What about Northampton?

[Jon Boy]

20 minutes ago, martinmauger said:

Very similar plan occured to me: the existing 5 Prem promoters jointly run Oxford Spires (under BSPL banner) while setting up Northampton (or whoever) as the track / stadium are obv 'good to go'.  Unless of there were plannng / financial / other isuues running the Spires or indeed 3 teams out of one venue which I would have assumed would work ok: regular weekly speedway, mostly same riders....

I think the major issue of another team/promotion running out of Oxford is the impact on the existing promotion. Especially financial impact as the same pool of punters would have to potentially pick and choose meetings between the teams / promotions. 
 

However it might appeal to the stadium owners the additional income. 
 

Floating punters tend to support the most successful team at the impact of the other teams operating. 

If it was for a few meetings only while Northampton infrastructure was finished off then Oxford would seem the logical place as it hasn’t a premiership side. Equally KL or Leicester could temporally host but they have existing Premiership sides.

 

[YeOldPitGate]

32 minutes ago, Jon Boy said:

I think the major issue of another team/promotion running out of Oxford is the impact on the existing promotion. Especially financial impact as the same pool of punters would have to potentially pick and choose meetings between the teams / promotions. 
 

However it might appeal to the stadium owners the additional income. 
 

Floating punters tend to support the most successful team at the impact of the other teams operating. 

If it was for a few meetings only while Northampton infrastructure was finished off then Oxford would seem the logical place as it hasn’t a premiership side. Equally KL or Leicester could temporally host but they have existing Premiership sides.

 

Agreed would love it to happen and be a huge success but the odds look stacked against it run Northampton out of Oxford and you have a situation where the Spires were dropped as there wasn't an appetite for three Oxford teams last year from the paying public, so unlikely to be an appetite for the same again but run under the name of Northampton rather than Oxford.

The only way that might work is if its some uber rich promoter who could afford a spearhead of Zmarslik and maybe Lindgren couple of top riders not seen in the UK often so you get the novelty value interest.

Also agree ideally it needs time to be set up as so many things that could go wrong not rushed over the line and then we will sort out the logistics/marketing afterwards when big money has already been committed.

Again championship would be preferable to lessen financial risk and see/test if there's public appetite for racing and if you end up shutting down at end of season as not enough public buy in at least the final loss will be lower.

[Neila]

Personally I think a possible new track at Northampton is just spin, by BSPL,to deflect how bad a state the premiership is in .the season is just around the corner, it would take a massive amount of money to get the stadium ready for speedway, which as we all know, theirs not a lot of money in speedway. As it stands now nothing has been sorted out at Ipswich, other tracked require fixtures released, so they can sell season tickets and get sponsorship, and they are still talking about a new track

[arnieg]

I really don't understand why people keep talking about Oxford - it is so obviously a non-starter. Who will go?

Northampton fans? That must be about 3 people

Floating neutrals - 75 to 100

Visiting fans 50 - 75

Oxford fans - well there was never much enthusiasm for the Spires even before their poor results, so call the team Northampton and interest will be near zero. Did Stoke fans flock to Cradley at Stoke or Glasgow fans embrace the Scottish Monarchs? No. And in this case 'home' fans can still watch the Cheetahs and Chargers so unless they are well off and/or ultra keen I don't see them attending, certainly not on a regular basis.

So with an expected crowd of 3-400 the supposed benefactor must be Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk (perish the thought)

[Neila]

1 minute ago, arnieg said:

I really don't understand why people keep talking about Oxford - it is so obviously a non-starter. Who will go?

Northampton fans? That must be about 3 people

Floating neutrals - 75 to 100

Visiting fans 50 - 75

Oxford fans - well there was never much enthusiasm for the Spires even before their poor results, so call the team Northampton and interest will be near zero. Did Stoke fans flock to Cradley at Stoke or Glasgow fans embrace the Scottish Monarchs? No. And in this case 'home' fans can still watch the Cheetahs and Chargers so unless they are well off and/or ultra keen I don't see them attending, certainly not on a regular basis.

