What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

17 minutes ago, TTT said:

I think I've heard the same rumour, Been posted on X and on here.

Has it been posted on here ? I haven’t seen it. As I posted this I realised you don’t know what rumour I’m talking about and I don’t know what rumour you’re talking about 😂

Edited Wednesday at 11:56 AM by THE DEAN MACHINE

[TTT]

4 hours ago, Glen said:

Got to give you credit for being a Premier snob - lower order riders mean your superstars have someone to race against!!

I'm just being honest because somebody's got to speak the truth.

The PREM Promotes the Best British Youngsters on a regular basis with the Rising Star Scheme as well as Riders like Anders Rowe who get a Team Place in the 1-5.

Only Two British Youngsters can be added to that list are Will Cairns and Cooper Rushen and as long as Two Tier Structure remains in tact then I'm sure that we'll see both of those Riders in a PREM Team in 2026.

If every NDL Rider was good then CHAMP Clubs would be snapping them up Left, Right and Center.

Edited Wednesday at 03:58 PM by TTT

[MattB]

What it needs more than anything else is some joined up thinking. Instead of focusing on "what's in it for me?", put together a proper business plan. Any successful business today will always have a road map setting out "where do we want to go in the next x years, where do we expect to be next year, in two years? Etc". If Speedway is serious about increasing its portfolio with sponsors, partners, and even new tv deals, that's one of the first things they will ask for before we get to the stage of exchanging bank notes. You can't just use "we don't know what's going to happen" as a cop out, as that's not what these people want to hear.

 

Sadly, British Speedway has never been very good at dispelling the myth that it's done on the back of a cigarette packet, and nothing we've seen gives much hope of that changing anytime soon.

[TTT]

13 minutes ago, MattB said:

What it needs more than anything else is some joined up thinking. Instead of focusing on "what's in it for me?", put together a proper business plan. Any successful business today will always have a road map setting out "where do we want to go in the next x years, where do we expect to be next year, in two years? Etc". If Speedway is serious about increasing its portfolio with sponsors, partners, and even new tv deals, that's one of the first things they will ask for before we get to the stage of exchanging bank notes. You can't just use "we don't know what's going to happen" as a cop out, as that's not what these people want to hear.

 

Sadly, British Speedway has never been very good at dispelling the myth that it's done on the back of a cigarette packet, and nothing we've seen gives much hope of that changing anytime soon.

Good post Matt.

Unfortunately they'll never put the Sport First as everything is done with a Me, Myself and I outlook.

[gjcone44]

what ever they do its going down hill for a few years

[Aries]

2 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said:

Don't think I'd bother going.

Count me out as well. 

[TigerIain]

On 9/25/2025 at 6:53 AM, Aries said:

Glasgow look a Premiership team all ends up. Finances are there, support is there, and the club is extremely well run. It’s a top flight club. 
 

If they made the move up I’d expect them to be immediately challenging at the top end unlike others who have made the step up in the past.

That runs on a Friday night, that is hugely more popular with their fans than any other day or time of the week (per a recent-ish fan survey).

And have plenty of rivalries, local and not so local, that they can sell to their fans, and fans can sell to potential fans. No offence intended but BV, KL, Ipswich would just be 'the opposition'. Edinburgh, Berwick and Poole on the other hand mean something more than just another match. 

The Facennas are ambitious in their ownership but stepping up to the Premiership before the club is ready to prop up a failing league, and losing their weekend racing against local(ish) rivals will undo all the good & very hard work the current promotion have done. 

Seeing the odd GP rider would not make up for what would be lost in Glasgow 'stepping up'. The difference between the leagues is pretty minimal, replace a number 7 with a number 1 and you can pretty much keep the other 6 the same but put up the price by a few quid a meeting. No speedway rider is anywhere near famous enough to make more than a tiny dent in relation to media sports coverage up here that is totally dominated by Celtic and Rangers. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

2 hours ago, TigerIain said:

 

Seeing the odd GP rider would not make up for what would be lost in Glasgow 'stepping up'. The difference between the leagues is pretty minimal, replace a number 7 with a number 1 and you can pretty much keep the other 6 the same but put up the price by a few quid a meeting

That is not too far off as it stands but would change dramatically if there is no 2 tier set up unless you are happy for 4-5 clubs to close

So which 4-5 go?

If not the set up is hugely watered down to a  Champioship lite/NDL+ level  but still with potentially increased costs for all current Championship clubs 

[1 valve]

21 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Why should a Championship take the risk though,all it is achieving is propping up an unsustainable Premiership for another season. There is no miracle recovery in sight for Top League.Top riders in the sport have no interest in riding in GB in the near future.

