2026 Premiership is Go! - At least 5 teams

[ShanoXtra]

12 minutes ago, ouch said:

Me too.

This has been  done before and it’s not popular with the top team as they miss out on a lucrative semi final. That is all the play offs are about, creating welcome extra income for a few teams at the top. It goes some way to balancing the books due to the lack of interest/attendance for the qualifiers. For the teams not in the play offs, it’s tough and they just have to suck up the losses created by the implementation of the play offs. 

Totally understand that, my thought process would always be to run a league with no play offs, the reason the play offs bring in additional income is due to it basically being a mini tournament for the winners of the league, thus making the rest of the season void once you enter the play offs 100%. If you scrap the play offs, people surely would go the league meetings as every single match is one step closer to winning / losing the title. If a team runs away with it the supporters and other teams should just respect the fact they deserve to win it and no other team deserves a second chance (play offs) to try and it away from the most dominant team over the season.

 

[old bob at herne bay]

Never a fan of the p.offs, they were an invention so that TV could be at the meetings that decided the “league champions” over a 2 legged winner takes all final. 
with no tv and few teams they are just there to give a few extra fixtures in a PL season that looks to struggle to last more than a couple of months. 
 

Still stuck with the 15 heat formula for every meeting , maybe they might get a little more inventive and use different race formulae for the B and C fixtures ? 

[DaveWayne]

9 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

Totally understand that, my thought process would always be to run a league with no play offs, the reason the play offs bring in additional income is due to it basically being a mini tournament for the winners of the league, thus making the rest of the season void once you enter the play offs 100%. If you scrap the play offs, people surely would go the league meetings as every single match is one step closer to winning / losing the title. If a team runs away with it the supporters and other teams should just respect the fact they deserve to win it and no other team deserves a second chance (play offs) to try and it away from the most dominant team over the season.

 

Playoffs/shootouts/etc. have their place in sports where there are a large number of competitors.

In football, it has had the impact of keeping more teams in with a shout of promotion towards the end of the season. This means there are a lot less 'dead rubbers' so it keeps the crowd numbers up and benefits the clubs financially.

In F1 stock car racing, we had the issue of the 'national points championship' often being decided with 2 months of the season still to go, meaning numbers on both sides of the fence tended to drop off after the World Championship in September. By bringing in an end of season shootout, the battle for the silver roof goes to the final meeting of the season, and the crowd numbers for the 12 shootout rounds are far higher than they would have been in previous years.

The difference is though, that in football the top 25% in each division are in with a chance of promotion, in stockcars you are looking at 16 out of over 100 drivers can win the silver roof. To have a season long tournament where 60-80% of the competitors can still win at the end of the season, irrespective of how far behind they might be does seem very farcical.

[DaveWayne]

15 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I genuinely think the cost of Northampton is issue there, the money being banded around is £150,000 with no gaurentee of a crowd, that’s a big cost and a gamble for someone with money and no tolley isn’t interested 

Have any of the people assuming that Northampton is an option actually been to the track in recent years ?

I don't know the rulings on 'infields' for speedway, but the inside of both corners does not have an inner kerb any more, so the race track literally goes up to a plate fence several feet high. This could be counteracted to some degree by white line marking an 'inner kerb' further out and narrowing the corners, but there is still the issue of a rider potentially losing control on the straight and ploughing into the end of the raised banking. These raised areas can't just be removed as they create the 'safe zone' for the stock car marshals.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

9 minutes ago, DaveWayne said:

Have any of the people assuming that Northampton is an option actually been to the track in recent years ?

I don't know the rulings on 'infields' for speedway, but the inside of both corners does not have an inner kerb any more, so the race track literally goes up to a plate fence several feet high. This could be counteracted to some degree by white line marking an 'inner kerb' further out and narrowing the corners, but there is still the issue of a rider potentially losing control on the straight and ploughing into the end of the raised banking. These raised areas can't just be removed as they create the 'safe zone' for the stock car marshals.

