TNT no more?

[DJC]

3 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Does Kelvin have a clue who some riders are?

"I'll be honest, I don't know much about him" is a refrain heard far too often....

One of the key requirements of a commentator is to do research and inform the viewers of some background details about the competitors...

His enthusiasm is first rate, but his lack of general speedway knowledge outside of the Premiership doesn't help...

 

That and everyone's been going well on the continent when in fact they're really struggling winds me up no end. 

It takes 2 minutes to have a read through the Polish results on a Monday morning before a TV meet to throw some colour and insight into things. Unless its Erik Riss and his long track achievements he hasn't a clue what's going on.

I've never watched a football match where the commentators don't know anything about a player on the pitch.

[Fromafar]

52 minutes ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

I thought it was interesting at the SON that Marcelina came across as a lot more natural than Abi often does. Maybe she's just a better presenter, but it is clear  she's genuinely a speedway fan. 

There was one point in an interview with Kurtz that she recalled his league debut at Torun. It was completely minor at the time, but it stuck in my head.

Does Abi have a clue who most riders are riding for outside of the meeting she's at?

I feel like that depth just adds something. It might be team mates in Poland facing off, a rider's Polish/Swedish track compared to that meeting's track, etc., it would get that whole close-knit family aspect of speedway.

Marcelina and the other Polish female presenters all come over well and know there stuff about the sport.

[1 valve]

7 minutes ago, DJC said:

That and everyone's been going well on the continent when in fact they're really struggling winds me up no end. 

It takes 2 minutes to have a read through the Polish results on a Monday morning before a TV meet to throw some colour and insight into things. Unless its Erik Riss and his long track achievements he hasn't a clue what's going on.

I've never watched a football match where the commentators don't know anything about a player on the pitch.

Although I’m no great fan of Tatum as a commentator and agree that at a good number times he appears to lack knowledge of basic topics relating to riders, it is a tad unfair to compare his performance with football commentators.  who besides there own research & prep are provided with up to date media guides by the teams which contain a wealth of information about each player as well as having A "spotter" in the booth with binoculars to identify players and provide crucial information. There are also statisticians in the production truck  providing “in ear” information on stats/time gone, remaining - subs warming up etc.  That type of support is something Kelv can only dream about.  

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

14 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Marcelina and the other Polish female presenters all come over well and know there stuff about the sport.

Well she been to bed with a few of them 😉

Edited 7 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Youhave2minutes]

2 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Well she been to bed with a few of them 😉

You got a pair of binoculars looking from the window opposite 🤣

[mikebv]

25 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Marcelina and the other Polish female presenters all come over well and know there stuff about the sport.

It is always clear, when they interview riders in English during a Polish match, that they follow the sport over here, and often discuss, with prior knowledge, how they are doing in the UK...

UK Speedway, (off track), has a huge opportunity for growth, from marketing, advertising, and awareness raising, through to operating model credibility...

Will they bring in people with the required skill set to deliver the obvious potential the sport has though? 

Tracks will spend eye watering sums (for a sport with such a small following), on riders each season, and that alone should be used to give the sport some push, as many non Speedway fans would be truly amazed at the salaries of some riders..

With those salaries alone suggesting it isn't "small time"....

"Hype up everything" has to be the mantra of the sport to gain traction amongst the millions who live less than 45 mins from a Speedway track.....

Any decent marketing company should be rubbing their hands at an opportunity to make UK Speedway successful given the ultra low base attendance across the country...

Getting on mainstream TV, for me, is the quickest way to kick that growth in...

As that will also mean national newspaper and radio coverage of the sport too...

Add in some regular daily/weekly, social media content (even Sunday League Football teams do this, and can get thousands of followers), and the sport can surely only move up given its low starting position...?

