mikebv

They show 'magazine' type programmes on both channels that show the top league during the week where they discuss the last round of matches and the matches coming up that weekend... Lots of coverage dedicated to the sport..

Similar to the likes of Rugby Union and F1 over here I would suggest.. The vast majority of the nation aren't interested but they seem to get top level sponsors, excellent TV deals, and strong viewing numbers.. The Star mentioned a TV deal of £24 million for the top division which suggests more than enough of Poland has an interest to warrant the TV companies outbidding each other to tender that sort of money...

Reading the Speedway Star this week and the proposed "huge" TV contract being negotiated for 2022, and the possible ten team top league, I would think there could be even more 'interference' from Poland... Their second division too, is drawing very good viewing figures so is looking to get more from their deal as well... Even more reason to 'go it alone' over here I would think and be in charge of your own destiny...

Internet shopping may be part of it Phil? My company are over 100% LFL up on home shopping.. Footfall and Sales in many shops are actually down like for like but the home shopping has us smashing the overall budgets... To be honest I am not sure that mags are part of the home shopping listing, but it might be worth checking with each retailer to find out and if so, get listed (if not already).. To give you some idea of the split, the largest of stores now take around 40% of their total sales on home shopping against around 20% tops pre Covid.. My own store has lost 30% of its customer base but the ones who visit now spend much more more per visit hence my LFL is flat for the year. (9000 less visits per week but the same money!).. I don't have home shopping in mine but it gives you an idea of how much footfall has dropped in so many supermarkets which won't help sales in product groups like magazines.. And the feeling is that home shopping is only going to get bigger as many will never go back to traditional shopping and in these uncertain times more will join as more lockdowns hit..

Only got last weeks Speedway Star today.. Although, as I haven't been down to Tesco's to buy it until today, I do 'partially' blame myself... Another excellent edition... Can't think of too many 'minority' sports that have such a professionally presented weekly magazine with which to showcase their sport.. UK Speedway is very fortunate to have such a quality publication dedicated to it... Well done to all at the Speedway Star, let's hope all fans of the sport support it long term, and through these Covid times in particular..

Will they ever 'get it'? Hopefully some of those involved now who do see the bigger picture, (and there are a sizeable few now I would suggest), will get given the opportunity to move the sport forwards.. And use the following objectives as a starting point,.. Use Credible rules which mean the Leagues have some kudos in winning, thus stimulating interest from the fans.. Ensure Integrity of the rules' implementation, which can never be held up by anyone as being implemented with self interest.. Deliver consistently a great overall entertainment package, at what the majority will see as a value for money entrance fee,... Plan you fixture list to run on nights (or days) when your highest amount of customers tell you they can get there.... Deliver a truly collective, professional, national marketing plan, using modern communication systems, to get the message out there about the Sport as a whole.. And, make a long term successful GB team your No 1 priority which will interest media, sponsor and fan, and then use this wider interest to stimulate growth at domestic league level.. There must be enough people involved now within the sport to see that trying to win something that is currently rendered virtually worthless by their very own rules, is a complete waste of time, energy and resource, as whichever team wins any title in UK Speedway, it won't grow the overall sport one iota.. Lets hope that the 'new dawn' isn't too far away and the 'newer voices' start getting heard and get allowed to influence the changes needed..

StEVE BaSTABLE

Spot on that.. And did you also know that those cooling towers you see with steam coming out of them are used for fracking, and the steam you see is from the molten lava that becomes exposed from the earth's core when they go down too far.. They do the fracking in these towers so that they cannot be seen and no one can therefore protest about it.. They also do a different area every day but you never notice because they move the towers and every single building for a mile radius around them by exactly the same amount.. They do this each night when we are all asleep...

