mikebv

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...

Do they? If so, a great idea... Reward success rather than give out top money guarantees regardless of performance...

It is really a perfect sport for some half decent marketing company to promote... Given how few of the country even are aware of it, let alone attend, it is almost like launching a brand new sport to the wider sporting viewers.. You are pretty much starting from a blank canvas.. However.... A five team top league will be a hard sell for TV given the same teams will be on far too regularly.. And so many meetings that currently get run without jeopardy does the sport little favours, as it doesn't create interest in getting people to the track or watching on TV., and a five team top league will mean just one team missing out, and, usually, there is one team that gets put well adrift far too early in the season.. The lack of a big money prize also holds it back hugely, as the public get engaged by sports with the huge prizes on offer, so finding a way to get some "big money" into it is fundamentally key for me... There are though huge opportunities, given its current starting position for the sport to develop, and rapidly if the correct marketing and hype can get brought in.. Just 400 or so regulars at every track would mean a massive percentage increase at even those tracks who currently get four figures.. Such a tiny number, but bringing such a large positive impact, shows the size of the opportunity...

Two four point young future wunderkind superstars from overseas and a 7.39 rider... Get the visa requests in now!!

If so, I presume it reverses the plan of a couple of years ago to make the top league clearly stand out, standard wise, from the 2nd tier... Maybe down to TV money going? Or maybe down to reducing the gap with tier two to maybe encourage a team or two to come up? Running with a 9 point rider will need a 3 point rider to balance up the six poiints per rider that a 36 point limit will bring, (plus RS which I presume will stay given such a low team average).. 3 point riders, plus an RS, won't do too much for the racing level I would suggest... And there won't be too many "top riders" left also as no team can fit two in without seriously weakening the bottom end, especially if they have the worse RS...

If the question was asked this week re Who are the current UK Speedway Premiership champs?, on The Chase, I can pretty much guarantee the contestant wouldn't know the answer... But might say Poole....

The interview with Matt Ford in the SS details the thought process for Poole.. And it is hard not to agree with him... The considerable cost increases for the top league won't get covered by extra admission numbers, or extra sponsors, for a business that is "stand alone" and not some "plaything" for some who can afford an expensive hobby.. The bottom line is hardly anyone who doesn't follow the sport could tell you who the fop tier champions are this year, or last, or, indeed, any particular year for decades.. And Poole, in Div 2, will have plenty of finals to generate big crowds, and will gain as much publicity winning 2nd tier trophies as they would top tier ones.. The top tier need the second tier to try and then justify why they are "different" and the "highest level" and more expensive to watch... The second tier need the top tier as those who double up can then afford to ride for them for 2nd tier money... The likes of Poole and Glasgow could be seen as being happy to be "big fishes in a small pond".. However. The whole of UK Speedway is more of a "big puddle" when compared to pretty much every other professional team sport in the UK.. When there is such very little financial reward, nor national publicity, for any success at any level, and crowds get hit by so many meetings running with zero jeopardy and consequence as to who qualifies for the play offs, you can understand why running your own business, at the level you can make it profitable, has to be the best idea..

Its certainly a good job Coventry, Peterborough, Somerset, Rye House, Lakeside, Swindon, Wolverhampton and Birmingham have all closed within the past decade or so it isn't it?.. And Poole dropped down into Div 2... Imagine trying to fill these teams with riders..?

Spot on apart from "if" one team gets tailed off, as it is "when"... Every season the team everyone on here says have "no chance" before a wheel is turned, invariably have their season over by the end of May and become a team with small appeal to watch either home or away... The biggest frustration for the fans is that where we are today has been predicted by us for the last two decades... As we could see the glaring obvious flaws in "Baldrick's cunning plan", yet those insulated within their own echo chamber/Speedway Bubble either couldn't, or chose not to... There should have been radical change to the operating model when the GP's started to impact UK Speedway. And they chose to not to do anything different.. There should have been radical change to the operating model when Poland started to impact UK Speedway. And they chose not to do anything different... There should have been radical change to the operating model for the return of the sport post Covid, when a year out gave them huge opportunity to reset the sport, and unpick all the nonsense that has held the sport back over the years, and disillusioned so many fans, who still follow the sport but attend either never or infrequently. And they chose not to do anything different.. Many of the same people who have led two decades of negative fan attendance, plus reduced TV viewership and media profile, are still running the sport... The sport desperately needs outside influence to drive it forward, from marketing, to adminstration, to operating model planning... People not within the Speedway Bubble.. The past two seasons of the play offs, in the flagship competition, have actually been ran by NOT following the very rules the competition was set up with, which from an outside optics view, is both amateurish and ludicrous... The sport won't move forwards until the promoters realise that they are the custodians of ALL OF IT, and not just their own clubs, and also realise that they may not have the right set of skills to lead it, and be open to get some clear direction from people who do possess those leadership skills...

I was gutted for Slot yesterday... He should have popped his head around the United dressing room door before the game and asked Ruben to play a high line and to keep playing out from the keeper with plenty of short one touch passes so his team could intecept the ball and score loads of goals.. Instead, he had to try and find a way of winning a game where the opponents decided to do something tactically he didn't want them to... Completely unfair...!! I have only watched Maguire's winner about twenty five times today to see if I am entertained... .. I can see United only getting just under 75000 for their next match now....