The straightforward answer to your question is so to ensure there are sufficient riders doubling up with Prem & Champ teams to enable Championship clubs to be to afford riders and those same riders to have a reasonable income from their UK efforts.   

[1 valve]

4 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I hear rumours which would make the whole 2 tier system is well and truly doomed, now they are only rumours so I’m not going fuel them until I know it’s true 

No point in posting your inside rumor is there.
This whole forum is based on free thinking, rumor's conjecture and opinion. so why not spill the beans on the latest rumor.    

[TTT]

If Oxford can put British Speedway First, Then so can others.

If it doesn't work out after 1 Season then they can always drop back down.

Scottish Derbies and Wednesday Race Night's are nothing more than excuses that are being weaponized because they simply don't even want to make an effort to try and save the Sport in this Country.

Edited Wednesday at 05:11 PM by TTT

[Fromafar]

38 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

The straightforward answer to your question is so to ensure there are sufficient riders doubling up with Prem & Champ teams to enable Championship clubs to be to afford riders and those same riders to have a reasonable income from their UK efforts.   

The whole thing about this sorry saga is the lack of information being given out.Its obvious the Championship Clubs have signed Top Riders already whatever these riders are demanding so riders must know what’s happening.For too long now the BSPA have had their”head in the sand”and this situation has developed.

Someone knows what’s really happening.

[TTT]

If a Wednesday Night Club like Oxford can give it a go, Then so can the other Wednesday Night Club Poole.

Edited Wednesday at 06:05 PM by TTT

[Colsimmo58]

Can I ask , is it KL, BV and IPS only, who want the Premiership and LEIC and SHEFF would like to move to the Championship ????

Can LEIC and SHEFF fans tell me if THEY want a Premiership,and are they happy with a 5 Team League ??

Just curious !!!

[1 valve]

5 minutes ago, Colsimmo58 said:

Can I ask , is it KL, BV and IPS only, who want the Premiership and LEIC and SHEFF would like to move to the Championship ????

Can LEIC and SHEFF fans tell me if THEY want a Premiership,and are they happy with a 5 Team League ??

Just curious !!!

No as a Leicester supporter I would not be happy with a five team league and yes I want a Premier League although neither answer is a "must Have"

[The Third Man]

48 minutes ago, TTT said:

If Oxford can put British Speedway First, Then so can others.

If it doesn't work out after 1 Season then they can always drop back down.

Scottish Derbies and Wednesday Race Night's are nothing more than excuses that are being weaponized because they simply don't even want to make an effort to try and save the Sport in this Country.

If it doesn't work out after 1 season then they may not exist to drop back down

i still don't understand why Poole and Glasgow should lose money to save the PL

Will the other PL promoters underwrite their loses to save the sport in this country?

 

[Bagpuss]

I can't imagine anyone being happy with a five team league. 

[TTT]

5 minutes ago, The Third Man said:

If it doesn't work out after 1 season then they may not exist to drop back down

i still don't understand why Poole and Glasgow should lose money to save the PL

Will the other PL promoters underwrite their loses to save the sport in this country?

 

It's not about saving the PREM anymore, It's about saving British Speedway that's so heavily reliant on the Rider Sharing D/UP Scheme.

2027 Polish Rule is going to cause so many issues for Britain, Denmark and Sweden when it comes to Rider Availbility.

[gjcone44]

also the riders will have a lot of thinking to do, they know, you dont perform in Poland your out.in fact they have had it good over last few years being able to ride so often.

Edited Wednesday at 05:45 PM by gjcone44

[TigerIain]

2 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

That is not too far off as it stands but would change dramatically if there is no 2 tier set up unless you are happy for 4-5 clubs to close

So which 4-5 go?

If not the set up is hugely watered down to a  Champioship lite/NDL+ level  but still with potentially increased costs for all current Championship clubs 

There is no easy way to do that, but since you asked the question, if the Premiership fails and wants to join the Championship, then the existing Championship clubs get the first 9 licences, and then it's a bun fight between the 5 Premiership clubs for whatever licences are left that can be accommodate in the league (although Ipswich have said that they wouldn't run). Ideally all 14 clubs would run but I can't see that happening as there isn't enough riders. A large part of the Premiership failing is too few teams hoarding the top riders in the league. Maybe the reasons behind that are taken into account when licence 10 onwards are given out?

It's all a mess, but I still hope that a 6th team magically appears from the ashes and signs Robert Lambert and a Lindgren or Thorsell (really anyone/someone with a proven record in the UK as a proper heat leader) to lead them but sadly it's not looking promising