mikebv

Or alternatively... Just re-arrange the meeting... And maybe do it on a night that doesn't clash with an FIM meeting...

Which I personally think the sport should do James.. ie. take away any personal attachment to any team.. The sport can be great, so showcase it at an individual level and with national teams.. Run domestic speedway like stock cars do their sport and run regular test matches v other nations.. if it cannot run itself successfully as a team sport, them simply don't as you cannot ever win.. Therefore try something else.. The operating model used is a complete failure, as is validated by the loss of a huge amount of fans over the past two decades by using it... There is though, still a reasonable demand for Speedway when it has relevance.. So make more meetings relevant..

I suppose in those days it was a much less media focused age... You could get away with such nonsense and the first you would here of it was when you had paid your money to get in, or if you didn't attend, in the SS a week later.. Now you know well in advance of who the teams are going to made up of and can decide whether to collude with the promoters or not that what you are watching is credible.. £25, plus the inevitable extras, for me and my lad is a lot of money to pay out for something contrived and ultimately unimportant as to who the victors are.. Maybe running the sport 'properly' won't turn around the sports fortunes.. But I would suggest it might be worth a go, before it becomes far too late to have any impact at all..

You are forgetting though that Speedway (in Britain) is the only sport that has ever existed since the dawn of time, where competitors can actually get injured... My 'final, final straw' (after several other just 'final' ones).. Was a couple of years ago, when Max Fricke rode against Poole for the Aces in the morning then rode for Poole against Leicester the same day, just a few hours later... Poole suffered an injury during the Aces meeting so Max was asked to go along and represent them.. I decided finally that Mickey Mouse had indeed completely taken over and that any organising body that decides such nonsense is 100% acceptable, (and actively encourages it), simply isn't worth your hard earned in following it.. Any competition ran that allows such a ridiculous state of affairs is rendered contrived and worthless.. Therefore why go an watch it? Those that allow such nonsense are truly asking a lot for people to take it seriously and follow it with any emotional attachment to their team... Which is so fundamental to the success of any team sport.. Thankfully Poland and Sweden still run the sport properly and get beamed into my TV each week via the wonders of modern science... And this year the SoN, the U21 World Cup and Cardiff are either on my doorstep or just a car ride away... A shame as is it is a great sporting spectacle when done well, and properly..

And a guaranteed wild card next year no doubt so as you say, no need to rush things..

To be fair Steve, you should see the amount of homework... Not sure what they actually do at school!!... My lad has been in over ten times during the past two holiday breaks doing 'compulsory revision', including Saturdays... "Eeee, it's all changed since I were a lad" etc etc etc.

£20 for me and my 16yr old lad.. Very good value given the riders who should be on view and the status of the meeting.. £5 cheaper than a Premiership match... Looks like my second visit this year then after the SoN.. Hope they get the crowd they deserve at those prices.. And for resisting what must have been a huge and obvious temptation to run it on a Monday or a Thursday...

Probably something to do with Brexit?

And a 'guest friendly' average in both leagues is never a bad thing to run to earn a few extra bookings.. Particularly in the 'guest fest ' era that has taken place over the past five years or so..

Of course you can.... As said before football already does it... And you can sit next to someone in a plane who has paid more or less than you.... Also. You can be in an hotel room and the person next door can have paid more or less than you... If you want atmosphere at a sports event it is enhanced 1000% by having two sets of fans in attendance.. If they won't come because the costs are too high, admission, travel etc. Then reduce them,... Having atmosphere at a team event is a self fulfilling prophecy, the more you have, the bigger the occasion will feel and the longer it will live in the memory, Having zero atmosphere, like so many speedway meetings have, inspires very few to keep returning.. There should be no restrictions to marketing any event... Thats why innovation exists...

Watched an episode of George and Mildred on Dave a few months ago.. The toast was burnt or something and there was then a comment about cinders and a Speedway track.. Hilarious... Big time Speedway is again just around the corner when 1970's crap sitcoms can push it into their script...

Twenty is Plenty.. A pressure group formed to have a maximum price for away fans... Many clubs joined in...

