mikebv

There are about 20,000 to 25,000 who attend the 15 tracks I would suggest.... Most of those people will watch which should give a decent reach for a Saturday evening slot on Itv4.. A shame there hasn't been any coordinated fans travel from each club, even if a reduced admission price was needed , to get some rvisual representation there, which could be mentioned on comms.. And made the place look more full, and the sport more popular.. It's basically a free advert for UK Speedway on Saturday, one that should be used well...

Maybe they didn't announce it earlier just in case fans didn't buy tickets?.. If so, that didn't work out too well did it...? And if they did that for that reason, it hardly speaks volumes of their own belief in their own product does it..? Personally, if the tickets sales are poor, then I would close down a third of the Grandstand and put out some huge Aces, and Sponsors flags across the empty seats... Close up the Grandstand attendees together... Or just close the South side and let everyone sit down and put the adverts across there, like football does on Champions league nights... Getting good coverage for the sponsors... The place needs to look full even if it isn't...

Spot on... It's THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The flagship of the sport for domestic UK Speedway.. It it looks as if hardly anyone can be arsed to attend this then the competition itself looks irrelevant.. And if the supposed pinnacle prize of the sport in the UK looks irrelevant, then heaven help the league racing...

Or get out tomorrow, Thursday Friday and Saturday into city centre Manchester and flog them... Give 100 x £10 tickets to every track and see if they can sell them... It is a British Final, not a Belle Vie individual meeting, so every track should have a presence there..

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..

The bottom line is this... If there were several million pounds in prize money available then the sport would be seen as relevant, and would have consequence and jeopardy in every meeting, and would be followed by far, far many more people.. Even if NDL was the standard.... (Athough if there was big money in the UK sport then, naturally, that wouldn't be the case).... Darts is a perfect example of a sport which was followed by an older demographic and took place in big pubs, nightclubs, leisure centres and hotels around the country... With minimal prize money on offer, it took place in front of a few hundred, who sat often in silence during the throws, "best of order please", and then politely applauded when a game or set was won.. Then Sky, and more importantly, Barry Hearn came on board.. Big prize money brought big crowds, full of a much younger age demographic, in city centre venues, and also brought noise, atmosphere, and relevance, with olayers having to fight each season to keep their place in the top 16/32... Consequence and Jeopardy completely changed Darts, with even qualification tournaments being incredibly important to get through... Major sponsors and TV networks then organically came on board as the sport grew.... And more and more people have taken up the sport as they see the riches on offer,which then raises the standards... It will matter hardly one iota what UK Speedway does to race nigbts, league numbers, averages, admission prices etc etc etc.. Without that question of, (pardon the pun),... "What's actually riding on this meeting?"... Being answered with... "A hell of a lot!"... Without any prize to make the sport look relevant, and of a reasonable size, it will just keep ambling along, and just keep going through the motions of putting Speedway meetings on, regardless of being whether it is a credible offering or not.. And the fans wlll continue to vote with their feet..

The very fact we often mention changing race nights on here to "attract a crowd" speaks volumes doesn't it?.. And, as Plymouth has shown, it can work when moving to a weekend... The major issue of what they are actually racing for won't be resolved though... At the moment the only prize worth winning in UK Speedway the "Decent Crowd In The Play Offs"... However, how many of those attending the PO's have given "dead rubbers" a miss during the season is a valid point to raise, so the extra punters on the night isn't a total gain... Without something "really worth winning" UK Speedway simply won't get enough cut through in a world of huge prizes for a large number of sports... Given how the sport is set up, you can't help thinking that UK Speedway is just there to enable riders to earn by doing the sport, and to give Speedway loving people a chance to run a Speedway team as an expensive hobby.. With finishing positions in any of the leagues irrelevant due to no major prizes, no relegation, and, you can even swap your leagues if you so wish... Changing nights to weekend racing should give a short term boost, but changing much more will also be needed if long term improvement is the vision...

Wasnt there someone who was going to get involved, but wanted to see the viability first?.. If so, maybe they will come on board given the venture seems to be a success crowd level wise.....?

Brady lost in with that last place from Gate 3.. Dreadful GP overall.... Do the organisers not have a clue about race track prep?... Regardless of the meeting on Friday, this track is always crap.. There must be at least one better circuit somewhere? If there isn't then time to give up...

This track is a disgrace for such a high level of racing... And it has been "improved"...!!!

Huckenbeck... Everyone rides the inside and he went wide for a whole lap... Then rode the inside... What an idiot...