So with an expected crowd of 3-400 the supposed benefactor must be Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk (perish the thought)

Going further back 1987 to be precise, Glasgow borrowed Derwent park at Workington, eventually named Workington tigers to attract the home fans,  but tried to do everything on the afternoon of the meeting, very few Glasgow fans traveled down on a Friday, and the Workington fans didn't take to it, as it was not their own team, then got kicked out of the league due to poo gate 😗 they forgot to wash out a slurry tanker before watering the track 😛

[Ben91]

If a business had stores closing hand over fist in locations where some people have an appetite for their product it would be absolutely idiotic for them to then open a new store in a location where nobody has ever expressed an interest in their goods. 

That's what's happening here. 

Should have worked harder to keep tracks open where people wanted them in the first place. 

[topaz325]

In Rob Godfrey latest interview he said some big surprises to come soon , Phil Morris working very hard behind the scenes 

a good interview on 360 speedway 

[YeOldPitGate]

19 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

In Rob Godfrey latest interview he said some big surprises to come soon , Phil Morris working very hard behind the scenes 

a good interview on 360 speedway 

Do you have the link to 360 speedway relevant episode thanks

[therefused]

7 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Do you have the link to 360 speedway relevant episode thanks

Its available on spotify if you search for 360 Speedway. 

[Youhave2minutes]

12 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Do you have the link to 360 speedway relevant episode thanks

Got a few links here more than you’re asking for. It’s all on me.

[YeOldPitGate]

4 minutes ago, Youhave2minutes said:

Got a few links here more than you’re asking for. It’s all on me.

Outstanding work

[topaz325]

YouTube 

360 speedway 

[Pitch]

3 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Do you have the link to 360 speedway relevant episode thanks

It's on youtube, new episodes every Friday morning 11am. It's the best speedway Podcast/Video show by far IMHO.

[YeOldPitGate]

Rob talking a good game hopefully at least 50% of what he thinks will happen will come to fruition lord knows the sport needs a massive shot in the arm.

[bellevueace]

I cant see Northampton attracting enough people through the turnstiles to make any huge investment worthwhile, Birmingham didnt attract many fans from Wolverhamton, Cradley Heath or Coventry when you look at their gates last season and they are in the middle of what was once a speedway hotbed.

[therefused]

49 minutes ago, Pitch said:

It's on youtube, new episodes every Friday morning 11am. It's the best speedway Podcast/Video show by far IMHO.

Would disagree with that, production is always fairly poor if you ask me 

[IainB]

4 hours ago, topaz325 said:

In Rob Godfrey latest interview he said some big surprises to come soon , Phil Morris working very hard behind the scenes 

a good interview on 360 speedway 

Was he asked about Northampton? Or Ipswich? Or tv coverage? Or SFL? Or why the NDL has been stripped back to bare bones?

[Ray Stadia]

52 minutes ago, bellevueace said:

I cant see Northampton attracting enough people through the turnstiles to make any huge investment worthwhile, Birmingham didnt attract many fans from Wolverhamton, Cradley Heath or Coventry when you look at their gates last season and they are in the middle of what was once a speedway hotbed.

Mind you, lets face it, once you announce there will be no more speedway, attendance will understandably tail off. I remember the last season at Rayleigh, the gate was awful! 

[Bagpuss]

11 minutes ago, IainB said:

Was he asked about Northampton? Or Ipswich? Or tv coverage? Or SFL? Or why the NDL has been stripped back to bare bones?

I think all of that was covered in various detail. He spoke mostly about Speedway Futures and the high hopes he has for it. Worth a listen.

[TB1]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

Was he asked about Northampton? Or Ipswich? Or tv coverage? Or SFL? Or why the NDL has been stripped back to bare bones?

Steady on Iain! Too many questions causes confusion lol