mikebv

See your point, however.. I look at my local team, Belle Vue, and their crowds can swing from well over 2000 (and even 3000), on a Bank Holiday, down to circa 1000 to 1200 on a 'normal night'.. A pattern pretty much mirrored around probably every club.. Therefore, there are still more than enough fans out there, it's just that not enough of them attend enough times per season to truly make a positive year on year difference to the sports' coffers.. Getting these people who by definition of their sporadic attending know what Speedway is, and are quite happy to attend two or three times a year, to increase their visits even by just five to ten times more is, for me, the key to success.. They are alive, and well, and sat at home knowing that 'the Speedway is on', but haven't been sufficiently enticed to leave that armchair..

Poor racing in front of a huge crowd will deliver far more atmosphere and wanting to attend again, than great racing in front of a poor one would.. I think the overall standard of racing nowadays is easily on a par, (if not better when you watch the SEC, SON and GP's) with any eras racing I have watched... Put simply, watching Peter Collins and Ivan Mauger race in the 70's in front of "one man and his dog" would have left the sport struggling back then just as much as it is today.. Those massive crowds elevated enormously what these two superstars, (and others), delivered..

100% agree.. The cost to compete and the cost to spectate is the absolute biggest hurdle standing in the way of the sport growing.. Promoters will want riders to have the 'best kit' so riders will ask for the money that let's them buy the 'best kit'.. The Promoters will then have to pass this expense on to the public if not enough sponsors are forthcoming... The triple irony being that winning any domestic Speedway team title has been rendered pretty worthless by its operating model, and the 'best kit' is often actually needed by the rider himself to pursue his own global ambitions, with these ambitions then restricting the club's fixture planning to a narrow window of nights that are available.. Growing your fanbase significantly at circa £18 a ticket isnt going to be an easy sell I would think, yet those ever spiraling costs wont allow for any much needed reduction in price to get the "goneaways' in particular back interested again.. And for me, getting those that 'used to go' to attend again, has to be easier than attracting a newbie to regularly take up the sport.. Its currently a fair old race to the bottom between promoters and riders unless some better plan can be unleashed..

The bottom line is regardless of any 'fee' to Terry Russell, there was a lot of money put into the respective coffers of the clubs.... Wasn't it £100k per team in the top league and then a fair few thousand per match to the hosting club for the matches covered? And the contract covered a good many years... I would suggest that even if Terry Russell had waived any fee (with no reason to do so by the way), we would still be where we are today and that the 'extra money' it would have produced, would have still been spent the same way as all the rest.. With the same amount of "nothing" to show for it today...

Each to their own I presume... Like all prices set, the customer will determine just how much £24 is regarded as VFM.... If enough pay to at least cover costs, or even make money, then the price set is the right one... Will teams just charge on these nights for one meeting only I wonder? (If they can do so logistically)... No disrespect but I would imagine a fair few wouldn't always be interested in staying behind to watch the NL lads so may actually get put off attending if it was £24 'all or nothing, take it or leave it'... Any away Championship team fans for example may want to get back home as soon as the main meeting finishes...

It was mentioned in the SS by Jason Pipe that those who were making a living from riding NL would have to change that mindset.. You can only therefore think that part of the strategy of having so many 'novices' per team is simply done to keep the costs within what the clubs can afford to run their NL teams.. And £20 for 30 heats of Speedway is very good value for money I would say.. My only concern is if the whole 30 heats don't get completed, 'too regularly', would the fans then start to lose faith in the product..?

I am sure a good many had tried to get "Speedway on the telly", and failed, before Russell managed it... A 'finders'' or 'brokers' fee would be a usual thing to then get paid... There was still a "hell of a lot of money" 'that went to the clubs over a good many years... A shame that money didn't get used well to further enhance the sport in the UK..

They could run a joint Premiership/Championship Pairs event at the same time... Half the rider's kevlars in their Premiership team's colours and the other half in their Championship teams colours... Would pull a huge crowd as every team in the country will be involved... It might be awkward to work out a scoring system given each pair of riders will have a different 'other' team but I am sure Speedway would come up with a perfectly sensible solution... Held at Scunthorpe obviously.... But not on a Friday just in case guests are needed....

Didn't Speedway have some link to several MP's a few years ago? Are they still there?

What about... "The League of Scotland"...? Meet each other home and away 16 times, so 32 matches.. (Similar to the way Scotland runs its football)... Add two Play Off Semi's and a Play Off Final and that's 35. Throw in a "Scottish Cup", (semis and Final), and you get 38 fixtures. Similar to the boat race down here, the same two teams will qualify each year for the final... And to be fair, a two team top league in Scotland will only be 4 less that the top league in England...

To give it some credibility and attainment value you would like to think this would be the plan wouldn't you? WIth maybe a league winners shield for the No1 team? I would think though that the No1 team would want a play off final to draw a crowd so the top four may be the outcome..

Good to see Adam Ellis riding over here... No overnight sensation like some, but instead is a rider that has made steady incremental improvements... With still a fair bit to come I reckon..

Innit...

