What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[SteveLyric2]

16 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

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.

So which Championship club might fall on their sword to assist the Prem? Not Glasgow or Poole! How about Scunny, run by the BSPL Chairman and already announced Pickering?!😜

Edited 22 hours ago by SteveLyric2

[IainB]

18 minutes ago, LisaColette said:

Carl Johnson talked about it on speedway 360 podcast. 

What did he say then? I'm pretty sure I've listened to the recent podcasts and I didn't hear anything that made me think there was any chance of an imminent Panthers return and especially not in 2026, maybe I missed something 🤷‍♂️

Edited 22 hours ago by IainB

[LisaColette]

17 minutes ago, IainB said:

What did he say then? I'm pretty sure I've listened to the recent podcasts and I didn't hear anything that made me think there was any chance of an imminent Panthers return and especially not in 2026, maybe I missed something 🤷‍♂️

This one? Something about not definitely yes but not a definite no. Sounds like they are looking into it.

Interesting to hear that their crowds are the same whether it's championship or premiership. 

 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

34 minutes ago, IainB said:

Where has all this Peterborough stuff come from?

Peterborough 

[IainB]

9 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Peterborough 

Link? The one above? What episode number is that? 29? Not available on Spotify yet. I'll give it a listen

Edited 21 hours ago by IainB

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

35 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

So which Championship club might fall on their sword to assist the Prem? Not Glasgow or Poole! How about Scunny, run by the BSPL Chairman and already announced Pickering?!😜

Whoever it is there will have to be a huge carrot dangled infront of them and unless either tv deal or betting deal or sponsor deal on the table that ain’t happening 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

11 minutes ago, IainB said:

Link? The one above? What episode number is that?

I wasn’t on this week so not sure but I think it was episode 3 of 3, haven’t had chance to listen yet but we talked about it on our what’s app group in the week 

Edited 21 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[The White Knight]

11 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Having a long chat with a former promoter yesterday at the speedway show, something he said made me laugh but his point was valid, he was saying speedway had changed and not for the better and he said it used to be after a meeting around midnight he would get the stadium manager calling him saying can you come and get your star rider out of the bar I want to close up and go home, his point was when that stopped speedway changed lol 

Never a truer word spoken by an ex Promoter.

That is what I was trying to say in an earlier Post.

[TigerIain]

3 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

So which Championship club might fall on their sword to assist the Prem? Not Glasgow or Poole! How about Scunny, run by the BSPL Chairman and already announced Pickering?!😜

Can't see any being daft enough to be honest. Long history of teams stepping up not being allowed to build a competitive team.

Poole and Oxford are the only clubs with a history of rivalries in the top division. Oxford probably had enough of being the Premiership punching bag. Poole have knocked it back due to race night and other issues. 

Any Northern team (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick, Workington) would lose any sort of local derby, and all are weekend tracks for good reason. 

I cannot see Redcar or Plymouth going up and staying in business. Scunthorpe would at least have some local matches against BV and Sheffield but I cannot see it without massive outside investment to cover huge losses.

I don't want to see the Premiership fail, but I can't see a Championship promoter sacrificing their club to save it. 

[SteveLyric2]

7 hours ago, TigerIain said:

Can't see any being daft enough to be honest. Long history of teams stepping up not being allowed to build a competitive team.

Poole and Oxford are the only clubs with a history of rivalries in the top division. Oxford probably had enough of being the Premiership punching bag. Poole have knocked it back due to race night and other issues. 

Any Northern team (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick, Workington) would lose any sort of local derby, and all are weekend tracks for good reason. 

I cannot see Redcar or Plymouth going up and staying in business. Scunthorpe would at least have some local matches against BV and Sheffield but I cannot see it without massive outside investment to cover huge losses.

I don't want to see the Premiership fail, but I can't see a Championship promoter sacrificing their club to save it. 

I only really suggested Scunny because he is BSPL Chairman. I have no knowledge of his financial situation.

[LagutaRacingFan]

If the Panthers run, I wouldn't be surprised to see Laguta back in British Speedway.

He really enjoyed his time at Peterborough.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

3 minutes ago, LagutaRacingFan said:

If the Panthers run, I wouldn't be surprised to see Laguta back in British Speedway.

He really enjoyed his time at Peterborough.

Yes if he would ride for rising star money because his performances during his stint in the uk just about warranted them 

[Pitch]

10 minutes ago, LagutaRacingFan said:

If the Panthers run, I wouldn't be surprised to see Laguta back in British Speedway.

He really enjoyed his time at Peterborough.

I certainly got the impression he enjoyed his time at Peterborough. 

[therefused]

So what happens if we get to January and there are still only 5 confirmed prem teams? Does the premiership have a year off? Is a team forced to move up against there will?

[The Third Man]

1 minute ago, therefused said:

So what happens if we get to January and there are still only 5 confirmed prem teams? Does the premiership have a year off? Is a team forced to move up against there will?

If you force a team to go up and they decide not to run for a year rather than lose a fortune what then?

[Hamish McRaker]

Appalling silence from BSPL so far. Hopefully they are taking due care and time over producing a statement.

On the other hand, they could be either doing headless chicken or ostrich impersonations.

[TigerIain]

 

13 minutes ago, Hamish McRaker said:

Appalling silence from BSPL so far. Hopefully they are taking due care and time over producing a statement.

On the other hand, they could be either doing headless chicken or ostrich impersonations.

I think (& sincerely hope) that there is plenty going on behind the scenes to magic up a 6th team for the Premiership. 

Sad thing is, with a better controlled points limit, and a fairer sharing out of heat leaders they might not have lost 2 teams and got themselves into this pickle. 

Still, I hope that it works out somehow. 

[TTT]

26 minutes ago, therefused said:

So what happens if we get to January and there are still only 5 confirmed prem teams? Does the premiership have a year off? Is a team forced to move up against there will?

We'll get a PREM, Just got to wait for the inevitable to happen.

Northampton or Peterborough is the get out clause for CHAMP Clubs.

If those avenues become a dead end, Then a CHAMP Club will be sacrificed even if they don't like it.

[TTT]

1 hour ago, The Third Man said:

If you force a team to go up and they decide not to run for a year rather than lose a fortune what then?

Someone will blink, Just a case of who it's going to be.

Oxford might be forced into a U-Turn against their will that see's CHAMP being dropped for PREM but this time given assurances of a No.1 and financial help if needed.

BSPL Chairman Godfrey will have to take one for the team, But gets to keep Pickering to build a PREM 1-7 around.

Edited 5 hours ago by TTT

[Glen]

19 hours 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.

All this talk of a club being ‘forced’ to go Premiership is purely conditional on a TV deal otherwise where’s the money coming from?