What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[TigerIain]

4 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

If a side can have Zmarzlik, Lambert & Lindgren as a top 3, then so be it. It would be terrific for the fans when they travel away. If another team can only afford Masters, Batchelor & Morris as a top 3, then again, so be it.

To a lesser extent, that is what happened in the Premiership last year and Birmingham and Oxford didn't survive. 

Speedway isn't football, there simply isn't enough money, or die hard fans, to keep the have nots afloat of they are getting thrashed every week. 

Seeing Zmarzlik winning 5 races by half a lap is not entertainment for most people. Look how Plymouth's crowds picked up when Scott Nicholls arrived and made them competitive.

[Hawk127]

It seems a few are blaming Ipswich for the current impasse yet no one on here or in the wider speedway fraternity knows that for a fact. It reasonable to assume that if you have fought to build a business to a certain level that sells a product to a local audience who buy in to what is on offer you would fight to protect that format and opportunity. Each club can do the same but regional cost factors and marketing determine where a club sits in selling what is on offer to a local audience.

If the current top tier want to throw money at another team to protect the format then why not take the sport back to Swindon with a track in place and underwrite the costs but that is not going to happen. 
 
As to rider availability to fill one league or two look at a mix of young up and coming British riders and those plying the trade on the European circuit (excluding Polish riders) and riders further afield where the regulations permit them to ride in the UK.

It does not have to be all gloom and doom but as it stands the arguments on here as to the right or wrong way to go forward are nothing more than personal opinions from those who have no financial investment in the sport. It is always easy to tell others how to spend money. Few people know about speedway and frankly Joe Public who are outside the limited number of followers of the sport really could not give a fig about it and far too many in the UK have any knowledge about speedway or who the top riders. They are not household names.

Accept that the sport in this country is a pastime that no one really cares about and it does not register on the social scale of things one must view/follow. It has had its day in the current format and needs to reinvent itself to get recognition amongst a wider audience and that is not going to happen with the current set up of club owners or the body that runs the sport.

 

[gjcone44]

3 minutes ago, secsy1 said:

If the Premiership are so concerned about having 6 teams in 2026, then why not contact Isle of Wight or Mildenhall.

Surely if the desperation level is so high, then subsidizing either for a season would be worth the long term goal 🤣 

 

 

yes October 2026

[YeOldPitGate]

Just watching this on Youtube how we would all love to see these type of days again, Cradley packed to the rafters and wouldn't it be great if the USA could find another 7-8 world stars those Americans back in the 80's were box office.

 

 

[SteveLyric2]

If, as has been suggested, Sheffield and/or Leicester have been refused to join the Championship, how would they be able to contribute to afford underwriting any losses of a Poole or Glasgow forced to join the Premiership?

[IainB]

24 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Just watching this on Youtube how we would all love to see these type of days again, Cradley packed to the rafters and wouldn't it be great if the USA could find another 7-8 world stars those Americans back in the 80's were box office.

 

 

That's my channel...

Hope you gave it a "like" 👍🏻

[Daniel Smith]

35 minutes ago, TigerIain said:

To a lesser extent, that is what happened in the Premiership last year and Birmingham and Oxford didn't survive. 

Speedway isn't football, there simply isn't enough money, or die hard fans, to keep the have nots afloat of they are getting thrashed every week. 

Seeing Zmarzlik winning 5 races by half a lap is not entertainment for most people. Look how Plymouth's crowds picked up when Scott Nicholls arrived and made them competitive.

Not really the same, as everyone had averages to build to.

Also, teams wouldn't get thrashed every week. If Belle Vue & Ipswich have 5 GP/Ekstraliga rider's, King's Lynn & Leicester have 2 GP/Ekstraliga rider's & the rest of the league has none, it's still a competitive league most weeks between the rest of the other 10 clubs. 

It may even be competitive for those 4 teams away as the superstar rider's would mostly be unavailable so to other commitments. 

It's a choice to make, allow clubs to spend too their own budgets. No average restrictions.

Maybe, over time, other promoters / potential new promoters that have money to burn could come in & challenge. 

It's happened before with the Ford's, Frost's & Sandu's etc & to some extent Jonathan Chapman who was lifting the sport as a whole with his 'Super Sevens' but the 'Old Man Brigade' put the road blocks up against him. 

Again, these only failed due to self interest.

 

[TTT]

57 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

I do get your arguement TTT but if you were Poole you would most likely want 100k passed over upfront or put in a bank account controlled by someone other than the bspa.

To easy the pressure a little bit, It would be better to go down a Football Transfer route of installments.

