mikebv

With the parking restrictions outside it could be a reasonable earner..

In my lifetime.. Mauger Hamill Jason Crump Chris Morton Peter Collins Zagar Shawn Moran

I wouldn't necessarily say Tai is the best British rider ever... But I'd definitely put him in the Top One... (Apologies to Brian Clough)...

I remember at the 'dog bowl' the houses adjacent to the back straight had a completely unrestricted view from their bathroom windows overlooking the track when 'The Chieftain Stand' was demolished.... No one ever watched.... A 'proper business' would be engaging with their new neighbours and giving out special offers, eg a few meetings free to try it, reduced price tickets ongoing, organising meet and greet open days pre season exclusively for them etc.. Must be a couple of thousand people now within walking distance, and the demographic of house buyers in those size houses suggest young (ish) professionals with plenty of kids in tow... Speedway's much needed target audience... (Obviously still having a track to run on would be a distinct advantage in attracting them).

Lots of houses means lots of potential fans... Potential customers literally being brought to your door step.. (Or Swindon being brought to their doorstep as the case maybe?) What an opportunity to grow your business.... There will be no issues with these locals not knowing what Speedway is...

I would think you are right re the crowd levels at the three tracks.. I reckon Buster will have factored it in too when putting his plans for the three together.. Posh and Ippo up by a collective 300 - 400 or so and KL level or slightly down... Net result? A nice plus.... My team get around 1200 - 1400 and should they not do as well as previous years will still get 1100 or so as a minimum I would say... The sport is very much down to its die hard following at most tracks, if not all, so I would think promoters have some confidence in putting together a team knowing they won't drop too many fans during the season. Likewise, they also know that putting together a 'winning team' often won't generate enough extra fans to pay for the increased points money getting paid out.. I am sure Buster won't get his fingers burnt...

To be fair to Buster with three teams to run I would imagine he is looking at all three from the overall generic business perspective.. With all three having very different agendas.. Both Peterborough and Ipswich will I am sure get a bit of 'top league bounce' and bring in a few fans who maybe have stopped going.. Two or three hundred of them at each track and the picture will look reasonable I would think... Peterborough have often seemed to be a team that when doing well can attract decent crowds but when doing poorly seem to lose a high proportion of their fan base. Hence putting together a 'good team' makes sense.... Ipswich will hopefully get that 'bounce' and it is a track that has always seemed to hold onto a 'decent following' regardless of which division they are in or who rides for them, hence it makes sense not to go overboard with recruitment.. And as for Kings Lynn, they too seem to have a reasonable 'die hard' following regardless of where they finish in the league therefore, again, it doesn't make financial sense to spend big money on riders. Especially given he will have (at least) four local derbies to help bring fans in. (And 12 local derbies as a minimum in total).. And dont the stox help fund the Speedway? Therefore Buster doesn't need to fork out unnecessary money to make the stadium pay... Lets be honest, there is no kudos in winning any of the domestic speedway titles given the ridiculous rules and the way the sport is ran, so it makes complete sense to run all three clubs with the sole aim of at least keeping them solvent or possibly even turning a few quid profit...

The riders had to get off their bikes at then end of the home straight and push them round turns one and two..

Correct.. The operating and business model they run is simply not fit for purpose.. Running any business where your employees dictate to you when you can open your doors due to their need to work for many other employers can never work.. And just to throw some salt onto that particular wound, your competitors can also decide when you can open your doors if they think your opening hours effect their own business.. Utterly crackers... No one can sort that out....

Does every team have a 'supporters club'? I think it was only last year that the Aces put one together after many years of nothing... Maybe that is the issue? ie No 'supporters club' exists so no one is being nominated?

Plus this year I will see the 'superstars' riding Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Polish League and Tuesday's every week in Sweden.. And then watch them regularly in the GP's too... All in glorious HD from the comfort of my armchair.. No 'mystique' sadly anymore.. You went to watch Collins, Mauger, Olsen, Penhall etc etc when they visited your track, as it could be the only chance you got all season to see them, apart from the Saturday highlights on World Of Sport of the big meetings...

