How do we move forward to attract crowds and Sponsors.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

6 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Hi Ouch out of all of the above what did you find worked best ?

The promise that if they attended that they didn't have to sit next to Ouch all night 

[speedwaysliders]

Ive said this  a number of times,JUST BRING THE CUTTING EDGE which was speedway many years ago and let the meetings play out with controversy,raw,energy.friction which will bring the crowds back INSTEAD OF THESE BLAND LADIDA MEETINGS where no entertainment is served up at all.AT THE MOMENT EVERYONE IS TOOOOOOOO NICE !!!!! Get the pit phone back and when a rider speaks to the ref EVERYONE in the stadium can hear the conversation and even though the ref never changes his mind at least it will get the fans involved to spice the evening up.SURELY that can be done in this day and age to get the pit phone back so everyone can hear

Edited yesterday at 06:41 PM by speedwaysliders

[singy13]

29 minutes ago, speedwaysliders said:

Ive said this  a number of times,JUST BRING THE CUTTING EDGE which was speedway many years ago and let the meetings play out with controversy,raw,energy.friction which will bring the crowds back INSTEAD OF THESE BLAND LADIDA MEETINGS where no entertainment is served up at all.AT THE MOMENT EVERYONE IS TOOOOOOOO NICE !!!!! Get the pit phone back and when a rider speaks to the ref EVERYONE in the stadium can hear the conversation and even though the ref never changes his mind at least it will get the fans involved to spice the evening up.SURELY that can be done in this day and age to get the pit phone back so everyone can hear

Way back there was always a table near starting gate with a phone on it - a link to contact the referee. And on a regular basis, following something happening in a race, an upset rider (often plus promoter)would march angrily from the pits to use the phone to vent this anger. The crowds loved this and added to the call for a refs action - although a ref never changed his decision. But it made the crowd more involved in racing action. I presume though it was stopped because referees were given too much grief? So as you say nowadays everyone seems too nice, but it was fun while it lasted for sure.

[IainB]

1 hour ago, speedwaysliders said:

Ive said this  a number of times,JUST BRING THE CUTTING EDGE which was speedway many years ago and let the meetings play out with controversy,raw,energy.friction which will bring the crowds back INSTEAD OF THESE BLAND LADIDA MEETINGS where no entertainment is served up at all.AT THE MOMENT EVERYONE IS TOOOOOOOO NICE !!!!! Get the pit phone back and when a rider speaks to the ref EVERYONE in the stadium can hear the conversation and even though the ref never changes his mind at least it will get the fans involved to spice the evening up.SURELY that can be done in this day and age to get the pit phone back so everyone can hear

 

37 minutes ago, singy13 said:

Way back there was always a table near starting gate with a phone on it - a link to contact the referee. And on a regular basis, following something happening in a race, an upset rider (often plus promoter)would march angrily from the pits to use the phone to vent this anger. The crowds loved this and added to the call for a refs action - although a ref never changed his decision. But it made the crowd more involved in racing action. I presume though it was stopped because referees were given too much grief? So as you say nowadays everyone seems too nice, but it was fun while it lasted for sure.

I used to love watching Crabby smashing the phone up in front of the main stand at Loomer Road when arguing with the ref, all pantomime stuff but got the crowd going ☎️💥👍🏻

[Paul Johnson]

Probably the best bit of speedway this season was the fisty cuffs at Redcar, gots loads of media attention and possiblities of round 2 a few days later, so the SCB decided to fine them. At the end of the day no harm done and they walked of as friends again.If officials were involved  or abuse given to them yes fine them, otherwise let it go

i suppose the pit phone was changed because of bad language over the airwaves, but make it like football now the referee has to announce the verdit of a VAR check, maybe the ref through the inbox announcer could explain his reasonings to exclusions...maybe let managers have a"challenge the ref" card? could be used when streaming or Bsn coverage but only used once

[Neila]

Ask Plymouth what they have done, they appear to have doubled the crowds this season.. Maybe @lewy knows the answer 

[IainB]

38 minutes ago, Neila said:

Ask Plymouth what they have done, they appear to have doubled the crowds this season.. Maybe @lewy knows the answer 

But no club sponsor on their chests...

[Neila]

Just now, IainB said:

But no club sponsor on their chests...

I do know the previous years sponsor pulled out due to bad publicity and on track performance 🙃

[lewy]

9 hours ago, Neila said:

I do know the previous years sponsor pulled out due to bad publicity and on track performance 🙃

Absolute bull****,couldnt be further from the truth the reasons were of a personal nature and i will not be posting them on here. They still attended every home meeting and are still into plymouth speedway. Hopefully at some point may return as sponsors.

[YeOldPitGate]

14 hours ago, Neila said:

Ask Plymouth what they have done, they appear to have doubled the crowds this season.. Maybe @lewy knows the answer 

i think running on a night that suits the fans not the riders has been a big driver of their success.

[IainB]

2 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

i think running on a night that suits the fans not the riders has been a big driver of their success.