If everyone could agree on giving 50% up front and then a signed contract by all parties stating that the other 50% will be paid in full at the end of the season.

They'd have to honour the other 50% because they wouldn't stand a chance in a court case if they even tried to pull a fast one.

[TTT]

15 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

If, as has been suggested, Sheffield and/or Leicester have been refused to join the Championship, how would they be able to contribute to afford underwriting any losses of a Poole or Glasgow forced to join the Premiership?

Not going to be a hypocrite.

Belle Vue and Ipswich would have to put the most Money in considering they're the two most vocal Clubs in regards to a 6 Team PREM.

[mac101]

9 minutes ago, TTT said:

Not going to be a hypocrite.

Belle Vue and Ipswich would have to put the most Money in considering they're the two most vocal Clubs in regards to a 6 Team PREM.

Can’t see any team paying money towards any championship club to move up, they have already lost upwards of £60k before a wheel is turned with no tv money  in the pot . The championship clubs seem to  doing ok as it is and riding on the nights they want to and within their budget so why would they want to change it 

[mac101]

22 minutes ago, TTT said:

Not going to be a hypocrite.

Belle Vue and Ipswich would have to put the most Money in considering they're the two most vocal Clubs in regards to a 6 Team PREM.

Can’t see any team paying money towards any championship club to move up, they have already lost upwards of £60k before a wheel is turned with no tv money  in the pot . The championship clubs seem to  doing ok as it is and riding on the nights they want to and within their budget so why would they want to change it 

[mac101]

23 minutes ago, TTT said:

Not going to be a hypocrite.

Belle Vue and Ipswich would have to put the most Money in considering they're the two most vocal Clubs in regards to a 6 Team PREM.

Can’t see any team paying money towards any championship club to move up, they have already lost upwards of £60k before a wheel is turned with no tv money  in the pot . The championship clubs seem to  doing ok as it is and riding on the nights they want to and within their budget so why would they want to change it 

 

Ben Barker posted this tonight on his FB page 

So with all of the uncertainty about whats going on and with rules that Poland are bringing in for the 2027 season being that any1 roding in Poland can only rode in 1 other league.. surely us as British Speedway should be making in that Britain are the second league they choose!  

Because quite simply having 20odd meetings to me isnt appealing enough for all of these riders as they will need 2 have 2 vans 5 bikes 2/3 mechanics... where if they choose Sweden or Denmark as there second league they can run it from 1 van 3 bikes the cost are so much less having there second league in Europe... 

So how to we make the Australians,Swedish,Danish,German and all of the others nationalitys choose Britain as there second league? 

My opinion is they not going to Sweden or denmark for a  huge pay cheques... there going for bike time to keep there mind and body in race mode so my solution is 1 league which will give every plenty of meetings when u include the bsn and koc and some challeng matches etc

I feel if we dont act on this in this winter period we're gonna be in the same situation in 12 months time... I know some clubs think there are Better than the championship... but all but 1 club has raced in the championship or premier league as it was known.. 

Sorry for the boring post but I feel we need to do something to save british speedway and not just cover the crack for another season...

[Hamish McRaker]

3 hours ago, mikebv said:

Let's be honest...

The sport is proper "Donald Ducked" isnt it?

Decades of using Guests at the drop of a hat, so riders got more meetings, rather than finding a way NOT to use them, and thus hugely negatively impacting the credibility of its own competitions, and making Doubling Up a fundamental part of the operating model, has resulted in too many ageing riders, with too many jobs, and not enough riders being developed to allow squad systems and "one rider, one team"...

Whatever sticking plasters they apply (yet again), will then need to be removed, and something else then applied next year when/if Poland kick in their one extra league rule... 

The chickens have definitely come home to roost...

 

It all reminds me of the great Dead Parrot sketch by Monty Python. 

[TTT]

18 minutes ago, mac101 said:

Can’t see any team paying money towards any championship club to move up, they have already lost upwards of £60k before a wheel is turned with no tv money  in the pot . The championship clubs seem to  doing ok as it is and riding on the nights they want to and within their budget so why would they want to change it 

Then PREM Clubs can't have a PREM in 2026.

If a CHAMP Club has to make sacrifices to prop up the PREM then they'll have to have something in return.

It works both ways and a compromise will have to be met.

Edited 1 hour ago by TTT

[The White Knight]

10 hours ago, TTT said:

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.

I have no doubt you are speaking your truth. I suspect that others on here will have their own truths too. as do I.

My truth is to wait until the AGM - when I am sure we will find out what is going on.

Until then it is all conjecture.

Edited 43 minutes ago by The White Knight
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