Hamish McRaker Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 3 hours ago, Racin Jason 72 said: Confirmed by mark lemon in today’s speedway star that Northampton is being funded by current promoters and unnamed investors. A Top Hat immediately comes into my mind! Hopefully a tv deal of sorts can now be struck, which would defray some of the costs incurred by other promoters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tapewrecker Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 2 minutes ago, Racin Jason 72 said: It’s top secret. Buster is doing the groundworks at the stadium removing the grass banks so we can assume he is one of them And Cheryl will be on the turnstiles grabbing the cash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 36 minutes ago, *JJ said: It is in Youtube; I've seen it several times. It has had over half a million views.... It just doesnt do anything for the domestic leagues though... A team Vlog would link the algorithm to other sporting clubs in the area.. eg anyone watching any United or City YT coverage would, due to the sports team geography algorithm, get a recommended on YT should the Aces do their own programme on there... Those huge sporting clubs, local to Speedway tracks, with millions of subscribers, could be piggy backed onto on YT... And. If clubs had already done their own Vlogs, then over half a million viewers of the 2025 BF would have been recommended them... How many of that half million viewers are living within 45 mins of a Speedway team, but just don't know it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 52 minutes ago, *JJ said: It is in Youtube; I've seen it several times. It may very well be on YouTube as are hundreds of millions of other videos... and you have to seek it out unless your algorithm waves it under your eyes... What is probably more needed is a paid ad campaign such as the one that British Horse Racing is currently running, that forces it in front of your eyes while you're watching other content. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gasser90 Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 2 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said: Current Premiership promoters presumably?😉 No not all of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preston Comet Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 28 minutes ago, mikebv said: It has had over half a million views.... It just doesnt do anything for the domestic leagues though... A team Vlog would link the algorithm to other sporting clubs in the area.. eg anyone watching any United or City YT coverage would, due to the sports team geography algorithm, get a recommended on YT should the Aces do their own programme on there... Those huge sporting clubs, local to Speedway tracks, with millions of subscribers, could be piggy backed onto on YT... And. If clubs had already done their own Vlogs, then over half a million viewers of the 2025 BF would have been recommended them... How many of that half million viewers are living within 45 mins of a Speedway team, but just don't know it? You're living in cuckoo land. Its speedway. Nobodys interested. Its not 1976 anymore, theres no hope. The sport is dying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 11 hours ago Report Share Posted 11 hours ago (edited) 13 minutes ago, Preston Comet said: You're living in cuckoo land. Its speedway. Nobodys interested. Its not 1976 anymore, theres no hope. The sport is dying 2500 or so will turn up at the NSS for the PCMT... 14,000 will turn up at the GP's at the NSS... 2500 - 3000 will turn up at the PO Final if the Aces get there... Proving there still is a reasonable demand if the product has some decent levels of relevance, jeopardy, consequence and authenticity.... The issue is that the vast majority of meetings have very little of the above.... That is what needs sorting... Edited 11 hours ago by mikebv 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 11 hours ago Report Share Posted 11 hours ago The first thing speedway needs to do is get in the public eye, no matter how small but getting there, something I saw a month a so back really brought it home to me how far out the loop we are, when Linda lusardi did her cup draw and it made the news papers, what was interesting was the comments about it from the general public and one stuck with me, it was guy from Essex around his 20s and his reply was what is speedway Genuine question ? Now that to me and you is ridiculous but he genuinely didn’t seem to know, now you would assume he would google it but up till that point it didn’t even cross his mind, how many other people are like this ? Last week I was talking to a customer who is massively into in fast bikes and I said I’d sell him an engine that would blow his bike out the water for acceleration and went on to tell him it was GM speedway engine and he said he didn’t know what I was talking about, as I went into an explanation he said oh you mean flat track racing like they do in the USA, speedway is just not in the public consciousness and that’s something we need to address 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago 2 hours ago, Tapewrecker said: And Cheryl will be on the turnstiles grabbing the cash My money is on the BV guys and Facenna 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago The opportunity for growth is truly massive Dean.. Given its ultra low starting point base. Millions don't know about the