2027 - 8 Team Premiership

[mikebv]

You would think that "the stock car tracks" would automatically run on a Thursday wouldn't you?..

Must be logistically so much easier to prep the track...

That would be four of the six, with Belle Vue being the outlier of the other two left...

If they went to Thursday's (could still do BHM's), then one meeting a fortnight would be doable, with all teams riding on the same night...

Meaning No Guests!!!

So that won't happen then...

[M.D]

6 minutes ago, Hackett said:

Was that not "Covid" year also. I seem to recall watching those meetings from bend four. Agreed on the non Sat night , I think that would be speedway suicide if a promoter took that option , as change of racenight was always a factor previously. 

It was the year after Covid

[HGould]

14 hours ago, Hackett said:

Was that not "Covid" year also. I seem to recall watching those meetings from bend four. Agreed on the non Sat night , I think that would be speedway suicide if a promoter took that option , as change of racenight was always a factor previously. 

I think it was 2019, I went to opening meeting with Brummies as we'd both gone up and they reported a crowd of over 1000, I also went to the Good Friday KO Cup with Brummies, baking hot and blue groove and melting free easter eggs, a local I spoke to said it was close to 1500, biggest crowd they'd had in 10 years.

I tried to get tickets in 2021 for the opening meeting v Poole to go with my brother who lives in Bexhill, as we were starved of speedway and brummies opened quite late, and I remember having to get online , Brummies and Eagles used the same Ticketing platform I think Eagles had made recommendation to Peter Mason about it, and could not get one as the limit was set at 800? and they had sold out.

I think all crowds were Covid restricted and segregated until July that year to advance ticket sales only (Perry Barr definitely was) so I can't see how they could have had more than the set limit anywhere,  until July.

It would be great to see Speedway back at Arlington but I do agree with the sentiments that it has to be on a weekend and at CL level as otherwise it'll just be set to fail and cost someone a lot of money to soothe the ego of Mr Coleman / Morris and Lemon.

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, HGould said:

I think it was 2019, I went to opening meeting with Brummies as we'd both gone up and they reported a crowd of over 1000, I also went to the Good Friday KO Cup with Brummies, baking hot and blue groove and melting free easter eggs, a local I spoke to said it was close to 1500, biggest crowd they'd had in 10 years.

I tried to get tickets in 2021 for the opening meeting v Poole to go with my brother who lives in Bexhill, as we were starved of speedway and brummies opened quite late, and I remember having to get online , Brummies and Eagles used the same Ticketing platform I think Eagles had made recommendation to Peter Mason about it, and could not get one as the limit was set at 800? and they had sold out.

I think all crowds were Covid restricted and segregated until July that year to advance ticket sales only (Perry Barr definitely was) so I can't see how they could have had more than the set limit anywhere,  until July.

It would be great to see Speedway back at Arlington but I do agree with the sentiments that it has to be on a weekend and at CL level as otherwise it'll just be set to fail and cost someone a lot of money to soothe the ego of Mr Coleman / Morris and Lemon.

Your last comment re soothing egos needs some explaining, as it appears out of context to the rest of your post. Not clear why there are egos at play here?

[HGould]

20 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Your last comment re soothing egos needs some explaining, as it appears out of context to the rest of your post. Not clear why there are egos at play here?

Quite simply.

You cannot create an 8 team PL if (a) no CL Club is prepared to be used as cannon fodder to enable Coleman / Lemon and Morris to create an 8 team PL just to get a few morcels of TV money and (b) it's the height of utter hypocrisy to try to parachute a returning Club, which is the case of Eastbourne (but could be many other examples like Birmingham Brummies!) has relied totally on the financial support of the Dugard family Business for over 80% of existence to bale it out year on year and destroyed within 3-4 years a handful of other outside investors who over many decades in the past have pumped endless sums of money in with good but utterly misguided intent to try to make it pay for a wonderfully loyal group of 600-800 regulars!

By following (a) or (b) you are in fact diluting the very product that Coleman / Morris / Lemon are desperately trying to "big up" as a TV product and if that isn't ego driven, I don't know what is.

In fact if you are a TV executive looking for an exciting meaningful nationally based product that is competitive and happy to be highlights only with occasional LIVE TV , then the Championship would actually be far more appealing and credible.

A newcomer watching on TV would be far more interested in close competitive action staffed mostly by UK riders and not names they can't pronounce nor have heard of from various parts of the globe.

The PL is what it is, a 6 team Division trying to live way beyond it's means and desperate to destroy the better product which is the CL.  

Edited 3 hours ago by HGould
spell

[WookieboyDon]

2 hours ago, HGould said:

Quite simply.

You cannot create an 8 team PL if (a) no CL Club is prepared to be used as cannon fodder to enable Coleman / Lemon and Morris to create an 8 team PL just to get a few morcels of TV money and (b) it's the height of utter hypocrisy to try to parachute a returning Club, which is the case of Eastbourne (but could be many other examples like Birmingham Brummies!) has relied totally on the financial support of the Dugard family Business for over 80% of existence to bale it out year on year and destroyed within 3-4 years a handful of other outside investors who over many decades in the past have pumped endless sums of money in with good but utterly misguided intent to try to make it pay for a wonderfully loyal group of 600-800 regulars!

By following (a) or (b) you are in fact diluting the very product that Coleman / Morris / Lemon are desperately trying to "big up" as a TV product and if that isn't ego driven, I don't know what is.

In fact if you are a TV executive looking for an exciting meaningful nationally based product that is competitive and happy to be highlights only with occasional LIVE TV , then the Championship would actually be far more appealing and credible.

A newcomer watching on TV would be far more interested in close competitive action staffed mostly by UK riders and not names they can't pronounce nor have heard of from various parts of the globe.

The PL is what it is, a 6 team Division trying to live way beyond it's means and desperate to destroy the better product which is the CL.  

I couldn't disagree more about what a newcomer would want to watch. We need to be targeting the youth into speedway for it to have a future. And a lot of those kids will already be into football. Apart from the English/Scottish team they support, what other football shirts do you think are sold the most in the UK for kids? Those with Ronaldo/Messi/Yamal on the back. They love a foreign player that seems 'exotic' just as I did in the 80's with Maradona/Laudrup etc. They want to see and support the best out there, whether that be a player or a rider. When the GP's started to be broadcast by Sky in the 90's, it was the foreign riders just as much as the Brits that made me fall in love with the sport.

And I cannot get my head around why you think the Premiership is desperate to destroy the Championship. Without the second division, speedway would collapse in this country. The only thing they want to do is create a clearer gap between the divisions to better the sport in this country. It's not about destroying it. It's about adjusting the product, consolidating, improving and then from there it will change organically.