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What about Northampton?


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As a lot of promotion done today is via Facebook, just done a search, guess what no Northampton speedway comes up, Northampton shaleway the stock car page does not mention anything. It's now 7 weeks to the 1st meeting at Northampton and no sign of ANY promotion being done. Anyone live near Northampton and have you heard of any promotion?

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14 hours ago, Neila said:

Probably the top table in British speedway are in charge, that's why nothing been announced bar a new track.

This is my train of thought now, something doest add up here and it would not surprise me if the sports governing body in the UK is behind running this.

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9 hours ago, Neila said:

As a lot of promotion done today is via Facebook, just done a search, guess what no Northampton speedway comes up, Northampton shaleway the stock car page does not mention anything. It's now 7 weeks to the 1st meeting at Northampton and no sign of ANY promotion being done. Anyone live near Northampton and have you heard of any promotion?

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/other-sport/top-flight-speedway-is-coming-to-northampton-and-the-season-starts-next-month-5621934

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By now they must know at least some of the answers... who is in charge... who is the promoter... who is riding for the team... what is the team called... what are the teams colours... 

So can anyone come up with a logical reason why these things are still being kept a secret?

 

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but the article from the local press is just the press release saying speedway is coming, dated 5th march it's now 11th march nearly 1 week later, no more information been released, no Facebook / social media posts made, no pre publicity to promote the venture (as far as I can see).  Just seems to be Northampton been announced then radio silence 

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10 minutes ago, Neila said:

but the article from the local press is just the press release saying speedway is coming, dated 5th march it's now 11th march nearly 1 week later, no more information been released, no Facebook / social media posts made, no pre publicity to promote the venture (as far as I can see).  Just seems to be Northampton been announced then radio silence 

They do have a website though 😉😂

http://www.northampton-speedway.com/

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11 hours ago, mikebv said:

They must have been cheap as they certainly went unnoticed themselves...

Not a good look for a marketing company...:D

The sponsors are key and the clubs should engage them to use the money for local marketing and not just to fund "Superstars One and Two"...

One Superstar should be the plan for every team with that rider being the focal point of the marketing....

Clubs spend a truly huge amount on riders for a sport with so few followers, so maybe a redirection of sone of this money could help it grow?

I suppose it all depends on the professionalism of the promotion. Poole are known to pay less in points money than most similar teams, that’s been the way for many years, but to use sponsors to top up riders’ income. But at the same time, they’ve promoted heavily in the local area (maybe less recently but that might change with Matt Ford moving back to England). 
Central marketing by BSPA/BSPL hasn’t worked so it’s down to each club to do their own.

And my guess is that BV believe that having Dan and Brady gives them a better selling story. I don’t live anywhere near Manchester so have no idea how or even if they maximise this

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1 hour ago, Wee Eck said:

I suppose it all depends on the professionalism of the promotion. Poole are known to pay less in points money than most similar teams, that’s been the way for many years, but to use sponsors to top up riders’ income. But at the same time, they’ve promoted heavily in the local area (maybe less recently but that might change with Matt Ford moving back to England). 
Central marketing by BSPA/BSPL hasn’t worked so it’s down to each club to do their own.

And my guess is that BV believe that having Dan and Brady gives them a better selling story. I don’t live anywhere near Manchester so have no idea how or even if they maximise this

Dan and Brady who?

That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester..

That's how well Belle Vue market them...

However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms...

An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it?

My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators..

I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"...

Of course it was...

Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point...

Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

Edited by mikebv
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17 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

Although there is nothing on it!

There's a nice picture of the entrance... what more do you want 🤷‍♂️😂

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8 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Dan and Brady who?

That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester..

That's how well Belle Vue market them...

However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms...

An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it?

My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators..

I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or Thursday even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"...

Of course it was...

Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point...

Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

Failure to have a nationwide promoting policy is one issue as is the price point to watch the sport and the attitude of many punters who only want league speedway racing rather than general speedway racing.
As an example of what many miss out on you only have to take a look at the individual meeting in Poland on the 28th March and the line up you are getting and tickets for just over £11.00.

Once upon a time we could watch great individual meetings in this country which filled out the speedway calendar but now virtually nothing. Add to the lack of support for these meetings the failure by so many clubs to put on second halves for up and coming riders is only damaging the sport further. Put a £1 on the admission fee and put on a second half. Clubs will have already been paid by the punter so it does not matter if the majority leave after the last race of the league meeting, the riders are getting valuable track time.

