Sheffield Tigers 2026

[YeOldPitGate]

3 minutes ago, mikebv said:

The GP's in Manchester must have had circa 3,000 Aces followers there on both nights...

They get less than half that for a UK domestic play off qualifier, simply down to a lack of interest in the league competition..

This shows that there is still a decent demand for the sport out there if done properly, and the events have actually something tangible worth winning, which brings interest...

As a "team sport", as you say, it does appear to have a restricted shefl life in its current guise (in the UK)...

You can't see too many of the current 30 and 40 something's holding down two HL positions in both leagues in five years, or so....

And that truly will leave a huge hole to fill and a huge problem for "team Speedway" (in the UK)..

 

 

 

Agreed the lack of old hand double uppers in 5-10 years will probably be a big factor in the end game if nothing changes.

A great example of what you preach Mike is Lawson I think he it textbook for what a rider in the UK who won't quite reach the top should model himself on as a business plan for themselves recent events aside.

Even if it turns out he is at fault as you say due to lack of any alternatives he's bullet proof if Ipswich give him the boot he will be snapped up by another team that have zero better options by the end of the week.

In the perfect world we would have two leagues of eight once home and away to get away from seeing the same teams 5-6 times per season. If Poland got more interested in using the UK as a feeder ground and sent the under 24's here we could probably get a top league where ideally every one of the eight top teams have a gp rider , 2-3 under 24 promising youngsters and the other 3-4 team members could be old hands/second strings who could double up in league 2 also with UK youngsters which would give the old hands and youngsters enough meetings in the UK to make a living.

I don't know the costs of running a speedway team but don't really get how Bomber with all the meetings he does a year can say he would be better off shelf stacking at Tesco's.

The key thing would be 90% ideally would need to be UK based for the whole season we would accept that once the youngsters got decent they would be off but hopefully replaced by a new crop of riders looking to go to Poland later.

At least if they were UK based you stand the chance of riding on the best night for getting maximum fans and would avoid the nonsense of going sometimes a month between home meetings. 

Can you imagine going into dragon's den and saying we have this product that in its rawest form is super exciting but we intend to set it up on an unattractive night of the week for punters, go 2-4 weeks without a home meeting to lessen any chance of building a core fan base in the dryest months of the season, then we will look to hold the real money spinning events in wet months when its freezing, other than that where good to go.

[Wolfie456]

4 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Woffy needs to pack it in, for his own health reasons IMO.

He has officially retired 

[Whitelinehugger]

3 hours ago, Wolfie456 said:

He has officially retired 

Best decision made. After all he’s achieved the highest accolade in the sport more than once. It’s time to put the family first now.

[Fromafar]

9 hours ago, Wolfie456 said:

He has officially retired 

Just read that ,a wise decision was never his greatest fan but he was class act on the bike and a worthy World Champion in his days.Unfortunately suffer some bad injuries(for such a safe rider) and think he is doing it for the the best reason (his health).Best of luck to him for the future.

[WookieboyDon]

The club have just made a statement where Damien Bates has called for the public to keep spreading the word about speedway after last Thursday's home fixture was 'run at a significant loss.'

 

Not good.

[InTheDeepStuff]

As a Promoter Damian Bates needs to actually promote the sport and not be asking fans to do it for him.  Friends of fans will know what they go support etc but having such a stop start season with repetitive opposition it’s a hard one to sell, but that again comes down to incompetence of BSPL 

[PhilTheAce]

45 minutes ago, InTheDeepStuff said:

As a Promoter Damian Bates needs to actually promote the sport and not be asking fans to do it for him.  Friends of fans will know what they go support etc but having such a stop start season with repetitive opposition it’s a hard one to sell, but that again comes down to incompetence of BSPL 

Every club in premiership seems to be failing to promote. And the crowd numbers everywhere are down massively. 

 

Something needs to be done 

[YeOldPitGate]

47 minutes ago, InTheDeepStuff said:

As a Promoter Damian Bates needs to actually promote the sport and not be asking fans to do it for him.  Friends of fans will know what they go support etc but having such a stop start season with repetitive opposition it’s a hard one to sell, but that again comes down to incompetence of BSPL 

Also doesn't help that you have no Tai this year or Jack Holder moving forward, plus as you say stop start fixture list and very small league doesn't help either. Respect to the promoters as they certainly aren't in the business for the money just need to hope the families other business/s are going gang busters to cover the speedway losses for this season.

[YeOldPitGate]

3 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

Every club in premiership seems to be failing to promote. And the crowd numbers everywhere are down massively. 

 

Something needs to be done 

I haven't been for years Phil but hasn't this been an ever small growing trend year on year since the mid 80's or has it really accelerated in 2026 ?

[IainB]

1 hour ago, WookieboyDon said:

The club have just made a statement where Damien Bates has called for the public to keep spreading the word about speedway after last Thursday's home fixture was 'run at a significant loss.'

 

Not good.

... and that's without having to pay Jack Holder!

1 hour ago, InTheDeepStuff said:

As a Promoter Damian Bates needs to actually promote the sport and not be asking fans to do it for him.  Friends of fans will know what they go support etc but having such a stop start season with repetitive opposition it’s a hard one to sell, but that again comes down to incompetence of BSPL 

He's played that card before at Leicester... obviously it's our (the fans) fault. They've only run 6 meetings so far this year, in one of the best summers for years, so fans can spread the word all they want but there's literally nothing to go and see for the majority of the time... maybe the crowds have dropped off due to the new logo 🤔 

16 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

Every club in premiership seems to be failing to promote. And the crowd numbers everywhere are down massively. 

