IainB Posted Friday at 05:06 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 05:06 PM 54 minutes ago, mikebv said: The UK had over TWENTY MILLION quid from Sky alone... That's a fair old "subsidy".... Yet, here we are with the current situation... Fair point and I'm not for one minute saying British Speedway has done a stellar job but comparing British Speedway with Polish Speedway is almost impossible as they are 2 very different things other than 4 riders racing each other over 4 laps. Many of the Polish clubs are riding on land provided to them historically by a socialist/communist government and have been subsidised by local governments ever since, and I'm sure it adds up to a tidy sum. Factor in the differences in land prices, apartment living as opposed to 3 bed detached houses with a garden add in cost of living, salaries etc. The 2 countries and their Speedway are almost beyond comparison. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 valve Posted Friday at 05:08 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 05:08 PM 1 hour ago, Ben91 said: British Speedway has two options. A) make sure it is the one other league that riders choose or B ) strike out on its own. Remove the fixed race day and rebuild its own product. Short term the big names will stay in Poland but if we focus on developing our own riders in the long term we won’t be as reliant on Poland propping the sport up as it apparently (according to Poland) does right now. The bubble could always burst in Poland. It did here after all. It is in our best interests to have our own sustainable model here in the event of that happening. The challenge that will remain most prevalent will be how to avoid riders once developed from moving over to Poland the answer being to match what they can earn over there ...and we are some way off that scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben91 Posted Friday at 05:11 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 05:11 PM 1 minute ago, IainB said: Fair point and I'm not for one minute saying British Speedway has done a stellar job but comparing British Speedway with Polish Speedway is almost impossible as they are 2 very different things other than 4 riders racing each other over 4 laps. Many of the Polish clubs are riding on land provided to them historically by a socialist/communist government and have been subsidised by local governments ever since, and I'm sure it adds up to a tidy sum. Factor in the differences in land prices, apartment living as opposed to 3 bed detached houses with a garden add in cost of living, salaries etc. The 2 countries and their Speedway are almost beyond comparison. While it may be a sweeping generalisation I feel like Eastern Europeans in generally are a little more stoic than people in the west too. There’s some motorbike racing going on at the end of their street for a couple of hours a week, they just get on with it as part of life. Live and let live. Here on the other hand if someone starts a moped in the next town someone will raise a noise complaint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben91 Posted Friday at 05:14 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 05:14 PM 3 minutes ago, 1 valve said: The challenge that will remain most prevalent will be how to avoid riders once developed from moving over to Poland the answer being to match what they can earn over there ...and we are some way off that scenario. Absolutely. That’s where we have to back ourselves to eventually match and even surpass what the Polish league can offer. Won’t happen overnight but that isn’t to say it can’t happen given time. It needs a long term plan however and well, we all know how rare those are in speedway here… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Friday at 06:12 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 06:12 PM (edited) 1 hour ago, YeOldPitGate said: As much as that Mike, I know Terry had his dues and the number one's had a good go at the trough but where did all the rest go ? According to one promoter... "The No 1's".... Who all then pretty much effed off to Poland and Sweden as soon as the UK gravy train ended for them.. Personally I wasnt ever convinced bringing "the top stars" back a few years ago was going to be a "Golden Ticket" given the fact that when pretty much every single top rider (maybe apart from Tomaz Gollob), rode over here week in, week out, during the "Sky years", the crowds didn't grow, in fact, they kept declining overall... Which suggested the "top names" were not deal breakers as to whether fans were attending or not... Plymouth is a perfect example of where "the cast of the production" hasn't changed, yet the number of people now watching them has increased considerably, just by changing their "opening hours", which are now obviously more aligned to people's leisure time... Edited Friday at 06:14 PM by mikebv 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted Friday at 08:04 PM Report Share Posted Friday at 08:04 PM 1 hour ago, mikebv said: According to one promoter... "The No 1's".... Who all then pretty much effed off to Poland and Sweden as soon as the UK gravy train ended for them.. Personally I wasnt ever convinced bringing "the top stars" back a few years ago was going to be a "Golden Ticket" given the fact that when pretty much every single top rider (maybe apart from Tomaz Gollob), rode over here week in, week out, during the "Sky years", the crowds didn't grow, in fact, they kept declining overall... Which suggested the "top names" were not deal breakers as to whether fans were attending or not... Plymouth is a perfect example of where "the cast of the production" hasn't changed, yet the number of people now watching them has increased considerably, just by changing their "opening hours", which are now obviously more aligned to people's leisure time... Spot on re Plymouth I knew the number one's had a good go but didn't realise they demolished the whole of the trough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieran22222 Posted yesterday at 01:55 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 01:55 PM Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe teams should have invested all of the money into the stadiums/land/facilities and then used the increased revenue on riders, rather than just going straight for the riders. This would also have prevented a lot of the issues we are having now of teams be kicked out of their stadiums or being priced out due to the increased price of land and shrinking revenues 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted yesterday at 06:18 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 06:18 PM 4 hours ago, Kieran22222 said: Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe teams should have invested all of the money into the stadiums/land/facilities and then used the increased revenue on riders, rather than just going straight for the riders. This would also have prevented a lot of the issues we are having now of teams be kicked out of their stadiums or being priced out due to the increased price of land and shrinking revenues It was (and still is), a tiny sport, so why there was this obsession to ensure "the stars" stayed riding over here was beyond me... I can only presume it was more "promoter ego" that wanted the best in the world working for them.. There is no "pot of gold" in winning any UK competition, and hardly anyone out of 80 million people will even know who won what, so I can only think rubbing shoulders with the worlds best must be what many Div 1 promoters were in it for.. Many, many, millions given to them, and all to regress... Absolutely barmy... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackett Posted 23 hours ago Report Share Posted 23 hours ago On 10/29/2025 at 9:09 PM, Fromafar said: The money they pay ,they are entitled to call the shots.Looking after the sport in their own Country. Pretty much what Dobruki was saying in the Speedway Star interview ... Stating that Polish Speedway pays far more than FIM / SGP and that Polish Speedway essentially sponsors the SGP by payin the riders far more than the World Championship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjcone44 Posted 15 hours ago Report Share Posted 15 hours ago and it will eventually bite them in the arse.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben91 Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago On 11/1/2025 at 1:55 PM, Kieran22222 said: Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe teams should have invested all of the money into the stadiums/land/facilities and then used the increased revenue on riders, rather than just going straight for the riders. This would also have prevented a lot of the issues we are having now of teams be kicked out of their stadiums or being priced out due to the increased price of land and shrinking revenues Appreciate that I’m biased as it’s the club I support(ed) but allowing Rye House to die was a real travesty. A track that owned the stadium and had no restrictions over when it could operate. Somewhere that could have been a real asset to the sport in this country. Around the same time I’m pretty sure other tracks were bailed out too. Ones with bigger names but less solid foundations. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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