What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[IainB]

4 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

If thats the case then maybe the loss of the tv deal is a nothing burger given its buttons.

As I said before, it's buttons in the terms of TV deals but has clearly been keeping the sport afloat at PL level for the last number of years

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

11 minutes ago, Cross Roads said:

Me to you me to you. Can The Governing body of this sport not see that they need a public statement ASAP 
 

God forbid they want to loose any more fans or entice new people with out of the box new ideas… farcical 

No they can’t, public relations is not their strongpoint 

[YeOldPitGate]

7 minutes ago, IainB said:

As I said before, it's buttons in the terms of TV deals but has clearly been keeping the sport afloat at PL level for the last number of years

But if its six grand per premiership club per season Iain in the grand scheme of things its bugger all and I can't believe the likes of Gerrys chip shop as a sponsor will walk away given most sponsors are local and global reach really has zero effect on their sales.

[IainB]

4 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

But if its six grand per premiership club per season Iain in the grand scheme of things its bugger all and I can't believe the likes of Gerrys chip shop as a sponsor will walk away given most sponsors are local and global reach really has zero effect on their sales.

It wasn't £6k per PL club per season... BSN would deliver more than that. I'm led to believe it was worth around £100k per PL club per season, whether anything went to CL or NDL I don't know. You'd have to assume that PL clubs didn't get everything.

[Glen]

38 minutes ago, TTT said:

Got no chance of surviving tbh even I'll admit that.

Other than some of the British Youngsters that we've seen as part of the RS scheme at PREM level our last chance is Will Cairns and possibly Cooper Rushen.

Well can thank the ‘Elite’ league for the state speedway is now in. Future young riders are totally dependent on the investment by their parents and the cost of that is colossal! 

[ouch]

4 hours ago, TigerIain said:

Rest of league says 'no you won't if you want to join the league then the best riders need to be shared out'. If ANY Championship club wanted to get dumped on like that, then they would have stepped up to the Premiership!

You've just shown exactly why your Premiership league has failed. A couple of clubs hoard all the top riders causing other clubs to fail.

PS Ashfield is Harris' favourite UK track, and the owners are at least as wealthy as Buster. So not 100% guaranteed to go to KL.

They didn't share out the top riders, the big 4 hoarded them all last year and KL signed 6 third heat leaders and made a decent go of it. Everyone could see that Oxford and Birmingham were going to, and did, get hammered repeatedly. If Birmingham had been in any way competitive then at least someone would suggest running that team from another track. They got hammered repeatedly and hardly anyone paid to watch it, so the big 5 killed them off. 

The 10th match between them last year was the best speedway match I've seen in the 40ish years I've been watching speedway. Admittedly helped by being a 2 leg knock out contest. At least there is a city rivalry there to promote the match. Glasgow v Ipswich 10 times would not have the same pull. (PS Masters v Harris at Ashfield is normally something to get excited about)

Fricke, Kurtz, Bewley, Lidsey, Brennan etc were not top riders when we signed them. Other clubs could have signed them at the time without breaking the bank. We are now being berated for wanting to keep some of them! 

Birminghams top three at the start of the season totalled more than Oxford & Kings Lynn and around only one point less than the others. They had the second best third heatleader in the league. In 2013 they topped the league and shut the following season. On behalf of the “big five”, we apologise for that. Not all problems are down to a few handy sound bites. 

I agree about the 10th match thing as variety is no guarantee of great entertainment but it’s something on here that is continually being put forward. 

 

[Tinker]

Don't fully understand people on here suggesting that riders will suffer financially with one league as they won't be able to double up. One league, however, with say eleven teams will give them 20 meetings for starters plus cup matches, play offs, local challenges, individuals etc. 

On another note and yes, I do keep harping on here about variety, but if there are two leagues why not have all teams involved in one Knockout Cup like football's FA Cup. Sponsorship for a decent prize fund would be a good start and have a proper run draw with no "fixes" like Poole v Plymouth or Belle Vue v Sheffield. All Championship sides to be given an advantage by having just the one home leg if they're drawn against a Premiership team. If two Premiership sides or Championship sides are drawn together then two legs home and away will be the order of the day. Realise there would be things to work out re Prem riders being paid if riding away to a Championship side but surely problem not insurmountable. 