Not just modern days riders... I know of one from well over ten years ago who always tried to end up at 5.99 as he was seen as a 'solid six pointer' in the eyes of the promoters, and "5.99 always sounded as if I could improve it!"... He always started the season well, ran around a seven plus average, reached the point where he paid the bills for his riding for the season, then would get the calculator out as the season drew to an end as "everything else is bunce"... (He had a Full time job too unlike so many today, so any Speedway 'profit' was icing on his cake).. He was never short of a team place so his system worked!! Also he got lots of guest bookings keeping his average where it was, and reckoned some were "very good earners".. About 20 years ago I had a conversation one night late in the season with a Promoter and suggested he might sign a rider who we were watching perform well. The same rider had been quoted that week in the SS as "never wanting the season to end", such was his upturn in form.. The Promoter told me he would never sign any rider based on late season form as he could never be sure if it was actually the fact that rider had improved or that the others he was racing against were lowering their averages for the following season.. If you use such a daft, easily manipulated system, based on so many variables, then you will always have riders using it to their advantage as why do 'too well' one year and miss the next through your 'success'? Far more lucrative to do 'ok' for two seasons than 'do well' for one...

How very dare you... Stockport County have had over 4000 in their place this season, and rarely drop below 3000.. And got over 7000 I think for the play offs last year... Imagine any UK Speedway team getting those crowds...?

Blimey HR, you sound like my Citeh mates explaining why the Emptihad is never full... "Road works outside McVities" is usually the main one... Or. .. "They've changed the traffic light priority fazing on Mount Rd".. Hear what your'e saying mate and I am sure 'start time' and the 'night of running' does lessen the crowd level, but I would say it prevents people from going far less than, as currently, the vast majority of the Mancunian populace not having a clue who The (World Famous) Belle Vue Aces are, and what they do... Stockport County can get 3000 - 4000 on a Tuesday night, six miles away, and we know United and City get tens of thousands any evening they play, so there is a huge appetite for 'live sport' in quite probably the No1 'sporting conurbation' in the country.. It just appears the appetite for Speedway is just not there... Sadly..

I work in Levenshulme, less than 1.5 miles away from the track.. I mention "going to Belle Vue" to my staff and their response to a man/woman is "I love going to the dogs, its a great night".. When I mention that it's to the Speedway, the usual stock answer of so many of "is that still going?" surfaces..... The World Famous BelleVue Aces? Not even famous a stones throw away... You can run on any day of the week you choose, if no one knows who you are, or indeed, what you do, then simply no one will come... The abysmal marketing of the Aces (and the sport in general), is very much linked to the poor crowds 'enjoyed'... As for congestion? Well the Aces certainly seem to do their bit to ease it.. Never any congestion around Kirky Lane around 7.15pm on Monday and Wednesday's.

Kids are simply not interested in Speedway because they have far more things nowadays to keep them interested and get their 'kicks'.. And, just maybe, what we considered 'exciting and adrenalin fuelled' is to the average teenager (who goes on 'killing sprees' and 'saves the world' from the comfort of their bedrooms every night), not anywhere near as exciting or adrenalin fuelled to them.... What does amaze me is why clubs charge school age teenagers to get in.. They don't go now so it would be zero loss letting them in for nothing, and you would at least (for those who own the food outlets) sell more Coke and Burgers. Teenagers also 'hunt in packs', so getting your teenager to go with you on their own is sometimes akin to removing blood from a stone.. Letting them in for free would mean they and their mates can all attend together to 'hang out', well away from the 'old man'.. Whether any of them transfer to become paying customers further down the line is the big unknown, however one thing is for sure... You will have far more chance of getting them interested later in life if they have sampled the experience several times.. And being 'sheep' the more that attend , the more that will follow.. And if nothing else, it would make the crowds look bigger, which can only reflect the sport positively, and lower the average age of the crowd demographic considerably...

That's very true.. But sadly the very fact that they could help their rival's cause is a huge detriment to the Sports desire to ever being taken seriously as a "proper sport' by the wider mainstream media.. Still, as RG says, they are needed...

Why would anyone who supports another club in the Premiership bet against you? I as a BV fan could agree to your £50 wager then watch (completely broken), as 'my' riders, several times during the season help your team qualify for the Play Offs (at their own teams' expense), by guesting for you...

