TigerIain Posted 22 hours ago Report Share Posted 22 hours ago 1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said: Hang on, hang on But there are loads of riders and one big league could work wonderfully Now all of a sudden a missing Pickering would cause a lack of options!! I was assuming the Stewart Dickson's statement meant that there was a going to be a Premiership. And I was only considering recent Championship riders. Looking at the Premiership averages though, only 5 riders from there couldn't drop down (6 if you count Woffinden. Emil isn't coming back so I've not counted him). Plenty of other options for Scunthorpe to explore there. Even Jason Doyle could drop down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotonian Posted 22 hours ago Report Share Posted 22 hours ago 8 hours ago, Phannan said: There’s only one Barons . The sadly defunct Bradford Barons . There were also the fictional Barton Barons in King Cinder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB1 Posted 22 hours ago Report Share Posted 22 hours ago 51 minutes ago, IainB said: The CL seem pretty sorted, the only question for me is are PL going to run with 3, 4 or 5 and if not will they be "allowed" into the CL. 9 CL clubs vs 3, 4 or 5 PL clubs, without a TV deal, puts the PL in a tremendously weak position. It doesn't matter how "fully committed" Leicester are to Premiership racing as written in their statement today, that commitment could be severely tested if the other 2, 3 or 4 clubs aren't also committed. Talk of a sixth club is clearly pie in the sky stuff, along with a new TV deal and the saviour of British Speedway... Harry Redknapp. At what point will the PL put out a begging bowl to the CL though? As the promoters still have a business to run? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 22 hours ago Report Share Posted 22 hours ago 4 minutes ago, TB1 said: At what point will the PL put out a begging bowl to the CL though? As the promoters still have a business to run? Surely it would have to be at the point of Ippo and/or Sheffield not being sold, which must be by the new AGM date I'd have thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 13 hours ago Report Share Posted 13 hours ago 8 hours ago, IainB said: Surely it would have to be at the point of Ippo and/or Sheffield not being sold, which must be by the new AGM date I'd have thought. Both businesses were talked positively about by their respective sellers, and rightly so... However, how successful they would have been without the TV money, and possible sponsor values they got based on having the TV deal, may be something that anyone potentially purchasing could be asking.... Sheffield have lost Tru Plant sponsorship and Ipswich must have taken in a very healthy six figure sum in the final which has no guarantee of being repeated this coming season... And, you have to say, a five team league doesn't look too inspiring to go and regularly watch does it?.. So maybe not a "perfect time" to be selling a Speedway team, which could stretch out negotiations given so many variables from last season.. Mark Lemon was quite relaxed around maybe not having a TV deal in his interview with the Speedway Star a few weeks ago, "people will have to attend the tracks to watch the sport" were his thoughts... Which is true, but... Selling a five team league to these people won't be easy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aries Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 28 minutes ago, mikebv said: Both businesses were talked positively about by their respective sellers, and rightly so... However, how successful they would have been without the TV money, and possible sponsor values they got based on having the TV deal, may be something that anyone potentially purchasing could be asking.... Sheffield have lost Tru Plant sponsorship and Ipswich must have taken in a very healthy six figure sum in the final which has no guarantee of being repeated this coming season... And, you have to say, a five team league doesn't look too inspiring to go and regularly watch does it?.. So maybe not a "perfect time" to be selling a Speedway team, which could stretch out negotiations given so many variables from last season.. Mark Lemon was quite relaxed around maybe not having a TV deal in his interview with the Speedway Star a few weeks ago, "people will have to attend the tracks to watch the sport" were his thoughts... Which is true, but... Selling a five team league to these people won't be easy... 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 1 hour ago, mikebv said: Mark Lemon was quite relaxed around maybe not having a TV deal in his interview with the Speedway Star a few weeks ago, "people will have to attend the tracks to watch the sport" were his thoughts... Which is true He must be confident of putting at least 300 paying adults on his crowd numbers every week then, even when the tv cameras aren't there, to mitigate the loss of tv money... which begs the question why hasn't he done this already 🤷♂️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago 56 minutes ago, Aries said: 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. ... or, our top division doesn't suit a league with top class riders 🤔 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 11 hours ago Report Share Posted 11 hours ago (edited) 1 hour 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. Then don't run the top division at such a level... A five, or even a six team league doesn't look good if you are trying to sell the sport to sponsors, TV, and fans.. Whether reality or not, the top league in any sport is seen as almost defining it... Something to aspire to get into... Something that delivers decent financial rewards.. Something that gains the maximum publicity for the sport.. Instead, we could end up with a five team league that more resembles an "Invitational Tournament", rather than a bona fide "National Competition"... 14 teams collectively actually do make the sport look like it is "National", and not almost irrelevant, and does, geographically, cover a large part of the country... Finding a way to get them into one league further down the line, (before more tracks are lost), has to be the way forwards.. You would hope that the next 12 months are, in the background, spent putting together that one league structure and the sport then relaunches itself in 2027 with a new operating model, a collective marketing plan, and a financially sound business plan that keeps all teams profitable... There have been far too many years of "let's, once again, make do and mend", so they should make this the last one, running with whatever they can come up with... And use the next 12 months to work out a strong plan which will deliver progress and growth from 2027 onwards... Edited 11 hours ago by mikebv 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitch Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago (edited) The 6th team options for the premiership are slowly running out. Cradley Heath doesn't look nowhere near ready, Peterborough Panthers update yesterday pretty much ruled out a return to the Showground any time soon. Glasgow announced their full championship line up today. Then you have the Sheffield/ Ipswich problems to even get it up to 4 or 5 teams. So this probably just leaves only the