mikebv

"British Speedway's Premiership will be ran on two fixed nights on Monday and Wednesday to avoid clashes with Championship clubs" "British Speedway's Premiership will now be ran on three fixed nights, Monday and Wednesday and Thursday which will now clash with Championship clubs" "Riders must not get off their bikes at the tapes and prepare their start area".... "Riders can now get off their bikes at the tapes and prepare their start area"... "We won't be using rolling averages this season".... "We will be using rolling averages this season"... "To me Barry".. "To you Paul"... "To you Barry" "To me Paul".... "To you"... "To me"... "To you"... "To me".... etc etc etc for the next six months... British Speedway, sponsored by Chucklevision...

British Speedway is the Darts equivalent of the 'BDO', whilst Polish Speedway is akin to the 'PDC'... Exactly the same sport, but a world of difference in how each are led from the top, organised, marketed and followed..

Simply no one can be a success when they all share the same 'employees'... The credibility (or lack of it) effectively puts every track at a huge disadvantage as no one can in all honesty take the Leagues seriously... .. Running at weekend, with settled sides of 'your riders' can only be a major step forward... The Entertainment and Leisure industry invariably does 'Specials' on Monday to Wednesday to attract punters after the money spinning weekend... British Speedway must have expected to buck that trend and have thousands climbing over each other to get out to their local Speedway track.... I admire their optimism..

Surely that is the ONLY answer 'W'?... Well it appears to be the only 'MO' used for the past 30 or so years. . What's that definition of insanity? "Doing exactly the same thing time and time again and then being amazed you end up with exactly the same result"... You would laugh out loud at the sheer ridiculous way the Sport is ran in Britian if it wasn't so sad... Unfortunately the never fit for purpose constantly changing Operating Model, won't ever deliver even the remotest of chance to be succesful....

Agree 100% about the marketing, however British Speedway just by the plethora of guests, double uppers and the way teams are dismantled every year, can never hope to bring loyalty to its fan base.. Riders come and go now so it would hardly be much different if they left the country to ride in Poland... And let's be honest most of our lads don't ride over there due to the level of ability required so it wouldn't be a huge problem... In fact, for the marketing of the Sport, it would be a nice problem to have as it would mean we had lots of British lads doing well, which could only be good for the National team and therefore wider media coverage... Media coverage which would then bring even more riders to the Sport wanting to emulate others and seek their own fame and fortune.... And all businesses or entities need aspirational levels to develop and move forwards.... Otherwise they stagnate, then regress, then die.... And British Speedway has been in regression far too long...

Spot on... Very, very basic business practice for those entities that rely on the patronage and footfall of individuals to be succesful, is that they need to be open when their customers can get there in their highest numbers.... British Speedway however has a 'better idea' than that... To be honest I am surprised Messrs Sugar and Branson haven't tried to use the BSPA's business model in their businesses...

Don't think there is any doubt... Friday, Saturday, Sunday are the best days to attract a crowd if you run a Sport, or are in the Entertainment and Leisure industry, (Speedway you would say ticks both boxes).. No surprise therefore that Poland run on these nights and at the meeting to agree each Countries race nights they didn't suggest Britain takes their days' over and that they would run Monday/Thursday (or even Wednesday as it transpired)... If Mondays were such a great night to attract a Speedway crowd you would have to think the Poles would have ensured they took it... British Speedway simply cannot compete with Poland so shouldnt even give it a consideration and plough it's own furrow.. Run at the weekend with lads who are happy earning a 'normal' job's weekly wage for four or five races a night.. Run with lads who reside over here to keep hotel and air fare costs out of the equation and, if needs be, run with five or six man teams to shave even more off the expenditure.. And run consistently, either once a week, or once a fortnight if all the League runs on the same night... Do that and maybe admission fees could gradually come down to attract even more numbers through the gate to add to what 'Weekend Speedway' would bring. It would be a lot easier to sell the sport media wise, and market it nationally collectively, (rather than individually) too, having a full fixture list over say three days, rather than the fragmented way it is currently ran..

And part time Stockport County in the 2nd Tier of Non League Football got over 6000 yesterday for their play off... And have averaged around 4000 all season... 6000 fans would be around 6 matches worth at BV... Shows how far Speedway (over here) has been allowed to fall off the wider publics radar..

The other problem then is running three or four times in a fortnight to cram meetings in to meet play off deadlines, and running in front of reduced crowds due to the cost of so many meetings so close together, and riders missing due to their countries getting priority for meetings being ran over there on the same night as the re-staging over here.... Who'd be a Speedway Promoter?

Freddie on Fire....!! Some speed he is getting...

Don't mess about getting the next race on do they? Several clear breaks for TV interviews/track grades which must help the food and drink outlets too.. Race finishes, next four riders ready to go out.... Simple really.. Very Fast Freddie this evening...

They would never get the meetings finished before midnight as he paddled around at the back getting lapped race after race... (Is it obvious I am still bitter spending around £100 to watch him do exactly that a couple of seasons ago?)..

A fair point... It was something that struck me last weekend when watching my third Polish match over two days... Big crowds in modern stadia, atmosphere being 'literally' drummed up by sections of the crowd, (crowds that are made up of plenty of people under 30 never mind 60!). An announcer engaging the fans in celebratory chants and riders giving absolutely everything on well prepared circuits (Probably through fear of losing their team place and the good money that comes with it).. Absolutely light years away from what British Speedway offers, and now being on TV every weekend it doesn't do British Speedway any favours I would suggest. .. As Jim Bowen used to say on Bullseye... "Come an 'ave a look at what yer could 'ave won! "...