I seem to remember Hyde Rd having a turnstile that clicked but never registered... Similar to a great many sporting venues at the time when it was pay at the gate... Is it a crime to over inflate your attendances? Especially nowadays when so much is paid by card, tracks could easily show how much they take if the IR get involved, but still put out the odd 'mistake' when it comes to attendances.. If you read "3000 fans at the NSS for the Aces v Wolves match" if may get some of the many "sheep like people" to follow the week after.. Nothing wrong with a nice bit of 'economic with the truth' hype...

Thought the Tamil Tigers got a fair following....

As everyone knows a 'poor team' is generally regarded as "overall bad for business" as they get beat at home and dont then generally attract a crowd away from home so all clubs then suffer.. One reason Plymouth have been allowed in I would think is that they have one of the all time greats of the sport in their team in Jason Crump and another ex 'World level' rider in Bjarne Pederson basically doing a "farewell tour"... Add in a couple of exciting potential new talents from the USA and France and you will certainly have something to 'sell' each week for both the home and away promotions.. And 12 months later, when established and with more time to plan, they can then start to build on what will hopefully have been a good year.. They seem a progressive promoting team down there so that alone can only be an asset to the sport...

To be announced during the budget tomorrow.. Will Speedway be included in this one? Cricket, Horse Racing and Tennis mentioned on the BBC website as three sports that will..

To be fair, Friday night is a good night to run to generate a crowd and whoever rides are getting track time.. Which is what the NDL is all about... The actual result is very much secondary to the progression of the riders so as long as 14 riders turn up each meeting all will get an opportunity... And as long as admission costs are reflective of the level on offer I am sure some good weather on Friday's will get a fair few hundred there to watch it..

Off to Cornwall for a weeks holiday in July, so hopefully will take in the Leicester match.. And then Poole on the Wednesday maybe (not been given permission yet, but to be fair, it's because I haven't mentioned it yet...) Will be great to see Crumpy again....

One thing really noticeable for me having watched lots of old racing (60/ 70'/80's in the main) on YouTube lately, is how much the entry speed into the bends has increased, and how much more "sideways" the riders get as they scrub off that speed to get round the bends. . The older stuff had riders much more 'open' as they went around the turns which meant they kept a much smoother line around them... Maybe the harder tyres were the reason? Maybe the deeper tracks? Maybe the engine location in the bikes? Whatever it was, there certainly seemed to be closer racing and more potential to overtake the rider in front through track craft and throttle/grip control than currently exists today where riders seem to just hit an apex on full gas, drift up the track, lock up before hitting the fence, and fly down the next straight to repeat the manoeuvre... The width of the tracks at some circuits appear irrelevant as only the same part is used in virtually every race. .. As you can only assume bikes are not going to get slower, then the only solution it would appear is to change the track shapes if we want racing similar to what the likes of the NSS, Peterborough, Somerset and Scunthorpe deliver regularly. .

It rarely used to produce 'great racing' when I went regularly in the 90's so not sure how it would deliver it now on much faster kit... Fast racing absolutely, every week you could watch one rider in most races leave the rest behind, with often the leader 50 yards ahead.. The World Finals and the GP's were excellent there but that was down more to the standard of riders in all races and the way the track was prepared. ie. With lots of shale and not "ran slick"... I remember attending a league match the week after one of the GP's and it looked like they had built the 'Hickstead Bank', that they use in showjumping, in the middle of the track.. This was all the shale that had been removed from the track post GP.. That nights 'racing' was back to its usual standard....

Heard pretty much the same, and I think I some double team tracks do prepare the track a bit slicker for their NDL side.. If 'the powers that be' are serious though about bringing the talent through, and also serious in actually providing a quality, value for money entertainment package for the fans, then they should completely relay the track between meetings and give both meetings the same amount of focus.. As I said previously, if riders fall off because the track isnt bereft of shale and billiard ball smooth, then they really shouldn't be out there in the first place..

It will be interesting to see how many times "30 heats of Speedway" actually get completed for those who run the double headers.. Maybe they should put the NL meeting on first? That would provide some motivation to ensure all done I am sure.. Simon Wigg always said there should be 'The Starter' before 'The Main Course'... And if an argument against it is there may be delays to the main meeting due to a possibility of more fallers, then these lads shouldn't be riding in the first place at a team level..

Looking at the teams being assembled, and what appears to be quite a long "tail" for most teams, would it have been better to run maybe 5 man teams in the NL? Or even 4 team tournaments? More actual teams maybe but less riders, with a much lower difference between standard. The difference in standard being so important when it comes to the entertainment served up. The best lads wont gain anything from beating the 'wobblers' and the lads 'wobbling' wont gain anything from getting hammered by the best lads.. You wont get a 'wobbler' to HL status in a season, but you might get a Second String there, so these "middle" riders are the ones who should be given priority places, and the most opportunity to race against their next level of rider.. Let the 2, and 3 point NL average lads race together in 'proper' second halves and see the NL place in a team as something to aspire to. Not to just be handed one so you can be a "makeweight" because your average fits.. Its great that we seem to have a joined up development path for riders, however the on track entertainment will be vital to maintain the public's interest.. Not sure seven man teams will deliver this given the difference in standard in virtually every heat..

It's certainly not slowing down in Poland is it? Seems they still have TV companies fighting over the rights to show their product... Kerchingski..... Edit That's 11 and a half million pounds a year!!!