What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[M.D]

12 hours ago, RoundTheBoards said:

I didn't mention assets and debt.   I'm comparing the huge losses that Football clubs make, measured against the comparatively tiny losses that Speedway clubs make.   A £100k loss is a problem in Speedway because clubs are generally backed only by small businessmen who don't have bottomless pits of money.  If a football club made just £100k loss it would be a mere trifle, because they have big benefactors willing to put in millions to go on the ego trip that Football's high profile gives them.

Agree,

You only have to look at my football club, Bristol City

Owned by Stephen Lansdown, worth around 2 billion, the clubs runs at around a deficit of about £20 million a year, he puts the money in and turns it into share capital, think he's put about £240M over the years.

He's an astute business man who owned the investment company Hargrieves Lansdown but why would he do this if not for ego or building a legacy, and you won't get that out of speedway..

[old bob at herne bay]

Come on guys, the writing has been on the wall for years in Uk speedway.

You can speculate when it all started, but doubling up, over reliance on TV sponsorship, the loss of stadia to building developments, limited race nights due to Poland , and a steady dwindling of support at some have all contributed to the downward trajectory . 
 

To lay the blame for the current perilous state of the PL solely on Ipswich is IMO misplaced… one could look back and blame Swindon, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Oxford “spires” . All have contributed to the slow and steady decline in Premier league speedway. The CL clubs have been complicit as well, failing to show any interest in accepting “ promotion” to the other league . We’re all right Jack comes to mind…….this is now surely about to be put to the test ? 

 

 

 

 

 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, M.D said:

Agree,

You only have to look at my football club, Bristol City

Owned by Stephen Lansdown, worth around 2 billion, the clubs runs at around a deficit of about £20 million a year, he puts the money in and turns it into share capital, think he's put about £240M over the years.

He's an astute business man who owned the investment company Hargrieves Lansdown but why would he do this if not for ego or building a legacy, and you won't get that out of speedway..

Because if he doesn’t the tax man will have it off him, it’s a legal form of money laundering/ business offsetting performed by accountants of millions of millionaires worldwide in many different guises, all while getting the millionaire his/her toys paid for ,I think the only reason it doesn’t happen in speedway is because there is not enough money involved to make a dent to a millionaire 

Edited 10 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

What we are seeing here is the years of neglect and lack of investment or ideas for speedway coming home to roost, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, when sky first gave us the 5 million in the 90s it was like giving a heroin junkie 5 million and saying put some in the bank for the future and spend a bit on getting some help for your addiction 

Edited 10 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Neila]

17 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

What we are seeing here is the years of neglect and lack of investment or ideas for speedway coming home to roost, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, when sky first gave us the 5 million in the 90s it was like giving a heroin junkie 5 million and saying put some in the bank for the future and spend a bit on getting some help for your addiction 

You can't say nobody to blame but ourselves.    Most on here are just fans who pay their money and watch speedway, some may sponsor in some form. The blame stops at the promoters now and in the past, most just looking after their own self interest. No thought for next year / future years. The ones who have a vision are overruled by the establishment IMO 

Several promoters are now unhappy about the present stalemate, as they can't sell season tickets for the Xmas market,as they don't know how many meetings they could be potentially riding.  Also they are missing out on potential,  existing or new sponsors because as above they don't know the set up of the league or how many meetings you are going to run, it's anywhere from 8 to 12/14 home league meetings (championship)

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 minute ago, Neila said:

You can't say nobody to blame but ourselves.    Most on here are just fans who pay their money and watch speedway, some may sponsor in some form. The blame stops at the promoters now and in the past, most just looking after their own self interest. No thought for next year / future years. The ones who have a vision are overruled by the establishment IMO 

Several promoters are now unhappy about the present stalemate, as they can't sell season tickets for the Xmas market,as they don't know how many meetings they could be potentially riding.  Also they are missing out on potential,  existing or new sponsors because as above they don't know the set up of the league or how many meetings you are going to run, it's anywhere from 8 to 12/14 home league meetings (championship)

When I say ourselves I’m talking about the sport not individuals 

[Fromafar]

1 hour ago, Neila said:

You can't say nobody to blame but ourselves.    Most on here are just fans who pay their money and watch speedway, some may sponsor in some form. The blame stops at the promoters now and in the past, most just looking after their own self interest. No thought for next year / future years. The ones who have a vision are overruled by the establishment IMO 

Several promoters are now unhappy about the present stalemate, as they can't sell season tickets for the Xmas market,as they don't know how many meetings they could be potentially riding.  Also they are missing out on potential,  existing or new sponsors because as above they don't know the set up of the league or how many meetings you are going to run, it's anywhere from 8 to 12/14 home league meetings (championship)

It’s obvious he’s talking about Promoters not the fans though.!!