Northampton/ Oxford rumours. So slowly running out of options. Edited 10 hours ago by Pitch Slight alt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 8 minutes ago, Pitch said: The 6th team options for the premiership are slowly running out. Cradley Heath doesn't look nowhere near ready, Peterborough Panthers update yesterday pretty much ruled out a return to the Showground any time soon. Glasgow announced their full championship line up today. Then you have the Sheffield/ Ipswich problems to even get it up to 4 or 5 teams. So this probably just leaves only the Northampton/ Oxford rumours. So slowly running out of options. Or possibly a track currently operating at a lower level? Big infrastructure costs though whichever way you turn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 1 minute ago, noaksey said: Or possibly a track currently operating at a lower level? Big infrastructure costs though whichever way you turn A month back I posted the only real viable option or at least the one that was going to cost the least amount of money, Buxton, it’s rent is peanuts, it has derby matches against Sheffield and belle vue and has a catchment area of former tracks like stoke and Wolverhampton, no it’s not ideal but if they insist on a 6th team then it’s the one that will cost the promoters the least amount of money 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 18 minutes ago, Pitch said: The 6th team options for the premiership are slowly running out. Cradley Heath doesn't look nowhere near ready, Peterborough Panthers update yesterday pretty much ruled out a return to the Showground any time soon. Glasgow announced their full championship line up today. Then you have the Sheffield/ Ipswich problems to even get it up to 4 or 5 teams. So this probably just leaves only the Northampton/ Oxford rumours. So slowly running out of options. The fact that Cradley and Peterborough are even being asked when they are trying to just get agreement to run currently shows the level of the huge problems to be solved by the Prem League. Other than someone with huge money to burn and agreeing to run at the untested Northampton venue or running say a Swindon team at Oxford I can't see that they will get a sixth team from anywhere, this also assumes to new owners are found for Ipswich and Sheffield given their might not even be a league for the new owners to run in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 3 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: A month back I posted the only real viable option or at least the one that was going to cost the least amount of money, Buxton, it’s rent is peanuts, it has derby matches against Sheffield and belle vue and has a catchment area of former tracks like stoke and Wolverhampton, no it’s not ideal but if they insist on a 6th team then it’s the one that will cost the promoters the least amount of money I've not heard Buxton mentioned. The one in question would certainly need some serious upgrades if there was any chance which I'm guessing there isn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 11 minutes ago, noaksey said: I've not heard Buxton mentioned. The one in question would certainly need some serious upgrades if there was any chance which I'm guessing there isn't Upgrades ? It needs lights which isn’t a big deal, yes it’s basic but the other options like Northampton are ridiculous money, one other option is the Isle of Wight, good track and stadium, downside they wouldn’t get the crowds especially out of summer season to sustain a top level wages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 23 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: A month back I posted the only real viable option or at least the one that was going to cost the least amount of money, Buxton, it’s rent is peanuts, it has derby matches against Sheffield and belle vue and has a catchment area of former tracks like stoke and Wolverhampton, no it’s not ideal but if they insist on a 6th team then it’s the one that will cost the promoters the least amount of money How much for lights though Dean?... And probably lights from the "main road" to the track given the nature of that road to the track (elf n safety innit?).. And riding on Mondays would impact Belle Vue, and Thursdays, Sheffield. (Do they have that 30 mile rule still?)... It truly is remarkable isn't it that we are where we are today? Even more so when everyone (apart from those within the Speedway Bubble it seems), could see it happening, particularly over the past decade or so, in front of their eyes.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago Just now, mikebv said: How much for lights though Dean?... And probably lights from the "main road" to the track given the nature of that road to the track (elf n safety innit?).. And riding on Mondays would impact Belle Vue, and Thursdays, Sheffield. (Do they have that 30 mile rule still?)... It truly is remarkable isn't it that we are where we are today? Even more so when everyone (apart from those within the Speedway Bubble it seems), could see it happening, particularly over the past decade or so, in front of their eyes.. The lights would run off a generator just like the rest of the electric there, you could run it with 3 posts like lakeside did on the center green, at Carmarthen back in the day we run a night meeting with the lights borrowed from the roadworks on the A365 over the valleys, they worked ok,there was a load of lights brought by Ken moss back in the day but never got put up but they probably rotten now, Buxton can run on any day so clashes is easily avoided, at this point I don’t think the 30 mile rule would apply, they are desperate,, this is nby no means an ideal solution but it’s where we are as a sport and from what I hear about the costs at Northampton it’s a damn sight cheaper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago (edited) As I see it these are the options 1 mildenhall 2 Buxton 3 Isle of Wight 4 Northampton 5 iwade 6 one big league, all have there problems/costs/downsides, mildenhall track fence issues and can’t get scb licence for track, Buxton basic and needs lights and some other work done but is cheap rent, iow everything is perfect with stadium but ferry’s and crowd levels out of Summer season are a problem, Northampton is excess of £100,000 with no gaurentee of a fan base, iwade very very basic but do get very good crowds, 1 big league imo the best option but seemingly not a view shared with the famous 5 Edited 8 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Posted 8 hours ago Report Share Posted 8 hours ago Make the Dugards an offer they can’t refuse! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noaksey Posted 8 hours ago Report Share Posted 8 hours ago 1 hour ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: Upgrades ? It needs lights which isn’t a big deal, yes it’s basic but the other options like Northampton are ridiculous money, one other option is the Isle of Wight, good track and stadium, downside they wouldn’t get the crowds especially out of summer season to sustain a top level wages The venue I'd heard mentioned would require some serious upgrades in respect of the safety equipment. i wasn't referring to Buxton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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