2027 - 8 Team Premiership

[CTRSports]

If its true that they are looking to increase the points limit

All clubs must run an U21 British Rider at reserve

All clubs must also run a Foreign U21 Rider at reserve

If they can get the ITV4 deal over the line which sounds like the more lucrative deal being worked on

Perhaps that's enough for the likes of Glasgow to give the top flight a chance, and I think if the TV deal goes through, you may see Oxford move up again but obviously not do the Championship aswell this time around.

Could see the following strength sides, put together for example purposes

[Daniel Smith]

13 minutes ago, CTRSports said:

If its true that they are looking to increase the points limit

All clubs must run an U21 British Rider at reserve

All clubs must also run a Foreign U21 Rider at reserve

If they can get the ITV4 deal over the line which sounds like the more lucrative deal being worked on

Perhaps that's enough for the likes of Glasgow to give the top flight a chance, and I think if the TV deal goes through, you may see Oxford move up again but obviously not do the Championship aswell this time around.

Could see the following strength sides, put together for example purposes

Thanks for giving King's Lynn the worst possible septet possible 🤣 Cheers mate 👍🏻 

[CTRSports]

7 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Thanks for giving King's Lynn the worst possible septet possible 🤣 Cheers mate 👍🏻 

🫣 is it not better than what you have now lol

[spin king]

Also you have to remember that Poland have stated that riders riding in the Polish League can only ride in one other league.

Danes have to ride in the Danish League, so as things stand most of those Dane's you have used will not be riding in the UK.

So you can rule out the following from your lists.

 

Ipswich: Fredrik Jacobsen, Mikkel Andersen

Sheffield: Jonas Jeppesen and Vllads Nagel

Kings Lynn; Ben Basso

Northampton: Niels Kristian Iversen

 

[Aries]

9 hours ago, CTRSports said:

If its true that they are looking to increase the points limit

All clubs must run an U21 British Rider at reserve

All clubs must also run a Foreign U21 Rider at reserve

If they can get the ITV4 deal over the line which sounds like the more lucrative deal being worked on

Perhaps that's enough for the likes of Glasgow to give the top flight a chance, and I think if the TV deal goes through, you may see Oxford move up again but obviously not do the Championship aswell this time around.

Could see the following strength sides, put together for example purposes

We’d walk it 😁

Just change Glasgow’s number 1 please. Don’t like that one bit

😉

[CTRSports]

9 hours ago, spin king said:

Also you have to remember that Poland have stated that riders riding in the Polish League can only ride in one other league.

Danes have to ride in the Danish League, so as things stand most of those Dane's you have used will not be riding in the UK.

So you can rule out the following from your lists.

 

Ipswich: Fredrik Jacobsen, Mikkel Andersen

Sheffield: Jonas Jeppesen and Vllads Nagel

Kings Lynn; Ben Basso

Northampton: Niels Kristian Iversen

 

There are rumours that move may not happen, with the news released stating leagues are looking at the U21 reserve suggestion, other leagues are trying to use it to relax the restriction, we will see

[StarBoy]

My early 1-7 predictions based on the concept above. Personally think Poole would move up instead of Oxford if a TV deal is found:

Belle Vue Aces
1. Dan Bewley
2. Rohan Tungate
3. Ben Cook
4. Norick Blodorn
5. Zach Cook 
6. Tate Zischke (U21)
7. William Cairns (GB U21)

Glasgow Tigers
1. Frederik Lindgren 
2. Leon Flint
3. Ben Basso
4. Chris Harris
5. Vadim Tarasenko
6. Mario Hausl (U21)
7. Max Perry (U21 GB)

Ipswich Witches
1. Emil Sayfutdinov
2. Jonas Jeppesen
3. Kacper Woryna
4. Frederik Jakobsen
5. Tobiasz Musielak
6. Marcel Kowolik (U21)
7. Freddy Hodder (U21 GB)