 

Something needs to be done 

Business as usual?

Edited 3 hours ago by IainB

[PhilTheAce]

8 minutes ago, IainB said:

... and that's without having to pay Jack Holder!

He's played that card before at Leicester... obviously it's our (the fans) fault. They've only run 6 meetings so far this year, in one of the best summers for years, so fans can spread the word all they want but there's literally nothing to go and see for the majority of the time... maybe the crowds have dropped off due to the new logo 🤔 

Business as usual?

Failure as usual 

[mikebv]

8 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

Every club in premiership seems to be failing to promote. And the crowd numbers everywhere are down massively. 

 

Something needs to be done 

"Needed to be done" Phil, and well over a decade ago...

I was on the Aces website earlier and did I read it correctly that all kids 0 - 17 get charged £11 to sit in the Grandstand?..

And free for U12's but £9 for 12 - 17 year  olds to stand on the back straight?

If so, absolutely crackers, and no wonder crowds are not great...

The very demographic that brings adults in with them are the absolute key market that needs to be targeted, and, instead a parent has to pay £11 for their kid to sit next to them!!!

All kids still at primary school age, attending with an adult should be free, with parents encouraged to bring as many friends of their kids as they can bring..

Kids say 12 to 17, in for a fiver..

Hundreds of seats are empty each meeting in F and G so just fill them with kids in for nothing, and even do reduced prices for adults to bring them..

The empty seats take zero money, and don't pay to drink or eat....

Back to Sheffield, didnt they do a press release pre season saying how well all was going when they were trying to find a buyer?..

Anyhow, I am sure all those who have led the sport to its current situation, will be the perfect ones to sort it...!!

 

[TTT]

Not good news, Especially after the winter when Sheffield were looking for investment.

I hope everything works out well in the end for you guys.

[YeOldPitGate]

Does it seem crowds have dropped more this years than usual ? it always seemed to be death by a thousand cuts where everything (quality of product, price to get in, crowds etc) dropped slightly year on year but from what some on here are saying it seems maybe a 10-20% drop in crowds against 2025 ?

It always used to be when a club was in trouble 2-3 semi wealthy businessmen were waiting in the wings to takeover they then generally lost 50-100k per season for 2-3 years chucked the towel in then rinse and repeat with someone new but the availability of benefactors ready to underwrite losses also seems to have nearly dried up to.

[mikebv]

Just read the full press release....

They are "scratching their heads" as to why crowds are down....

Really? FFS!!!!

They also are confused as to why so few have taken up the 10,000 tickets they are giving away, as only 300 have been requested...

I would suggest they give every fan 5 each and see if they can get their kids and grandkids, and their mates kids and grandkids to go...

Didn't Glasgow do something similar successfully?

Whenever I did "giveaways" when opening new stores, the expected redemption, based on historical data, was as low as 11%, ie you give out 10,000 vouchers, therefore 1100 would be redeemed...

The other thing of course is how you look after those who attend for the first time..

We always ensured an investment in colleague numbers to ensure the experience of our first time visitors was good, and we got their name, address and contact details...

Just giving something away doesn't mean any loyalty will be forthcoming...

You have to target that...

[mikebv]

7 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Does it seem crowds have dropped more this years than usual ? it always seemed to be death by a thousand cuts where everything (quality of product, price to get in, crowds etc) dropped slightly year on year but from what some on here are saying it seems maybe a 10-20% drop in crowds against 2025 ?

It always used to be when a club was in trouble 2-3 semi wealthy businessmen were waiting in the wings to takeover they then generally lost 50-100k per season for 2-3 years chucked the towel in then rinse and repeat with someone new but the availability of benefactors ready to underwrite losses also seems to have nearly dried up to.

Only anecdotal evidence from my own eyes, (as attendance numbers are never publicised are they?)...

But, I attend the odd PO Qualifier now and again, probably once a season, and you can see a tangible drop off each year I have been to the NSS, (over the past five in particular)..

The Grandstand used to be over circa two thirds full, (1300 or so), and the back straight about 500 to 600..

Now the Grandstand is around, I would say 1000, with around 300 to maybe 400 on the back straight.. 

The back straight can be spread out so it can disguise a drop off somewhat, however the Grandstand, particularly from bend four to just before the tapes, really shouts out how many no longer attend...

[spin king]

I think Damien needs to check his gate receipts, when there is a meeting been live stream.

Looking at the crowd last Thursday which was live streamed on BSN the crowds were definitely down, from previous weeks when there was no live stream.

To attend a meeting costs £26 plus £4 for a programme, compare that to the price of a live stream in comfort of your home represents a decent saving, and even better if you can shared the costs between two of you.

There is a cost of living crisis and money is tight and people will be looking ways to cut costs. 

I don't know whether other clubs have the same problem, but for me it is blindingly obvious that live streaming effects the crowds.  

[LagutaRacingFan]

Speedway is far too expensive to attend.

We need to get rid of the fancy riders and go back to cheap equipment and admission at £10 on Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

What benefit does Jack Holder and the other riders who ride in Poland bring to Britain?

 

[paulnolan]

At the risk of banging the drum again - maybe someone will hear it this time? - there needs to be regular fixtures on a fixed night for each track, whichever they see as best for their business. And regular means more, so that means amalgamating the leagues. And cut the cloth according to the cost, teamwise.

[LagutaRacingFan]

Duplicate

 

Edited 2 hours ago by LagutaRacingFan