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Dear Discovery, please ensure Hellströmbängsland gets a place in next year's Speedway of Nations.

Vi bor alla i Hellströmbängsland nu! as they say.

I assume the problem for Sweden is not having anyone able to take part from outside the squad at short notice, but surely Woentin, their U-21 reserve, should be position to ride? They are not going to achieve a thing, so at least giving him some track time at this level would mean they take something out of the weekend.

I hate the scoring system, and would have no problem with the final being a single meeting, but having it over two days you need a deciding heat at the end of it all. Otherwise you risk it being all over at the end of the first day. Tomorrow everyone but Sweden will be trying to get into the race-off, otherwise we would just be hoping Poland make a few mistakes to create any interest.

It was just a joke, I was not seriously saying Stead or Allen need to rush off to Argos before they closed.

No. If you think he was a better choice than either Lambert or Woffinden then fair enough. But it is a championship final, you do not try someone out or reward league choices, you pick the best two riders so you have the best chance of winning it.

Some quite enjoyable racing despite the track, though the crashes was horrible. Lambert justified his selection, they should give him a new watch as a reward. Top three as expected, but with the Lambert and Woffinden exclusions Poland are already in the final so long as they do not mess up. Lebedevs performing was expected, but France and Hellstöm Bängs stand out for the effort they put in. Hopefully a better track tomorrow.

It is solved by going back to making points count double in the final. Every points would still count, and winning individual meetings would matter to the title chase because six points is a lot to give up to a rival. It had to be embarrassing for them when Woffinden would say in interviews he did not care about winning meets so long as he kept picking up title points. A problem they created by getting with of double points, then they went from one extreme to the other with the current system making most of the meeting irrelevant. As to the World Cup, the meetings will be the same as before but over five days instead of eight. So something like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Saturday instead of Saturday, King's Lynn, Friday, Saturday. The press presentation did say it would feature nine teams, which I took to mean the hosts still going straight into the final. But the news story today only talks of "the eight highest ranked nations," which may mean the best eight other than the hosts, but it is a bit ambiguous.

Sadly yes, though he said there may be some live events on Eurosport. Not really sure how they expect to enlarge the fanbase by making it less accessible, but that seems to be the plan. With The Hundred in cricket this year, Sky Sports streamed all the women's matches and a few men's ones each week for free on YouTube as well as putting other matches on their basic channels Sky One and Sky Sports Mix. That was in addition to the BBC being the free-to-air partner. In an interview their head of cricket spoke of how it was more important to Sky to build up the audience in the first few years rather than simply make money from it. It sounds like Discovery's plans for speedway are the opposite of that, because while most people with a pay TV package get Eurosport included, only those who specifically want to watch sport will buy Discovery+ with the sport option. But their person did only speak of increasing the reach rather than the audience, so he clearly only meant the number of people capable of watching on a global basis, whether or not they actually do, or whether it shrinks the audience in any specific country. This will probably lose me from the sport completely. For personal reasons I am not able to attend live meetings (and I do not have a local club anyway, the nearest is Kent which is 50 miles away, and I do not drive) so I first started watching the sport when accidentally coming across the Elite League on Sky. But domestic speedway lost me by moving to BT (admittedly maybe without choice) as I could not afford that just for speedway. At least when the SGP and SON moved from Eurosport there was the VPN option. But even going back to Eurosport I have struggled to watch it. Whether through lack of habit or the erratic scheduling I kept forgetting it was on. I have probably only seen two league meetings and the British Final. And I never got into the SBP or SEC until last year when there was nothing else happening, and then they moved that to Discovery+. I do not watch anything else on Eurosport, or for that matter any other Discovery channels, even though I am already paying for them through my TV subscription. I refuse to pay twice for content I am not even watching once. A shame as everything else about the presentation looked good, though I would have like more information on how SGP4 would work with the local boards. When flashing the logos they also only showed SGP4 alongside Swedish, Danish, and Polish flags even though in the presentation there was a British logo too. More also needed to be said about how SGP qualification would work. I still do not understand how, at the very least, the current GP Challenge is not televised as part of the normal contract. But there is surely as much scope in making that series a bigger event as there is with with the U21s as SGP2. The main negative is nothing being said about how they will work with the leagues, because while you cannot complain about a big increase in prize money, surely it will only lead to more SGP riders only racing in Poland to the detriment of the sport in other countries. And despite all the big talk about not being concentrated in one country, next year will see four SGPs in Poland to one everywhere else. Whilst he said one of those was due to a problem with an intended Latvia SGP, surely they could have moved that elsewhere. In particular it seems odd not to hold anything in Manchester, a major city with a suitable track, when BSI regularly used the SWC or SON to be able to stage a second senior British event. Going to Poland for 6 of 17 events in total is a conscious choice.

