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Good to be reminded about what an excellent co-commentator Chris Louis is ... Hopefully Eurosport will make use of him next year (if he wants!) rather than the hapless Ermolenko.

What is also refreshing to see, is a meeting going ahead in conditions that are anything but perfect. All too often we see meetings cancelled or called off where there is a hint of rain and the track is abit damp. You only need to watch a few of the heats from Monday to see it is possible if you've got the right sort of riders who are up for giving it a real go.

Don’t agree with you on numbers. Some may stay home to save a few quid, but I think many many more will stream. Tjat could be past supporters who may have moved away from the area, supporters like me that find travel (30 mile each way) is too much but would stream, there would be away supporters who cannot afford a day off work to travel Poole to BVue for example but would stream, and of course keen supporters who would stream watch a good match between two teams, neither that he supports. So at the right price, streamers could outnumber those in actual attendance. £8 max.

That was the point I made earlier when I suggested deals for away fixtures; 90% of fans wouldn't even consider making a 400 mile round trip to follow their team, but a good few of them would be happy to pay for a live stream.

Great to hear in the BSPL Chairman's statement that the income from streaming more than covered the costs of the British Final meeting!! Not all bad then.....!

I posted the rules for tonight 11 hours ago- which proved to be 100% correct

Very impressed with the effort put in by everyone, the youngsters were right in the thick of the action.Praise for Chris Louis, really impressive with his race comments and thoughts on conditions and explaining himself. Very refreshing from the usual screaming we’re used too.Eurosport need to get him on board.!!

For some time now BSF members have been saying British speedway is in the doldrums, dying on its feet, and what’s needed is some different thinking, something creative. The thinking a family of four staying at home, spend £12 instead of £50, thus the track loses £38 plus drinks, food etc, is stifling the creative thinking. When this pandemic is managed and we can have a bit of normality, many workers will have lost their jobs (how many millions we don’t know), their won’t be many families who can afford £50 plus, and I just wonder what percentage of fans currently are mum, dad plus 2 kids anyway. Creative thinking, here is a good example I just seen on a shopping channel on TV. ...... they selling a pair of ladies thigh length boots (I don’t normally watch ladies fashion, honest, but I just woke up from mid afternoon nap) and this was the offer. You order your size and they send two pairs, one the size you order, other pair half size bigger, whichever fits you keep and send the other pair back post free. Immediately I said to the wife “what a brilliant idea”, she looks at me with a blank look on her face. Creative thinking....... they almost certain of a sale by sending two pairs, different sizes. If they sent the size ordered, say ladies size 5, and it was a bit tight, it would be sent back and unlikely a size bigger ordered (lots of purchases are impulse buys). Result.... no sale. So, two pairs sent, different sizes, one pair is likely to be fit and kept by customer..... kerching - money in the till that might not have been there. Brilliant idea. The model doesn’t fit speedway sales, but it’s the creative thinking needed to INCREASE sales that is needed.

Somewhere in Manchester

For me, the streaming should be the icing on the cake, an attempt to "mop up" those punters that aren't going to watch an event live (in normal times). You'd have to price/market the stream so as not to effect the live attendance.

Whilst we don't need to know the exact ins and outs of every financial transcation, it's refreshing for the BSPA to open up and pass on this information too. Long may that continue!

That's the way people SHOULD be using it...

Just been able to watch it - great meeting !!

71 deaths in uk last 24 hours, largest number since July 1st. If cases have been doubling each week for couple weeks it’s obvious to me that deaths are likely to increase shortly after, People mixing without social distancing/facemasks etc, simply ignoring advice and now legislation merely because they don’t want to conform is shouting out “I could t give a monkeys about anyone else, I will do what I want, it’s all about me, me, me”. Hospitals will be overrun, staff will be in danger, all because of selfish self centred people.

Who cares, by all accounts he's putting plenty into British speedway, deserved winner last night, rode some very intelligent lines. Too much to hope that somebody wouldn't be able to resist a dig.

