George Dodds

not me that would be someone who knew what they were doing Just to clarify what another poster (not you) seems to have misread. What I wrote was that I was not tech savvy to do something and not that no-one with technical knowledge was on site. Obviously there were many who knew what they were doing - their focus was primarily on getting the link restored to enable the meeting to start.

Sorry not being obtuse but I don't know how Youtube's chat windows switch on and off

I'm afraid I not tech savvy enough to know how you inform people that a link is broken via a broken link It would have been nice to put some form of digital test card up but as I say the nuts and bolts of whether that is even possible are beyond me. Ironically had there been a crowd in the stadium we would have started on time as the power fault was identified and rectified by 6.50ish. It was restoring the livestream link that then took time. As you say there is a lot to be learned and some of the criticism will undoubtedly be useful going forward. Announcing the cancellation of the semis and final earlier? Yeah I take the point but in a way you could not make a decision until the very minute that it became impossible to run them within the curfew. Had Drew Kemp not hit the fence with such a clout in heat 16 then it may have been possible to get the final three races in, from memory the decision was not made until just after that and announced as soon as was humanly possible. 20 heats with everyone having met once was a logical cut-off in sporting terms. After that you are committed to completing three more races come what may.

only sort of. I know that as soon as was possible the new link was posted on the news section of the Bandits' website and that the twitter and Facebook accounts advertised the links. Although obviously if those looking at the broken link didn't look on the sites showing them how to follow the new link .then ...

five different sponsors came forward for him. Same with Kyle Bickley and, from memory, Drew Kemp.

all rigorously complied with the Covid restrictions under which the meeting was allowed to go ahead.

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From the Bandits Facebook page COMMENTARY TEAM! Your commentary team for tomorrow night’s British under 21 Final will consist of Dave Goddard and Kev Doolan! King Kev makes his debut in the commentary booth alongside Goddard who is the regular voice of Premier Sports coverage of the Polish Ekstraliga, the Swedish Elite League and Tapes Up Productions. We will be going Live on the BanditsTV YouTube channel from 6.45pm tomorrow night so don’t forget to tune in and spread the word folks! Tapes up 7pm!

link to the Berwick speedway website for Wednesday's meeting https://www.berwickspeedway.com/banditstv/ Same page for any donations towards the cost of staging/streaming the meeting. Livestream begins at 6.45 on Wednesday evening.

I'm sure they'll spell it out over the next couple of days but from what's on Facebook I believe you simply watch it via the club's Youtube channel Bandits TV, accessed via the club website or Youtube itself and then, if you want, make a donation via the yellow donate button on the Berwick speedway website. No sign up as such as it's not really pay for view but actually a free stream with an invitation to "pay what you think it's worth" via the donate button.

cloudy with a couple of showers ... typical Berwick race day weather. As for the rules on spectators at sporting events ... not sure the government has made it up yet for next Wednesday.

depends whether there's a sporting dispensation available. Rugby players have been playing in France without quarantining on return.

UNDER 21 FINAL LINEUP! In draw order here is your lineup for the 2020 British Under 21 Final 1, Alex Spooner (Kent Kings) 2, Joe Thompson ( Leicester Lions and Leicester Cubs) 3, Jordan Jenkins ( Redcar Bears and Kent Kings) 4, Anders Rowe ( Swindon Robins and Somerset Rebels) 5, Jason Edwards ( Eastbourne Eagles and Mildenhall Fen Tigers) 6, Daniel Bewley ( Belle Vue Aces) 7, Joe Lawlor ( Redcar Bears and Leicester Cubs) 8, Jack Thomas ( Birmingham Brummies) 9, Drew Kemp ( Ipswich Witches and Eastbourne Eagles) 10, Jordan Palin ( Scunthorpe Scorpions and Belle Vue Colts) 11, Jamie Halder ( Newcastle Gems) 12, Dan Thompson (Leicester Lions and Leicester Cubs) 13, Kyle Bickley (Berwick Bandits and Belle Vue Colts) 14, Tom Brennan ( Eastbourne Eagles) 15, Leon Flint ( Berwick Bandits and Amadale Devils) 16, Daniel Gilkes ( Kent Royals and Kent Kings)