I am not interested in snooker, but yes I do. When you see a player lining up a shoot you are seeing their thought process on which ball to hit, the angle to take, where they want the cue ball to end up to line up the next shot. It is not just dead time, it is revealing something about what the player wants to happen. When you see a speedway rider gardening it tells you they want more grip. Of course they do. What exactly should a casual or non-speedway viewer gain by watching someone stamp their foot for a minute that should keep them watching? As for rugby, aside from the fact you are only considering rugby union as the ball is in play much longer in a rugby league match, I would still consider the times when a line out is set or a scrum packed as being part of the action even before the ball is put in play. It is still part of the game, unlike in speedway where there is literally nothing happening to watch between races when riders are in the pits. But I am happy to be proved wrong, that there is so little action in snooker and rugby that people are turning away from it, and are flocking to speedway because of the exciting gardening action. Spectators prove otherwise. TV ratings prove otherwise. The amount broadcasters are willing to pay prove otherwise. But I like speedway and want it to survive so would be very happy if you could show me that everyone but hardcore speedway fans think gardening is no different to snooker players lining up shots. That casual viewers think the one hour and forty-five minutes of a speedway meeting without racing is part of the action and equivalent to a scrum being formed. Please prove to me that this is "nonsense," and that speedway's constant decline to the point where it essentially has to give away its TV coverage for free just because it needs the exposure is going to reverse by doing nothing to make it more attract to new fans.

You consider watching a tractor going around in circles, Dave Goddard reading out tweets, riders doing some gardening, Pearson and Tatum arguing over whether they ever agree with each other, and literally looking at an empty track as being the equivalent of a band's album tracks? Crikey. Plenty of sports do have slow periods, such as a ball getting kicked around in the middle of the field or a snooker players line up a shot. But they are actually action as part of the sport being played. Most of the two hours of a speedway meeting is not action, which is why it gets filled out with replays, commercials, inane and otherwise conversation, and stock car racing. Riders in pits and not on the track is certainly not action. Repairing an air fence is not action. Even riders on the track just waiting around for the marshall to get them ready is not action. Personally I prefer watching sport live too, but viewing figures show that Match of the Day is very popular. There is a reason why highlights show are still very common on all channels, people watch them. And sports are not all the same as to how they translate between live and highlights. A rugby match is two halves of over 40 minutes of near continuous action, whilst a league speedway meeting is fifteen races lasting around a minute. Highlights of the former means having to cut out moments when the sport was being played, highlights but for the latter it does not. You can make a half hour version of a speedway meeting without missing a second of racing, including all the ones which never technically happened as they had to be restarted. If the choice is a good highlights programme or nothing, people will still chose the former. And the idea here — though I said I disagree with it, and it does not have to be an either/or situation anyway as you could have a proper highlights show in addition to a live meeting — is that highlights would be a better format for people who are not the hardcore speedway fans who pay to see some high quality track grading action, but instead those who would be turned off by no riders being on the track for over three-quarters of the event so broadcasts are literally ust filling time. That is why Goddard treats the Swedish coverage more like a local radio show between races, because he has to find a way to keep people from turning off when there is literally nothing happening for him to commentate on. How many speedway fans spend the entire two hours studiously watching the track or TV instead of doing something else between heats anyway? You might be upset at a concert if the band does not play the three minutes of silence before the hidden bonus track at the end of a CD, but you will be in a minority. Speedway really does not have the luxury of only performing to a minority of its fans, let alone just its fans alone. In the real world speedway is struggling yet you are arguing the viewing figures show that the public are happy with what they are getting and there is no need to consider other options? You are right, the divide between the real world and the BSF is quite staggering at times.

