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If it was up to me 100% British Premiership Speedway would be back on Sky Sports unfortunately it’s not my decision I am however having words in the correct ears . There may be some interest if the right deal was available and if a decent league sponsor could be found to support with the production costs as Speedway was not planned into 2026 plans . I am a great advocate of BSN however it’s very much a niche closed product so can foresee some potential issues with sponsorship for clubs

Latest averages have Drew Kemp at 8.12 changing to 8.08 at end of the season

Question is with TNT currently not interested in negotiating a deal for British Speedway Premiership if the only available option is the closed network of BSN will sponsors be happy with this lower level of general exposure and also will fans be happy to pay an additional £350 a year to watch Premiership Speedway ? I know clubs that have streamed meetings this year have had less than 100 viewers on a PAYG model which is not cost effective

New Championship rule for 2026 which will mean the following riders will not being able to remain with their current championship clubs Dan Thompson Drew Kemp Danny King Nicolai Klindt Peter Kildemand Rule being brought in to assist the amount of young riders development e.g Cairns ,Rushen, Trigger,Bailey, Ace P , Hodder, Perry etc so basically are cutting out 2nd Heatleaders so youngsters will have at least ones less experienced rider in their races per meeting

I understand a similar situation happened with Ashton in Motorcross spent hundreds of thousands then a few things didn’t go his or dads way they then moved onto Speedway now it appears same has happened again

That is due to the current deal between TNT ( That was given to them as part of the Eurosport closure ) and British speedway expiring at the end of this month. TNT I understand are keen to return if there is a Premiership/ Superleague but Speedway future ventures will be putting it out to Tender let’s hope that DAZN don’t get it though .

If reports are correct it’s unlikely that you will see Nigel and Lawrence working together again as the closure of Birmingham has not gone that well with one person not being honest with their plans for their own personal benefit

They have deep pockets, various very successful businesses all self made and a long term association and previous investment in Speedway . My understanding is that they will have an experienced person joining them initially to guide them through first few months but as mentioned before the League format needs to be right for their business plan of watching top class racing at Sheffield

No more East Midlands if he is to be involved and Sheffield new owners will be successful local business operators with close links to Sheffield Speedway and the sport in general. Both of these does depend on the league format being agreed upon that makes it worth it for both parties

Ipswich Leicester Belle Vue Sheffield Kings Lynn Poole with special agreement to be able to run Wednesday nights Thats would be my feeling of a Premiership next season

Richie Worrall gave her amazing feedback I heard

TNT production costs significantly higher than BSN maybe as much 10 times as much for play offs with additional cameras being used Not been in Leicestershire today but know when I left at 8pm last night it was very heavy rain with roads flooded

Main issue is broadcasting schedule Tuesday and Wednesday due to extensive Champions League matches taking place all channels are full. Not sure if Sweden are running this week as well

What this cancellation may mean is that Ipswich have to run on a Monday instead of a Thursday not sure how much this will affect the crowd. So provisionally Thursday Sheffield vs Leicester Monday Leicester vs Sheffield Thursday Leicester/Sheffield vs Ipswich Monday Ipswich vs Leicester/Sheffield

Northampton and wider Northamptonshire like Kettering,Corby,Wellingborough have huge Eastern European populations so the hope may be to have a couple of Polish riders in the home team will encourage them to travel

Oh yes we all know that they can and the play off dates have been on the calendar too just pushing their luck is my understanding

I think they are trying to say that they have got to have the 2nd Leg more so for the Semi as they know that Leicester can run on a Monday easily although would get a lesser crowd as off night and 1st leg

If correct what I got told last night that Sheffield are already stating that they can only run Thursday nights during play offs then trying to restate this may be a meeting after the play offs are complete

Oxford riders have told promotion they want the money owed before the TV meeting next Monday this is why no riders want to guest in Premiership or Championship as don’t know when they will get their money

Yes there are minimum LUX levels of light that Sky/TNT have specified and in fact that is why Leicester upgraded to new LED lights a couple of seasons ago and then repositioned some last winter . Speedway wise all referees have to put on report about track lighting along with air fence state and white line. Problem being is lighting is so expensive now with I believe quotes of 20k to just fill in gaps

The lighting on track I am told is ok for riders but shall we say it’s very challenging for broadcasters and from the bits I have seen appears BSN struggled a little more than normal at Leicester when getting dark even TNT’s new OB provider had issues last week with the latter heats due to the cameras being a distance from track and not great lighting on terraces A few more lighting areas need to be added especially on the bends to help with tv coverage

Yes Bates family firm had the contract fitting water meters and associated pipe work for Yorkshire Water and Severn Trent in North Derbyshire however they lost this unexpectedly and have not been able to pick up other contracts so had to lay off a lot of staff . Timing was not great as had just moved HQ and made significant investments into two new pub ventures as well as a general slow down in Speedway attendances so where as previously they could pay riders through their other companies cannot do that now and from what I have been told the Bates family have been putting large amounts of their own money in to keep the team on track

I agree the track staff worked hard and got the job done as quickly as possible. This is the reason why Leicester provided the track staff for Cardiff and helped support at Kings Lynn for Speedway World Cup meetings

Yes a blade was available but the big tractor would have ripped the start and track up even more. Sometimes riders need to listen to the track curators when conditions are a little wet as both Stewart Dickson and Sheffields track curator Graham Trollope said that the starts should be left to dry after the track walks but members of both teams asked for them to be ripped up . hence what happened with it all starting to lift and turn into clay sludge, Track curators spend hours on their tracks so they know how they react to different actions

Question for Leicester fans saying that they wouldn’t support the Lions with Nick Morris in the team I agree an apology to fans for letting the team down is required. If Patrick Dudek agreed to ride for the Lions would the same apply ? As he got banned for drug use as well and proved can come back to succeed . I believe that if Nick decides to come back to UK this year there are multiple Premiership and Championship clubs interested but one advantage Leicester can offer is free track time to get back up to race fitness and bike time