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I do wonder if we just have to accept the sport is beyond saving now, I've mentioned before nightclubs that were packed in the 90's early noughties are now virtually all gone, loads of pubs closing daily, when I used to go in the 80's early 90's there were generally a couple of tracks in trouble every winter but generally a new owner stepped forward to save them. You didn't have Sky in the 80's, streaming services, mobile phone and broadband monthly subs, multi plex cinemas, online shopping and so many other things these days tugging for attention of the monthly pay packet, that's before you get onto gas and electric and the cost of running a car going though the roof in the last decade. I have a feeling if it does survive and someone takes it on it will look radically different to what we know and love and that probably won't include league racing in its current form if at all. I wish the Northampton team all the very best but there's no getting away from the fact they have a massive task on their hands on multiple fronts.

Of course thats is exactly what would happen.

One of the better ones...

£15 and All kids free was for the Colts.. Men and Motors was the local channel with around 652 viewers... There hasnt been an advert on local radio for around 20 years that I have heard.. The MEN don't cover Speedway anymore but the Tameside "Whatever" does.. Tremendous reach in Tameside... Not seen 100's of kids from any school on an organised visit once, but do remember "Junior Vue" which seemed to be quite popular in the 90's, maybe that could get started sgain? Never seen any billboards used other than for GPs and SON... Never seen any bikes in city centre Manchester... And as for flyers, fairs, etc, etc etc, its 2026... TV watching is the lowest it has ever been so going out on local TV news won't make much (any) difference... One of the Sunday League teams I mentioned who got over 1000 watching them has their own YouTube Vlog which has over 5000 subscribers... Another Sunday League team has a YouTube Vlog with over 152,000 subscribers, and got 4,000 to a Sunday League final a couple of years ago.. An easy, cheap, 2026, way for Speedway Clubs to promote themselves, with riders' personalities being shown... My local football team Stockport County, when in their non league days, did pretty much what it looks like the Aces has tried, but they did it with a "County in the Community" team dedicated to visiting schools, organising visits to the ground, both on match days and not, and then doing follow ups with the schools to keep that communication going... And doing things like painting local eyesores, organising litter picks etc, making a difference to the local community, but, more importantly, showing fhe local community they still existed... They gave out thousands of free tickets to schools and community projects, as they may as well fill the empty seats and spaces in the terraces, (and earn more in the food and drink outlets), but ensured it wasnt a one off and followed up with the attendees to encourage more repeat visits.. They also dropped ticket prices from their league two days as they knew crowds would drop if they didn't... They reduced their wage bill, so reduced fhe admission fee.. Speedway would benefit hugely from that I would think, would one less HL and SS make any difference to the spectacle? And then use that money to drop prices... Running the Aces for £20, on a Saturday, with all kids in for free, would deliver a much larger crowd than paying £27, and whatever a kids fee is in the grandstand, on a Monday night... Dan and Brady wouldn't be there but fhe DU'ers would, so a decent level.. There is still a reasonable following for Speedway, as the play offs often show, its just getting these numbers to attend regularly being the challenge.. Laying out not far off £30, and on a Monday night, won't meet that challenge...

This is the thing he never explains himself clearly his logic is that ruuning speedway is not viable anymore and the new track at Studley is. but for some reason hes determined to see the abbey knocked down even before Studley is built and up and running . With gaming int record quite clearly the supporters are not going to let it be knocked down before Studley is built. Park at no time has said that studley is dependent on funds being raised by houses being build at the Abbey.thou quite cleary thats the only reason gaming int would be having anything to do with studley project .

In my experience Nora is a clear step down from NDL. The lack of a league is, to me, a massive disadvantage: each Nora meeting is standalone. Also, the meetings I have seen run to a baffling, contrived formula which, I was told on here is what clubs choose to do. Nora better than nothing, however, and I will support on hope of NDL next year

Never in public . Park said last night no one had came forward..as i always said if like what they were saying was true and they were losing money why not club up for sale and let someone have a go at running. It.At no time in public did they ever do this and they left the abbey saying it was not a viable option to run speedway there.. Now you have to question why someone would do that and what the motive would be .

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried …… Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local & national trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms. I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

Belle Vue regularly dropped admission charges to £15 or less with any number of kids free. They ran on a Sunday afternoon to help boost crowds. 99.9% of the 2.75 million didn’t care that Dan & Brady wasn’t riding but the problem was nobody turned up, well 500 on a good day. They couldn’t even get speedway fans to attend even though they had been told six days before that it was happening. When you add in the fact that they have repeatedly tried …… Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local & national trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Have a standing display of bike, suits & merchandise in the city centre. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. Constant bombardment of social media posts across all the mayor platforms. I’m a speedway nut but I’ve more than halved my attendance due to the fact that the majority is boring sh^%<e!

