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Is It Finally Time For One League?


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3 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

How many teams?

Ipswich

Belle Vue

Kings Lynn

Oxford

Glasgow

Edinburgh

Sheffield

Scunthorpe

Poole

Leicester

Berwick

Redcar

For a starter then question marks over Workington and Plymouth may fancy the national league (whatever format it might be)

5 Man teams would need 60 riders

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I hope so, 5 Man Teams with cheaper prices is the only way forward, Maybe still get some Ekstraliga 2 Riders over here but no GP boys or riders like Sayfutdinov, Janowski etc.

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32 minutes ago, therefused said:

Ipswich

Belle Vue

Kings Lynn

Oxford

Glasgow

Edinburgh

Sheffield

Scunthorpe

Poole

Leicester

Berwick

Redcar

For a starter then question marks over Workington and Plymouth may fancy the national league (whatever format it might be)

5 Man teams would need 60 riders

Would have to be 1 home and 1 away though - 22 fixtures each is plenty

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Not my idea, somebody thought about  north/south divide. Then 2 semis and a final at the end of the season to decide the winner. Keeping the koc involing all teams. Grand final at Belle Vue.

My idea, league riders championship over 3 rounds, 3 different tracks.(mini grand pris thing)

Still the problem of not enough riders.

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1 minute ago, BuxtonTiger said:

"Cheaper prices" - get real.

They've got no choice if it's a weaker product.

If fans aren't paying £20+ to watch GP/Ekstraliga riders then they certainly won't pay £20+ to watch a league meeting that features none of them.

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10 minutes ago, TTT said:

They've got no choice if it's a weaker product.

If fans aren't paying £20+ to watch GP/Ekstraliga riders then they certainly won't pay £20+ to watch a league meeting that features none of them.

The Championship already charges £20+ without those riders so not too much hope of a reduction.  

I don't think price is necessarily the issue, it's about perceived value for money 

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If there are no "top riders" then those tracks, now once again used to having them, wiill get hit at the turnstiles...

However, if there are still "top riders" (max one per track), then that might work to increase crowds at the Div 2 tracks who haven't seen them for a while, and could maybe keep attendances OK at the current Div 1 tracks who have them..

If it is a 12 team league with 60 riders then clubs should also get some extra riders signed up using a similar contract to the "Warsaw" one used in Poland..

Meaning instead of guests they can bring in riders open to doing "some matches", subject to averages allowing them to slot in..

The big danger of one league is guestfest after guestfesf, particularly at weekends, when Poland kicks in, and Wednesdays with Denmark impacting Poole...

If there is still so little credibility in the competition then the devaluing of it will inevitably hit attendances like it does now..

I think the TV deal is in its last year so maybe no coverage next season other than club streaming and BSN?

Which, if correct, won't be a bad thing attendance wise I would think..

Let's be honest, UK Speedway hasn't used TV coverage well over the past two decades has it? With it being one of the very few sports with 1000's of hours coverage that hasn't improved attendances or increased its reach and profile. 

A embarrassing shambles to be honest given the 100's of two hour "free adverts" it has been given..

The Aces I would think would revert back to Friday or even Saturday, as, even if guestfests, those nights would still bring more in to watch the great racing on offer I would suggest, especially as the sport has now made so many "generic" fans, who attend for the racing rather than the bona fide nature of the event itself..

The price point has to be around £15 to £20 max and maybe each away track gets given 100 free tickets to see if some much needed "tribal atmosphere" could get created? Subsidising Supporters Clubs coaches could also help get the away fans to tracks...

Something drastic certainly needs to be done of that there is no doubt, (and should have been done at least a decade ago), so let's hope they come up with the right plan which delivers a competitive league, that also has the required credibility to make the competition itself have a bona fide status, so it's actually worth winning...

And, therefore, attending....

One thing is definite.

Doing the "same old, same old" Mickey Mouse team structure nonsense, and still having the same amount of "dodgy call offs", won't improve things one iota...

Edited by mikebv
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No to one league. It isn’t going to work. Riders won’t be available or enough of them, certain race nights for better crowds but other track can only be used during the week because of stock cars. You won’t have part time riders who will have to choose work around race days / nights.

They just need to improve their promotion of this current set up and ACTUALLY promote it properly and add a class of professionalism to the way it’s run.

Watching John down the road who has a speedway bike at foxhall on a Thursday night for £20 vs watching Emil Doyle Brennan etc for £24 isn’t a step forward.

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Think the sport needs to drop a level sadly. It's great to watch likes of the Holders, Woffy, Doyle, Kurtz and Sayfutdinov, but they're sadly few and far between that do want to ride in gb.

 

I think the time has come to stop competing with the Polish top league. The money is just completely incomparable- when youve got Doyle reporting to have made over £40k from one meeting in Poland how can you expect anyone to risk it all to come ride over here? It makes no sense to.

The sport needs to make it a more viable option even that means you cater more for the mid end riders.

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43 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

No to one league. It isn’t going to work. Riders won’t be available or enough of them, certain race nights for better crowds but other track can only be used during the week because of stock cars. You won’t have part time riders who will have to choose work around race days / nights.

They just need to improve their promotion of this current set up and ACTUALLY promote it properly and add a class of professionalism to the way it’s run.

Watching John down the road who has a speedway bike at foxhall on a Thursday night for £20 vs watching Emil Doyle Brennan etc for £24 isn’t a step forward.

How you gonna do it with 5 teams then? Gotta ask yourself why no one wants to move up. 

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I can only speak for myself of course, but I would be happier with 5 man teams and one league. I've never really cared if the top stars are riding, it's not the names that make me watch speedway, it's the atmosphere, noise, chaos and racing.

I don't care if it's Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz racing or Simon Lambert and Drew Kemp. You make your own stars of the riders you watch.

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13 hours ago, 1 valve said:

That’s what there is now. 

In a bigger league of say 12 though,that would give each team 44 matches without any cup matches.There is currently only 24 league matches in the elite league. 

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Sure, have 1 league, at Championship level. But it will need to be divided into 2 divisions (eg, north and south), with riders able to double up across the 2 divisions. The BSPL have already introduced this in principle with the NDL/NDT.

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