It is always clear, when they interview riders in English during a Polish match, that they follow the sport over here, and often discuss, with prior knowledge, how they are doing in the UK... UK Speedway, (off track), has a huge opportunity for growth, from marketing, advertising, and awareness raising, through to operating model credibility... Will they bring in people with the required skill set to deliver the obvious potential the sport has though? Tracks will spend eye watering sums (for a sport with such a small following), on riders each season, and that alone should be used to give the sport some push, as many non Speedway fans would be truly amazed at the salaries of some riders.. With those salaries alone suggesting it isn't "small time".... "Hype up everything" has to be the mantra of the sport to gain traction amongst the millions who live less than 45 mins from a Speedway track..... Any decent marketing company should be rubbing their hands at an opportunity to make UK Speedway successful given the ultra low base attendance across the country... Getting on mainstream TV, for me, is the quickest way to kick that growth in... As that will also mean national newspaper and radio coverage of the sport too... Add in some regular daily/weekly, social media content (even Sunday League Football teams do this, and can get thousands of followers), and the sport can surely only move up given its low starting position...?

Does Kelvin have a clue who some riders are? "I'll be honest, I don't know much about him" is a refrain heard far too often.... One of the key requirements of a commentator is to do research and inform the viewers of some background details about the competitors... His enthusiasm is first rate, but his lack of general speedway knowledge outside of the Premiership doesn't help...

Two clubs racing together that can only muster around 1000 fans between the two of them, (500 each at home), won't be getting a huge amount of people interested in purchasing any stream I would think...

Garibaldi's. .. With Bourbans as a guest biscuit if the Garibaldi's are needed elsewhere...

A typical well meaning rule to try and even up the league more... And then also, typically in UK Speedway fashion, they eff it up by allowing the No1 pick to say "I'm not riding there"... (Which I get if offered more money and have local sponsors elsewhere).. In the US draft system, the bottom team gets several concessions from the teams who want their pick, should they not want to use that player .. Eg The team with the highest average last season would have needed to offer Birmingham either money or a rider/riders.. Instead we had Birmingham being out of their depth again which did them, nor Speedway, any favours . Basically. Either do it properly, or don't use it at all... Personally, out of their depth No7's do nothing for the sport, nor them, in any league ..

A ridiculously great player.... The BZ of Baseball...!!!

Let's hope even half of them stay regulars... A massive positive if so...

Lots of clubs have pretty good HD level streaming services so they could be used by the main broadcaster. Similar to how football "round up" programmes show goals from every match... It isn't always the main broadcaster covering all of them but local streamers linked to the clubs.. And of course you have BSN... Much cheaper for the main broadcaster, even if they pay a fee to the streaming companies for their content, (so they gain too)... Maybe a "match of the week" showing 20 mins or so from that match, and then well edited, snippet highlights showing the "best bits" from races around the country of all the other matches. ...? Get a couple or three riders in the studio to discuss their involvement in the meetings shown, and what their week looks like re flights to Poland, Sweden, France, Denmark etc etc... A window into the unique life of a Speedway rider, which I think would interest those non followers to take more of an interest, and raise the profiles of the riders.... Add in a five minute "young stars" segment and you would have a decent 60 mins magazine programme...

He makes good pies though... So, quite naturally, he has the perfect skill set to be an interviewer and commentator in the coverage of a professional sport....

Success after success for Poole... You cannot even say they are happy to be a big fish in a small pond, because even the top tier is no more than a puddle in the grand scheme of things with regards to pro sport recognition in this country... A very astute leadership team, who run it like a business, not a hobby. Who consistently deliver what their punters want, which is the only thing that matters in business if you want to make money...

Glasgow won the "Entertainment Championship"... Far more important in a pro sport to win that. Like winning the "fair play award" or "the most improved player" in football...

A full house!!!! We have a winner.....!!!!

Let's play comment bingo... "More passing in that one race than all 15 on Wednesday".... "More passing in that race than in a full season at Poole"... "Now that is what Speedway is about, if every club made tracks like this, rather than "win at all costs" Speedway would have tens of thousands more fans"... "Tyoical from the Poole riders, cannot handle a grippy track".. "Provide Bomber with a circuit he can race on and he delivers races like that".. "A good ride that from Lawson"... "Poole may have won but Glasgow are the moral champions given the much fairer track they prepared for both teams to race on".. "I wouldn't want my team to win a title like Poole do".. Have I missed any?

Great post... I watch most sports now on YouTube with around 15 to 20 mins highlights packages... Really got into Baseball this year, and now a massive Dodgers fan!!! Sitting through 2 hours worth of TV to watch less than 20 mins of racing doesn't really work for me nowadays... A highlights package could run 30 mins, and could even show every race, and get some detailed pre and post match nterviews with some of the key riders on view.. My lad is 22, and daughter is 27, and they rarely watch "live" TV programmes due to their busy lifestyles, so they use "catch up" to watch when they can, and binge watch series.. For me, the sport needs people involved from outside the "Speedway Bubble" as they seem almost brainwashed into doing the same old, same old, "there is no other way", often ludicrous, operating model... In house streaming only appeals to the converted so ideally the sport will get itself strongly on line DAILY on Tik Tok, Instagram, YT etc, and use the riders personalities, not just racing, to keep the sport in potential punters awareness and viewing algorithms... 30 mins to an hour a week on any of BBC, ITV, C4 or C5 can only move the sport forward quicker than 2 hours on TNT or SKY, or BSN... To bring great marketing people, and sponsors, in from "outside" requires the sport to have a huge amount of greater recognition and awareness than it has now... Get that fixed and, given the very low starting point fanbase wise, just an initial 10,000 extra punters a week interested by what they see online and/or on TV, would be "huge" for the sport, and provide great momentum to build it further. ...

The bottom line is this... Speedway allows a rider of any team to ride for a competitor in the same league... Who can then score enough points to win that other team the meeting... With that victory ultimately, potentially preventing his own team from qualifying for the play offs.. Meaning that his teams fans and sponsors, (who have supported the club financially all season), his team mates and even himself, miss out on the most important part of the season... Allowing such a situation to exist as part of your operating model would make the sport a very hard sell to mainstream media and sponsors from outside the sport I would suggest ..