What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[Marky_Mark]

28 minutes ago, M.D said:

More Paul Dugard who is a director of the stadium and represents Margaret, Bobs widow who owns the stadium along with Eric.

What reason is given though? It seems strange knowing how much Bob loved the speedway that it’s just a straight no?

[M.D]

1 minute ago, Marky_Mark said:

What reason is given though? It seems strange knowing how much Bob loved the speedway that it’s just a straight no?

Would you blame them?

they got done by Ian Jordan for a lot of money and speedway is not a great business model these days.

Arlington stadium has been in existence since 1928, it has been updated over the years but is a money pit.

I don't know but they must make a bit with the stocks, why go through the aggravation of allowing a promotion to run speedway with another risk?

They are first and foremost, a business family.

[ruckerroo]

Jordan poisoned Eastbourne , the wretch. Also the circumstances are now different too before. Lovely thought tho .

[old bob at herne bay]

After the passing of Bob Dugard, who ran the sport at Arlington almost as his personal hobby, I agree that  Ian Jordan finished Eastbourne speedway. 

Dugard  businessmen will not trust another speedway promoter. Frankly who could blame them , with the uncertainty every season over league structures, team strengths etc etc.  

Too much hassle in a sport run by the "British Speedway Owners Club" ,  an exclusive group of owners , laughingly called the  British Speedway Promoters Limited. The last thing on their agenda is promoting the sport. 

Clearly the car boys are a much more organised bunch and provide steady rental income for the stadium. 

 

[Marky_Mark]

1 hour ago, M.D said:

Would you blame them?

they got done by Ian Jordan for a lot of money and speedway is not a great business model these days.

Arlington stadium has been in existence since 1928, it has been updated over the years but is a money pit.

I don't know but they must make a bit with the stocks, why go through the aggravation of allowing a promotion to run speedway with another risk?

They are first and foremost, a business family.

I hear you but as you say the stadium is a money pit and they have the choice of some income v no income 

[Marky_Mark]

Still trying to think outside the box, what’s the state of play at Wolverhampton, Rye House, Kent (Sittingbourne)  Do they still have tracks down?

[Ben91]

13 hours ago, Aries said:

Not particularly no, but it kind of depends how competitive and I mean equally competitive, those five teams are. I’d rather watch four teams visit three times each if they look attractive, than several teams visit for “variety” where you’ll know the result before the tapes go up in heat one.

We had that even in a seven team league this year. Our poorest attendances at Foxhall this year were unsurprisingly when Birmingham and Oxford came to visit. 
 

Is it really a positive thing to get more teams involved for the sake of variety, if those extra teams end up as cannon fodder like Birmingham were this year? The reality is there’s such a small pool of top class riders that want to ride over here, that our top division doesn’t suit a league with large numbers.

Competitiveness comes from teams of equal(ish) strength of course, not having a smattering of "world class" riders in the league. 

There's a "not enough riders" agenda whenever anyone mentions one league. The reality is that there are not enough riders of a suitable quality. It's not the same as there not being enough full stop. There are also not enough of these "world class" names to go around the top league in its current form. Hence having whipping boys like Birmingham and Oxford last season. The sport here wants to operate at a standard it can't sustain ultimately. 

A five team league is a horrible idea. It would be far, far too repetitive if the sides were to race a meaningful number of fixtures and then they'd probably still want to have play offs. Regardless of the quality of riders who might compete it would still be over exposure.

Variety versus competitiveness has a sweet spot that it is probably impossible for British Speedway to meet in 2026, for me variety is more likely to make me go to meetings than seeing slightly better opposition but knowing they'll be coming to town again in a couple of weeks. And then again a couple of weeks after that. I suspect I'm not in the minority by having that opinion. 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

24 minutes ago, Marky_Mark said:

Still trying to think outside the box, what’s the state of play at Wolverhampton, Rye House, Kent (Sittingbourne)  Do they still have tracks down?

No wolves dig up and grown over, rye house is an all weather pitch and I think kent grown over too 

[SteveLyric2]

2 hours ago, Marky_Mark said:

What reason is given though? It seems strange knowing how much Bob loved the speedway that it’s just a straight no?

That's why I suggested a few days ago that new WSRA President Barney Kennett could have a word with the Dugards.....

Edited 13 hours ago by SteveLyric2

[norbold]

1 hour ago, Marky_Mark said:

Still trying to think outside the box, what’s the state of play at Wolverhampton, Rye House, Kent (Sittingbourne)  Do they still have tracks down?