sport because they grew up with no one in their family attending the sport... When the sport was "booming" in the 70's, crowds were still nowhere near "Manchester United" levels, with very few running to five figures each week, but ITV's World Of Sport kept Speedway firmly in the public eye of millions.. A big prize fund should be the aim of all the promoters... Darts and Snooker have shown that getting some big sponsors increases interest massively... The games of Darts and Snooker are exactly the same if you are playing for £1000 or £1,000,000... The competition with the big money on offer will sell out, whilst the smaller one will have "one man and his dog' in attendance... How they get those big sponsors with such an operating model, and a lack of marketing savvy people in charge, is the million pound question though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topaz325 Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago In this weeks star an item about the Workington promotion team visiting a local college to spread the word of Speedway in the town . The students were studying media and had not heard of the sport , the management were aware of not reaching everyone on the area and not just by using facebook . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WookieboyDon Posted 8 hours ago Report Share Posted 8 hours ago 41 minutes ago, topaz325 said: In this weeks star an item about the Workington promotion team visiting a local college to spread the word of Speedway in the town . The students were studying media and had not heard of the sport , the management were aware of not reaching everyone on the area and not just by using facebook . At the start of last year Speedway Star asked supporters for their opinions on how to improve British Speedway and I was lucky enough to have my own article published. In that piece I made the point that it should be made compulsory by the BSPL that ALL UK teams should visit a minimum of three primary schools in the local vicinity of their tracks in pre-season between January and March. It's their duty to promote both themselves and the sport to the local community, as research suggests the attention span for sports develops around the ages of six to seven while they are susceptible to social influence between eight and ten. Introducing pupils to an exciting new sport they may never have heard of before with bikes on display with a couple of riders present would be the perfect way to promote the sport. Visits to school fetes at the height of the season in summer needs to be compulsory too. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle77 Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago (edited) 4 hours ago, mikebv said: 2500 or so will turn up at the NSS for the PCMT... 14,000 will turn up at the GP's at the NSS... 2500 - 3000 will turn up at the PO Final if the Aces get there... Proving there still is a reasonable demand if the product has some decent levels of relevance, jeopardy, consequence and authenticity.... The issue is that the vast majority of meetings have very little of the above.... That is what needs sorting... I was at the last couple of Wembley World Finals which had crowds of 80,000 plus... Ole Olsen & Bruce Penhall... To think that the GP will now only get 14,000 shows just how far the sport has fallen... If I had my way I'd bring back the one off World Final... along with the various qualifying rounds... They were great occasions... Meanwhile, Northampton Speedway... Speedways version of The Masons... continues under it's cloak of secrecy... Edited 7 hours ago by Eagle77 Typing error 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouch Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago On 3/11/2026 at 2:26 PM, mikebv said: Every team should run its own matchday Vlog... 20 mins max and put it on YouTube... The Sunday League and Non League teams (who also earn a fair few quid from their YT channels), started out with just a decent iPhone and a laptop to edit their programmes... A few snippets of racing with rider and fan reactions, showing riders arriving, track walk, in meeting and post meeting reflections , etc etc is what should be covered, with making the riders known being the ultimate aim, and the chance to advertise your next meeting... Most clubs doing this would get a large proportion of the total generic UK Speedway fanbase viewing this, including many overseas followers, as well as many fans of the sport who are not regulars, which could add up to a fair few thousand of subscribers... And for very little cost... Must admit I don’t know the difference between a Vlog and a normal YouTube video and I would think the club don’t either seeing as all the videos out there are not making an impact. Whatever the formula is that gets it in front of people as you have described needs applying. I’ve included a link to one such video from last season which seems to tick a lot of the boxes regarding the content you are looking for. Whenever BVTV are streaming a meeting the 30mins prior are available free and I know a link is usually included on the meeting thread on here. It’s just that thing of getting this content easily in front of Joe Public and it looks like, from what you’ve said, it’s doable. https://youtu.be/KYkL_Nrni4c?si=UF6HQD2pP_WL7FxU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 1 hour ago, Eagle77 said: I was at the last couple of Wembley World Finals which had crowds of 80,000 plus... Ole