It would give the sport more variety and imagine if say Plymouth were to beat Ipswich on their own patch. Not only would it be a great boost for the club but market it right and could be financial gains for an increased crowd.

 

[gjcone44]

if it cost £10000.00 for 1 dart , how many do you think would be playing darts these days.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

If we were a sport just starting out, none of these financial issues of the riders would be a thing but because riders have become accustomed to what they earn and have sort of become complacent it’s now a problem when they are faced with being reigned in 

[TigerIain]

1 hour ago, poole keith said:

Slightly pains me to admit how slow I've been to finally realise that TTT is the greatest wind-up merchant on the forum to keep this post going so actively is amazing,driving a losing argument for days is outstanding, well done.It also pains me to admit you've outgunned our own wind-up champion Mr shovvy

Yip, TTT is insisting that the promoters that ruined the Premiership will be given absolute free reign to ruin a (pretty much) Championship level one big league...if that was too be the way the sport goes. More chance of the Championship promoters not allowing them in the league than letting them destroy what's left of the sport. 

Those 5 don't want someone to compete with, they just want a team they can all hammer repeatedly to prop up their failing Premiership. 

I'm just going to ignore TTT from now on. I've not got the crayons to explain it in a way that they will understand.

[Cross Roads]

16 minutes ago, Tinker said:

Don't fully understand people on here suggesting that riders will suffer financially with one league as they won't be able to double up. One league, however, with say eleven teams will give them 20 meetings for starters plus cup matches, play offs, local challenges, individuals etc. 

On another note and yes, I do keep harping on here about variety, but if there are two leagues why not have all teams involved in one Knockout Cup like football's FA Cup. Sponsorship for a decent prize fund would be a good start and have a proper run draw with no "fixes" like Poole v Plymouth or Belle Vue v Sheffield. All Championship sides to be given an advantage by having just the one home leg if they're drawn against a Premiership team. If two Premiership sides or Championship sides are drawn together then two legs home and away will be the order of the day. Realise there would be things to work out re Prem riders being paid if riding away to a Championship side but surely problem not insurmountable. 

It would give the sport more variety and imagine if say Plymouth were to beat Ipswich on their own patch. Not only would it be a great boost for the club but market it right and could be financial gains for an increased crowd.

 

I like the idea of an FA cup style competition early rounds could be NL and championship teams default to a one off home meeting against a higher placed team if drawn against them. Before anyone piles on and says be to one sided that’s how the magic of the cup would work. I’m sure say a Scunthorpe would relish a premier team visiting.

Another huge issue along with the structures is the average crowd age that never seems to change year on year with new people in volume other than the odd team ie Glasgow, fail to address this and it will organically stop with little spectators creating little revenue to even put on meetings.
 

I along with friends visited the speedway show yesterday throughly enjoyed it  and will be back next year fully recommend, met a lot of familiar faces from European tours we attend we are mid 50s. Sitting in the rider interview room just looking around average age 65+. This has to be sorted. I constantly tell friends and family they come to the odd meeting then huge gaps loose interest….what is the answer…promote but social media can cost big mone6 these days.

Wonder if the governing body has approached the likes of channel 4/5 offering a weekly high lights show. Maybe get BSN to create.

What is also very well administered is the polish app called speedway extraliga up to date with so much information live results even live  per heat in matches rider profiles up and coming fixtures etc. I’m sure many people have why don’t they offer this service in the uk.

 

 

 

 

[Pitch]

19 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

After a few chats over the last few days I really hope now that the premier league fails and all 5 teams and Peterborough if they run have no choice but to join the championship and as much as they will kick and scream maybe after a year of it they will think well actually it’s pretty good and a bit more sustainable than the premier league, it’s been mentioned before on here but a betting deal could be the premier’s saviour 

 

I think that Peterborough Panthers agree that the Championship is the best format. I've heard a prominent member of "Forever Panthers Ltd" state that the Championship is British Speedway's gem in the crown. It was also said if Panthers had Bomber in the team for example, he would charge them double In the Premiership than what he would in the Championship.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

13 minutes ago, Pitch said:

 

I think that Peterborough Panthers agree that the Championship is the best format. I've heard a prominent member of "Forever Panthers Ltd" state that the Championship is British Speedway's gem in the crown. It was also said if Panthers had Bomber in the team for example, he would charge them double In the Premiership than what he would in the Championship.