I mean, that's the answer right there... why those in charge fail to see this is quite beyond me 🤷‍♂️

No we're British Speedway and we're going to educate the British public that it is in fact Monday and Thursday nights that they want to go out for entertainment 😂

Edited 4 hours ago by IainB

[1 valve]

51 minutes ago, IainB said:

I mean, that's the answer right there... why those in charge fail to see this is quite beyond me 🤷‍♂️

No we're British Speedway and we're going to educate the British public that it is in fact Monday and Thursday nights that they want to go out for entertainment 😂

Actually - Monday & Thursday nights to see the (for now) top riders in action.

Plenty of other clubs to see racing on the other nights - although prevailing attendance & sponsorship does not appear to be making those clubs hugely profitable sellouts - to say the least. 

As said elsewhere on this forum, it isn’t a single magic bullet that’s required to get UK speedway back on a growth journey (or even stopping the decline) it’s a good number of things which need to be addressed and put in place in a coordinated manner. One without the other is wasting precious time and certainly if the clubs/promoters cannot see or agree that working individually is of no long term use to the sport.  

 

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

I mean, that's the answer right there... why those in charge fail to see this is quite beyond me 🤷‍♂️

No we're British Speedway and we're going to educate the British public that it is in fact Monday and Thursday nights that they want to go out for entertainment 😂

Agreed Ian it might be just be me but my mindset is who the hell wants to go out for the night on a Monday (maybe top level footy fixture aside) but other than that the mindset is first day back in the 9-5 grind where as Thurs-Sat you have that weekend coming/here feel good factor that motivates you to go out more.

[YeOldPitGate]

59 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

Actually - Monday & Thursday nights to see the (for now) top riders in action.

Plenty of other clubs to see racing on the other nights - although prevailing attendance & sponsorship does not appear to be making those clubs hugely profitable sellouts - to say the least. 

As said elsewhere on this forum, it isn’t a single magic bullet that’s required to get UK speedway back on a growth journey (or even stopping the decline) it’s a good number of things which need to be addressed and put in place in a coordinated manner. One without the other is wasting precious time and certainly if the clubs/promoters cannot see or agree that working individually is of no long term use to the sport.  

 

Don't disagree at all 1 valve we all know you could add all of the below in just for starters

Run on best nights for fans

A decent tv deal for clubs not swallowed all up by number one's

High profile premier league sponsor

End of guest fests every week

Decently prepared tracks

Meetings starting on time

Meetings not dragging on for 3-4 hours

In a perfect world not staging meetings in stadiums that look like they have been bombed by the Luffwaffa

Efforts really made to promote the team/awareness locally

I know all of the above is easier said than done but if the powers that be want to save the sport the above are all reasonable starting points.

 

[IainB]

1 hour ago, 1 valve said:

Actually - Monday & Thursday nights to see the (for now) top riders in action.

Plenty of other clubs to see racing on the other nights - although prevailing attendance & sponsorship does not appear to be making those clubs hugely profitable sellouts - to say the least. 

As said elsewhere on this forum, it isn’t a single magic bullet that’s required to get UK speedway back on a growth journey (or even stopping the decline) it’s a good number of things which need to be addressed and put in place in a coordinated manner. One without the other is wasting precious time and certainly if the clubs/promoters cannot see or agree that working individually is of no long term use to the sport.  

 

I'm pretty sure Monday's and Thursday's were introduced to allow riders to double up and not to attract the star riders... as proven by their absences throughout the season.

You only have to go into a boozer in town on a Monday night to see how dead the place is.

[1 valve]

5 minutes ago, IainB said:

I'm pretty sure Monday's and Thursday's were introduced to allow riders to double up and not to attract the star riders... as proven by their absences throughout the season.

You only have to go into a boozer in town on a Monday night to see how dead the place is.

Attending sporting fixtures is way different to going to a pub. 
This past Monday 41476 turned out to watch Sunderland v Everton. On a smaller scale 2820 turned out to watch Tamworth.  And a good number of the people who went were kids with at least one parent  - even though next day was a school day. 
Make Speedway interesting, consistent, worthwhile & known about and folk will come. 
 

[Paul Johnson]

The more kids involved the better the crowd will be, give them something to want to go for....and it makes me laugh when i read"but its a school day tomorrow" but will quite happily take them to football which can finish past 10pm

[Youhave2minutes]

22 minutes ago, Paul Johnson said:

The more kids involved the better the crowd will be, give them something to want to go for....and it makes me laugh when i read"but its a school day tomorrow" but will quite happily take them to football which can finish past 10pm

And be on their mobiles and game machines past midnight

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

On 11/4/2025 at 11:20 AM, FAST GATER said:

Speaking as a former sponsor rider's start off grateful end up demanding , maybe just my bad luck but  it happened almost everytime 

I got a sponsor at long Eaton in 1996 and he remained a sponsor till I retired in 2012 and even then I remained in touch till he passed away 2 years ago, I never asked anything of him and was very greatful for whatever sponsorship he gave me which over the 16 years was quite a fair bit,I think it’s called respect and although most riders are respectful I have seen a few over the years who imo took the pee