What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[Glen]

1 hour ago, ouch said:

Never get any meat on the bones to debates on here, so I’ll have a go and people can add their ideas (or not).

Norick

Will 

MPT

Jake

Worrall

Jack Smith

Billy Budd

V

Troy Batchelor

Freddy Hodder

Jake Allen

Jody Scott

Paco

Sam Woods

Ben Morley

It’s just not doing it for me and at £20 a pop I can’t see us bothering to attend very often 

 

You are judging these riders by their current reputation in a pretty tough Championship league. Might the meeting be entertaining as purely racing spectacle - isn’t that why people go? 

[The Third Man]

1 hour ago, JamesB said:

Therefore, whatever those nights are then they become the ‘mandated race nights’ for which riders must be available.

If that is Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday then so be it.

So the mandated nights will be whatever night the team chooses to ride 

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, JamesB said:

Therefore, whatever those nights are then they become the ‘mandated race nights’ for which riders must be available.

If that is Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday then so be it.

Yes it works so long as the riders involved are not contracted to clubs in Sweden & Denmark (Tues & Wed) & Poland (Fri Sat & Sunday) in which case those clubs have first call on the riders concerned.  

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, JamesB said:

Therefore, whatever those nights are then they become the ‘mandated race nights’ for which riders must be available.

If that is Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday then so be it.

Yes it works so long as the riders involved are not contracted to clubs in Sweden & Denmark (Tues & Wed) & Poland (Fri Sat & Sunday) in which case those clubs have first call on the riders concerned.  

[JamesB]

10 minutes ago, The Third Man said:

So the mandated nights will be whatever night the team chooses to ride 

If the idea is that teams are to pick their own race night ‘to ensure their survival’, then that has to be the case.

However, this is what I genuinely do not understand about the one league argument predicated on teams choosing their own race nights. De Facto, that must preclude the inclusion of anyone who races in Poland, Denmark and maybe Sweden. The only alternative is to allow these riders and cover their frequent absences by r/r or guest, which would bring us full circle.

If they are to be precluded, where are all the riders going to be found for the one league?

[Fromafar]

Really don’t see where the Premiership is going after 2026 as basically it is the same riders in both Leagues.Unless UK can persuade a decent number of quality  foreigners riders to ride over here the sport is going nowhere.IMO

[gjcone44]

listen if we cant sort it out then no one can...😁

[enotian]

13 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

I can certainly accept the sentiment that there is not a significant enough difference between the 2 leagues (due to the number doubling up)  but not that the Premiership is simply the Championship plus 6 elite riders

Championship No1s are 3rd heat leaders and even second strings in the Premiership 

You have Premiership reserves and even the RS slots who are heat leaders in the Championship

Premiership teams are the equivalent to 55-60 points in Championship terms

shall I put it this way...   ...the Premiership only had 6 riders who were too good for the Championship,

I know there were more who didn't tide in the championship but the likes of Becker, Brennan, Douglas and Pickering are hardly world stars. Excellent but not in the top 20 riders in the world.

If you want a premium product it has to be that. This season at least two of those 6 won't be riding. 

Personally I don't think you can offer a premium product in this country because the infrastructure, apart from the NSS, isn't conducive to it. In terms of either the tracks or stadia.

But if you do need a premium product find a format in which you can at least see a high % of those top 20 riders in the world. 

[ouch]

13 hours ago, Glen said:

You are judging these riders by their current reputation in a pretty tough Championship league. Might the meeting be entertaining as purely racing spectacle - isn’t that why people go? 

That’s why I go and why I enjoy the Colts so much. Unfortunately many fans don’t and the draw of the top riders is a true and definite thing despite what’s written on here. At the NSS, Colts fixtures get more fans than U16 events, Aces fixtures get more fans than Colts, PCMT get more fans than Aces and GP’s get more fans than PCMT. It all down to the level of rider on show. Also on each of these steps fans are happy to pay more to watch these top riders. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

9 hours ago, enotian said:

shall I put it this way...   ...the Premiership only had 6 riders who were too good for the Championship,

I know there were more who didn't tide in the championship but the likes of Becker, Brennan, Douglas and Pickering are hardly world stars. Excellent but not in the top 20 riders in the world.

If you want a premium product it has to be that. This season at least two of those 6 won't be riding. 

Personally I don't think you can offer a premium product in this country because the infrastructure, apart from the NSS, isn't conducive to it. In terms of either the tracks or stadia.

But if you do need a premium product find a format in which you can at least see a high % of those top 20 riders in the world. 

Re teams - Here's a straw - keep on clutching!!

Re stadia etc - very valid point

[Glen]

17 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Really don’t see where the Premiership is going after 2026 as basically it is the same riders in both Leagues.Unless UK can persuade a decent number of quality  foreigners riders to ride over here the sport is going nowhere.IMO

Maybe one league in 2027 with foreign riders in the minority and becoming extinct! 

