2026 and beyond

[SteveLyric2]

21 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Oh sorry, it’s today’s paper, Harry Redknapp asking Barry Hearn to make speedway great again 

I've made this point before but what domestic OUTDOOR sport have the Hearns taken on and done well with.

They have done excellent things with INDOOR, mainly INDIVIDUAL - or at best PAIRS - eg Darts, Snooker, Boxing. They have not done team or league sports run in outdoor venues that are subject to weather.

OK get them interested in the FIM SGPs if you can but the likes of speedway needs a different sort on entrepreneur. Hopefully Harry can attract someone from the Footie or Horse racing worlds - or are they just about the gambling opportunities?

[Phannan]

On 10/19/2025 at 10:50 AM, ShanoXtra said:

So what the Premiership needs, much like football, is a massive injection of money so riders don’t have to double up and ride in the championship. Then championship teams would be desperate to ride in the prem for money, but you then add promotion and relegation so you have jeopardy .

That would be the catalyst for some good racing and more risk, bringing fans in as they would see some meaning to the meetings. Not this joke of any team choosing what league they want to ride in.

A lot of championship fans on here comment “let the premiership run how it wants and we will do our own thing” so let that be the case. No doubling up, all top riders ride in Prem only due to money being bigger, and championship and NDL can do their own thing, see how many then want to make the jump up to the top league. The Prem should be the ‘promise land’ and all champ teams want to be in it, dilute their teams and league but limiting the top riders only in the prem and see how many comments change then, as all they want to do is dilute the prem to be their level of riders.

Great post. That’s it in a nutshell. There has to be motivation to reach higher levels in any sport as well as life in general. This choosing what league they will race in makes a shambles of the sport and goes against everything that sport should represent. 

[SteelShoe]

On 10/19/2025 at 10:50 AM, ShanoXtra said:

So what the Premiership needs, much like football, is a massive injection of money so riders don’t have to double up and ride in the championship. Then championship teams would be desperate to ride in the prem for money, but you then add promotion and relegation so you have jeopardy .

That would be the catalyst for some good racing and more risk, bringing fans in as they would see some meaning to the meetings. Not this joke of any team choosing what league they want to ride in.

A lot of championship fans on here comment “let the premiership run how it wants and we will do our own thing” so let that be the case. No doubling up, all top riders ride in Prem only due to money being bigger, and championship and NDL can do their own thing, see how many then want to make the jump up to the top league. The Prem should be the ‘promise land’ and all champ teams want to be in it, dilute their teams and league but limiting the top riders only in the prem and see how many comments change then, as all they want to do is dilute the prem to be their level of riders.

Think all speedway fans would love the sport to have a sustained massive injection of cash but it doesn't. The fact remains that currently only 5 teams (35riders) are possible participants in the Premiership in 2026. Currently there is no tv deal and with most of the likely candidates having been there and done that then I have my doubts whether a tv deal from a financial big player is at all likely . This obviously has  financial implications for the budgets of the premiership clubs and the BSPL.

Another question to be answered is with no tv money and only a possible 5 teams do all these teams even want this ? . No excitement and not much variability in 5 teams from where I'm sitting.

The truth is the Premiership is not the promised land and most Championship supporters believe that is the better product. Also let's not forget Leicester only joined the Premiership in 2023 and Sheffield in 2021 neither of which have enjoyed financial happy times if rumours of the size of losses are to be believed.

[mikebv]

4 hours ago, Biffa said:

The thing is Harry Redknapp has already got more publicity in the last month alone than probably all teams have all year. Talksport radio were even talking about on the afternoon as well, all because it was Harry Redknapp. One thing that came from radio was how it was first from the gate wins. A T20 comparison was made that speedway should jus run the first bends only 🙄

It is really a perfect sport for some half decent marketing company to promote...

Given how few of the country even are aware of it, let alone attend, it is almost like launching a brand new sport to the wider sporting viewers..

You are pretty much starting from a blank canvas..

However....

A five team top league will be a hard sell for TV given the same teams will be on far too regularly..

And so many meetings that currently get run without jeopardy does the sport little favours,  as it doesn't create interest in getting people to the track or watching on TV., and a five team top league will mean just one team missing out, and, usually, there is one team that gets put well adrift far too early in the season..

The lack of a big money prize also holds it back hugely, as the public get engaged by sports with the huge prizes on offer, so finding a way to get some "big money" into it is fundamentally key for me...

There are though huge opportunities, given its current starting position for the sport to develop, and rapidly if the correct marketing and hype can get brought in..

Just 400 or so regulars at every track would mean a massive percentage increase at even those tracks who currently get four figures..

Such a tiny number, but bringing such a large positive impact, shows the size of the opportunity...

 

Edited 4 hours ago by mikebv

[ShanoXtra]

2 hours ago, SteelShoe said:

Think all speedway fans would love the sport to have a sustained massive injection of cash but it doesn't. The fact remains that currently only 5 teams (35riders) are possible participants in the Premiership in 2026. Currently there is no tv deal and with most of the likely candidates having been there and done that then I have my doubts whether a tv deal from a financial big player is at all likely . This obviously has  financial implications for the budgets of the premiership clubs and the BSPL.