It will certainly be more expensive on racenights if they find out about the speedway.

As they say, 'between a rock and a hard place'. 🙁

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bs37TMRic/ It is featured here and on the Spedeworth site, but not wall to wall advertising I'll grant you

He's a director of Swindon Motorsports Ltd, so the logic would be that he believes in the Studley Grange project. Of course, with Gaming International being the company with significant control of Swindon Motorsports Ltd, an alternative view is that if and when permission to demolish the Abbey Stadium were given there would suddenly be a reason why Studley Grange could not proceed

There should be no other meetings than the British final run on this date. It will maximise the amount of fans attending and free up all riders. It's not rocket science, we have so many free dates throughout the year it can't be that difficult can it?

You’ve summed it up perfectly. Everyone can clearly see the park’s long-standing agenda: the same tired narrative as Osborne about being unviable at the Abbey but somehow viable at Studley. And we all know how that is going to end.

Failure to have a nationwide promoting policy is one issue as is the price point to watch the sport and the attitude of many punters who only want league speedway racing rather than general speedway racing. As an example of what many miss out on you only have to take a look at the individual meeting in Poland on the 28th March and the line up you are getting and tickets for just over £11.00. Once upon a time we could watch great individual meetings in this country which filled out the speedway calendar but now virtually nothing. Add to the lack of support for these meetings the failure by so many clubs to put on second halves for up and coming riders is only damaging the sport further. Put a £1 on the admission fee and put on a second half. Clubs will have already been paid by the punter so it does not matter if the majority leave after the last race of the league meeting, the riders are getting valuable track time. If you have decent sponsorship and hold individual meetings at the right time then the top riders would come but many do not want to commit to a whole season in the UK. It is delusional to think that the worlds top riders would flock to the UK if a TV deal was in place and the points money matched what is available elsewhere. TV has made little difference to the numbers going through the turnstiles and has never nor ever will match the pulling power that fills stadia in Poland where you have broadcasters falling over themselves to get a slice of the action. In the UK you just have to accept it a case of also rans and the sport should take a long hard look at itself and decide what is best for the domestic scene and build on that. A new club comes along so just sit back and see how it pans out. What they do about promoting, team names, riders, promoters, managers etc, is down to those behind the venture and I am sure they are not naive or the amateurs that many think they are and all anyone needs to hope is that it goes well. How they do it is their business and no one else’s.

There's a nice picture of the entrance... what more do you want 🤷‍♂️😂

So the choice for the Championship is to rearrange or run with facilities Hasn't the call over the last few years been "Why are we running the British Final on a Monday - it needs to be a Saturday night to attract a bumper crowd" Now it is set to be many are up in arms It affects one night in 6 months - get over it The tail shouldn't wag the dog.....

It is and it does. Riders likely to be involved: Richard Lawson, Lewy Kerr, Dan Thompson, Anders Rowe, Craig Cook, Scott Nicholls and, possibly, Ben Barker, Dan Gilkes, Vinnie Ford plus any others I have missed out! Speedway Regs 14.1 relating to the British Final includes this paragraph: A Rider who withdraws will not under any circumstances be permitted to participate in any other speedway event on the same date

Dan and Brady who? That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester.. That's how well Belle Vue market them... However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms... An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it? My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators.. I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"... Of course it was... Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point... Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

Isn't it part of their licence requirements?

Just a thought, I wonder if he thinks Studley has more of a chance, than keeping the Abbey stadium, so, he maybe hoping if he sides with Studley, Swindon speedway has a better chance of returning? (devil's advocate).

The whole thing seems to be a lesson in how not to run a sports club... And I support Spurs so at the moment I certainly know how not to run a sports club...!!!!

I suppose it all depends on the professionalism of the promotion. Poole are known to pay less in points money than most similar teams, that’s been the way for many years, but to use sponsors to top up riders’ income. But at the same time, they’ve promoted heavily in the local area (maybe less recently but that might change with Matt Ford moving back to England). Central marketing by BSPA/BSPL hasn’t worked so it’s down to each club to do their own. And my guess is that BV believe that having Dan and Brady gives them a better selling story. I don’t live anywhere near Manchester so have no idea how or even if they maximise this