Edited December 17, 2025 by Glen

[Phannan]

I wonder if Jake Paul fancies a seat on the speedway futures committee. Anyone who can pull in 70 mill for his taking the pi55 fight with AJ obviously has the Midas touch. Something sadly lacking in the custodians of our once great sport. 

[enotian]

12 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Re teams - Here's a straw - keep on clutching!!

Re stadia etc - very valid point

well argued

[Ben91]

I'd like to know what is being put in place to ensure we're not in the exact same situation (but worse) in twelve months time. 

The number of clubs left makes one league more sensible. Clubs racing on a night that suits them also makes sense. What needs to be done is something to make that viable. The stumbling blocks all revolve around riders. Be it the international race nights which take preference and the lack of riders of a good enough standard to fill 14 teams without doubling up (impossible in one league). 

So there should be a big focus next season on getting British riders to a competitive standard at Championship level at least. A good pool of domestic talent will be important to mean sides can have carte blanche over their race nights (not a complete solution I'm aware). But, as we know the Championship teams are full speed ahead at building teams and there are no rules in place (rising star scheme for example) to promote British youngsters at that level. 

The Premiership isn't sustainable. The Championship sides haven't helped matters by not implementing a rising star scheme or similar. It needs to be changed for next season regardless of what has been signed already, or we're putting off change for good for at least another year. That's valuable time. Everyone needs to pull together in one direction for the good and future of British Speedway.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

3 hours ago, Ben91 said:

I'd like to know what is being put in place to ensure we're not in the exact same situation (but worse) in twelve months time. 

The number of clubs left makes one league more sensible. Clubs racing on a night that suits them also makes sense. What needs to be done is something to make that viable. The stumbling blocks all revolve around riders. Be it the international race nights which take preference and the lack of riders of a good enough standard to fill 14 teams without doubling up (impossible in one league). 

So there should be a big focus next season on getting British riders to a competitive standard at Championship level at least. A good pool of domestic talent will be important to mean sides can have carte blanche over their race nights (not a complete solution I'm aware). But, as we know the Championship teams are full speed ahead at building teams and there are no rules in place (rising star scheme for example) to promote British youngsters at that level. 

The Premiership isn't sustainable. The Championship sides haven't helped matters by not implementing a rising star scheme or similar. It needs to be changed for next season regardless of what has been signed already, or we're putting off change for good for at least another year. That's valuable time. Everyone needs to pull together in one direction for the good and future of British Speedway.

The Championship has already resisted anything that upsets the exact set up currently in place for 2026

Don't hold your breath that it will be any different for 2027 in terms of them working together

[YeOldPitGate]

On 12/17/2025 at 9:48 PM, Phannan said:

I wonder if Jake Paul fancies a seat on the speedway futures committee. Anyone who can pull in 70 mill for his taking the pi55 fight with AJ obviously has the Midas touch. Something sadly lacking in the custodians of our once great sport. 

Agreed it will be the most rigged fight ever AJ might be ten years past his best but there's a real risk he could kill Paul if he hit him with an uppercut so the word will have to go down come in one 20% of your ability tops but your right it will still pull in a fortune in readies.

[gjcone44]

stopped watching boxing a few years ago, because of this crap.

[old bob at herne bay]

2027 surely will be one league and an "NDL" or equivalent.

The  "PL 5" in 2026 will struggle to avoid making heavy losses, (even if 5 come to the tapes) with an inferior standard of product which will not be attactive to their established fan base. Still hamstrung by Monday and Thursday operations, and with upward pressure on budgets due to lack of TV sponsorship, don't see any reduction in PL admission fees.    

Will all  5 come to the tapes in 2027? If one more club falls the PL will fall in 2027. The big guns have all departed to Europe in 2026 and I don't see them returning. As has been pointed out riders can operate across mainland Europe and Scandinavia with just one set of equipment mechanics and transport, avoiding duplicating eqipment and avoiding costly and time wasting air travel to UK. 

The current CL will form the one league, but not without challenges in 2027. UK based riders faced with only one league to earn money will either choose to retire , go semi professional, or race overseas. There might just be enough riders willing to race in one league and sustain the curent number of CL teams with no doubling up opportunities.   

Meanwhile we will see a whole raft of old chestnuts of defunct tracks and new tracks being touted as being the saviours of UK speedway. None seem attractive business investments. 

 

[YeOldPitGate]

11 hours ago, gjcone44 said:

stopped watching boxing a few years ago, because of this crap.

Agreed I was late teens when Benn, Watson, Eubank, Collins, Hameed, Tyson and Holyfield were starting to all come on the scene the late 80's - late 90's were brilliant years early Tyson easily the best heavyweight I have ever scene and Benn snr was my all time fave he had some incredible wars over the years.

One of my all time fave quotes "lets have some parliamentary procedure" 

 

[bellevueace]

13 hours ago, gjcone44 said:

stopped watching boxing a few years ago, because of this crap.

Also the dubious judges decisions are starting to alienate regular boxing fans with many on the british boxing forum calling out blatant robberies and calling the sport corrupt.