Or Yarmouth?

[Chris116]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

Or Yarmouth?

Yarmouth is a dreadful shape for modern speedway and the stadium owners would never want a shale track. Also it would not suit the car racing for it to be shale.

[Preston Comet]

5 hours ago, Chris116 said:

Yarmouth is a dreadful shape for modern speedway and the stadium owners would never want a shale track. Also it would not suit the car racing for it to be shale.

Looks a similar shape to Northampton. Too long, and tight turns?

But then Leicester does OK.

[FishersGate]

As much I praise my club for putting out a statement committing themselves to the premiership, I really struggle to see what actually is the premiership. As it stands it's Leicester, Belle Vue, Kings Lynn. Being commited to that is something I am not looking forward to. If we can add Ipswich and Sheffield to the mix we're getting somewhere, but as of now we have no idea what's going on. I'm just so frustrated that every single fan has seen this coming, for years in fact. We all knew Birmingham would shut soon, we all knew that Oxford would drop the premiership but it's almost like the powers at be are surprised! The idiots that run this sport have clearly been living in fantasy world and haven't been prepared for this situation at all. It's embarrassing and complete chaos. 

[IainB]

38 minutes ago, FishersGate said:

As much I praise my club for putting out a statement committing themselves to the premiership, I really struggle to see what actually is the premiership. As it stands it's Leicester, Belle Vue, Kings Lynn. Being commited to that is something I am not looking forward to. If we can add Ipswich and Sheffield to the mix we're getting somewhere, but as of now we have no idea what's going on. I'm just so frustrated that every single fan has seen this coming, for years in fact. We all knew Birmingham would shut soon, we all knew that Oxford would drop the premiership but it's almost like the powers at be are surprised! The idiots that run this sport have clearly been living in fantasy world and haven't been prepared for this situation at all. It's embarrassing and complete chaos. 

1,000,000% that 👆!

Not one of them had the foresight to have any kind of plan in place as to what to do if/when the tv deal came to an end.

The remaining PL promoters are in a state of complete denial. The desperation shown in trying to get a 6th club has been beyond embarrassing.

There's been absolutely no leadership from the top, with 2 of them jumping the burning ship.

 

[frigbo]

12 hours ago, Marky_Mark said:

Still trying to think outside the box, what’s the state of play at Wolverhampton, Rye House, Kent (Sittingbourne)  Do they still have tracks down?

Swindon does...

Problem is, dear old Mr Osborne has priced out any interested stadium buyers by asking for over double the valuation he quotes in his own planning application!

Edited 2 hours ago by frigbo

[cowboy cookie returns?]

12 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Clearly the car boys are a much more organised bunch and provide steady rental income for the stadium. 

It’s the same company that leases Foxhall stadium off the owners. You only have to look at the work done on the heath to see that Spedeworth under Dean Wood is a decent promotion to do business with. 
 

It does show the major issues the sport has when for years a speedway stadium Eastbourne won’t allow speedway to be ran there even the the owners are a speedway family. Couple that with Louis a guy who bleeds speedway getting out tells you all you need to know.

[ouch]

The problem with the BSPL committee members is they’re not looking to take speedway forward or even protect it’s position. They join the committee purely to protect their own interest and get a favourable decision when dodgy dealings raise their heads. It’s no surprise to me to see two jump ship once the waves get choppier. 

We nearly lost the TV deal that has just lapsed but thankfully Adrian came in at the eleventh hour to save at least something. The gratitude show to him by the committee was to continually sideline him on his many proposals (independent body, junior development, streamlined rule book and competition structure to name a few) so in the end he turned his attention to other business avenues. As a none speedway man he, as is always the case, couldn’t join the old pals club that have presided over the demise of our wonderful sport. 

[Haza]

Looking through theses post is really depressing to see the state of British Speedway especially the PL with only 3 confirmed starters maybe the PL should not run in 2026 and give more time to sort things out for 2027 - championship clubs seem more  settled at least that’s something if going one big league cause them problems it’s not worth it  let them run as they are this coming season .

[old bob at herne bay]

The name “promoter”is inappropriate when talking about the bunch of folks who own the speedway clubs in the uk.

They are Owners of the clubs, and thus collectively are members of the British Speedway Owners Limited. 
 

I doubt that promotion is seriously discussed by the owners as a group.