Of course you csn... If you want them there... And you dont get anywhere near the same atmosphere, and therefore sense of occasion, without them.. Hence. Football does it too...

Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest will be once again be proven.... For far too long Speedway has propped up teams in the league at any cost... Hence it has become not much more than a vehicle to allow riders to ride professionally in an haphazard scatter gun way, rather than a bona fide professional team sport which attracts a loyal emotional following and has credibility... Sometimes you do need to strip everything back and start again... When supply of riders exceeds demand it can start to turn round it's fortunes..

Good idea... Another possibility is give out tickets on a sliding scale.. Maybe a couple of £12 vouchers for the next two matches, and then a couple of £14 ones for the next two after, and then charge full price after that.. After five discounted visits maybe the 'Speedway habit' has kicked in and it won't seem a huge jump from £14 to full price... (Or mayne one of the three discounted prices is the successful one in delivering the required volume to profit figure so the old full price isn't needed?)

Spot on.. Only give out their tickets at Edinburgh... No e tickets, no postage etc.. And do it when Berwick are not there! Maybe to ST holders first up to reward their loyalty and then if any left to anyone who wants one.. The sport desperately needs rivalries to create that much needed atmosphere which it is so devoid of at so many tracks.. So time to create it.. Its amazing how a great meeting lives no time in the memory when played out in front of one man and his dog.. And vice versa. You seldom come away from Cardiff thinking 'that wasn't good' because you were surrounded by lots of people and the atmosphere is great, even if the racing isn't for example, a patch on the NSS.. A chance for Berwick to showcase themselves and hopefully it forms part of a longer term much more detailed marketing plan on the back of it, as it won't mean everyone just turns up again at the next meeting. As has been proved several times around the country when other clubs have done this and crowds just drop back to normal after the special offer... It should be the starting point of a longer term marketing plan, not the only marketing plan.. Best of luck to them..

Hope they get a big crowd... Maybe charge Edinburgh fans a fiver, or even free? to try and get a few there to add a bit of spice and atmosphere. And get some emails and mobile numbers off those home fans who attend to target them with offers in the future... It's a big jump from a tenner to seventeen quid and expect all to return the week later... Maybe do some further reduced tickets to those enticed in to get them back into the habit of attending Speedway.. Hope it generates some good short and long term returns.. The mistake so many often make is they have no follow up to nights like this and just think all will return again and pay full price the week later.. Be great to see if Berwick can use it a launch pad to further innovative plans to keep punters coming in.. Great to see some 'promotion'....

To be fair.. I have seldom had a Big Mac that resembles the photo on the wall.. Nor one that tastes quite as good as the advert had led me to believe... The sport needs a jewel in the crown to build everything else around it... Most tracks it would appear need around 500 or so a week more to become at least 'break even'... Just 500... Even if they got that for one week after a great advert for the sport on TV it must help... What they do with them when they get there is then down to the club.. But getting them there in the first place has to be the priority.... The NSS, with a full Grandstand, and lots of away fans to add atmosphere, allied to the usual great racing, must have a chance of being the advert that persuades a few hundred ex fans at least to attend their local track, even if no newbies can be attracted.. In the short term get the sport back on track (no pun intended) and then long term start to replicate some thing similar to what the NSS has to offer (if possible) around the country..

Waiting for the tide to go out?

Excellent post... I've said before that four years ago my son and I went to an indoor Supercross event in Mcr.. Last year they came back to Mcr and I found this out because they emailed me two months out with discount codes to be used, using the details they had from the last purchase I made.. They had also sent me ecard birthday wishes for my lad and Xmas ecards to me and my family in the interim.. Not difficult is it? If you want to make it work, you can, without breaking the bank..