If you have decent sponsorship and hold individual meetings at the right time then the top riders would come but many do not want to commit to a whole season in the UK. It is delusional to think that the worlds top riders would flock to the UK if a TV deal was in place and the points money matched what is available elsewhere. TV has made little difference to the numbers going through the turnstiles and has never nor ever will match the pulling power that fills stadia in Poland where you have broadcasters falling over themselves to get a slice of the action.
In the UK you just have to accept it a case of also rans and the sport should take a long hard look at itself and decide what is best for the domestic scene and build on that.

A new club comes along so just sit back and see how it pans out. What they do about promoting, team names, riders, promoters, managers etc, is down to those behind the venture and I am sure they are not naive or the amateurs that many think they are and all anyone needs to hope is that it goes well. How they do it is their business and no one else’s.

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11 hours ago, Neila said:

As a lot of promotion done today is via Facebook, just done a search, guess what no Northampton speedway comes up, Northampton shaleway the stock car page does not mention anything. It's now 7 weeks to the 1st meeting at Northampton and no sign of ANY promotion being done. Anyone live near Northampton and have you heard of any promotion?

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bs37TMRic/

It is featured here and on the Spedeworth site, but not wall to wall advertising I'll grant you

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Dan and Brady who?

That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester..

That's how well Belle Vue market them...

However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms...

An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it?

My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators..

I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"...

Of course it was...

Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point...

Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

 

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. 

When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried ……

Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. 

Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. 

Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. 

Have posters in shops and businesses. 

Had out flyers in local shopping areas. 

Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. 

Attend local & national trade shows. 

Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. 

Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. 

Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. 

Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. 

Have a regular editorial in local papers. 

Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. 

Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. 

Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. 

Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms.

I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

 

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Dan and Brady who?

That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester..

That's how well Belle Vue market them...

However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms...

An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it?

My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators..

I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"...

Of course it was...

Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point...

Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

 

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. 

When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried ……

Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. 

Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. 

Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. 

Have posters in shops and businesses. 

Had out flyers in local shopping areas. 

Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. 

Attend local & national trade shows. 

Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. 

Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. 

Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. 

Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. 

Have a regular editorial in local papers. 

Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. 

Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. 

Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. 

Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms.

I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

 

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28 minutes ago, ouch said:

 

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. 

When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried ……

Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. 

Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. 

Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. 

Have posters in shops and businesses. 

Had out flyers in local shopping areas. 

Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. 

Attend local & national trade shows. 

Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. 

Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. 

Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. 

Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. 

Have a regular editorial in local papers. 

Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. 

Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. 

Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. 

Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms.

I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

 

£15 and All kids free was for the Colts..

Men and Motors was the local channel with around 652 viewers...:D

There hasnt been an advert on local radio for around 20 years that I have heard..

The MEN don't cover Speedway anymore but the Tameside "Whatever" does.. Tremendous reach in Tameside...

Not seen 100's of kids from any school on an organised visit once, but do remember "Junior Vue" which seemed to be quite popular in the 90's, maybe that could get started sgain?

Never seen any billboards used other than for GPs and SON...

Never seen any bikes in city centre Manchester...

And as for flyers, fairs, etc, etc etc, its 2026...

TV watching is the lowest it has ever been so going out on local TV news won't make much (any) difference...

One of the Sunday League teams I mentioned who got over 1000 watching them has their own YouTube Vlog which has over 5000 subscribers...

Another Sunday League team has a YouTube Vlog with over 152,000 subscribers, and got 4,000 to a Sunday League final a couple of years ago..

An easy, cheap, 2026, way for Speedway Clubs to promote themselves, with riders' personalities being shown...

My local football team Stockport County, when in their non league days, did pretty much what it looks like the Aces has tried, but they did it with a "County in the Community" team dedicated to visiting schools, organising visits to the ground, both on match days and not, and then doing follow ups with the schools to keep that communication going...

And doing things like painting local eyesores, organising litter picks etc, making a difference to the local community, but, more importantly, showing fhe local community they still existed...

They gave out thousands of free tickets to schools and community projects, as they may as well fill the empty seats and spaces in the terraces, (and earn more in the food and drink outlets),  but ensured it wasnt a one off and followed up with the attendees to encourage more repeat visits..

They also dropped ticket prices from their league two days as they knew crowds would drop if they didn't...

They reduced their wage bill, so reduced fhe admission fee..

Speedway would benefit hugely from that I would think, would one less HL and SS make any difference to the spectacle? And then use that money to drop prices...