Another question to be answered is with no tv money and only a possible 5 teams do all these teams even want this ? . No excitement and not much variability in 5 teams from where I'm sitting.

The truth is the Premiership is not the promised land and most Championship supporters believe that is the better product. Also let's not forget Leicester only joined the Premiership in 2023 and Sheffield in 2021 neither of which have enjoyed financial happy times if rumours of the size of losses are to be believed.

These championship team fans need to be careful what they wish for, saying their league is better than the prem yet if the prem didn’t pay the likes of Z.Cook, Lawson, Wright, King etc big money, thus helping them ride in the second tier, they wouldn’t have many good riders at all. Take out their riders who ride in the prem and it’s a pretty poor standard. Everyone can say Prem is better or Champ is better but the fact is Speedway needs to be better.

[Phannan]

What happens if Sheffield don’t run ? No league meetings. Just straight to the play offs ? Maybe the 4 remaining clubs in the prem should do a Poole and insist on only running in the championship. One big league. Yippee. What a shambles our sport has become. 

[SteelShoe]

31 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

These championship team fans need to be careful what they wish for, saying their league is better than the prem yet if the prem didn’t pay the likes of Z.Cook, Lawson, Wright, King etc big money, thus helping them ride in the second tier, they wouldn’t have many good riders at all. Take out their riders who ride in the prem and it’s a pretty poor standard. Everyone can say Prem is better or Champ is better but the fact is Speedway needs to be better.

I never said most Championship teams fans thought it was a better league than the Premiership just a better product. I think you will find that the riders you mention do very nicely out of the Championship in terms of earnings.  To suggest that the Premiership big money 'helps them ride in the second tier' as if they couldn't do so without is doubtful. These riders choose to do Championship   to boost their earnings.  Riders signed for European teams may be in a better position to drop the Championship because they no longer need it for financial reasons.

Premiership teams this season had between 3 and 5 riders who also rode Championship . If it went to one British League I don't envisage many riders and certainly not the Aussies giving up British Speedway but that is just my personal opinion. 

[IainB]

7 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

I've made this point before but what domestic OUTDOOR sport have the Hearns taken on and done well with.

They have done excellent things with INDOOR, mainly INDIVIDUAL - or at best PAIRS - eg Darts, Snooker, Boxing. They have not done team or league sports run in outdoor venues that are subject to weather.

OK get them interested in the FIM SGPs if you can but the likes of speedway needs a different sort on entrepreneur. Hopefully Harry can attract someone from the Footie or Horse racing worlds - or are they just about the gambling opportunities?

Their big boxing shows are often outdoors

[SteveLyric2]

15 minutes ago, IainB said:

Their big boxing shows are often outdoors

Yes but one-offs not every week in a league!!

[ShanoXtra]

47 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

I never said most Championship teams fans thought it was a better league than the Premiership just a better product. I think you will find that the riders you mention do very nicely out of the Championship in terms of earnings.  To suggest that the Premiership big money 'helps them ride in the second tier' as if they couldn't do so without is doubtful. These riders choose to do Championship   to boost their earnings.  Riders signed for European teams may be in a better position to drop the Championship because they no longer need it for financial reasons.

Premiership teams this season had between 3 and 5 riders who also rode Championship . If it went to one British League I don't envisage many riders and certainly not the Aussies giving up British Speedway but that is just my personal opinion. 

Matt ford said it not me.

The top tier need the second tier to try and then justify why they are "different" and the "highest level" and more expensive to watch...

The second tier need the top tier as those who double up can then afford to ride for them for 2nd tier money...

The likes of Poole and Glasgow could be seen as being happy to be "big fishes in a small pond"..

[ShanoXtra]

49 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

I never said most Championship teams fans thought it was a better league than the Premiership just a better product. I think you will find that the riders you mention do very nicely out of the Championship in terms of earnings.  To suggest that the Premiership big money 'helps them ride in the second tier' as if they couldn't do so without is doubtful. These riders choose to do Championship   to boost their earnings.  Riders signed for European teams may be in a better position to drop the Championship because they no longer need it for financial reasons.

Premiership teams this season had between 3 and 5 riders who also rode Championship . If it went to one British League I don't envisage many riders and certainly not the Aussies giving up British Speedway but that is just my personal opinion. 

People drop the championship because the nights and weekends they are run on whereas Poland and other leagues are better to ride in than the championship. If you gave the top championship riders the choice to drop one, what would they drop? They certainly wouldn’t financially be able to ride in the championship alone.

[IainB]

25 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

Yes but one-offs not every week in a league!!

Also Fishing and Golf 

[Ghosty]

2 leagues for 2026 with the Premeirship Wednesday & Thursdays, the main reasons cut down on traveling & cost.

Championship Friday & Saturdays, the main reason allow riders to work alongside their speedway commitments.

Tighter rules to stop riders missing their UK fixtures and less double up/down.

Any third division on Sundays.

Fact is real changes are required.