Oxford 2026

[Pinny]

8 hours ago, TheWellBehavedWorrall said:

Bitterly disappointed to hear about Oxford’s situation.

The Cheetahs return to racing represented a glimmer hope in an otherwise abysmal future for clubs of the past, such as Coventry, Swindon and Peterborough.

It’s awful how exposed British speedway is. If it isn’t losing riders to challenge matches to Poland, it’s losing the ability to host meetings due to a reliance on other parties.

We desperately, desperately need some sort of rejuvenation, very much like darts went through.

Back in the day, I remember you often had top riders missing in the premier league for stuff at weekends but legit things like world longtrack series, world under 21 qualis etc. I remember Newport missing Glenn Cunningham on a few Sundays for world long track events and Wato, you don't mind if its a couple of times for a legit reason.

As years have progressed the absences have become more ridiculous, missing a meeting for your club as your Polish club wants you at a photo shoot and press and practice and what have you. Its pathetic.

It really is gutting to see what a laughing stock the sport is nowadays. I'm not sure if such a slump has happened before in the 60s, 70s or 80s but the state of the sport now compared to the years I followed (90s and 00s) is something that I can't see a way back from. 

Promoters are mostly to blame, when things started slipping in the winter instead of nipping those issues in the bud there and then, they buried the heads in the sand and this is the result of it.

[Ray Stadia]

The problems for Oxford, unless I'm misunderstanding things, seems to be the removal of the greyhounds from the stadium, which has happened at Mildenhall as well. Therefore, Oxford stadium has lost an income stream, which maybe, the speedway side of the total business, is unable to make good. Mildenhall has a strong bangers and stock car part of the total business, so is likely and hopefully, unaffected. I presume the stadium owners are still the venture capital company, who were the problem with running speedway at the stadium a number of years ago. Let's hope this doesn't give them the excuse they are looking for, if I'm right in my thinking. 😳   

[Toady]

2 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

The problems for Oxford, unless I'm misunderstanding things, seems to be the removal of the greyhounds from the stadium, which has happened at Mildenhall as well. Therefore, Oxford stadium has lost an income stream, which maybe, the speedway side of the total business, is unable to make good. Mildenhall has a strong bangers and stock car part of the total business, so is likely and hopefully, unaffected. I presume the stadium owners are still the venture capital company, who were the problem with running speedway at the stadium a number of years ago. Let's hope this doesn't give them the excuse they are looking for, if I'm right in my thinking. 😳   

Mildenhall hasn’t lost the dogs; it’s just a change of lessee from Mr Boothby to Arc. Oxford is still owned by Galliards and we might hear some news about the greyhounds and speedway later this week otherwise….

Edited 8 hours ago by Toady

[Ray Stadia]

27 minutes ago, Toady said:

Mildenhall hasn’t lost the dogs; it’s just a change of lessee from Mr Boothby to Arc. Oxford is still owned by the Galliards and we might hear some news about the greyhounds and speedway later this week otherwise….

It is still a fact the live streaming company, SIS, has pulled out of both venues. What overall affect that will have on the greyhound operations at both venues, will eventually bubble to the surface.  

[Toady]

1 minute ago, Ray Stadia said:

It is still a fact the live streaming company, SIS, has pulled out of both venues. What overall affect that will have on the greyhound operations at both venues, will eventually bubble to the surface.  

Yes but Arc have a contract with PGR so Mildenhall will be ok .The Oxford situation is different as the  lessee is heavily indebted to SIS so maybe that’s why they pulled the plug 

[Spoofer]

Not sure you understand the structure of media rights for dogs Ray.

Mildenhall will be fine as PGR will replace SIS as the funders of dig racing and pay that to ARC the new lease holders.

PGR are not interested in Oxford so dogs are finished there.

[heathen52]

3 minutes ago, Spoofer said:

Not sure you understand the structure of media rights for dogs Ray.

Mildenhall will be fine as PGR will replace SIS as the funders of dig racing and pay that to ARC the new lease holders.

PGR are not interested in Oxford so dogs are finished there.