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

but 500 people at £10 is not £5000. Immediately remove the cost of collecting the fees, let's say they use ~Paypal and it's 50p per transaction, then immediately you've lost £250. Many other costs will increase through volume - admittedly some may decrease - but simple maths doesn't do it. Twice as many watching at half the price will almost certainly not generate the same income.

don't know - can't afford to buy it.

i doubt £3-£4 would even cover the cost of collecting your payment, employing the production personnel and arranging the connection to your laptop. What's the point of losing money on it?

EFL football £10 per game - season pass available. Think people have to get their heads around the fact that if they want to watch a streamed meeting then they have to pay a price which covers the production costs and makes a profit ... and that is not a fiver!! Newspapers are a prime example of how everyone wants access to the product but are not prepared to pay for it. If the British Final and the Belle Vue streaming makes sense financially then it might encourage more in the future. I have no doubt that people want to buy streaming -I've still to be convinced that they are willing to pay a viable subscription fee.

But priced correctly means covering the hosting, broadcast and security, collecting payments costs and then making enough of a profit to make it a worthwhile investment. And that is not a fiver. Football can afford to subsidise its streaming because clubs already receive huge amounts from tv for each game. And even they charge around £10 a game for EFL, so I think they have the pricing about right, the fact people don't want to pay suggests it may not be the cash cow you think

still it allowed John Berry and his rose-tinted glasses wearing supporters to claim he had all the answers without ever having to prove it. Maybe he did, we'll never know, but wasn't he involved in a less than stellar attempt to run Wimbledon after his success at Ipswich?

It is a huge problem. Speedway tracks with locations similar to cricket clubs - heart of the community, surrounded by houses - are few and far between ... and subject to severe planning restrictions to operations. Nothing to stop them building good facilities though.

I'm not really arguing against you - speedway's biggest problem has been its decision to be tenants and not owners but, and Berrington Lough is an example, owning your own stadium is not the simple answer to untold riches. I'm well aware of the strength of league cricket in Yorkshire and Lancashire - albeit it is much weaker now than when I watched the CLL, Lancashire and Bradford leagues regularly between the late eighties and mid-noughties, but let's be honest the point of a league cricket club is not to make money through attendances but to subsidise running, often a large number, of cricket teams through non-cricket activities. They also don't - legally at least - pay all bar one of the players at the club so while a lot of the points you make have are valid on the it's not really a like-for-like comparison - although Somerset do seem to have followed the blueprint by subsidising speedway through its hospitality facilities. The regular 1000 plus crowds seem fanciful as I doubt that any non-county cricket ground can currently hold anything approaching that number although in the days when Richards, Sobers, Worrall, Garner and Cronje played league cricket in Lancashire may very well have.

True owning the stadia would open up all sorts of other income but also adds to the outgoings. Your Lancashire League cricket club will not take £250,000 from clubhouse hire this year so that will leave them in a mess because - unless things have changed since I used to watch it - most clubs struggle to attract three figure crowds through the turnstiles. Commercial sponsorship and corporate hospitality must all be under real threat as businesses either fold or cut back on outgoings after lockdown.

On the contrary I would say it was pretty much every british sport with the exception of top division English football, rugby union and cricket. They are the only ones subsidised by huge TV contracts the rest have to make their own money.

It's a huge leap I accept. The one thing I would say is that people said "who'll go to pub/a cafe/McDonald's takeaway/Starbucks/hairdressers/barbers etc and once they re-opened enough people managed to overcome their fears. To be honest anyone who was too afraid to commit to a 10/12 meeting season probably should just put it on ice until 2021.