HGould

Never fails to amaze me how those who say they don't go to speedway anymore can make such sweeping and often inaccurate statements about its health. It's clearly got major problems but there are green shoots with young riders, GB set up, increased crowds and community initiatives at many clubs and a few promotions that actually have new ideas and some business acumen. No doubt I will be sent to the mad House but I'm more positive now than I was 3 and 5 years ago at Brummies and other clubs in CL and NDL

you need to get out of Poole... Lots of CL/NL Teams I went to including Brummies doing a lot with kids. Somerset, Redcar, Eastbourne; Kent ;IOW all showing great initiative.

The biggest problem with UK Speedway though is that so few Clubs own their own stadium. They pay rent to Stadium Owners and have therefore no or very little income from hospitality, bar and food outlets. Brummies is a classic example. Most Club Shops are pretty poor compared to non league Soccer. If a Club has an average of 600 paying fans at £15, that's around £180,000 through the Gate for 20 meetings. I would guess based on numerous away trips in past season that most Clubs average is close to 600-700. If any Club these days gets in 10%-15% of that in Sponsorship they are doing pretty well. (18-24k in sponsorship) That's the limit of the income for the majority that Rent It's a vicious circle, riders paying too much for over priced equipment, being paid too much by promoters to pay for that over priced equipment. Reduce machine costs and understand it's a part time job to be a rider (semi professional) and we might start getting somewhere.

Quite possible there are no set figures as there is a % limit that unlikely to be reached and up to Clubs to adhere to local Council and ACU rules but with some flexibility. Club planning to run will no doubt assess financials meeting by meeting.

Do you think you'll run 2 teams though? I think those of us who rent off dog tracks could see a hike in rents. Possible a few Clubs who planned to run NDL and CL or PL also may look to reduce costs in 2021

Trials are at a few venues for each type of sport. A few cricket matches A race meeting at Goodwood A Snooker Tournament. Speedway might apply for a few Trial Events?.

It seems to be emerging that-: Stadiums who share with Dog Racing are going to struggle to get Landlord approval for 2020 as Landlords religiously look to safeguard their Betting Levy payment which is principle income for many. Stadiums that stage Stock Car Racing will not necessarily be opened for Speedway as Sports have different governance and very different categorisation in terms of amateur and professional. In all cases Tracks have to get local Authority approval and in some areas Councils are far less likely to approve than in others, based on R-rate and other local factors. Those Tracks that can get past those hurdles then have to strongly consider business viability and whether "its worth the risk". Sad to say, it looks increasingly bleak for 2020. I've all but given up on Brummies getting past Landlord issue (Dog Track) let alone Local Council (useless) let alone Business viability. I'm 100% behind Peter and David Mason and trust them to make the right call for next year and future years and not just a few Fixtures now.

Stock Cars have a loophole though as it is a sport where competitors pay to participate. Classed as an amateur Sport and may get permission based on the update by Oliver Dowden last week of participation sports with small crowds. Local Councils will approve on that basis but Government has yet to confirm what % or number Crowd can be. It's possible crowd may only be friends and families of drivers. It seems that Dog Tracks are guarding "betting levy turnover" and understandably as that's majority of any income. If a speedway event with a few hundred people delivers a positive test the Stadium is automatically closed for 7-14 days and some Dog Tracks have 4-5 meetings a week. That would be very negative for Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Kent; Sheffield, Newcastle (as we have seen); Swindon chances. The Dogs have not restarted at Poole as the Stadium staff are all on furlough still. The best hope currently seems to be the Stock Car venues although Speedway is classed in a different category to Stocks as payment is made it's considered "professional" but may be good news for King Lynn, Ipswich ; Scunthorpe, Mildenhall and Eastbourne who stage Stock Car Meetings. The "standalone" Speedway Tracks like Berwick, Edinburgh, Redcar, Leicester, Belle Vue, Somerset; Plymouth, Peterborough , IOW will have to decide whether it's viable to open for speedway alone or with other stadium uses to cover their costs.

Steve do ARC run Brummies too I think took over from GRA

Wouldn't surprise me if Brummies similar as you say GRA too. Wonder if Ladbrokes will do same and other Dog track owners..few biggies there. Wolves, Poole, Sheffield ,Swindon and also Kent

Mate who helped at Wheels and helps at Hednesford told me that Bangers and Stocks might be back sooner than speedway. Drivers pay to race and sport is classed as amateur as a result, so may have found a loophole speedway can't find yet.

Yes a dirty trick, take the OAP Licence funding from BBC tell them to pay it and then blame BBC when they can't. Meanwhile Cummings awards family firms millions in untendered contracts and starts defence review without having iisual security checks or official role.

Always get them mixed up.

Somerset have a practice for the first time this Wednesday evening - advertised on Speedway GB. Plymouth have been holding sessions on Saturdays every other week - seen pics at the weekend (very nice new stand too) Lydd are back using the larger and smaller Tracks - seen pics at the weekend Redcar are also up and running - seen pics at the weekend - track looked excellent

Most Speedways nowadays Rent stadiums so don't make anything from Catering so that's not an issue for them, but those who do own and make money from Catering can often rely on it to break even. Lack of Catering and the vexed issue of Toilets will be a problem for all Sports not in the least Speedway.

I stopped reading when I got to the second "No Spectators". No Spectators = No Speedway. Looks like we have to wait for transition from Stage 3 to Stage 4, whenever that may be?

Speedway GB suggest several Clubs are ready?? What does that mean? Does it mean most aren't? More questions than answers!

At a guess max 50 as in a few Scandinavian countries

There is one thing missing. No reference to spectators / crowds. Team Sports I would suggest are amateur / junior sports like soccer, cricket, netball, hockey etc.... My grandson has been training non contact and socially distances for past 3 weeks so hopefully now some matches. As for taking him to Villa or Brummies Speedway, I don't think today's announcement make any change at all?

indeed. speedway is 22 separate businesses, some good, some average, some poor, a few awful. Peterborough on this issue certainly awful!

Can't understand why Peterborough can't act quickly like some other Clubs have?

Not good reading today especially front page of Telegraph (traditionally a Paper that gets accurate leaked info from Tories). Says Govt going to announce a number of Elite Sporting Events in July / August (most tbh already known like F1 / Open Golf / Test Cricket / Champions League) but all will be "behind closed doors, this announcement will be part of stage 4 easing. It says no spectators at sport until "final stage later in the year". The wording suggests that "later in the year" is not before beginning of September and may even be later. At best then 8-9 weeks of Speedway but probably less. Few Open Meeting at Tracks who want to run them would seem best option based on that if correct.

Most of the more progressive Clubs seem to be offering option of full immediate refund or defer ticket to use in 2021. Not fair I think to assume all are as tardy as Peterborough seem to be.

Poole I read somewhere the only main Greyhound track not to re-open on 1 June when others like Perry Barr did. If the Stadium staff remain furloughed until October hard to see what Speedway can do, unless they pick up cost of Stadium staff as you can work for someone else while furloughed.

Len seemed very negative earlier in the season and although a bit more optimistic now it'll be interesting to see if he runs CL or NDL as can't run both in limited tome surely? He's very astute, probably the most astute and will know his likely crowd and margins and unique circumstances. NDL would seem the sensible logical cost effective route?