King’s Lynn Stars
1. Max Fricke
2. Cooper Rushen
3. Jan Kvech
4. Tom Brennan
5. Robert Lambert
6. Adam Bednar (U21)
7. Jody Scott (U21 GB)

Leicester Lions
1. Ryan Douglas
2. Drew Kemp
3. Dan Thompson
4. Sam Masters
5. Martin Vaculik
6. Oskar Paluch (U21)
7. Ryan Ingram (U21 GB)

Northampton Foxes
1. Jason Doyle
2. Adam Ellis
3. Keynan Rew
4. Kye Thomson
5. Jaimon Lidsey
6. Mitch McDiarmid (U21)
7. Luke Harrison (U21 GB)

Poole Pirates
1. Brady Kurtz
2. Nicolai Klindt
3. Richard Lawson
4. Maciej Janowski 
5. Chris Holder
6. Slater Lightcap (U21)
7. Vinnie Foord (U21 GB)

Sheffield Tigers
1. Jack Holder
2. Anders Rowe
3. Charles Wright
4. Nick Morris 
5. Josh Pickering
6. Kacper Mania (U21)
7. Luke Killeen (U21 GB)

[Beirao]

Is there a bit of a chicken and egg situation? Which comes first the eight teams league or the TV deal? Both seem to rely on each other and is there a danger of being stuck in limbo?

[therefused]

A lot of things need to happen before any of this slots into place but let’s hope we hear news sooner rather than later as in all honesty rules and regulations for next year should be in place already 

[CTRSports]

As with every year, most of it has been decided with contingency plans in place depending if TV deal A or B happens or if C no TV deal

 

[Aries]

47 minutes ago, CTRSports said:

As with every year, most of it has been decided with contingency plans in place depending if TV deal A or B happens or if C no TV deal

 

Coleman says he’s “relatively close” to doing a TV deal off his own back. Morris and the others working on a different one. My money is on Coleman actually getting something done there but either way, between all of them it sounds more likely than not that we’ll get a TV deal of some description which is good news. Hopefully that gets confirmed sooner rather than later because as you say, that will have a knock on effect of how strong the league can be and what riders teams can afford to sign.

[SteveLyric2]

7 hours ago, Aries said:

Coleman says he’s “relatively close” to doing a TV deal off his own back. Morris and the others working on a different one. My money is on Coleman actually getting something done there but either way, between all of them it sounds more likely than not that we’ll get a TV deal of some description which is good news. Hopefully that gets confirmed sooner rather than later because as you say, that will have a knock on effect of how strong the league can be and what riders teams can afford to sign.

Surely having a TV deal - whether live or highlights- is also about what money comes to the clubs and whether it would be enough to make 2 additional clubs go Premiership, possibly on an 'off race day'!

[Aries]

3 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

Surely having a TV deal - whether live or highlights- is also about what money comes to the clubs and whether it would be enough to make 2 additional clubs go Premiership, possibly on an 'off race day'!

Of course! And why not two separate TV deals? One main that provides live meetings like we’ve seen in the past from TNT, and a separate highlights package (ITV?) with a weekly round up show like some have been suggesting.

It has to be encouraging that there’s two deals being worked on simultaneously right? Coleman at least sounded confident that the one he’s working on was “relatively close”. If neither party can get one over the line then that’ll be extremely disappointing.

[Neila]

The Coleman one will probably be for GP highlights on main stream TV, ITV 4 🤔

[Aries]

14 minutes ago, Neila said:

The Coleman one will probably be for GP highlights on main stream TV, ITV 4 🤔

Again, no. He was specifically talking about British Speedway, not the GP’s. 

[SteveLyric2]

1 hour ago, Aries said:

Again, no. He was specifically talking about British Speedway, not the GP’s. 

UK Speedway News

 

Probably for GPs and Premiership only!!  Phil Morris with his Premiership-only remit will undoubtedly concentrate on Prem meetings and the British final (the latter having mainly Championship riders taking part!)