Not posted on Speedway-forum for a few years (apart from a couple in the last half hour re British Final 2020.) but saw the subject about Michael Lee and 40 years on for him being world champion in 1980. Holy Moly I happened to be at the meeting in Ullevi, Sweden on that FRIDAY night. Me and my Coventry teenage mates had booked a Tee-Mill tours trip ( a coach journey from Birmingham And back) essentially to watch our Ole Olsen bring another world championship - alas we also SAW Ole fail to make the world finals - albeit was just a reserve - in his demise at the inter-continental final at White City. en-route to the final we had heard that Finn Thomsen (Wolverhampton) had crashed in practice, broken a leg, and Ole was in. Total bullsh**. So our support had to be moved elsewhere and the next best was to watch Michael win the evening. I so remember walking out of the stadium towards the ‘town’ and hearing Lee-o, Lee-o, Lee-o being sung by the Other English contingent. A spectacular evening with thousands in attendance - beaten I must add to the 2 finals I attended at Wembley By Olsen and Penhall (the Penhall win not the best for a Coventry supporter !) This era was fantastic for a fan of the sport, so many GREATS with many being English - Kenny Carter, Peter Collins, Malcolm Simmons, Dave Jessup, John Louis, of course Michael Lee, Sorry to bore the living daylights out of your all with my memories, but tonight I have enjoyed reliving the good times, this rather than enduring the grief we all encountering with the never ending COVID episode. Stay strong all and stay safe.

Exactly... It's not quite the financial suicide that the doom merchants seem to believe.

Well, I used to pay money to travel all over the country to watch matches as a neutral, and there were plenty of us that used to do the same. So, why wouldn't people pay money to watch online? Obviously, there are those who wouldn't, but people like you and I would.

As Racers and Royals has already pointed out, it is hardly a big deal to get a single Russian U21 rider to Poland, to potentially take one ride on each day, when they don't even need their own machinery. Last year, Finland did exactly the same with Timi Salonen. They got him to Manchester to ride on Tero Aarnio's bikes. If you don't believe me, check footage of the meeting yourself. Having been in the pits as a sponsor of the Finnish team, the third pit bay was empty. When questioned what he was riding at scrutineering, the machine examiners were told they had already examined it (Tero's spare bike). If Finland can do it, it's hardly that difficult for the Russians with more riders to pick from and more resources. So please do everyone a favour and stick to the point, rather than going off at a tangent and moaning about Chuganov riding on a Polish licence. Hardly ideal, but there are other replacements available.

Well done to Thomsen!

I wish just for once you would get your facts right- nothing to do with BSI - it`s a FIM ruling and Russia have had all year to prepare for this competition- the U21 can borrow equipment from a Russian rider in Poland so it`s not that expensive to get him there- the team manager presumably has to get there as well !!!

Sadly, the BSF members you are talking about don't care. "This is the way we've always done it, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to change..." Honestly, I don't know what these people want. They reckon they are "speedway fans", yet they complain about everything. They wonder why crowds are so poor, yet they are quite happy to state that they wouldn't go, even if it was free. They say that modern speedway is crap. How would they know when they refuse to even watch it on TV? Every major professional sport welcomes TV, but no, speedway doesn't need it... There are a lot of older fans who still follow the sport, but they are criticised by the younger brigade who tell us we are "keeping new fans away". Live streaming is a valuable tool, but no, that's another thing that we don't need, as it will kill tracks. It's like they really want to keep speedway to themselves, even though they aren't interested enough to go themselves. Weird...

Let's hope so.

100%, anywhere else that meeting would have been off. As far as rider's willing to give it a go, the winner, Rory Schlein is one of the biggest complainants regards wet tracks. That tells you the massive compliments Belle Vue deserve. I'd go as far as, any BSPA or world event should be held only at Belle Vue in the UK, it never fails to deliver.

In an ideal world, every club within the top tiers would be on board with this and the BSPA effectivelly create a "Network" which people sign up to on a monthly basis. Every match is shown live on the Network and income is dished out to the clubs involved. You could end up attracting large amounts of neutrals and general armchair fans to this who have been lost to the sport. This is in my opinion ambitious yes, but could be the answer to keeping British Speedway afloat.

You'd think each match would on average be watched by at least 2 people in the same household, in my case 3 of us watched the British Final so it worked out cheap as chips. With the demise of speedway in the UK it might be just what the sport needs. With plenty of back up material to keep people entertained during breaks etc it makes for a solid few hours of entertainment compared to freezing your bits off on the terraces waiting for an ambulance to come back or watching a tractor go around and nothing else to entertain you. It's sad the sports come to this but I fear it's best days are behind it from a live point of view apart from the odd meeting like Cardiff or a Testimonial. I thought the coverage was excellent, thoroughly professional, there was one tapes view that was a bit dodgy a few times but in the main 10/10, credit where it's due.

