mikebv

198 Guests used last season across both top leagues.. When other leagues can cope without a single one, it shows just how poorly the UK version of exactly the same sport, with access to exactly the same riders, is ran... No excuse for such nonsense is there? A "necessary evil" I believe it is said to be....? Using 198 of them suggests its more of an easy cop out, rather than running a team sport properly to ensure you deliver the required emotional attachment to your team.. And if you don't engender that in a team sport, especially in the digital 24/7 news, and the constant social media review, and potential ridicule, of what you deliver today, then you have no chance of being successful...

Whichever ones they had, they certainly didn't need many packets...

They were, I think, Honda engines... Mick Grant and Eric Boocock were behind it... I remember seeing an interview a few years later where the engines themselves, according to those who were involved, were said to have had "potential" but needed more testing... But the experiment was dropped... Ebikes cannot be too far away from being "compulsory" you can imagine..

Maybe... However... The Promoters didn't develop enough riders over the past two decades to fill their teams without the DU riders becoming essential... What first started as "young lads" getting a chance to move up a league to develop their skills against a higher level of riders, whilst still having their "other job" to fall bsck on, instead, became the "main stay" of the UK version of the sport, and a "free for all"... Take the DU's away and both leagues wouldn't fill the 14 teams left without using many NDL level riders... The Championship in particular would struggle given these riders make up the majority of their HL's, and, the top tier effectively subsidise the riders salaries so the riders are "affordable"... A typical short sighted unfit for purpose "fix" which each year got bigger and more essential, rather than it ever being reset, and used for what it was initially set up for...

In the current Speedway Star, Bomber is quite critical of the way the sport has been allowed to drift into the situation it now finds itself in... He said the demise of Birmingham and the non running of Oxford was known "halfway through last season" and they should have sorted the current issues out well before now, instead of "leaving it to the last minute, again"... "It's frustrating, I have said to a lot of people how grown men can't just sit in a room and sort it out once and for all. It's beyond me why it's taken this long. The powers that be knew we were in trouble"...... Still no fixture lists exist? Still no conformation of what competitions will take place? How do fans plan time off work to follow their team? How do riders inform sponsors of what coverage they will get? Incredible really isn't it?

If the one extra league, ex Poland, comes in then it could mean a seismic change for UK Speedway.. The Danes, Swedes, Germans, French, et al, would, presumably, ride in their own leagues plus Poland, (and maybe get forced to as part of their licence?), with only those without a Polish contract opting to ride where the most money will be gained from the other leagues.. With the obvious added concern being they drop whatever nation like a stone if Poland come knocking during the season... Sweden and Denmark, plus the UK, will all be vying for those "mid level" riders, who make uo the majority of riders, therefore, doubling up, like so many of these riders do, could actually put the UK ahead of the other two "main leagues"?... They would certainly get more meetings... The worst case scenario of course is that all the European and Aussie riders riding in Poland give the UK a miss as either Sweden or Denmark have offered them more, and provide better logistics... Not a bad place for these riders to be in from a bargaining position next year I would suggest. Those running the sport in the UK really need to come to the party when it comes to their vision, strategy and ambition for the sport... Finally....

Be interesting to see how he adapts his "locking up" style to the NSS... Any scrubbing off speed around there and you are toast... A shame a younger rider with high potential wasn't brought in on an assessed average..

Nobody down as "Northampton"?

Sounds like the timekeeoers forgot there was another heat, and came running back in, lunged for the watch, and set it going just as the riders were hitting the first bend... Or... The winners were "testing some new fuel".....

A 21/22 team league would suffice for me.... One Home and one Away... 40/42 matches plus play offs... Or, two divisions with promotion and relegation from the outset...? Most riders would do this league and then Poland.. It would knacker the second tier in the UK though, which would lose most, if not all, of its heat leaders... It would though bring some decent crowds to the five or six teams from GB, and, you would hope, bring a decent TV deal and wider publicity... More than any "solution" of running UK Speedway as it currently stands, with two small leagues, (forever going nowhere), ever will...

"After the last minute" now and again too....

The Colts don't run on many (any?) blank Mondays or Thursdays ., That alone for me suggests that , for the Aces specifically, Monday isn't the best night for them, as they would mirror the Colts with the Aces wouldn't they? Plymouth being a good example of simply changing from Tuesday to Saturday improved crowds greatly... Each club will have their sweet spot night, however, pubs, restaurants, cinemas etc focus on weekends to make their most money.. And putting on "specials" mid week means more costs so not always more profit, even if punters numbers go up, and the fact "specials" are needed tells a lot about those nights of the week... Maybe Speedway could do with some "specials" on Monday and Thursdays?...

Sweden last year had an average attendance of over 2700... Denmark appears to be "on the up"... So two leagues that could pay more maybe? You would have to presume any Swedes or Danes will stick with their own league, plus Poland, given their sponsors will invariably be linked to their home country . Any non Swedes and Danes eg Aussie's, will also go where the money is best you would think... Some major plans need to be made, and quickly, for 2027... Given GB, Denmark and Sweden will all be fighting for the same riders, and none of them have a big number of home riders of a "decent" level, to fill their own leagues individually, then one Euro league really could be the best for all... And would mean any Polish riders would ride in this one Euro league as their "other one"...

