mikebv

I started off in Stockport in 1986, and then worked all over the UK, from the North of Scotland, to the South Coast of England, with Stockport again being on the list 18 years ago... Got to watch quite a bit of Speedway too on my travels...

The pallets were covered in some kind of artificial grass... When my lad mentioned them my OCD, hardened by 39 years in retail leadership, kicked in, and I started to analyse them closely.... Whereby, I noticed they were different colours... Those 39 years in the retail game, where first and lasting impressions count for so much, made me come to the conclusion that, for the next time, (the GP's?), the pallets should all be painted Gold, Silver and Bronze...

The "optics" are fundamentally important for any business... UK Speedway sadly is ran, in the main, by ex riders, and friends and sponsors of riders... With well meaning amateur Speedway enthusiasts working for free, alongside them, just so as they can be close to their heroes... Professional Event Management, and Professional Marketing, is a huge opportunity, however, as we know, their huge seven figures outlay will be to riders who are practically unknown to 80 million people... An amazing business plan... Which suggest these ex riders, and rider sponsors, are quite happy with their regular "Social Gatherings" where they meet up for a "Night at the Speedway"....

Literally, seven figures spent on riders, (who Average Joe Public will never have heard of), yet hardly anything on professional PR, Media output, and Event Management.... Absolutely crackers!!!!

Only just read last weeks copy of the Speedway Star and they do a two page spread on Northampton... Mark Lemon is quoted as saying that they needed a sixth team for the "integrity and credibility" of the sport... I do hope when he used those words, he managed to do it with a straight face... Fair play if he did....

To be fair... Their efforts are similar to the other five from what I have heard or read...

At last!!!! Someone who can market an event.. Give Linda a bell and she if she wants to get involved... You'll need her official paper bag for the tombola tickets...

Exactly.... The other night at the PCMT was probably the most Aces fans attendance that they will have all year, except for the play offs... No "first night back" feel about the meeting at all, no promotion of their first actual team meeting either... They do a 50/50 draw that got the winner 400+ quid... I would have raffled off a season ticket... I reckon most Aces fans there in the crowd (1300?) would have spent a fiver... Then do another at the first couple of actual meetings... Or do something like a £500 holiday voucher.. Something is needed on the nights to engage the crowd, with the racing just being part of it... And, do it right, and you can make a fair few quid...

And the interest wasn't too great to start with sadly...

Surprise!!!!!!!! One off gestures don't work... A free meeting needs to be part of a larger enticement programme with gradual imcreases.. Eg next four meetings for a tenner each, next two for fifteen, next two twenty, then full price... With constant communication and feedback sought during this period, from those who are using the discounted tickets.... "Build it and they will come" only works in movies... The sport desperately needs people who can market and engage..

I don't know.... Moan. Moan. Moan... That's all Speedway fans do... Anyhow, whilst on that topic, (and all valid comments by the way)..... You can add the Sam Masters/Adam Ellis - Who is who? Ruined a few programmes that.. Adam being in Ipswich kevlars probably the main clue it wasnt Sam.. The interviews were attempted once from the big screen but it just sounded like there was a gale force wind blowing through and you couldn't hear what was being said... So it didnt happen again.. My 22 year old lad summed up the overall presentation with this comment... "Everything Speedway does is always a little bit sh*t, but funny, isn't it?".. (He was particularly impressed with the "pallet podium").. PS. Good to see the usual taxi load (seven seater to be fair) of Sheffield fans in attendance, and they seemed to take some pleasure in giving Kurtz some stick... Hope they enjoyed the final... All in all, a good nights entertainment if you were there for the racing, and, like most Speedway fans do automatically now, made allowances for the overall presentation levels..

I believe that Benjamin "Sprouts" Netanyahu won't be included this season...

What an opportunity.... It would be like the Masked Singer... Seven riders, and, one by one... "Take it off! Take it off!"... Harry Redknapp and Linda Lusardi as the judges guessing the identities...

A decent (ish) crowd for a PCMT, and opening night, with the weather maybe knocking a fair few off the total, (hopefully they streamed it)... Some excellent close racing in several races, with Kurtz and Fricke showing great trust and ability to race each other so closely, and hard, at top speed... Kvech too, in heat 19 was brilliant riding around the first two turns. Not many ride that close to the fence, in the, by then, "deep stuff" and gain positions... A great final with Bewley and Holder both riding hard and fair.... All in all, a very decent start to the season, with all the GP riders having opportunities to show their higher level of capability... Roll on those two GP's...