Here's a novel idea, more info and details etc on the Berwick Website. I'll be watching it and donating, wonder how many others will? the event is now scheduled for Wednesday the 21st of October at 7pm. * Pay what you like pay per view: Watch the British Under 21 Final from the comfort of your living room on your SmartTV or your household devices. Before, during or after the event head on over to www.berwickspeedway.com and pay what you feel the event is worth

You would like to think the price would come down if they done it on a more regular basis.As a one-off event it wasn't a too bad a price.They can't charge that price for example if they were showing one every week imo.

There are ways round that though, for example the Edinburgh stream that was due to launch this year had a geographical block on it so it was only available if you were a certain distance away from the stadium so as not to discourage the normally attending fans. I don’t think streaming is going to revolutionize the sport but where it can help is in the shortcomings of fans through the gate. Away fans apart from the odd local derby are all but non existent now and that is a market that can be tapped. Using say Somerset as an example, realistically for a normal league match they would probably have 10 fans or so in attendance at Armadale. Now if the match is available for them to stream at say £10 you may lose the 10 fans that would attend but if that is made up by 50/60 somerset fans buying the stream plus another 10/20 neutrals that might just fancy it then you have increased income probably by about £500 multiply that by 20-25 home matches and it could be another £10k+ plus in the club coffers

PAY WHAT YOU LIKE...PAY PER VIEW! Berwick Bandits Speedway Club is proud to announce that the British Under 21 Final will be broadcast Live around the world via the club’s YouTube channel Bandits TV! With the constant changing situation due to Covid 19, at this stage it is unclear whether we will be able to accommodate a limited number of spectators at the event or if we will have to run behind closed doors but your constantly forward thinking promotion have put plans in place for all eventualities. We have lots to get through so check out the ‘all you need to know’ below Date change: the event is now scheduled for Wednesday the 21st of October at 7pm. Pay what you like pay per view: Watch the British Under 21 Final from the comfort of your living room on your SmartTV or your household devices. Before, during or after the event head on over to www.berwickspeedway.com and pay what you feel the event is worth? A link will be available for you to make a swift and secure payment and that will go live on the day of the event. Is it possible that people will just watch for free? Yes....but we have every confidence that Speedway fans in the UK and around the world will appreciate the effort and pay what they feel is a fair price. Tickets & Attendance: At this stage it is very unclear as to whether spectators will be able to attend. If and when we can release tickets, we will contact our sponsors and 2020 season pass holders and the remaining quantities will be available for purchase via our website. To avoid disappointment and if we are able to issue tickets they will go live approximately 7 days before the event. Sponsorship: The 2020 British Under 21 Final will rely heavily on sponsorship and a big reason for our innovative ‘pay what you like pay per view’ idea is to maximise the eyeballs tuning into the livestream thus providing substantial exposure for the sponsors who will be graphically represented and announced throughout the event, on the website and of course via our social media platforms. Please check out the list below and don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to back this innovative and prestigious event. Title sponsorship: Please contact us @ club@berwickspeedway.com Powered By/Sub title sponsor: £500. Souvenir Race Jacket Sponsorship: £130, appear on and get to keep your own souvenir race jacket from the event. 18 available. Heat Sponsorship: £100, 13 available. #Under21Final #BanditsTV

You'd hope they've learnt their lesson from the TV contracts, the value of the Sky contracts balanced off playing in front of empty stadiums and by the time a lot of clubs cottoned on that the value of the TV contracts were going down along with the paying punter it was too late, Sky were gone and so were the paying punters. You could sit at home on a cold wet night and watch your team... and then watch any other world class sport for a month or lump out £15-£18 to watch a load of rubbish

I am one of those and agree about the price structure certainly no more than £10, but I would pay that to watch many more meetings than I bothered to attend in the last three previous full seasons. I would rather utilise the time at home that is consumed pointlessly, for me, in the stadium. And my food and drink is of a vastly superior quality if I require it! Stream on! Why should speedway not gain many more new and returning fans via this method, there is ceertainly very little "crowd atmoshphere" in the only stadium that I can easily attend, so I would not be missing out on that!

