Happy Hunter Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 38 minutes ago, the hobbit said: ???? Its April Fools day next Wednesday! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Hunter Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago (edited) The longer this goes on the more likely it is that Northampton's nickname will be The Phantoms! Edited 7 hours ago by Happy Hunter Spelling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mr Bee Posted 5 hours ago Popular Post Report Share Posted 5 hours ago I’m not about to read every post on this thread, and I apologise if this has been covered and discussed by you on previous posts, but I’ve seen enough to know that the silence coming out of Northampton is staggering. Unless someone who uses this forum that lives or works in Northampton can say any different, there appears to be absolutely zero noise in the local area. We are now in late March—barely five weeks away from the season starting for Northampton — and what have we actually heard? No confirmed team name, no full rider line-up, and next to no presence. How on earth do they propose to build a fan base from a standing start without drumming up any local support? Are they telling the Northampton public that they have a new Speedway team to follow? They will no doubt get a decent crowd level from existing speedway fans around the country at the beginning of the season for the novelty factor, but that won't last if they haven't done the groundwork locally. It feels like the management is just relying on disenfranchised Coventry and Peterborough fans to fill the void because we’re missing our own tracks, and the few Leicester fans that exist to pop along. I’ve personally started three different offices for companies from cold starts, and I can tell you now: this is not how you do it. You don't just open the doors and hope for the best. When you're launching in a new territory, you must be aggressive. You must get out into the local community, pound the pavement, and actually sell what you’re providing. If the person walking down Northampton High Street doesn't even know there's a world class sport (I use the term World Class loosely in the UK) appearing on their doorstep in five weeks' time, the marketing has failed before the first heat. And when those involved directly in the running of the sport and the decisions read things like this, they'll no doubt accuse me of being disruptive and moaning. They’ll claim we don’t understand the "complexities" behind the scenes. But in reality, there are plenty of Speedway fans who actually know how to run successful businesses, how to start a business from nothing, and how to keep it successful. In any other industry, if you launched a product this quietly, you’d be out of business in six months. You must create a "local anchor" — give the people of Northampton a reason to claim the team as theirs. If you don't build that local identity from day one, you aren't a club; you’re just a nomad team at a neutral venue. If they don't start shouting about this soon, they’re going to be racing in front of an empty stadium once that initial novelty wears off. I’d like to be proved wrong and see it be a massive success, and I might be wrong and all of the above is actually happening behind the scenes. But if the actual Speedway world doesn't know anything about it, I highly doubt it is. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrickn Posted 4 hours ago Report Share Posted 4 hours ago 6 hours ago, mikebv said: Does it really matter if NKI has or hasn't been "declared".. Just give them a guest facility.... They don't race till April 20th anyway, and the first two matches are away, and not till the 30th at home, so plenty of time to sort guests out.. That's just what someone new to speedway needs.Try telling them we have this bloke who rides for someone else,but he's riding for us tonight.And by the way,we're a bit short of riders,so some of ours are taking extra rides to cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 4 hours ago Report Share Posted 4 hours ago 1 minute ago, Derrickn said: That's just what someone new to speedway needs.Try telling them we have this bloke who rides for someone else,but he's riding for us tonight.And by the way,we're a bit short of riders,so some of ours are taking extra rides to cover. The will be close on 200 guests used this season if previous recent years get similarly replicated, therefore, any "new people" will be more than well versed in the more "Mickey Mouse" aspects of the sport (in the UK), should they, (hopefully), become regulars... Someone guesting for NKI (should it happen), will be just "another guest" situation... Nothing more and nothing less... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted 3 hours ago Report Share Posted 3 hours ago 1 hour ago, Derrickn said: That's just what someone new to speedway needs.Try telling them we have this bloke who rides for someone else,but he's riding for us tonight.And by the way,we're a bit short of riders,so some of ours are taking extra rides to cover. Newbies don't give a feck about rules. They only care about getting value for money in being entertained, hence, 9/10 don't return. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haza Posted 3 hours ago Report Share Posted 3 hours ago (edited) The longer this goes on with no announcement I think the whole thing is less likely to happen just can’t see Northampton coming to the tapes this season this closed season been a PR disaster for Premier league speedway with Ipswich long running sale and announcement of a 6 th club with Northampton - how can any of the other clubs sell season tickets or sponsorship when we still don’t no absolutely jack s##t about the 6 th team absolute joke of a so called professional sport Edited 3 hours ago by Haza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 2 hours ago Report Share Posted 2 hours ago 5 minutes ago, Haza said: The longer this goes on with no announcement I think the whole thing is less likely to happen just can’t see Northampton coming to the tapes this season this closed season been a PR disaster for Premier league speedway with Ipswich long running sale and announcement of a 6 th club with Northampton - how can any of the other clubs sell season tickets or sponsorship when we still don’t no absolutely jack s##t about the 6 th team absolute joke of a so called professional sport It isn't really a professional sport (at ownership level in particular), though... More of a hobby than a pro sport for so many... Winning can even be detrimental to their plan as the costs can rise hugely, and close them down!!! We fans judge Speedway like proper professional sports, however these sports have professional marketeers, big sponsors, major media coverage, and an independent leadership team that are in position due to their personal skill sets and contacts, rather that just being an ex competitor in that specific sport... UK Speedway, has none of the above, hence it comes across as amateurish... Because, when it comes to marketing, promoting, administrating and managing optics, that is what it is.. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teromaafan Posted 2 hours ago Report Share Posted 2 hours ago 10 minutes ago, Haza said: The longer this goes on with no announcement I think the whole thing is less likely to happen just can’t see Northampton coming to the tapes this season this closed season been a PR disaster for Premier league speedway with Ipswich long running sale and announcement of a 6 th club with Northampton - how can any of the other clubs sell season tickets or sponsorship when we still don’t no absolutely jack s##t about the 6 th team absolute joke of a so called professional sport So the owners are supposedly looking at options for replacing NKI, which is why some people seem to think that the team (along with everything else)hasn’t been announced yet. The prolonged silence would suggest that there are bigger issues behind the scenes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haza Posted 2 hours ago Report Share Posted 2 hours ago 18 minutes ago, Teromaafan said: So the owners are supposedly looking at options for replacing NKI, which is why some people seem to think that the team (along with everything else)hasn’t been announced yet. The prolonged silence would suggest that there are bigger issues behind the scenes. I just can’t see how this club can be marketed to the Northampton people in just little over a month to the first home meeting with no fan base . They really needed the whole closed season to get the word out - who would sponsor a club this close to the first home meeting with no information on club owners riders . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillwhitewasmad Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago Maybe they are keeping it quiet because they don't want prospective patrons to type speedway into google and end up here reading all the negativity. Good things come to those that wait 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 55 minutes ago Report Share Posted 55 minutes ago 1 hour ago, mikebv said: It isn't really a professional sport (at ownership level in particular), though... More of a hobby than a pro sport for so many... Winning can even be detrimental to their plan as the costs can rise hugely, and close them down!!! We fans judge Speedway like proper professional sports, however these sports have professional marketeers, big sponsors, major media coverage, and an independent leadership team that are in position due to their personal skill sets and contacts, rather that just being an ex competitor in that specific sport... UK Speedway, has none of the above, hence it comes across as amateurish... Because, when it comes to marketing, promoting, administrating and managing optics, that is what it is.. I think as has been mentioned before a lot of the promoters are just happy with the status quo some are relatively wealthy people compared to the normal Joe and are happy to offset the losses against their other business profits. They work on the basis that 90% of last seasons crowd will return , build a team to win at home, get a few local sponsors on board to pare some of the expected season loss rinse and repeat. The Northampton situation gets ever odder we are told 100k plus has already been sunk into it and as others have said zero promotion has been done . I can only think the people who have stumped up the original 100k are happy to loose another 100k over the season or they aren't promoting it as they aren't really sure they can get it over the line and as such think we won't push the promotion side of things to avoid agg of refunding season tickets , sponsorship etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 34 minutes ago Report Share Posted 34 minutes ago (edited) 1 hour ago, phillwhitewasmad said: Maybe they are keeping it quiet because they don't want prospective patrons to type speedway into google and end up here reading all the negativity. Good things come to those that wait You would (should) be doing a daily info Vlog covering... The daily track work being undertaken, with the before and after being filmed, the team building process, rider interviews, the kevlar making, the merchandise buying, the cost to go to watch a meeting, the first fixture date, your special opening offers, the track staff and presenters being mentioned (as they will be local people), etc etc etc... Using someone who is well known in Northampton to present it, and get it out daily on FB, YouTube etc... "Build it and they will come" only works in movies.. A constant drip, drip drip of information/hype is needed to build up to the opening night... You don't open a business, and expect to be successful, without at least a month long intensive marketing/teaser campaign to the local populace... Whether they use you immediately or not, they at least know about you so may therefore visit in the future... They open on the 30th of April so really need to go into overdrive from now... Edited 30 minutes ago by mikebv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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