I assumed that is what was meant by highlights. Most of a live speedway broadcast is filling time while riders are still in the pits or the track is being graded. A 30–45 minute programme could show the highlights, i.e. the actual racing, with commercials and analysis without requiring people to give up two hours. Although I am not so sure it would have the desired effect, as I do not think there are that many people unwilling to sample or watch speedway just because of that. Otherwise sports like athletics would not be popular live either. Anyway, whilst BT Sport has a good deal with the BPSA and it will continue I would be surprised if they drop the sport as it provides live content in the summer, where they have less options to fill out their schedule. Personally I would rather it went elsewhere, though, simply because I cannot justify a BT subscription only for speedway. Although everyone is making it sound that we have such an awful competition now maybe I should be grateful I cannot watch.

I had to give up on it too. You should not have to memorize the score and heat, let alone having to imagine what happened in a race because you could not see it. Hopefully Premier Sports will be complaining quite strongly about the poor quality of the feed they received as that was unacceptable.

The match is being called off a screen though, so surely Will should have practised with some old meetings rather than his first time being live? Things like not noticing someone in the middle of the frame holding a red flag and thinking the race is still going should be inexcusable. Knowledge will come, but basic observation should be a minimum requirement. The riders slowing down should have raised suspicion, the red flag coming into shot should have been something he was looking out for. Learning on the job in public is a risk, Burnicle never improved so instead just put me off watching the SBP and SEC on Eurosport, but the basics need to be there. The Buckowski incident was another where I still think he has no idea what happened despite very clear replays and shots. Mind, he is not being helped by a poor sound mix which is draining the atmosphere from the broadcast, putting too much pressure on him to have to convey that too because the crowd and bikes can barely be heard. Anyway, what a great finish and an amazing night for Freddie.

Sadly I am guessing that Goddard's various car circuit jobs mean he cannot do TV at the weekends. Hopefully he will at least still get to cover the Elitserien. This guy who wisely dare not share his name is still better than Wade Aunger and Jack Burnicle were, but that is not in any way a compliment.

I agree with the above, Pearson and Tatum convey excitement, which on TV is important. Otherwise you are sat in a quiet room looking at a small-ish screen. Which is not like seeing something live, where the event is all around you and you fully experience the sounds and smells. The best atmosphere can easily be lost through TV because of how it is experienced, which is why experiments with not having commentators have not been successful. I am not sure what is that different about Rowe and Ermolenko on Eurosport, they just do not draw me into the meetings and make them feel completely flat. But I do like Dave Goddard on Premier Sport/FreeSports, even though he is just on his own describing what he is watching on a TV. Just shows how difficult a job it is to do well. There are definitely times I find Pearson can get irritating, but very few commentators are not hated by some. And those who get the most vocal criticism tend to be by people who would watch anyway, yet are very popular with neutrals who would not watch without someone to help make the experience an enjoyable one for them. So he gets the biggest jobs with BSI and BT because he makes the sport come alive on TV to more than just those wanting dry technical analysis.

For those not wanting to click their link, it is for a deal where you pay £9 so you can pay £20 so you can pay £12.99 for 12 months (£155.88) plus £6.50 for another four months (£26) to watch speedway in HD. And you start it here, so long as you sign up by midnight: https://www.wowcher.co.uk/deal/london/7479075/50-bt-sport-12-months As much as I miss the Elite League (as it still was when I was last able to watch it), I do not miss it enough to pay a discounted £210.88 for it.

Do the two overlap much? Of the motorcycle forums I am on most people like Moto GP, BSB, even TT events, but no one has any interest in speedway. Except me, though I have no interest in the sports bike stuff. I just assumed the relationship was one way, most speedway fans like other motorcycle racing, but most racing fans have no interest in speedway.

Even without anyone saying it, you can work out that it has to be true. The season is around 24 weeks long, then six playoff meetings. BT will show 18 Speedway GB fixtures, that is announced by SGB. Less the playoffs and British Final that leaves between 11 and 13 other meetings, depending on how they handle the semi-finals. The season is over two months longer than the number of weekly meetings they could show. This will take it into June before they can start, if their plan is to show a weekly meeting leading into the playoffs as they did last year.

But they did not fix the graphics, I think they just omitted the half point and in commentary kept mentioning it could not be shown. And it was then said afterwards that dead heats would no longer be awarded, presumably in commentary on the next meeting as I am not sure where else I would have read or heard it back then. I did try looking on YouTube, but unfortunately nothing seems to be on it from that meeting. It was heat 19 (of 25) in Event 2, Harris and Lindgren splitting second place.