Spot on It is taken as needing four weeks of doing something different, regularly, to change a behaviour.. Hence Supermarkets for example will offer several weeks of vouchers when opening new shops because they know "one visit" wont get their potential customers to change their shopping habits from their previous store.. After a month of visits they start to gain that 'emotional loyalty' which gives the very top level businesses their key advantage over those who rely on simply 'functional loyalty'.. "£10 Speedway" should be used as a starting point for more targeted and direct marketing to those who attend, and not a "one size fits all, build it and they will come" 'plan' which it so often appears to be.. You mention the 18 quid admission, and any team charging that have pretty much zero chance of.. a) Getting another 80% of the usual crowd in to make up the financial shortfall of a £10 admission and.. b) Getting someone to pay 80% more the week after.. And re the £18 admission, at my local track I could watch the Colts with my 17 year old lad for a tenner in total, or pay £30 for him and me to watch the Aces.. As someone who has zero interest in who wins any domestic Speedway meeting in the UK, but loves watching the racing, guess which option I chose, (several times).. Co-ordinate a campaign over several weeks and a "loss leader" can be the starting point for success, but it wont do anything to improve things by itself..

So does that mean it can still be questioned on race day Neil? Or, (as should happen), the clubs are told the teams are ratified and "get on with it" several days in advance?

And Sweden is next door to Denmark too, so for those allowed to ride in 3 leagues, it makes even more sense.. Germany too is ideal for riders of Polish and Scandinavian clubs.. The more obstacles that may get put in the way though, the more it surely makes sense to be a bit more "self sufficient"? And plan for a very heavy "British" majority in most teams, doubling, and even trebling up if needs be to make up the teams. It would give the riders plenty of meetings and it cannot be beyond capability surely to plan in a fixture list with no clashes where riders need to be in two places at once.. Have 6 man teams in all leagues..

And it is sometimes very 'short term' indeed... An example being.... How many times have MC members been on the phone talking with promoters at the supposed 'tapes up' time because one of the teams (or sometimes both) have riders who should/shouldn't ride due to some rule or regulation that may (or may not) have been contravened...? With fans impatiently waiting in the cold and watching on, non plussed as to how such nonsense can be allowed to pervade, and just wanting the meeting to be given the go ahead to start.. A ludicrous way to run a supposed professional sport, yet must be seen as a perfectly 'normal' situation by those who put these things together, hence they have the process in place in the first place.. For me, they really do need saving from themselves, which can only be a step forward...

100% agree however, not going to ever happen I suspect.. It is beyond saving as a 'proper team sport' now I would say, given all the nonsense that goes on regulations wise.. When you have to have lots of supplementary rules for every rule that isnt clear, or open to interpretation, then you are probably on a loser before you even start, and when you then need an ultimate caveat of "ahhh, but you see, this is Speedway" to often ignore your very own rules, then you are definitely not going to succeed... The time for change was a long time ago, when people still attended in numbers but it didnt happen.. It's not like they didn't get enough feedback from either those in the stands, those who wrote letters to the various Speedway media outlets and, ultimately, the most telling piece of feedback of all, seeing their stadiums less full on an almost annual basis as people voted 'with their feet'... A truly possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to reset the sport with a clear five years or so plan was gifted to them via the pandemic with lots of 'downtime' to discuss the way forward at length, and in intricate detail, and they could have undertaken a huge amount of market research from fans (and ex fans), via all kinds of social media, (either in house or on public forums), to help build these plans.. Was this opportunity taken? Well what do we have after 9 months of no Speedway? We have individual tracks breaking out from the umbrella organisation and issuing their own adhoc press releases questioning what the (already agreed), points limit is to be next year.. And we are still waiting for riders to decide if they want to put Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France etc etc as their priority before riding over here.. Not great really is it?

Didnt they get some 'bounce' off the demise of Lakeside too? Rye for me always seemed a well ran 'traditional 2nd Division' team that every now and then would unearth a 'gem' and they had a decent season on the back of it.. Mostly though I saw them as mid to lower table most years but always seeming to make money, and riders never ever mentioning payment issues.. A shame it was allowed to all go wrong..

But that has been the default position for the last few decades.... Why change such a 'winning forumla'..?

Indeed.. But, as has been said many times over the past months. We should have just 're-set' the sport over here when it became clear 2020 wasnt going to happen and planned in 2021 (and beyond), with clarity as to what standard each league would take and sorted out those teams accordingly.. There was even more need when Poland made their stipulations... To be still having statements coming out from tracks about which points limit will apply after you have had literally months to plan, prepare and even fine tune, is not good is it?