Yes they have, you would assume the £150,000 is the cost of getting the track fit for speedway 

Edited December 29, 2025 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[DaveWayne]

7 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Yes they have, you would assume the £150,000 is the cost of getting the track fit for speedway 

I was more talking about people on here rather than the 'powers that be'. Some are talking as if it is just as simple as "it's a shale track so we can race on it".

It's also going to need a lot of work on track prep during the season or we will see a hell of a lot of rain offs. Having been to a few wet meetings there in the last few years, I have seen it resemble anything from a ploughed field to an ice rink. It's a very different surface to some other shale tracks.

[mikebv]

4 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Yes they have, you would assume the £150,000 is the cost of getting the track ready for speedway 

You do have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who tries to open up a Speedway team at Northampton, don't you?

Established, historical, top league tracks often dont even get just 1500 a week, so what type of crowd number would a new venture get? Especially one, "outside of town".....

It cannot be a realistic option surely to open a new track, and go straight into the top league with all the costs involved of trying to be competitive at that level?

[ShanoXtra]

25 minutes ago, DaveWayne said:

Playoffs/shootouts/etc. have their place in sports where there are a large number of competitors.

In football, it has had the impact of keeping more teams in with a shout of promotion towards the end of the season. This means there are a lot less 'dead rubbers' so it keeps the crowd numbers up and benefits the clubs financially.

In F1 stock car racing, we had the issue of the 'national points championship' often being decided with 2 months of the season still to go, meaning numbers on both sides of the fence tended to drop off after the World Championship in September. By bringing in an end of season shootout, the battle for the silver roof goes to the final meeting of the season, and the crowd numbers for the 12 shootout rounds are far higher than they would have been in previous years.

The difference is though, that in football the top 25% in each division are in with a chance of promotion, in stockcars you are looking at 16 out of over 100 drivers can win the silver roof. To have a season long tournament where 60-80% of the competitors can still win at the end of the season, irrespective of how far behind they might be does seem very farcical.

Play offs for promotion I understand, not for winning a league. Premier league is point and case, if you are the best over a prolonged period you deserve to be champions. That is simply facts.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

12 minutes ago, mikebv said:

You do have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who tries to open up a Speedway team at Northampton, don't you?

Established, historical, top league tracks often dont even get just 1500 a week, so what type of crowd number would a new venture get? Especially one, "outside of town".....

It cannot be a realistic option surely to open a new track, and go straight into the top league with all the costs involved of trying to be competitive at that level?

I’ve spoke to 2 former promoters recently who have looked at it and have both said the same, it’s too much money with no gaurentee of a fan base 

Edited December 29, 2025 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[szkocjasid]

2 hours ago, ShanoXtra said:

Surely if there are only five teams you could only do either of the two options, run the league as a championship so the final standing are the results and scrap play offs. Or if they are hell bent on some kind of play offs at least lessen it so for example 1st position gets automatically placed into the final and gets to choose where to have the first/second leg, and only 2nd vs 3rd races for a chance to play the winners of the league.

I see no point in 1st-4th being placed in a play offs, personal opinion which may be an unpopular one, I don’t know everyone else’s feeling.

3rd option, is a straight final 1st vs 2nd

[SPEEDY69]

A different format for cup competition could give other teams a chance of silverware, particularly if raced towards the end of the season - maybe a four/five team tournament at each track (excluding the league winners) with the final against the league winners? Just brain-farting this idea 🤪

[IainB]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

You do have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who tries to open up a Speedway team at Northampton, don't you?

Established, historical, top league tracks often dont even get just 1500 a week, so what type of crowd number would a new venture get? Especially one, "outside of town".....

It cannot be a realistic option surely to open a new track, and go straight into the top league with all the costs involved of trying to be competitive at that level?

Eastbourne is surely the most logical answer to a 6th team, it's a speedway town and has a very large catchment area in the south east of England.