Correct.. There should be some clear demarcation between every league. (If they want to keep three leagues going forward?) You improve and become the best at that level then you move up.. You go backwards and can't compete then you drop down a level.. A natural order of things.. If you look at the top fives in the PL then all are pretty similar standards wise, (and have been for donkeys years), therefore why not run with five man teams until enough riders are available to ride at that level and add another if it suits... The Premiership should be the aspirational level.. The Championship the one that holds those who still wish to climb to the top step, or are happy with their lot. And the NL the breeding ground for new talent, of any age.. Running with five men per team will hopefully lead to excess riders too which puts pressure on those holding the positions which can never be a bad thing. And it will also keep salaries in check as well as providing injury cover credibly.. Still let riders double or treble up as their ability allows until enough riders fill the teams. Ensure no clashes of fixtures but the higher league will have priority if it happens unavoidably.. The UK seems to have a much better pathway now for young riders to progress. Be a shame if they are just thrown in at the deep end before they are ready without any support if they struggle to swim..

There is an easy answer though Sydney.. Market the sport collectively.. Create a brand image collectively... Race on nights when you can get your best crowds not when your employees tell you they are available.. Do market research locally to focus on where to advertise more to increase your reach.. Review the price elasticity of your product to ascertain the right price v the margin/volume needed to meet profit that the customer will pay.. Then set a fixed wage budget % against your income budget, and never overspend it, if you take more than your sales budget then pay the riders more or use this cash to develop your business.. Be innovative, use professionals to support your ideas, and work together to share costs and increase overall impact.. For example. Use the NSS to help sell the sport to those watching around the country on TV. Any TV meeting there run it as a loss leader to create some interest, costs covered collectively. Give 50-100 tickets to the away club and pay for two coaches to get them there. Create the atmosphere so lacking sadly now of it being a 'tribal contest' that team sports should be... In fact give away free tickets to every away team at every match to distribute to their fans (maybe season ticket holders get first option as a reward for their loyalty), and pay their travel at every match. I guarantee that this will create atmosphere and more interest which can only create a more positive overall visiting experience for those in attendance.. And if you have a positive visiting experience anywhere you tend to want to go back. And as away fans are mainly not there now there is no loss of income, just the cost of the travel to pay. And to fund the travel, if you cannot get it sponsored, maybe pay the 14 riders collectively a grand less between them so there's no additional cost involved. Works out about £70 a rider but do it pro rata on a % basis so fair to all riders.. There are lots of things they could do if they worked together for the 'greater good'' rather than doing, for all the best intentions, something by themselves that has a tiny impact on their overall business.. As Kelvin said, one of the best three tracks in the world. So use it to advertise Speedway as a whole.. And do it in a full stadium, which is full of noise from both sets of fans, creating a great brand image of a successful, well followed sport to the watching TV audience.. Bottom line is that there is no point having a great race track and running in front of crowds below break even... As so many other tracks are doing too if you read comments from promoters.. Because there usually is only one outcome of that..

No... Because I haven't set myself up as a Speedway Promoter... If I did though, my marketing budget would be a considerable 'fixed cost' that I would plan for and invest in... And see it as a fundamental priority of my business plan... Not something done as an 'after thought' ran by well meaning amateurs... Because that simply doesn't work...

Speedway gets many, many hours of advertising out of the BT deal.. That they choose not to highlight themselves as a 'popular place to visit' isn't BT's fault... Last night they should have ran with cheap tickets, filled the Grandstand, and had huge banners advertising various sponsors and the club website, twitter, fb page etc covering the empty back straight.. Or at the very least move all the Grandstand people together and covered the vacant seating with advertising banners like champions league football does with the first few rows.. When the SWC was at BV a few years ago we got 'upgraded' free of charge to the seating erected on bends three/four Why? Because this was the area that was going to get most covered on TV as it was directly in line with the camera covering the starts.. Unpurchased, empty seating would have made the event look 'unpopular'.. So much of advertising and marketing is about hype.. If it looks successful many 'sheep' will follow it and grow it's success.. And vice versa, the same is also true.. It it looks unpopular, it will stay unpopular unless something changes.. And 'build it and they will come' simply doesn't cut it anymore... The Aces have a huge asset in that circuit. They now need to get a marketing plan that actually does it justice..

I know, sadly.. Would be great to watch around the NSS... So many on good money in Poland that dissuades them coming over.. Cannot blame them to be fair given the standing of the sport over there, the crowds, the atmosphere and the racetrack standards that are maintained.. Britain has none of the first three with maybe only the NSS meeting the racetrack standards..