MattK

He should be at least a 9.

Isn't it a lot simpler than that? Speedway is a numbers game. The team who's riders make the biggest improvements will be the most successful. A untried foreigner is likely to have a biggest swing in their average (up or down) than a British rider who have gained a real average from a whole season. Therefore clubs are happy to take a punt, as that is the best way of delivering on track success?

What is being said? You seem to be implying that British speedway owes a living to any British rider, regardless of ability.

As far as I can see there are three Premiership clubs who have yet to declare more than one rider and two clubs still with spaces. Likewise there is one (Newcastle) Championship club who have only declared two riders and a further half a dozen spaces still to fill. Therefore the claims that there are a dozen or so British riders who rode in the various leagues last season but have been frozen out for 2018 seems a tad premature.

Unfortunately, all the evidence suggests that wouldn't work. Look at all the Elite League clubs who have tried running a National League team over the years. Swindon, Poole, King's Lynn, Lakeside, Wolves and how many are still running? The only one still running is Wolves and that is because they came up with a clever marketing technique and called their side first Dudley and now Cradley Heathens. There is nothing to suggest that fans of the same club would support your two-tier idea.

And ergo you have effectively created a two-tier league system again.

It is a strange phenomenon. At Swindon more than half the crowd leave before the team have come round on the victory parade, let alone stay for the post meeting interviews, MoTM presentation etc. I can't explain it. I'd rather stand around for 10 minutes watching the proceedings than sit in a queue of traffic waiting to get out of the car park

I agree. I've seen junior speedway, sidecars and even quads after the main meeting at Swindon. The fact is the majority of supporters leave before the support races even start. This isn't the solution to speedway's problems.

Every promoter (and their entourage) I've seen are on comps

Really? I'll try that next year.

Good point Vince. There are a few elements at play here. Firstly AMA is more akin to the GPs, who do an excellent job of promoting speedway and maximising its potential. However, you have to ask how much effort it would take for British speedway to put together a catchy promo video like the one above in order to promote the upcoming league. This shouldn't be beyond the capability of SGB to produce. Similarly, when you get to a league meeting, the presentation is slow and old-fashioned. I struggle to comprehend how all the promoters in British speedway go to Cardiff and then systematically fail to recreate any of the flair and excitement of the GP when back at their home track. Secondly, supercross has crossover appeal which speedway doesn't. By that I mean that I can walk into any bike dealership and buy a road legal version of the bikes I can watch the top riders racing on. Speedway simply doesn't have this. There is F2 Speedway but they seem to have it back to front if you ask me. They are putting a motocross engine in a speedway frame. Why not put a speedway engine in a motorcross frame and therefore leverage the crossover appeal. I see that flattrack is gaining mainstream popularity in the US with the backing on major manufacturers.

You're overlooking the fact that Premiership teams have the financial clout to sign these riders, regardless of who "owns" them. I ask again though, with no TV money to be shared and losing their "subsidised" heatleaders, what is in this for Championship teams?

I'd have thought an indepth knowledge of speedway would have been more important than a degree in English. And of course, the ability to create dank memes.

Because dumbing down the quality has always worked so well in the past?

That's an interesting point. If there was only one league where would the ex-Championship teams get their heatleaders from, as presumable the top riders would all ride for ex-Premiership clubs who would pay better (ex-Permiership) wages? I simply cannot see why any of the Championship clubs would agree to one big league. Now there is no TV money there is nothing to tempt them into to join up with the Premiership.

In 1981! You then come along and blame the GPs, a phenomenon which wasn't introduced until 14 years AFTER the article was written.

Read the original post. Then read your post.

Because horse racing has checks and balances in place to prevent rigging. If speedway was more betting focused it would have the same level of oversight. Currently there is no oversight, so as you rightly point out, there is a lot of manipulation.

Why would it be easier to rig a speedway race than say a horse race?

Actually, it is quite easy to find out. BT Sport tweeted a clip of Tai speaking Scouse, which got 53 retweets and a clip of action from the play-off final which got 197. This is from 537,000 followers or to put it another way 20 times more than SpeedwayGB's account. Social media is an echo chamber.

BT Sport have 537,000 followers and regularly tweet speedway highlights. Why does this not translate into followers for SpeedwayGB, let alone fans on the terrace?

And yet I still filter out 99% of it. Maybe I need better friends?

They don't. People filter out 99% of what appears on their time lines, in the same people filter out adverts on web sites.

Won't the majority of university students go home over the summer, therefore missing a large part of the season? Difficult to generate loyalty towards a team when you miss half the meetings.

Social media is an echo chamber. How do you get the message outside of speedway regulars who are likely going to be the only people who follow Poole on Twitter/Facebook?