mikebv

It seems to be a view that is a Belle Vue thing .. It isn't, it is a national event, jointly ran by all the promoters... It is the BSP as a collective that needs to ensure a decent crowd.. Personally holding an event of a Championship level, at a track that held two GP's quite recently, isn't the best idea for me..., Even more so when that track is running it's third meeting in less than 3 weeks.. When the British Final ran at Coventry, it was packed, as World Title hopes were on the line, World Class talent was in every race, and Supporters clubs ran coaches from over 30 tracks... No one relied on Coventry to sell out the event by themselves... This, if no Dan B is possibly the lowest standard of BF to be held ever... A tough sell, and one it doesn't look like any promoters around the country have done anything about at their own track... A coach from each would have got a thousand or so there..

Hopefully the start of a longer term relationship... Good to get it on free to air.. Only concern is the optics of it playing out in front of loads of empty seats.... They may to take a hit and do several hundred very cheap seats... "Speedway is that still going?" Will be something many watching will be saying.. Therefore, make it look ultra popular... And ensure every track with a rider there gets mentioned... A "Golden Ticket" to be played..

100%, all very much live for now given the landscape... But a signing like this, later in the season, will always give some fresh impetus to a club, which can only be a positive when attracting people into the stadium.. Especially one that could have a few "dead rubbers" as they are pretty much nailed on for the play offs...

Transparency indeed... I don't know. Some on here seem to expect far too much... Let's hope when the "big reveal" takes place re TV coverage, (have I missed it as it was said to be this morning?), that Dan will also be confirmed as the major surprise to ensure a decent crowd...

Very shrewd signing .. If nothing else, he will get some interest generated and bring more in to watch... USA riders now a rarity so plenty of marketing opportunities locally to create some good publicity, as there is a definite "angle" to work... And, if it works out, a potential long term investment... I would say "typical Poole" but some might smash down their phones, tablets or laptops..

YouTube show quite a few of them... The ones I have seen had Harrison doing the programme presenting and Steve Rider at the track, and, I think, Dave Lanning doing the commentary... Central used to also do a few meetings from what I can see, covering the fair few Midland teams of the time, a mixture of league, cup and individuals... Regional TV companies must have got decent viewer numbers given some had a decent amount of tracks within their reach...

I am sure Brady will prioritise the meeting at Foxhall....

Great occasions... 30+ teams meant a big catchment of fans who could attend... With the vast majority of teams, if not all, getting four figure attendances... Some of which were 5,000 plus... Now we have 15 teams, with a large percentage of them getting three figure attendances, and even the top attended clubs being much less than 2,000 regularly... Maybe moving it around the country would "freshen up" the event?... The main protagonists are Championship riders so taking it to a Championship track with a few top tier only riders providing some novelty value, may improve attendances?... Last night at the NSS, four of the finalists that rode, scored (excluding Ht2 when they all rode against each other), six points from a collective 13 rides... And another more experienced finalist got three points from four rides.. Sadly. Long gone are the days when this title had a good number of some of the best riders in the world in attendance, with 2nd tier No1's and decent top tier SS's making up the numbers hoping to do well against them... £27 to stand and watch too...

And all was being sorted early during this season too... Man Citeh's verdict will be announced sooner...

Take your bike... You might be riding looking at who is missing...

Just watched the Wroclaw v Lublin match... What an atmosphere in the stadium.... Great racing too with Kowalski beating Zmarzlik bringing the house down!! Incredible how exactly the same sport in two countries can be so different...

Spot on.... Strange the GP's in Manchester ran on Friday and Saturday... Monday and Tuesday surely would have been better?..

The big money comes in through the sponsorship and TV coverage.with "the prize" being huge contracts... Huge budgets means riders earning circa €800k for riding for your local speedway team will inevitably bring local, and national, interest, and a decent following... The whole thing then looks "big time", which can only be a good thing when being viewed by the general public... The GP's still pay out decent money with anyone regularly in and around the top six earning £80k to £100k over a season of 10 GP's.. And winning the World Final was never a massive cash prize but the World Champion made big money over the coming 12 months.. I seem to remember it was said in the late 70's it was worth up to £250k in sponsorship, points money, and lucrative appearance fees.. Zmarzlik currently nationally advertisers Aztorin Watches which will be a very nice earner for him I would suggest, especially given the price point they sell at.. Again, bringing "eyeballs" to the sport through his appearance in the adverts.. UK Speedway desperately needs to look "big time" and quickly, and, somehow, bringing big money into it will deliver those optics.. Hopefully someone can make it happen...

Contrived teams being just put together, with minimal affinity being felt by many who closely follow the sport.. It doesn't engender that emotional loyalty that a team sport needs to be successful.... Crowds are better at the weekends than when they have played during the week though.. And heading to the knockout stage the interest and crowds are expected to grow... Sounds strangely familiar....

A Polish top tier team gets, according to AI, a minimum, $8M dollars a year... If they followed the UK model, then they would be lucky to earn 5% of that, given TV, Sponsors, and Fans wouldn't be engaged.. As for the GP's? The riders earn plenty from sponsors, and can use their GP position to negotiate better terms in Poland's top tier..