A perfect storm, given the decades without a win, and the first leg result ... If Leicester had won the first leg 60-30, there wouldn't have been 2,000 there .. And 500 of them would have been from Leicester...😁

A competition so worth winning, that one of last years' entrants have voluntarily pulled out to focus on winning the second tier.....

A mature decision I would suggest... Fair play to him.... Laguta as the WC surely... If the GP's want to have credibility...

I've mentioned about my local football team Stockport County. They went into non league and even dropped a league in that .. They were in the cart, non league, and two of the biggest football teams in the country on their doorstep, meaning local young fans would be more inclined to follow either of those teams.. So, they put together a Community Team.. And have said since that this team was the most important one put together.. School visits to the ground were organised and structured, both during match day and not.. And free tickets for kids and for their parents and guardians were distributed... However, they followed this up by more free tickets for the kids, and with heavily reduced admission for parents and guardians, plus discounted vouchers for merchandise.. Many kids therefore became regulars and, as they got used to going, wore the team colours, and mithered their parents and guardians to keep returning... Every club should have a "Community Team" whose role it is to get the brand out into the local area, be a force for good, and attract people to the club (especially U11 kids)... Hardly one player was known at County in their non league days, but the Community Team were known by a great many...

Cheers Tom, replied...

100%... And the vast majority of 80 million people have never heard of the sport, never mind any rider... What an opportunity for a reset... 5 rider teams, and play with the heat system so the disparate levels of ability, from one to five, race more against each other of the sane level.. Or six rider teams with both reserves very much "junior level"... Drop the level, drop the price... If a track does a "special" the crowds rise significantly, with those extra people being fans who no longer rgularly attend, but come back for one night only, thus suggesting twenty five quid per visit isn't seen as worth paying... But (insert price here), is....... Reduce costs, and invest the money in price reduction.. And start UK Speedway again, from scratch... But don't do the same thing you do now because it clearly isn't fit for purpose....

100% Emil had an impact... In his first season.. However, like anytime a rider absent for several years comes back, eg Tai, after a while, the novelty simply wears off.... The sport crucified itself over here in two specific areas when pretty much all the big names rode in the UK.. Financially, by pretty much giving them all the TV money... And, running many, many, guestfest meetings, due to these lads missing, down to their ever growing, individual commitments... Which, ultimately went a long way to destroying the credibility of what was on offer, which then, naturally, disillusioned thousands of fans who still haven't come back, but still follow the sport....

100%... The Aces are a perfect example where money could be saved and reinvested in price... My old company had a name for it... "Save to Invest"... Basically remove all non profit making sections of the business, and then use that money to lower the price points of products..... The Aces have two genuine world class riders, if neither were there, crowds "may" dip, but certainly not by much, if the standard was around tier two level... If one of the world class riders was there, crowds, would, I suggest, be the same as if both were... No rider has an "aura" like yesteryear where world class talent turning up was an "event", hence several hundred extra would rock up to watch... Therefore, one world class rider per team should be the target, (if they want to maintain the current level) (Which clearly isn't working, but I digress)... Two HL's, two SS"s, and two reserves being the set up of each team... That would free up several hundred thousand across the top league to invest in promoting the clubs and sport...

They could afford cheaper admission if they didn't pay around £200k for three heat leaders... Maybe have only two of them, run six rider teams, and use the money saved to have a budget of £75k or so, to target some "special offers" prices, on certain nights...

Is it Plymouth who have utilised local students to build their website and advertising? Young, creative thinkers and innovators, is exactly what the sport needs... And I would imagine, and hope, that their line of attack is a bit more than.. "0-60 faster than an F1 car"... "No brakes"... "It's a family sport".. Etc, etc, etc... All clichéd, unsuccessful, decades old, sound bites... Glasgow with the distribution of free tickets to existing fans to share around with family, friends, workmates etc is a great idea and seems to be working... Those who can actually promote and market Speedway do seem to do "quite well" even in today's world where so many are chasing disposable income..

All they need now are some riders and they've cracked it..