Running the Aces for £20, on a Saturday, with all kids in for free, would deliver a much larger crowd than paying £27, and whatever a kids fee is in the grandstand, on a Monday night...

Dan and Brady wouldn't be there but fhe DU'ers would, so a decent level..

There is still a reasonable following for Speedway, as the play offs often show, its just getting these numbers to attend regularly being the challenge..

Laying out not far off £30, and on a Monday night, won't meet that challenge...

Edited by mikebv
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1 hour ago, ouch said:

 

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. 

When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried ……

Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. 

Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. 

Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. 

Have posters in shops and businesses. 

Had out flyers in local shopping areas. 

Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. 

Attend local & national trade shows. 

Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. 

Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. 

Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. 

Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. 

Have a regular editorial in local papers. 

Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. 

Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. 

Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. 

Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms.

I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

 

I do wonder if we just have to accept the sport is beyond saving now, I've mentioned before nightclubs that were packed in the 90's early noughties are now virtually all gone, loads of pubs closing daily, when I used to go in the 80's early 90's there were generally a couple of tracks in trouble every winter but generally a new owner stepped forward to save them.

You didn't have Sky in the 80's, streaming services, mobile phone and broadband monthly subs, multi plex cinemas, online shopping and so many other things these days tugging for attention of the monthly pay packet, that's before you get onto gas and electric and the cost of running a car going though the roof in the last decade.

I have a feeling if it does survive and someone takes it on it will look radically different to what we know and love and that probably won't include league racing in its current form if at all.

I wish the Northampton team all the very best but there's no getting away from the fact they have a massive task on their hands on multiple fronts.

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

£15 and All kids free was for the Colts..

Men and Motors was the local channel with around 652 viewers...:D

There hasnt been an advert on local radio for around 20 years that I have heard..

The MEN don't cover Speedway anymore but the Tameside "Whatever" does.. Tremendous reach in Tameside...

Not seen 100's of kids from any school on an organised visit once, but do remember "Junior Vue" which seemed to be quite popular in the 90's, maybe that could get started sgain?

Never seen any billboards used other than for GPs and SON...

Never seen any bikes in city centre Manchester...

And as for flyers, fairs, etc, etc etc, its 2026...

TV watching is the lowest it has ever been so going out on local TV news won't make much (any) difference...

One of the Sunday League teams I mentioned who got over 1000 watching them has their own YouTube Vlog which has over 5000 subscribers...

Another Sunday League team has a YouTube Vlog with over 152,000 subscribers, and got 4,000 to a Sunday League final a couple of years ago..

An easy, cheap, 2026, way for Speedway Clubs to promote themselves, with riders' personalities being shown...

My local football team Stockport County, when in their non league days, did pretty much what it looks like the Aces has tried, but they did it with a "County in the Community" team dedicated to visiting schools, organising visits to the ground, both on match days and not, and then doing follow ups with the schools to keep that communication going...

And doing things like painting local eyesores, organising litter picks etc, making a difference to the local community, but, more importantly, showing fhe local community they still existed...

They gave out thousands of free tickets to schools and community projects, as they may as well fill the empty seats and spaces in the terraces, (and earn more in the food and drink outlets),  but ensured it wasnt a one off and followed up with the attendees to encourage more repeat visits..

They also dropped ticket prices from their league two days as they knew crowds would drop if they didn't...

They reduced their wage bill, so reduced fhe admission fee..

Speedway would benefit hugely from that I would think, would one less HL and SS make any difference to the spectacle? And then use that money to drop prices...

Running the Aces for £20, on a Saturday, with all kids in for free, would deliver a much larger crowd than paying £27, and whatever a kids fee is in the grandstand, on a Monday night...

Dan and Brady wouldn't be there but fhe DU'ers would, so a decent level..

There is still a reasonable following for Speedway, as the play offs often show, its just getting these numbers to attend regularly being the challenge..

Laying out not far off £30, and on a Monday night, won't meet that challenge...

Most of the stuff that @ouchmentioned is so last decade or even last century... I watch quite a bit on YouTube (I believe it's quite popular) and recently British Horse Racing have been running a promotional campaign and I keep seeing it quite regularly, not each individual race track but British Horse Racing as a whole, it shows lots of young people having fun with not a tartan blanket or camping chair in sight 😂

I'm never going to races (again) as its just not something that interests me, especially as a sport, as a social event maybe. But I'm certainly very much aware of it and their promotional campaign, especially during this Cheltenham week. 

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