Olsen & Bruce Penhall... To think that the GP will now only get 14,000 shows just how far the sport has fallen... If I had my way I'd bring back the one off World Final... along with the various qualifying rounds... They were great occasions... Meanwhile, Northampton Speedway... Speedways version of The Masons... continues under it's cloak of secrecy... Agreed I would love to see one off world finals back but can't see it happening the gp's were a reasonable success for the first half of their lifespan but I would imagine the one's held in Poland now counter the losses on the other gp's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellevueace Posted 5 hours ago Report Share Posted 5 hours ago 9 hours ago, mikebv said: Possibly all of them given the need for doubling up to keep both leagues affording the same riders... And the optics of a new track opening make the sport look progressive, which can only help with trying to bring tracks back, or defend further potential closures ... Agree but if Northampton flops it could have the opposite effect on those groups trying to bring tracks back, it really needs to succeed to benefit the sport overall. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago (edited) 4 hours ago, ouch said: Must admit I don’t know the difference between a Vlog and a normal YouTube video and I would think the club don’t either seeing as all the videos out there are not making an impact. Whatever the formula is that gets it in front of people as you have described needs applying. I’ve included a link to one such video from last season which seems to tick a lot of the boxes regarding the content you are looking for. Whenever BVTV are streaming a meeting the 30mins prior are available free and I know a link is usually included on the meeting thread on here. It’s just that thing of getting this content easily in front of Joe Public and it looks like, from what you’ve said, it’s doable. https://youtu.be/KYkL_Nrni4c?si=UF6HQD2pP_WL7FxU Too formal, too long, too slow.... It should be 20min max, with the "bantz" between the lads as they arrive and get changed getting covered... The managers team talk and then several 5 second snippets of on track action covering the speed and closeness of the racing, with verbal and physical reactions from fans, Manager and team members as the racing happens.. With a voice over letting the viewer know of the score as the action progresses, and the names of those getting filmed, with the aim being you identify the riders, who, hopefully become recognised.. Throw in the odd 20 second soundbite from the manager, riders and a few fans, (young ones not fogey's).. "We are sh*t tonight", "He needs to sort himself out" etc, etc.. Music playing in the background . Then, post meeting quick sound bites from riders, management and fans... With an advert for the next meeting, with a request to like and subscribe... It isn't about listening to in depth interviews, and the racing snippets are just that, (quick), keeping the whole 15-20 mins short and snappy to meet the attention span of the demographic the sport so desperately needs to attract... There are dozens of examples on YT of how teams have been ultra successful in getting subscribers (and money), from their Vlogs... Speedway, given its lack of awareness from so many thousands of people in every town and city a team runs in, is perfect for such an inexpensive medium... Edited 1 hour ago by mikebv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Crusader Posted 37 minutes ago Report Share Posted 37 minutes ago 10 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: The first thing speedway needs to do is get in the public eye, no matter how small but getting there, something I saw a month a so back really brought it home to me how far out the loop we are, when Linda lusardi did her cup draw and it made the news papers, what was interesting was the comments about it from the general public and one stuck with me, it was guy from Essex around his 20s and his reply was what is speedway Genuine question ? Now that to me and you is ridiculous but he genuinely didn’t seem to know, now you would assume he would google it but up till that point it didn’t even cross his mind, how many other people are like this ? Last week I was talking to a customer who is massively into in fast bikes and I said I’d sell him an engine that would blow his bike out the water for acceleration and went on to tell him it was GM speedway engine and he said he didn’t know what I was talking about, as I went into an explanation he said oh you mean flat track racing like they do in the USA, speedway is just not in the public consciousness and that’s something we need to address Hi Dean, just a bit of history really. When Brian Foote packed up speedway he opened a motorcycle shop in Canterbury. He displayed his speedway bike with a sign on it . If you can't ride it don't touch it. I don't know how much interest it generated? At my primary school some of the Canterbury Crusaders came to our school fete with their bikes. Again don't know how influential that was. I was already a regular at Kingsmead as my Dad took me on Saturday nights any way and I was 100% hooked aged 9/10. On a personal note I regularly over the years went to Iwade and thank you for your efforts riding for us, didn't realise at the time how far you had to travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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