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

5 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

Surely having a TV deal - whether live or highlights- is also about what money comes to the clubs and whether it would be enough to make 2 additional clubs go Premiership, possibly on an 'off race day'!

Perhaps the invitation should go to 2 clubs other than the ones everyone expects

If you refuse during the cupboard is bare years why expect a slice when the cake returns.....

[mikebv]

1 minute ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Perhaps the invitation should go to 2 clubs other than the ones everyone expects

If you refuse during the cupboard is bare years why expect a slice when the cake returns.....

The "Hobbyists" won't be interested as what they want from their Speedway isn't what those who run the sport "professionaly" want...

That has been a  major issue for the sport for a fair old time given more "Hobbyists" have existed than those paying mortgages off the back of their Speedway teams' income..

The ideal world will be a top tier, ran like a team sport should be ran, with decent TV coverage, and commercial revenue via TV coverage and sponsorship..

And a 2nd tier, which, as now, can amble along making things up as it goes along to put out "any kind of Speedway" on the nights they want to do so..

Poole and Glasgow are, to many, the most obvious choices to move up, however, both could be happy with their current lot and content to stay where they are, (ie in a pretty much no risk position)...

Oxford, possibly, are a team who could step back up again, but this time with support to build a competitive team, and, hopefully, some TV revenue to assist them, with the bonus being a seven way split of the cash, rather than an eight way split..

Although, if they did go into tier one, I would suspect they would drop tier two..

The Risk v Reward, for tier two teams to move up, has to move the dial (significantly), from its current position I would think...

Get that done and tier one can start to take shape and be somewhere to aspire too..

 

[YeOldPitGate]

3 minutes ago, mikebv said:

The "Hobbyists" won't be interested as what they want from their Speedway isn't what those who run the sport "professionaly" want...

That has been a  major issue for the sport for a fair old time given more "Hobbyists" have existed than those paying mortgages off the back of their Speedway teams' income..

The ideal world will be a top tier, ran like a team sport should be ran, with decent TV coverage, and commercial revenue via TV coverage and sponsorship..

And a 2nd tier, which, as now, can amble along making things up as it goes along to put out "any kind of Speedway" on the nights they want to do so..

Poole and Glasgow are, to many, the most obvious choices to move up, however, both could be happy with their current lot and content to stay where they are, (ie in a pretty much no risk position)...

Oxford, possibly, are a team who could step back up again, but this time with support to build a competitive team, and, hopefully, some TV revenue to assist them, with the bonus being a seven way split of the cash, rather than an eight way split..

Although, if they did go into tier one, I would suspect they would drop tier two..

The Risk v Reward, for tier two teams to move up, has to move the dial (significantly), from its current position I would think...

Get that done and tier one can start to take shape and be somewhere to aspire too..

 

Does anyone know if the Oxford financial issue is now resolved as there were troubles in the last 12 months could the finances survive moving up again ? Bojangles you seem close to Oxford any view if your lurking ?

[Bojangles]

Just now, YeOldPitGate said:

Does anyone know if the Oxford financial issue is now resolved as there were troubles in the last 12 months could the finances survive moving up again ? Bojangles you seem close to Oxford any view if your lurking ?

In theory, the Oxford finances are there. The previous financial issues were linked to Kevin Boothby, who is no longer part of the club. The club itself is run to a profit, and was extremely profitable in the first couple of seasons. Things started to go wrong with Boothby draining them, and the club running in three leagues. It was a big ask for fans to turn up and pay for entry to each meeting (there were 30 home meetings across the three leagues in 2025). Fans started choosing one league (plus the NDL) and that turned out to be the Cheetahs, and not the Spires. Spires crowds quickly started to become noticeably lower.

I'm sure Oxford could afford to run in the Premiership, but they would do that at the expense of the Championship. No way it will be all three leagues again. 

However, the big IF is around the deal that's been done the stadium leaseholders to continue to operate, I'm not privvy to that. There's no doubt the return of some other sport to the stadium would ease the burden.