They do and I don’t blame them, the championship is sustainable but unfortunately the premier league is desperate and either Peterborough or a current Championship team is going to be sacrificed to prop the league numbers up 

Edited 49 minutes ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[TTT]

24 minutes ago, TigerIain said:

Yip, TTT is insisting that the promoters that ruined the Premiership will be given absolute free reign to ruin a (pretty much) Championship level one big league...if that was too be the way the sport goes. More chance of the Championship promoters not allowing them in the league than letting them destroy what's left of the sport. 

Those 5 don't want someone to compete with, they just want a team they can all hammer repeatedly to prop up their failing Premiership. 

I'm just going to ignore TTT from now on. I've not got the crayons to explain it in a way that they will understand.

What exactly are CHAMP Promoters going to do about it?

Ban PREM Teams from signing a Rider on a 8+ GSA?.....Put PREM Clubs ACU Licenses on hold?

 

Nothing they can do to stop the inevitable.

Take our GP Riders away from us......Then we won't share the Best of British with you anymore.

[YeOldPitGate]

I do get the argument for two leagues as things stand but I think on a 3-5 year plan they need to get a top league of 8 somewhere between the current two standards if doable , or maybe it is a case of the decline just can't be reversed as people are no longer interested in the sport in sufficient numbers.

I was thinking today how nightclubs are almost a bygone era also I live near a decent sized city that used to have about ten clubs around the millenium i think there's now one (which is smalll), loads of pubs have gone also, my son's have near zero interest in pubs and same goes for most of their mates everything is online shooting zombies now adays it seems.

[IainB]

1 hour ago, Tinker said:

On another note and yes, I do keep harping on here about variety, but if there are two leagues why not have all teams involved in one Knockout Cup like football's FA Cup. Sponsorship for a decent prize fund would be a good start and have a proper run draw with no "fixes" like Poole v Plymouth or Belle Vue v Sheffield. All Championship sides to be given an advantage by having just the one home leg if they're drawn against a Premiership team. If two Premiership sides or Championship sides are drawn together then two legs home and away will be the order of the day. Realise there would be things to work out re Prem riders being paid if riding away to a Championship side but surely problem not insurmountable. 

It would give the sport more variety and imagine if say Plymouth were to beat Ipswich on their own patch. Not only would it be a great boost for the club but market it right and could be financial gains for an increased crowd.

 

 

33 minutes ago, Cross Roads said:

I like the idea of an FA cup style competition early rounds could be NL and championship teams default to a one off home meeting against a higher placed team if drawn against them. Before anyone piles on and says be to one sided that’s how the magic of the cup would work. I’m sure say a Scunthorpe would relish a premier team visiting.

They tried this already I can't remember when exactly but I think it was something to do with the availability of GP riders at weekends. I seem to remember Coventry riding at Stoke without the likes of Hamill, Hancock & (maybe) Jonsson and it was called the BSPA Cup (I think). Needless to say it never lasted

[TTT]

42 minutes ago, Pitch said:

 

I think that Peterborough Panthers agree that the Championship is the best format. I've heard a prominent member of "Forever Panthers Ltd" state that the Championship is British Speedway's gem in the crown. It was also said if Panthers had Bomber in the team for example, he would charge them double In the Premiership than what he would in the Championship.

Hence why he'd have to charge PREM Prices in One Big League......PREM Clubs will pay it as well because it'll just be the normal PREM Contract that they were already planning on giving to them in the first place..

Glasgow and Poole fans seem to think that they'll keep their big hitters for the same wages.

[YeOldPitGate]

58 minutes ago, Pitch said:

 

I think that Peterborough Panthers agree that the Championship is the best format. I've heard a prominent member of "Forever Panthers Ltd" state that the Championship is British Speedway's gem in the crown. It was also said if Panthers had Bomber in the team for example, he would charge them double In the Premiership than what he would in the Championship.

Will be interesting to see i they manage to get a sixth club, it seems to between Peterborough who as far as I'm aware haven't yet had the green light to even return to the showground let alone rebuild a track and stadium, someone to pony up most likely 100k minimum to run a nomad team at Oxford which baring divine intervention will lead to a thumping loss, or arm up the back for a championship club to move up, I'm not sure many see either of these three options as a sound long term business plan.