mikebv

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 ..

To be fair to any of the TV companies, it isnt their responsibility to improve the sport... They provide the platform through their coverage to give the sports they cover the publicity and opportunity to use this platform to increase their profile and, hopefully, their followers and attendees... The UK promoters have had regular two hour adverts to showcase their sport yet seem quite content on showcasing it as something very few people attend, with swathes of empty seating and terracing being the overriding optics of most domestic meetings.. TNT (and Eurosport), were particularly poor though with their production standards, with graphics often wrong, however, trying to explain a "guest rising star" taking a "rider replacement ride" to a production assistant to get the graphics right, must have some difficulties...

Good call... Getting to know the riders at the same time.... Getting those with personalities into the studio....

The root cause was three competitions still to be completed meant pressure to get it run, so ALL promoters were involved in that situation... Not a great idea by October to still have three left to sort, and running on an FIM date which was in fhe calendar for over 12 months just compounded the self inflicted issue.. It was also almost disrespectful to fans, (and sponsors), to run such a "prestigious" meeting given many would have paid all season to hopefully see their team in the play offs, and then end up with a "select side" to follow... An independent arbiter/body wouldn't have sanctioned this meeting given the situation with GP2, (but would no doubt also have ensured two of the competitions had been wrapped up by then)... It would have been interesting to see the Tigers fans reactions if they hadn't won the semi overall...

A final in a pro sport is about WINNING.... Not entertaining... Cinema's do that.... If you get an exciting meeting as well then (for the neutral), it's a bonus.. I had a conversation with a promoter in the 90's who I was potentially going to get involved in some sponsorship with, and mentioned that the racing wasn't always up to much and when I attended Sheffield and Stoke, (which I did each week), the racing there was more entertaining... His answer was along the lines of it was all about winning as that held the home crowd levels up, and that a few meetings of entertaining racing, but losing, was a recipe for closing down.... He certainly wasnt the only promoter then, or now, with those views...

The sport is in such a position that it needs to be on one of the five main channels... That would generate interest levels that would see growth quickly... And, given the low numbers at most tracks, substantial growth with just a few hundred more attending regularly... TNT/Eurosport are very much the lesser of the satellite companies anyway...

How many casual newcomers were watching last night? On a stream only Speedway fans would know existed..? And any newbies in the stadium would have been impressed I am sure by the crowd size and feel good factor of winning, (if a Poole fan).. Years ago, even at Hyde Rd, many races were often spread out and "done" by the end of lap one, yet the large crowds, with plenty of away fans in attendance, kept the atmosphere at a level where going back the next week was almost a given... Similar racing now takes place in front of hundreds, not thousands, with almost no away fans, which is why the atmosphere at tracks doesn't make it a given you will return the next meeting.... Edit... And I would suggest the many thousands of lapsed fans who follow the sport closely but don't attend their local track regularly are the target market that should be prioritised in getting to attend .. Listening to them and fixing the reasons why they no longer attend would deliver a far greater return than hoping casual newcomers become regulars...

To be fair,... Poole have got several "big" meetings in just a few weeks given the finals they are in, and probably still had as least as many as Leicester did at their final leg... And it was the first leg, not the second leg with your team already 4 points ahead... And they rarely go 27 months, never mind 27 years, without winning....

Speedway has always been about "winning at home" to maintain crowd levels. So much so, you can even bring in riders on higher averages at home to replace any of your missing riders.... And, teams will regularly be happy to ride away on nights their best riders are missing as it doesn't impact their home income... You get very little financial reward, nor any major national publicity, for winning any UK Speedway competition, therefore, having a winning team at home, and hopefully turning a profit by doing so, is the No1 aim for the promoters. And being able to "filli your programme in" after turn two, lap one, is something that has happened the majority of time in the thousands and thousands of races I have watched in the past five decades...

And in the semi final of the 2nd tier's flagship tournament, Glasgow turned up with THREE guests... I would suggest that this is far more brand damaging to the sport than any gate and go racing ... And Bomber got just four points that evening, not winning any races.... The track wasn't very conducive to passing that night I presume?

It wasn't a "televised fixture" though was it? It was streamed by a streaming service that pretty much only Speedway fans know about... Non Speedway fans watching would be as rare as hens teeth... A crap meeting, or a great meeting, neither would "destroy" or "save" Speedway, as only Speedway fans, who will have seen thousands of gate and go races at their own tracks, or on TV, will be watching... Poole won, (again), and that seems to be the main problem for many non Poole followers... However. Their fans went home happy, so their promotion did their jobs well... It is their business to run how they see fit to bring the punters in... And, given their crowd numbers appear as good as any in the country, they seem to do it pretty well..

But.... If the Tigers had won, would it have been a good meeting? And? Would the many fans, not just Glasgow fans, moaning about the racing still come on and say they were disappointed? Or.. Would Speedway have been the winner? So many have said that they never have seen a good meeting from Poole, yet paid for a stream covering a meeting from Poole....?

Surely the biggest objective for every promoter is to get as many punters in to their track as is possible...? To do that, (like in any business), you need to know what your punters want.... Poole seem to know more than most what generates good crowds so not sure why they get so much grief... I look forward to the 2nd leg where I can watch 15 heats of Poole gating and the Tigers flying around them, bend four, lap four... They will have the title wrapped up by heat ten though if fhey do that, so may need to go a bit easy in some heats to keep the scoreline close, so those watching at home feel that they were entertained enough.........

I presume the crowd tonight is "very good"?? If so, it surely means that the "paying public" there appear happy....?

The Poole Corinthian Pirates...

The majority of races are over by the end of the back straight, lap one, at all tracks... And has been the same since 1969 when I started watching.... "But! But! But! It's effing Poole!!!!!"

Winning in a pro sports is a bizzare perspective? Maybe they should do something like ice skating and have judges award points for "entertainment" .. The most entertaining team wins....

Yet they get some of the biggest crowds in the sport and are one of the few profitable ones... Strange...

Its a final.... Why are so many bothered about the entertainment level? In pro sports, winning is the ONLY thing... It's hard enough to take UK Speedway seriously so fans should at least appreciate it when professionals want to give themselves the biggest chance to win... Not watching as not bothered who wins, however reading the comments if Glasgow gate then they could win... Would that be good, even though the racing would still be poor?

Bends one and two, (and three), first lap, don't count....