The issue is "The Professionals" don't want and need what "The Hobbyists" want and need from the sport, and vice versa... One side of the equation pay their way in life through the money they make from their business, whilst the other side of it are quite happy funding their main leisure interest, and can be quite satisfied in not making any money at all, as long as losses are within budgeted figures.. One side see the sport as aspirational with "winning the league" being the target as this can deliver higher financial reward.... The other see it as a hobby where "winning the league" can actually cost them more, and, as we have seen, even get them closed down due to unsustainable costs which were not covered by extra punters coming through the turnstiles, with "winning at home regularly" being their main aspiration... One side has punters used to watching sone of the world's best, paid for by the promoters at that level, and mid level riders earning their highest wage of the two they earn... The other has punters used to not seeing the world's best, with promoters not having the resources to use them at that level, but are happy to pay exactly the same mid level riders a lesser fee than the top tier do for their services, (but can only do this due to the top tier paying these mid level riders the bulk of their money).. To accommodate riders the top tier have to ride on nights not conducive to the entertainment industry, and the second tier can ride on the "better nights" but often do it with teams using many guests due to other rider commitments, (136 used last year in tier two, 62 in tier one).. To be honest, given the complete opposite needs and wants of the promoters, who in their right mind would see the Chairperson role as something to aspire to and actually want?... Putting together a plan that suits all, given their disparate "wish lists" does look an impossible task, and when you add in a lack of independent leadership, with a lack of vision, strategy and ambition for the growth of the sport, and you really do have major, major problems....

A great opportunity for the "professional" clubs over here to join a "European League"... Riding on any night neither team have riders clashing with Poland, so Fri, Sat and Sun could get used, as and when, and the likes of Poole could join in on Wednesdays . And then the "hobbyists" over here could also then carry on with their own league.... Like Rugby Union have done with their "United Cup" competition, as none of those leagues by themselves could generate enough publicity and money, so several clubs from different nations compete against each other... Five or six rider teams could be used to help a spread of riders if needed.. A European League just may get some TV company, and some maimstream media interested and some bigger sponsors..?

A shame each team don't have two RS's to share the one spot... Especially as only 10 would be needed... Would give 10 young riders potential opportunity, and create some healthy competition for places, as any sport should... No guests required then either...

The frustration is that there is still a decent market for the sport in the UK... It's just not a market that team Speedway regularly attracts due to the nonsense operating model that is allowed to pervade, the lack of jeopardy and consequence to so many meetings and the leagues, the seemingly lack of any "decent prize" for winning anything, and the admission costs which reflect the outgoings being paid, rather than reflecting the standard of what is actually being delivered to the punters.. The NSS will have around 2500 watching the PCMM (presumably being ran?), and around 6,000 will attend each night at the GP's... So. If you put some "Proper Speedway" out, you can still get a good following for it... The Aces this year will, once again, run with crowds much lower than the PCMM meeting, as many Aces followers simply won't follow up their PCMM visit due to not buying into the league structures being used, and also due to saving their cash for the GP's... Yet, like all other tracks, will see a significant increase come play off time due to its natural "make or break" nature, which finally gives off some semblance of relevance for the sport.... I would suggest the sport has as many close followers of it who don't attend each week as those who do... What an opportunity for growth if anyone could actually ever lead it properly, using Vision, Strategy, and Ambition... NB. Having Mark Lemon and Rob Lyon on the Leadership Team is something that could help shape a better future... Getting cut through and agreement from so many of their peers, who want so many different things from the sport, will be the major challenge though, as always..

They have a two year plan now... Year 1 - Do exactly the same as we always do... Year 2 - Do exactly the same as Year One..

All 55 years of age, returning on minus five point averages....

They need a five year plan... (Again)...

Was there really any major positive impact on those measures? After the initial novelty wore off, and BSI no longer marketed the GP as vigorously, it became just another speedway meeting for many... Hence crowds eroded away after around ten years or so of reasonable growth.. It certainly did nothing for UK domestic speedway as the current malaise shows... If the NSS gets around 6k a night this year, that will still be a fair percentage of the total punters who regularly attend UK Speedway at the fourteen tracks left...

I remember reading that Cardiff was circa six figures to hire the venue... And was kept by the owners of the series rights as their own promotion and not tendered out to anyone else... Warsaw was the same... Presume as they were considered "cash cows"... The Welsh Tourist Board subsidised the costs to some degree too... 40,000 at around forty quid must have been worth doing... 20,000 at around forty quid much less so, hence no more Cardiff...

What was the average price per ticket? £50 or so? If it was, that's £575k in income... Not a bad little earner given no hiring of the venue needed. ..

There are, literally, dozens of UK riders who have given up the sport since around 2015, who are still not older than 30 years of age, with most, if not all, not even mid thirties now... An 80% reduction in their average could maybe bring a few back? I presume 2.00 is the minimum any reduction could go down to? Watching many YT races from around 2015 to 2021, post covid, there are a surprising amount of names who no longer ride, with many of them being "OK" at the time as riders at Championship reserve level at least... The sport desperately needs new, (and even old) blood so maybe this could help possibly...

Well... If it ain't broken.... Oh. Hang on......