My first sporting hero as a four year old kid.. Sad news... RIP Ivan... A TRUE Legend of the Sport.

Or run the Sport properly and make a signing or run RR? If RR then the next two riders should be able to take two rides each... Too easy to run guests hence the Sport does... Hence it sadly has no credibilty. ..

Spot on GW... 2.5 MILLION potential fans reside in the Greater Manchester conurbation, all within a 45 min drive from the NSS, with good motorway links to get there off the M60 Motorway Ring Road... Aprrox 1500 of these 2.5M (at best) attend each week... The ONLY Speedway Track and Team within their area... With a potential 'reach' of that magnitude, something doesn't add up does it?... And as the racing is generally VERY GOOD indeed at the NSS the lack of support has to be down to the cost of admission.. And I quantify that by the fact that there are probably 3000 - 4000 or so actual people who would consider themselves BV fans who attend sporadically over the Season with varying degrees of regularity, but simply don't see paying out the current admission levels each week as within their ongoing capability fiscally.. On here, we often talk about how to engage new fans, and mention how poor the Sport is marketed both locally and nationally , however, within most catchment areas there are a huge amount of people who 'used to go', possibly to an even higher number than those who still attend.. Just getting those back each week would be an enormous leap forward.. But at current admission levels I would say it would be very difficult to do that... Just as a throwaway thought, I always think it 'interesting' that when you do see meetings advertised in local papers either through adverts or in the weeky 'piece' put together by the local journo, they often never mention the admission costs as part of the meeting info... Most businesses who want your business scream out about how much they charge don't they? Strange that Speedway doesn't..!

With all the early call offs there must be an agreement between clubs to save as much as they can.. And to be fair, myself and around 500 others I am sure would have given tonight a swerve if the weather looked ropey.. The sad thing is not one rider there tonight would attract 500 extra punters over and above the usual crowd yet the weather will remove 500 due to the fact we have all felt conned in the past by getting meetings on at all cost or watching nonsense racing to get a result... The irony is that using just a fraction of the TV money over the years for track covers would, I am sure, have given greater confidence to those 500 to attend, as more chance of a meeting being on if all the rain has fell pre start time, yet millions have been spent on riders who have very little impact on the crowd levels.. A strange business model indeed...

EVERY spectator counts I would imagine (in particular this year), given the lack of TV money and the demise of crowds over the past few years or so... Simply even what may be called 'regulars' will often give it a miss if there is even the slightest chance of a meeting being called off/effected in quality, therefore saving expenditure has become something that needs doing, literally, 'at all cost'... Not ideal I 100% agree, but this is where British Speedway has now placed itself through the operating and business model it has chosen to run with over the past 20 years or so...

Difference was HTG that in those days mainly semi pro riders rode a full seasons calender every week, riding 80+ times a year, earning good money to back up their 'day job' earnings... Riders also didn't have several bikes and mechanics in several countries that required them to ask for (and receive) thousands per night in salaries.... Salaries that mean admission fees have risen hugely in advance of inflation since the 70's... An unustainable business model that no one seems to want to admit to, nor change...

To be fair, I think SS was 100% correct with his forecast.. It can only be presumed therefore that it was the weather that was wrong....

Imagine trying to launch an enterprise that at the core of its business plan is the belief that it will be successful by only opening sporadically and inconsistently.... And that its opening times will be heavily dictated to by the employees telling the owners when they are available, rather than the owners opening their business when they can generate the highest customer numbers (and income) through their doors..? Any business person coming up with that idea would be considered certifiable!!.. Yet year on year, this incredibly is how British Speedway allows itself to be ran... Cannot think why it isn't more successful....

Just another in the catalogue of "make do and mend" decisions which have been delivered over the past few decades, and left the Sport (in this country) where it currently is.. It will never change until the day an independent person or body runs the Sport with a clear vision for it... Someone who will make decisions for the greater good of the Sport rather than any individual's specific needs and wants... And as we know that is never going to be allowed to happen the Sport will continue to regress at its ever increasing rate..

There would appear to be a more concerted plan to call off meetings earlier so far this season.. Some will criticise if on the night at start time there isn't a cloud in the sky but from a business angle it's the right thing to do... Many fans now steer clear of nights when it 'looks a bit dodgy' as most have felt ripped off in the past thru either paying for an abandoned meeting or watching riders going through the motions to get a meeting to the required heat to force a result... Therefore calling off a meeting early and saving thousands in costs, which will never get recouped from a low crowd, has to be the right thing to do... Especially as Speedway is now pretty much down to the die hards so every spectator counts..

Clashes will be inevitable through the 'two set nights Premiership' actually being a 'three set nights Premiership'.. Just another typical 'halfway house' British Speedway decision that tries to appease everyone but invariably ends up working well for no-one..

And the added issue with 'getting in early, whilst they can', and then not getting meetings on, is that fixtures start to pile up so tracks end up running three times in seven days later in the year, which then creates reduced crowds due to the costs involved and the 'guestfests' that often get created... As an overall business model, if you showed it to a bank manager for a loan to finance it, I would suggest not many would give you the cash..