Spot on.. A shortage of riders? Then create less team places.. It isn't difficult to change supply and demand dynamics.. I would have gone as far as running with five man teams for this year to turn the 'tanker' around, and try and get 12 teams involved.. Home and Away twice (44 matches, 22 at Home).. At a Championship level standard (from last year)) but removing one heat leader and one second string from last seasons teams.. With One reserve, at least, a two point Brit 'junior'.. The rest of the teams could have run at NL level.. Plenty of replacements generated for injuries and loss of form, just like 'proper' sports have. (Without rivals sharing competitors)! £5k Max per team per night salary cap... Maybe no superstars but credibility and affordable?

Stop it! Stop it now!... We will have none of that common sense talk on here... The BSPA also pay set rates out for their shared events.. Again, why are those rates OK to be paid then but that rate times several fold is paid for a League meeting? A strange conundrum... One day the rider is worth 'x', the next the same rider is worth 'y'... For doing the same thing under the same organisation..

The benefit of hindsight? Really? Do you really need hindsight to see that spending vast amounts more than you are bringing in, and racing on nights dictated to by your employees, rather than for the benefit of your customers, is anything other than a ludicrous business plan?.. Do you really need hindsight to see that trying to run a bona fide Sporting Championship, whilst sharing competitors with your rivals on an adhoc basis, is laughable and brings zero credibility to the very competition you are spending ridiculous sums trying to win? Do you really need hindsight to see that you have, annually, lost thousands of fans due to your operating model and business plan and replaced them with very, very few new fans? I would suggest anyone who didn't spot the current shambles being the obvious conclusion of their actions, must have very, very poor vision indeed, and not having hindsight is the least of their worries...

And as RG alluded to in the SS, 'guest riding' is a nice earner for the riders which helps fund their riding, hence they are here to stay.. Their team might only have 30 or so meetings but riders can ride many, many more times if they have the 'right average' .... (and maintain it)...

2.5 million people live in the Grt Mcr conurbation... All within 45 mins drive... The track has fantastic motorway links, ie straight off the motorway and onto an dual carriageway/A road. Drive five mins and you are there.. Mcr City Centre is five mins away by bus. Many routes run past it.... Its less than five mins by taxi and train, (the station is five mins walk away)... Belle Vue have a 100% monopoly as there isn't another track within 30 plus miles... To get less than 0.1% of Manchester to attend isn't too positive a measure for those who run it I would suggest..

Go back twenty five years or so and there were considerably more attending the dog bowl on a Friday night than attend the NSS currently on Mondays.. .. Sadly I would say the NSS is simply fifteen to twenty years too late to be successful... The 'lost generation' of fans show very little signs of coming back and 'newbies' are very much conspicuous by their absence... A shame for the sport in general not just for the Aces..

Team racing might be the lifeblood Phil, but it simply doesn't work in this country.. Keep doing the same thing and the ever decreasing circle will eventually disappear.. The fans who have deserted the sport in their tens of thousands over the past 20 years are testament to team speedway 'not working'... To run a team sport you 100% need the emotional attachment from your fans to 'their team'... Yet (British) Speedway actually allows ringers to be brought it to replace riders virtually every week of the season somewhere... (And the way some fans accept guests makes you think that Speedway is the only team sport that gets injuries)! Let's face it, winning with guests gives you zero satisfaction. . And losing against a team of guest track specialists pees you off.. Why bother therefore putting in your emotional loyalty to a team when it's often nothing more than a random collection of riders, riding for that night under whatever flag of convenience has offered them the rides..? And ultimately, why bother then attending such contrived, artificially put together 'league speedway'? Who really cares who wins that particular night or indeed at the end of season given the contrived way any team gets to the play off? And if that is your starting point, god help anyone trying to make a success of it.. Many on here now say they attend simply to watch the spectacle of four riders racing around a track, and ignore all the nonsense that surrounds such a simple concept.. And for me, the raw material product is still worth watching.. Hence I will attend the SON and Cardiff this year.. The spectacle does still have a crowd pulling value without any shadow of doubt.. Just not (in this country) built around a team concept... (Unless of course very radical decisions are made, which given the track record of those in charge, would seem very, very unlikely)...