Not quiet, PGR are in talks about possibilities at Oxford so all is not lost, and in reply to Ray their are 2 companies that stream greyhound racing they are PGR consisting of Ladbrokes, Corals, and ARC which stream from their own tracks and several others, SIS stream the remaining tracks and several Greyhound tracks over in Ireland, basically the many thousands of pounds earned from streaming these live races keeps the Stadiums open, so for any of them to lose those streaming contracts it is a huge blow to their viability, which is where Oxford are right now, and for those that do not know the lease at Oxford allegedly was/is for 10 years.

[Ray Stadia]

7 minutes ago, heathen52 said:

Not quiet, PGR are in talks about possibilities at Oxford so all is not lost, and in reply to Ray their are 2 companies that stream greyhound racing they are PGR consisting of Ladbrokes, Corals, and ARC which stream from their own tracks and several others, SIS stream the remaining tracks and several Greyhound tracks over in Ireland, basically the many thousands of pounds earned from streaming these live races keeps the Stadiums open, so for any of them to lose those streaming contracts it is a huge blow to their viability, which is where Oxford are right now, and for those that do not know the lease at Oxford allegedly was/is for 10 years.

That is good news, 6 years remaining. But will that mean, if the dogs go, the speedway set up will have to cover the whole rent? 🙁

[Spoofer]

PGR are not in talks with Oxford. Who told you that?

[heathen52]

11 minutes ago, Spoofer said:

PGR are not in talks with Oxford. Who told you that?

I believe it was the leaseholder Mr Boothby that said it..

[Spoofer]

Just now, heathen52 said:

I believe it was the leaseholder Mr Boothby that said it..

🤣🤣🤣

[Toady]

33 minutes ago, Spoofer said:

🤣🤣🤣

It’s also  been reported independently elsewhere that 3 meetings have been arranged this week so as I said we will just have to wait.

[Toady]

1 hour ago, Ray Stadia said:

That is good news, 6 years remaining. But will that mean, if the dogs go, the speedway set up will have to cover the whole rent? 🙁

Yes that’s the rub £20000 plus all the running costs and not to mention that lease that allegedly has a 5 year break clause for either party so maybe not such good news if their aren’t any talks with Pgr.

Edited 6 hours ago by Toady

[frigbo]

2 hours ago, Spoofer said:

PGR are not in talks with Oxford. Who told you that?

I'm hearing ARC/PGR don't want any more tracks.

[Spoofer]

27 minutes ago, frigbo said:

I'm hearing ARC/PGR don't want any more tracks.

Correct, they have a full schedule after adding Mildenhall 

[Eagle77]

7 hours ago, Pinny said:

Back in the day, I remember you often had top riders missing in the premier league for stuff at weekends but legit things like world longtrack series, world under 21 qualis etc. I remember Newport missing Glenn Cunningham on a few Sundays for world long track events and Wato, you don't mind if its a couple of times for a legit reason.

As years have progressed the absences have become more ridiculous, missing a meeting for your club as your Polish club wants you at a photo shoot and press and practice and what have you. Its pathetic.

It really is gutting to see what a laughing stock the sport is nowadays. I'm not sure if such a slump has happened before in the 60s, 70s or 80s but the state of the sport now compared to the years I followed (90s and 00s) is something that I can't see a way back from. 

Promoters are mostly to blame, when things started slipping in the winter instead of nipping those issues in the bud there and then, they buried the heads in the sand and this is the result of it.

The state of our Speedway has somewhat reflected the state of the whole country...

Our Speedway used to be up there with the best... the envy of many... a magnet for the worlds top riders... but now...???

We used to have a strong, upstanding country... powerful leaders respected and admired throughout the world... an army, navy and air force that struck fear around the globe... but now...???

 

[frigbo]

25 minutes ago, Spoofer said:

Correct, they have a full schedule after adding Mildenhall 

Shame. There was some interest in Swindon but this stance impacted that.

[Whitelinehugger]

5 hours ago, Toady said:

Yes but Arc have a contract with PGR so Mildenhall will be ok .The Oxford situation is different as the  lessee is heavily indebted to SIS so maybe that’s why they pulled the plug 

This plug

[JamesHarris]

1 hour ago, Whitelinehugger said:

This plug

Hello Tapewrecker, Youonlyhave2minutes, etc,etc. Back again are we? You really do need to have that attention deficiency looked into old lad.