Jason Doyle said in the Speedway Star that money is dropping in Sweden and circa 14 to 18 matches over there isn't worth the same as around 35 over here... And that he expected some riders to choose here rather than there.. I would imagine Kildemand must ride in Denmark as isn't that part of their criteria for the authorisation of a Danish licence?

The old track at Kirky Lane too has a 'covenant' on it that the land must be used for sports... I presume anyone who buys a house on there must have to buy a dart board?

Must admit I did laugh out loud when I heard on the radio that betting companies may be banned from advertising around the pitch and on the shirts... Not a chance given the literally 100's of millions they pump in to the game and the amount of advertising slots they take up on sports radio and TV... But remember.. When the fun stops, stop...

Just as well as keeping the odd "GP star" on big money at certain tracks but not all has.... Typically a lack of leadership to go either one way or the other has led to the 'Speedway Answer' which is always a 'halfway house', or in other words the "Let's try to appease everyone and get to the end of this season, then we will sort it all out (again)" 'solution'..

Just the same as any other year then...?

They have held a Speedway meeting every year since 1928 and never closed even during WWII...

What so many on here who bemoan the guest system conveniently forget is that Speedway is the only team sport in the whole wide world that has injuries so therefore there is no alternative... Also due to doubling up, down, in, out, shake it all about, it means it becomes virtually impossible to plan in fixtures without riders needing to be in two places at once. We may have a vaccine for Covid 19 in less than 12 months but there cannot be a scientist alive clever enough who could deliver a fixture list which prevents clubs who have the same riders clashing... I am so grateful that a few years ago when Craig Cook signed for Glasgow half way through the season he had to miss an Aces match (who he rode for all that season) at Swindon, I think the week after signing for Glasgow.. Luckily we brought in Pooles Brady Kurtz and he top scored for the Aces in a very famous victory which virtually clinched our play off place which had been looking in danger... I will never forget the open top bus parade back in Manchester the following night as thousands thronged the streets to celebrate....

It would throw a spanner in the works if they did.. The TV money would be stretched in the top league for a kick off, which probably stops the idea in its tracks right there.. Add in the lack of potential heat leaders from overseas due to Brexit and Polabd and that too will stop another team moving up I would think, especially a team who could out pay some of the more established teams for the talent that is available.. If any team could do it though I would suggest Glasgow is the one, and the owners do seem to be very driven, and dont look like the kind of people who will accept others impacting their business negatively..

The bottom line is simple.. It doesnt matter what you are trying to sell if not enough people know you actually exist.. It could be the greatest product in the world that you have, but if you dont advertise that product, where it can be purchased from, and when it is regularly available to be purchased, you wont make any success of what you are doing.. Because it's simply just not possible to do so using that 'plan'... Getting a proper, professional national marketing campaign going, which highlights the sport and its teams, is the only way to get the cut through required if the sport wants to prosper and thrive.. The core product of the racing today is a product you can certainly 'sell' if enough people get to 'sample it' I would say.. The last "Golden Era" as Steve says was the 1970's which was very much delivered by a very successful 'England' team, a very regular slot on Saturday in a prime time TV slot when there were only 3 channels to watch, and a true "perfect for TV" superstar in Peter Collins to keep the watching millions amazed and enthralled at what could be done on a Speedway bike.. In short though, fundamentally, the message was out there of its existence and many would follow their local teams on the back of the international success and high profile meetings they watched on Saturdays during the summer.. Get something like that message out there again and, given its low starting base, even just 25000 or so more a week would more than 100% increase its income.. What an opportunity that really is when a great many of the 65 million population live around no more than an hour from a venue, and that track is often pretty much usually the "only one" within that travelling distance.. Opinions and arguments about stadiums, team strengths, rules and regulations, race nights etc etc etc and how they negatively impact the crowd levels, (no matter how valid), pale into insignificance against the impact generated by the very fact that literally millions live within an hour of a Speedway track and dont even know the sport exists.. Sort that as a priority and the size of the prize potentially is huge given the starting point..