certain parameter number... Flogging 300 seat tickets for £15 and 300 standing for a tenner each on a Monday would bring in £7.5k you were more than likely not getting.. And. If people start to take the "Erik Riss" and stop buying in advance, in the hope they got a reduced ticket, then just stop doing it for a meeting or two.. I used to restrict all my promotions if I thought a private shop was coming in and buying in bulk to resell... Richard Coleman said that just 300 extra at every track was a big deal.... The beauty of which is you don't need the same 300, just get 300.. So much "digital gold" is at at your fingertips to brng in punters these days.. Every track should employ at least one person to do it direct market style, using their fan database.. Or maybe get them to put leaflets on car windscreens in supermarket car parks.

Where do live mate?.. I'll be around about seven tomorrow...