mikebv Posted 8 hours ago Report Share Posted 8 hours ago 24 minutes ago, 40-38 said: But that's the trouble isn't it? Where did that get us? One of the things that blights the sport for many people is doubling up and guests, but all we've done is pay silly money to someone to come over for a year and sod off again. I know I'm likely alone in this, but I personally don't see losing GP riders as a disaster, but what is a disaster is not having a good enough production line of young riders coming through to fill team places. It should be an embarrassment of riches rather than a desperate scrabble to scratch teams together. As so many of us say... It needs a root and branch review and complete reset.. But not by anyone in the "UK Speedway Echo Chamber".. And, (most importantly) for any business, include customer Market Research... My old company would spend millions on refitting stores but not ever without me as the Store Manager previously holding several "Customer Focus Groups" with up to 200 of them in attendance.. They had the chance to tell us what they wanted, from after up to six months of disruption, and I got the chance to tell them if their wish list was feasible or not.. We also had many a "brutal" session where I got told what my store was like for shopping in.. However, again, I was able to explain some of the rationale why things were the way they were, and why some things couldn't get done.. I held forums every quarter so any comments I could resolve had a 13 week timeline to deliver before we met again... It certainly focused my attention... But also certainly improved my stores performance and growth... White Middle Aged Men running something for mainly White Middle Aged Men, simply cannot survive... Sometimes humble pie has to be eaten, and you accept that, no matter how good you are, more diverse age groups and genders can improve your business.. Two teams, 15 Heats, Seven riders per team, Four Laps per race, Guestfests and Sharing riders, etc etc etc obviously isn't cutting it... So. Find out why and do something about it... NB. As and aside I was looking at how much Sky put into the sport earlier, and the Oxford Mail covered the 2001 deal... Five years, Five Million and an added £150,000 a season to sponsor the league.. They also showed the admission fees for the then Elite League Oxford for the coming season.. £10 for an adult, which in 2025 is just under £19 allowing for inflation.. The second tier charge more than that don't they? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topaz325 Posted 8 hours ago Report Share Posted 8 hours ago Championship average last year was around £20.00 with a few charging £22 I believe . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 1 hour ago, 40-38 said: But that's the trouble isn't it? Where did that get us? One of the things that blights the sport for many people is doubling up and guests, but all we've done is pay silly money to someone to come over for a year and sod off again. I know I'm likely alone in this, but I personally don't see losing GP riders as a disaster, but what is a disaster is not having a good enough production line of young riders coming through to fill team places. It should be an embarrassment of riches rather than a desperate scrabble to scratch teams together. I agree and we can look back with hindsight and say that it wasn’t a long term investment. I had 2 Elite tracks within an hours drive but chose to go to Rye House as I admired Len Silver and what he was trying to do for British speedway. Running 2 teams with investment in the juniors - I don’t recall many others doing that but then Len had other businesses to fall back on. I did venture to Lakeside a few times and can honestly say there was little difference in the racing - maybe Jason Crump winning every race by the length of the straight comes to mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 5 hours ago, secsy1 said: Great idea, lets help them maintain their strangle hold on the sport as they dictate the continual demise of speedway by stipulating race days/nights and hold the riders to account!!!!!!!!!!!! Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleze Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 1 hour ago, 40-38 said: Engagement with riders is something Speedway is quite good at, to a point, but it does seem to be hit and miss with some riders. Case in point is after a meeting at Leicester, Ryan Douglas always goes along the line of people after the interviews, poses for photos, signs things, shakes hands and the young kids absolutely love it. Heck I'm 40 and I love it. However the rest generally bugger off back to the pits as soon as it's done, and very rarely if at all do you ever get to meet the opposition unless you're fortunate enough to be in the pits. I agree, but it should be made mandatory, the same as a lap of honour, again, it’s not going to change the sport, but it adds something at no cost. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therefused Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 24 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said: Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years does the UK have time to wait though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40-38 Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago (edited) 38 minutes ago, therefused said: does the UK have time to wait though? It depends; does it want to run according to the climate it's found itself in? If not then I'm afraid the writing really is on the wall as they just can't do what they have been, it's been proven to fail. Edited 6 hours ago by 40-38 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 52 minutes ago, therefused said: does the UK have time to wait though? 14 minutes ago, 40-38 said: It depends; does it want to run according to the climate it's found itself in? If not then I'm afraid the writing really is on the wall as they just can't do what they have been, it's been proven to fail. ☝🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago 6 hours ago, Daniel Smith said: Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years Trouble is Uk have been paying riders money they can’t afford for a number of years ,so they are in the same boat.Ours is sinking faster though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 7 minutes ago Report Share Posted 7 minutes ago 7 hours ago, Daniel Smith said: Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years Going to be sitting a bit tight for quite a while the extraleague has just signed a new tv deal worth over 14 million pounds, 3 million more than the last deal and crowds at most tracks have been pretty much the same as previous years, Wrocław was sold out for the complete season, tracks where crowds were down were the least successful ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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