And it is the lack of that application and effort that has seen me watch fewer and fewer domesic UK league matches over the three seasons previous to this one - even though I live only three miles from a track! ( assuming this is rated as a season! )

Sadly, that's always been the case (particularly with speedway fans), but the pandemic has really brought it out into the open. I see no reason why they couldn't do some kind of deal; maybe even for a club's away fixtures? That way, the club could at least be making money from away fixtures where they wouldn't normally...

The best geordie foreiner has got to be our Dickie juul tho

It’s all well and good adding perspective but you have to add both sides to that perspective. Watching a meeting on the TV when you’ve been starved of Speedway is one thing. When it comes to £12 a week it’s a different kettle of fish, especially if you’re already paying for Sky/BT Sport (or whatever other sports/entertainment TV packages you may have). Especially if there is a televised meeting each week on Eurosport that you’re already paying for. Even if that £12 becomes even better value for money should you be watching at home with your family and thus splitting that cost further. Streaming isn’t the future of British Speedway. It is doing a job for now. If anything if we begin to lean on streaming live meetings it will damage the sport further. As is the case with football in the lower leagues, it is the next best thing to actually being in the ground but a lot of fans would rather keep their money in their pocket. There is no comparison to being at the event live, even if it costs a little extra.

Good to note that funds from pay per view were enough to not make a loss.

Personally wouldn’t question crump or schleins inclusion I’m more disappointed in those British riders who declined the invitation.

With a season of racing behind him, Luke Becker would have a real chance in this meeting, but it is a big ask on the basis of almost no competitive action this year.

Just to keep you happy, I'd argue with it. I'd put Nicki ahead of Greg!

Have you just woke up? There's been no British speedway all year how do you expect them you pay the bills.

So think about it, Spedeworth are getting £125,000 income out of an alleged grass roots non elite sport from a 2500 crowd, somebody somewhere seriously needs to get a fricking grip on this country's sport regulations. 'Professional elite sport' of any kind can't make a penny out of paying punters yet the stockcars can! Its absolutely 'Beep, Beep, Beeping' rediculous!!!

So the original West Ham track was a Long Track?. I always believed a long track had to be between 500 and 1,000m.. Seems I was wrong.

CANNOT possibly make it pay for that ... less than pint. Come on ...

Well after just reading a post on facebook & people having a go about either joe or dan Thompson replacing Kyle bickley in the british final at Ipswich... Well i'm astounded to read the criticism of our young & up & coming talent for instance do people not realise whilst holding down full time jobs like Newcastle's Archie Freeman's dad paul drove and mechanicked for his son on Friday Edinburgh then sunday Scunthorpe then in Monday all the way down to Plymouth fir his boy to do the best he can is pretty fantastic I can say... But just remember you doubters in the future if it ain't for our young lions trying there best now we may not have speedway in 10 years or so time

I see Kyle Bickley has withdrawn from Saturday's meeting and will be replaced by Joe Thompson. While many of us questioned his inclusion I sincerely hope the negativity on forums isn't behind his withdrawal and wish the lad well. I've seen what he IS capable over the last few seasons so let's hope he's just hit a wee slump due to lack of time on the track.

Lost interest now I'd say. Purchased tickets for Leicester and Ippo this month, both events bit the dust. I'm a creature of habit, i need regular local meetings to keep me going. Chasing odd meetings hundreds of miles away, don't do it for me.

Find it a bit weird how many people who frequent these forums and post more than average, still claim to no longer have any interest in speedway, why are they here? there must be an element they care about otherwise why waste your precious free time? unless they have an agenda of "i don't have speedway anymore so i hope it dies, so no one has it" I amongst many others became lost to live speedway when they closed Arena Essex down (its not been bulldozed yet, so i still live in hope) and i have not been to a meeting since, but of course i watch on tv, and i still love the sport, its been part of my life for over 30 years since i was 15, its in the blood now, i am not blind to all the problems that exist and want to make us pull our hair out when the promoters make in our own eyes the wrong decisions but i still enjoy the racing for what it is, four riders, four laps, throwing a bike around that is basically a rocket on two wheels and making it look stupidly easy, in short, everything that appealed to me when i first started going, when i didn't know the riders, or the complicated rules or any of the other red tape that surrounds the sport.