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

You do have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who tries to open up a Speedway team at Northampton, don't you?

Established, historical, top league tracks often dont even get just 1500 a week, so what type of crowd number would a new venture get? Especially one, "outside of town".....

It cannot be a realistic option surely to open a new track, and go straight into the top league with all the costs involved of trying to be competitive at that level?

Totally agree Mike but we both know at head office your quips are "plan a"

[YeOldPitGate]

8 minutes ago, IainB said:

Eastbourne is surely the most logical answer to a 6th team, it's a speedway town and has a very large catchment area in the south east of England.

Would love it to happen Iain but M.D has said many times its not going to happen and he should know better than 99.9% of the population.

[IainB]

3 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Would love it to happen Iain but M.D has said many times its not going to happen and he should know better than 99.9% of the population.

Yes, but... it's amazing how the mind can be focused when a large sum of money is thrown at you. And if that's what it takes to get speedway back at Eastbourne instead of a suicidal attempt at trying to make Northampton work, then it should be looked at as a priority. 

[noaksey]

1 minute ago, IainB said:

Yes, but... it's amazing how the mind can be focused when a large sum of money is thrown at you. And if that's what it takes to get speedway back at Eastbourne instead of a suicidal attempt at trying to make Northampton work, then it should be looked at as a priority. 

Mildenhall is similar plus they would at least benefit from local derbies with Lynn and hopefully Ipswich 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

25 minutes ago, IainB said:

Yes, but... it's amazing how the mind can be focused when a large sum of money is thrown at you. And if that's what it takes to get speedway back at Eastbourne instead of a suicidal attempt at trying to make Northampton work, then it should be looked at as a priority. 

It’s more than money, it’s owned and run by 2 former riders and they still don’t want it, tells you it all really, there is a family dispute in the background and until that’s resolved it’s going nowhere and even if it was just about money who in their right mind is going to pay someone else’s debts off just to start from scratch, that’s financial suicide 

Edited December 29, 2025 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[mikebv]

51 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

A different format for cup competition could give other teams a chance of silverware, particularly if raced towards the end of the season - maybe a four/five team tournament at each track (excluding the league winners) with the final against the league winners? Just brain-farting this idea 🤪

"The Northampton Nomads" could be the sixth team...

With, (and here is the best bit, hence the name)..

They never ride in Northampton, therefore no start up costs...

They ride "home meetings" at the other five tracks by just renting the track off the owner...

Eg. They could ride against BV, at "home", on one of the Monday's the Aces are not riding, or even use a Thursday...

More revenue for existing promoters/landlords in rent, no start up costs for the "Nomads" promoters, and more meetings for the fans with the "Away fans" attending in numbers at their own track, to watch their own team, ride, but "away"...

Just put together seven unattached riders...

In fact you could put several "Nomad" teams together, as long as, like Northampton, it uses alliteration, (as that is important)..

Eg The Newport Nomads? The Nottingham Nomads?

Or? Maybe the Rochdale Rideaways? Or. The Romford Rideaways? 

Places that once had Speedway tracks could now have their own team again..

You could have a ten team league in no time riding at the five tracks...

Think of the opportunities...

OK then....

Arm Wrestling with Chas n Dave...?

Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank?

Monkey Tennis?!!!!

[Marky_Mark]

31 minutes ago, noaksey said:

Mildenhall is similar plus they would at least benefit from local derbies with Lynn and hopefully Ipswich 

Mildenhall would need a similar large investment as per Northampton. The SCB wouldn’t give them a track license due to the large posts inserted to the fence for stock cars. They have installed foam inserts which were accepted by NORA, however to obtain an SCB license they would have to install new foam from a certain supplier at a cost of circa £90,000.

The additional premiership team that I have been told about is neither Northampton or Mildenhall.

Edited December 29, 2025 by Marky_Mark

[BluPanther]

The made up BS and lies on this thread are now reaching Starmer levels... 🙄