Well it is speedway! I would not be surprised if the main reason the winner of the SON final could end up being the losing team is because they needed something stupid to make up for the loss of the joker rule.

There was one in the 2008 SWC, but the TV graphics could not cope with displaying the half point. So afterwards BSI decided they could not be awarded in their events,, even though they remained in the FIM rule books.

If 25 meetings per year is enough to stop people wanting to attend domestic speedway meetings then the BSPA are doing something badly wrong that people do not feel invested in their local teams and do not care about seeing it live. And I know you meant all the speedway on TV include Sweden, Polish replays, and the BSI and One Sport events. But those are beyond the ability of British fans to easily attend and outside of the control of authorities and promotions here to do anything about. Besides, every sport has international competitions and faces leagues from other countries being televised. Very few blame their failings on it rather than seeing what they can do to make their gamedays as attractive as possible, and make their teams important parts of their community so that people are invested in them rather than just seeing the sport as a TV programme. And what sort of solution is offered by blaming TV anyway? If the BSPA decides to protect attendances by dropping any TV coverage, it is not without precedent as that is what the EIHL did, then there will still be a lot of speedway on TV from around Europe. So if that is the problem taking the SGB Premiership out of the mix will not improve anything. Were attendances increased for the first part of last season, before BT's coverage began in the summer? Incidentally, the attendances for the EIHL dropped very slightly after their decision so at best it had no impact. Although their games were only on Premier Sports, and many of their clubs sell live streams to their games anyway. I am also not sure whether they contributed to the production costs either, in which case it could still be a financial gain. Meanwhile the second tier of ice hockey collapsed, and with FreeSports picking up the KHL playoffs there will be more hockey on TV. TV coverage provides a platform to attract fans and sponsors. It is then up to the sport how it chooses to take advantage of that, and the whole experience of attending a meeting in general, to make people want to turn up and keep returning. If people would rather be a neutral than support a team, if they would rather watch anyone on TV than attend a match, then either the TV coverage is phenomenally good or the sport is is promoting itself poorly. I actually enjoy Nigel and Kelvin, and even I do not think the former.

As a general principle because they are still having to pay for the production so it does not cost them nothing. They are still having to spend something to get something watchable. But the sport gets the exposure for itself and its sponsors making such an arrangement valuable to them. As a general principle. The most popular sports attract so many viewers they are more valuable to the broadcaster, so the sport can demand fees be paid in addition to the production costs. The least popular sports do not get enough viewers to justify the costs, so the sport has to pay the broadcast to be televised or produce their own coverage which they can give to a broadcaster for free. And those in between are popular enough that broadcasters want to show them, but not popular enough they are willing to pay extra. I have no interest in motorsports and never knew about speedway until looking at what was on TV one night and came across it. If you do not come from a family who already follow the sport or live in a town with a team that gets covered by the local paper and radio stations and talked about by school friends or colleagues then how would you discover it? Sports need exposure. Hence also the question even amongst the more popular sports over whether to receive more in rights from Sky and BT, or to accept less money in return for greater exposure from the BBC and ITV. Cricket is the second biggest sport in the country, has just earned £1.1bn (over five years) for its television coverage from 2020, yet for over a decade has seen constant criticism about declining interest because being on Sky has limited its exposure. And that still with extensive radio and press coverage and highlights on Channel 5. Do you really think British speedway would grow if it had no TV coverage at all? Or that it is powerful currently to dictate its own terms? Unfortunately I cannot use BT broadband, nor justify the full cost of BT Sport only for speedway, so I have pretty much stopped following British speedway. Instead I watched the Elitserien as I had Premier Sports anyway, on a deal, and was able to watch the SGP and SWC through the world feed. I accept it was not the BSPA choosing to leave Sky, but I have no local team so I am just not exposed to British speedway any more. They will have at least been discovered by some new viewers on BT to replace those they lost like me. That is more than they would have done had they shunned TV altogether.

The ping-pong championship is one weekend per year, and shown by Sky since 2012. It is very cheap to produce as it uses an IP workflow, with seven cameras on site with everything sent through a BT fibre connection to Sky's headquarters where all the production takes place. So it does not need a full outside broadcast unit to produce the coverage on-site. It is indoors so not affected by the weather. And is included as part of a package of rights from Matchroom Sports alongside various sports including basketball, gymnastics, and golf rather than bought separately.