mikebv

Won't need too many more call offs to put pressure on getting all done by November.. Crazy that all finals get ran at the end of the season every year.. Should spread them out more... Would keep interest and publicity across many more months... And even more reason to do so with the cost of living increases that were predicted a fair few months ago.. Be a shame to have fans having to pick and choose what meetings to go to when these meetings are the ones where the trophies are handed out...

Easy to have a pop, especially given some of the comments made re Plymouth... However.... I would like to think that he sportingly realised that Plymouths team wouldn't mean a fair match could take place, so thoughtfully organised torrential rain, thunder storms and lightening.......

They would need more than six teams to let six qualify for the play offs... Although.... Maybe not.....

That would have been at the Etihad .

Well there is definitely two more there than the original Monday night staging as getting there on a Sunday is so much easier than getting there after work on a Monday... And I only live six miles away so hopefully many more can travel from further afield too and "make a day of it"...

Having something riding on all meetings would help maintain interest 100%... However relegation cannot happen with so many DU's... You could currently get your own teams relagated and also promoted....

But they are so good at it now so why change?

And volleyball in Poland... Plenty of arenas have a fair few thousand watching every week....

It may have had more "dead rubbers" as you correctly say, but it also did have teams visiting for maybe their only visit of the season, which meant some interest from the fans... With an out and out superstar too in some cases, which could bring some of the best crowds of the season.. Now we have play offs with potentially teams making their fourth visit of the season, with riders on show visiting your track who may have guested several times for other teams (as well as your own team)... The pull of the play offs will hopefully always deliver good crowds but it is the matches leading up to them which sadly dont always hold much sway...

You can see an email being sent about a "failure to secure the site"... I am sure that will be sufficient....

No!! The transfer window had "slammed shut".. (It always "slams shut" doesnt it?).. You have to respect the transfer windows and not sign anyone outside of them as that wouldnt be fair....

Perfect in so many ways...

Could they bring a "guest tyre" in?

Did it mention "brown envelopes of used notes"....

Get those fire extinguishers on stand by...

I like the idea of a Yellow and Red card system... Many stoppages are not malicious but a loss of control therefore give the rider a Yellow and rerun the race with him 20 yards back.. If he cannot make the rerun then a reserve can come in off the same handicap.. For any "deliberate" or "reckless" acts then make it a Red.. Watching a top rider try who maybe moved or touched the tapes, or fell off of his own accord, come from 20 yards back rather than being excluded, would be worth watching.. And considerably much better VFM than having him watching the race with the rest of us..

Indeed, The issue is more the lack of teams as the play off teams are known miles in advance, and the lack of any relegation threat.. Poland runs play offs with 6 out of 8 teams qualifying, however with relegation as part of their model it does mean each meeting still plays a part in the overall package on offer.. Even if it is obvious who may go down like this year.. There is no doubt that the play offs get good crowds because there is "something riding on them", the challenge therefore is to get all the other meetings that lead up to them have that stand point too..

It is... But, hard to quantify how much of a bonus, as very often some teams will clearly be through to the play offs months in advance, which then can reduce attendance numbers in the run up to them, as fans decide to give "dead rubbers" a miss.. 3 or 4 matches like that with a couple of hundred off the gate each time, and the extra come play off time only balances the books with a little left over...

When I watch the play offs at the NSS on the TV, the semi's seem to get a "normal" non TV match crowd, but not much more than that.. The final gets around 1000 more than a usual match I would say..

Hardly anyone really cares... Bomber will surely appear at some stage... We reach the play offs after so many made up, contrived meetings through the season.. And in one Division we have the play offs before the league has actually finished... Lets be honest, the league is devalued to the point of irrelevance well before any play offs start... Personally, if the Aces get to the final I will go as there will be a decent crowd, and a bit of atmosphere, a novelty for UK Speedway, and many of my mates who used to go regularly will also go along too... We will have a few beers, have a laugh, and if the Aces win then "whoopy do".. And if they don't then it wont really matter to any of us.. Many heats of top class Speedway will be what we judge the night on...

A 3 match Test Series would be even better... The Speedway Ashes....

62500 in Cardiff watching Wrestling... Shows what great marketing can do...

As we know... A great meeting in a two thirds empty stadium soon gets forgotten.. An average one in a full stadium, full of noise and emotion due to something truly worth winning being on the line will live long in the memory... Hence, sadly even great Speedway doesn't generate those full houses in the UK, and never will, due to its operating model which drives so many away and fails to engage thousands of other passionate followers of the sport to atrend...

In a sport that relies so heavily on confidence and split second reactions to always be under pressure for your place every time you come to the tapes cannot help anyone...

Indeed... Loads wearing club colour T shirts... It will be bedlam when (if) they pull back the deficit....