[YeOldPitGate]

2 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Come on guys, the writing has been on the wall for years in Uk speedway.

You can speculate when it all started, but doubling up, over reliance on TV sponsorship, the loss of stadia to building developments, limited race nights due to Poland , and a steady dwindling of support at some have all contributed to the downward trajectory . 
 

To lay the blame for the current perilous state of the PL solely on Ipswich is IMO misplaced… one could look back and blame Swindon, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Oxford “spires” . All have contributed to the slow and steady decline in Premier league speedway. The CL clubs have been complicit as well, failing to show any interest in accepting “ promotion” to the other league . We’re all right Jack comes to mind…….this is now surely about to be put to the test ? 

 

 

2 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

on't disagree the problem is though that the championship clubs being asked to move up look at the outcomes of Birmingham Tolley quoted £250k set light to and Oxford recently, zero help given to build teams and any decent riders not already here don't want to come to UK.

Its a bit like having five fellas in no mans land fighting a losing battle and asking another 2-3 safe in the trench's to go over the top and most likely be mown down in five minutes by a machine gun.

As we all know there's no good answers now, other than some fan worth north of a 100 mil deciding to take an interest in turning the whole sport round.

 

 

 

 

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

What we are seeing here is the years of neglect and lack of investment or ideas for speedway coming home to roost, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, when sky first gave us the 5 million in the 90s it was like giving a heroin junkie 5 million and saying put some in the bank for the future and spend a bit on getting some help for your addiction 

Again, it goes back to a lack of vision, strategy and direction...

Other sports have used the TV money well by ensuring they elected a person to work with them in driving their sport forward...

Someone give autonomy by the clubs, to ensure that agreed exacting standards are maintained by the clubs, no "self policing", or "taking your bat and ball home" if you don't get your own way, and no deciding what league is best for me to run in..

But that someone is held to account also to ensure they deliver a sport moving forwards...

They should have been "building a brand", using experts in that field, and using marketing experts to attract new interest from Joe Public and businesses, and using experts in event management to deliver a "match day experience" that encourages repeat visits, and targets families...

Instead they did....

 ?????

 

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, Neila said:

You can't say nobody to blame but ourselves.    Most on here are just fans who pay their money and watch speedway, some may sponsor in some form. The blame stops at the promoters now and in the past, most just looking after their own self interest. No thought for next year / future years. The ones who have a vision are overruled by the establishment IMO 

Several promoters are now unhappy about the present stalemate, as they can't sell season tickets for the Xmas market,as they don't know how many meetings they could be potentially riding.  Also they are missing out on potential,  existing or new sponsors because as above they don't know the set up of the league or how many meetings you are going to run, it's anywhere from 8 to 12/14 home league meetings (championship)

Didn't help the number one's hoovering up all the money and then a lot of them leaving the UK as soon as the trough was empty.

[MajorMauger]

The lack of investment and potentially purchasing stadiums in the 70's and 80's when possibly some speedway promoters could of done could of resulted in more speedway tracks still operational in present times but then again the speedway promotion owning Somerset speedway didn't save that place did it? - Anyone that has an asset that can potentially make them financially secure and wealthy for life will soon forget about trying to prop up small profit margin/loss making speedway outfits and stadiums however much they enjoy the sport.  Norwich and Southampton were two of the biggest speedway operations in the early 60's yet both were sold to property developers. In the mid 1990's Cradley was probably the best supported track in the Country and the stadium was owned by people that in the past has run the speedway yet they ended up with the same fate.  

 

I'm afraid evolution has a lot to do with speedway current plight. In the late 60's when speedway had a major uplift in popularity many people who spectated in the immediate post war boom period from 1946 - early 50's were still about, nearly every large Town or City had at least one Greyhound stadium operational which in the most were ideal for installing a speedway track, most working class people had more disposable income combined with cheaper admission prices, persons WITH a TV only had 3 channels rather than the hundreds available today and the leisure market wasn't nowhere near as saturated as it is today.  Also the advances in health and safety from the 1970's onwards has escalated costs as well as the engine and bike advancements which has resulted in running speedway tracks and participating in speedway being out of reach to more and more people than it used to. - While mistakes have been made which in fairness probably anyone would have done I can't see being realistic how speedway racing in this Country would/could have taken a different path. 