 

Edited 7 hours ago by mikebv

[DJC]

13 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

Although I’m no great fan of Tatum as a commentator and agree that at a good number times he appears to lack knowledge of basic topics relating to riders, it is a tad unfair to compare his performance with football commentators.  who besides there own research & prep are provided with up to date media guides by the teams which contain a wealth of information about each player as well as having A "spotter" in the booth with binoculars to identify players and provide crucial information. There are also statisticians in the production truck  providing “in ear” information on stats/time gone, remaining - subs warming up etc.  That type of support is something Kelv can only dream about.  

But he has Abi and Scott for that kind of stuff and they don't seem to provide it either.

Football is probably considered the gold standard in that they have the resource to pull in all kinds of real time data, so whilst perhaps a tad harsh, the basics aren't there for Speedway.

There are plenty of armchair stattos that I imagine would gladly give up a few hours on a Sunday evening to prepare such a 'pack/guide' for Kelvin but he appears to not want to take on that role and is happy giving the absolute bare minimum. That is the perception that's given off to me and it doesn't do anything to help the sport's profile.

 

 

[Sir Sidney]

4 hours ago, SJA said:

The ad window is 7 minutes per hour at peak times. Speaking to a Commercial Manager of a Premiership club he said the issue is not only the raw numbers but the demographics. Fans are to old, and to poor to appeal to mainstream brands. The comparison he gave was a netball viewer was 28 years younger and earned £22,000 more per annum than a speedway viewer. This would make the sport a hard sell to free to air channels. 

 

It always amazes me that British Speedway makes no attempt, seemingly, to try to attract or appeal to a younger and / or more affluent fan base.

Baffling

[therefused]

2 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Well she been to bed with a few of them 😉

weird comment

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

25 minutes ago, therefused said:

weird comment

Ok I will reword it for you, she has been in a relationship with them, is that better for you?  Adrian miedzinski  being the last speedway rider but I believe she married someone else now 

Edited 5 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Marcelina and the other Polish female presenters all come over well and know there stuff about the sport.

I like the other main two but some of the younger ones especially on 11 sport seem abit out of place 

[TTT]

According to Sportowefakty, Article taken from the Speedway Star.

4 Journalists have said TNT aren't interested in renewing the contract, Sky Sports unlikely to be interested, Alternatives are Premier Sport who show Swedish Speedway and BSN British Speedway Network.

[GeneralMelchett]

4 minutes ago, TTT said:

According to Sportowefakty, Article taken from the Speedway Star.

4 Journalists have said TNT aren't interested in renewing the contract, Sky Sports unlikely to be interested, Alternatives are Premier Sport who show Swedish Speedway and BSN British Speedway Network.

Quite happy to lose the TNT coverage as I wasn't planning to pay £30.99 pcm to watch the speedway and the saturday lunchtime PL football by half price deal ends on 26th october whereuon I will cancel it.

Premier Sport would be an interesting option - i used to subscribe to them a few years back wehn they covered Polish (reruns) and Swedish speedway matches.

[The Third Man]

4 hours ago, DJC said:

I've never watched a football match where the commentators don't know anything about a player on the pitch.

Haven't you ever heard them when they cover a championship match or lower, or cup ties involving a non PL club, most of the time they haven't got a clue

[Youhave2minutes]

5 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Ok I will reword it for you, she has been in a relationship with them, is that better for you?  Adrian miedzinski  being the last speedway rider but I believe she married someone else now 

She loves the poles. 

[SteveLyric2]

11 minutes ago, Youhave2minutes said:

She loves the poles. 

TNT SPORTS  only took over from Eurosport at the start of this season. How long is the contract? Not wanting to renew could be a lot further down the line!?

[IainB]

5 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

TNT SPORTS  only took over from Eurosport at the start of this season. How long is the contract? Not wanting to renew could be a lot further down the line!?

They were just seeing out the final year of the 5 year Eurosport contract that was delayed for 1 year due to the non covid season of 2020. BT Sport had already previously binned Speedway off at the end of 2019 so it's no real surprise that they don't want to renew now.