 

That said most sports in this Country don't make money and rely on enthusiastic  benefactors to survive. The present dilemma is that a 5 team top flight is not sustainable while the 2nd tier which is just about sustainable doesn't want to see its products undermined to prop up the ailing top flight. - British speedways been here before in 1990 and 1994 and the 2nd Division in them days ended up being seriously compromised to help the top flight. - The only way I can see things working out is one professional League with 5 or 6 person teams regardless of GP rider availability and teams running on their preferred racenight. Surely theres enough free Fridays and Saturdays from late March to the end of September to work around the GP's?

Edited 7 hours ago by MajorMauger

[frigbo]

2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

It’s obvious he’s talking about Promoters not the fans though.!!

Riders need to take their fair share of the brunt of this mess too.

[gjcone44]

think you can add the laydown machines too all the other stuff, and most importantly the costs.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

29 minutes ago, gjcone44 said:

think you can add the laydown machines too all the other stuff, and most importantly the costs.

Laydowns have added to the cost but are not detrimental to the sport itself other than that, the racing is no better or worse today than it was 50 yeas ago, 90% of fans past or present would know a jap from a GM, speedway has never been a motorcycle sport, it’s a team sport on bikes and the important bit is and has always been is the monkey on them

Edited 6 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, frigbo said:

Riders need to take their fair share of the brunt of this mess too.

But this comes down to who controls the sport, the sport is run by the riders for the riders, don’t know how long I have been telling anyone who will listen this message, until a governing body gets hold of and control of the sport and dictates boundaries which everyone must adhere to then the sport will continue to decline with everyone in it for their own gain and you have to say with nobody to stop them who can blame them, as an example and I say this not to single him out but as an example but Brady Kurtz is effectively holding the sport in Britain to ransom, make it 2 leagues or I’m off, doesn’t matter what the fans want or what is the best direction for British speedway it what works for me, me me me me me 

Edited 6 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Fromafar]

1 hour ago, frigbo said:

Riders need to take their fair share of the brunt of this mess too.

If the Promoters give them money they can’t afford don’t think you can blame the riders.Riders have taken them to the cleaners but it’s hardly their fault.

[mikebv]

19 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

But this comes down to who controls the sport, the sport is run by the riders for the riders, don’t know how long I have been telling anyone who will listen this message, until a governing body gets hold of and control of the sport and dictates boundaries which everyone must adhere to then the sport will continue to decline with everyone in it for their own gain and you have to say with nobody to stop them who can blame them, as an example and I say this not to single him out but as an example but Brady Kurtz is effectively holding the sport in Britain to ransom, make it 2 leagues or I’m off, doesn’t matter what the fans want or what is the best direction for British speedway it what works for me, me me me me me 

100%...

However...

"I want you to spend around £10k on two very good bikes, maintain them using an expensive tuner, and be available at all times as we will have a fixture list but it will change constantly, and you will be needed to guest at a moments notice"...

And. If you do that, I will pay you tens of thousands, and we could win something that actually gets us to meet the local mayor of our local town!"...

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 minutes ago, mikebv said:

100%...

However...

"I want you to spend around £10k on two very good bikes, maintain them using an expensive tuner, and be available at all times as we will have a fixture list but it will change constantly, and you will be needed to guest at a moments notice"...

And. If you do that, I will pay you tens of thousands, and we could win something that actually gets us to meet the local mayor of our local town!"...

Then get a job at google or somewhere like that because British speedway can’t afford what you want 

[truthsayer]

31 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

But this comes down to who controls the sport, the sport is run by the riders for the riders, don’t know how long I have been telling anyone who will listen this message, until a governing body gets hold of and control of the sport and dictates boundaries which everyone must adhere to then the sport will continue to decline with everyone in it for their own gain and you have to say with nobody to stop them who can blame them, as an example and I say this not to single him out but as an example but Brady Kurtz is effectively holding the sport in Britain to ransom, make it 2 leagues or I’m off, doesn’t matter what the fans want or what is the best direction for British speedway it what works for me, me me me me me 

While this is all true, it also goes back to a lack of foresight from the sport's administrators.

Riders call the shots because there's such a chronic lack of them, making it a seller's market.

While pointing fingers and dealing in blame isn't particularly helpful, we do need to recognise that the lack of talent coming through means there's little competition for places and prices for riders go up.

The sport is in such a dire place that only short term thinking is an option for both riders and promotions.

[mikebv]

Just now, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Then get a job at google or somewhere like that because British speedway can’t afford what you want 

The promoters have created "full time pros" with the constant doubling up and fundamental need for guesting...

And those who do it the most are the ones who are more towards the end of their careers rather than the start...

No idea how they will fill team spots in a few years time, and if those closed tracks ever come back then what will they do?