mikebv

Racing around the flat packed beds and the dining tables? Flat pack racing... I like it... Could catch on...

Well it certainly wouldn't work at Edinburgh... Their promoter couldn't work out how or why the city's basketball team got three times the crowds Speedway got...

The Aces will end up advertising prices for the two GP meetings, the PCMM, and Season Tickets all pretty much at the same time.... It must impact at least one of the three, if not two... With, you'd suspect, the GP's being the one least impacted... Crowds could be a real issue this year...

Who collectively spend seven figures a year on riders?

When I went around seven years ago it was £70 for me and my then 15 year old lad... From the moment of entry where riders had their meet and greet merch stalls, and free event posters given away signed by many of them, to the "have your photo with the Monster girls" (He did, I didn't!),, to the pre racing build up, the actual racing itself (didn't have a clue who any of them were), and the entertainment between hests eg the T shirt guns getting fired, the text raffle for fhe bike, right through to the free giveaways as we left, more posters, stickers etc.. Worth every penny... And so much of it would have cost fhe organisers minimal outlay, yet the crowd left with great memories and something tangible to also remember it by... I got an email that night thanking me and my son for attending and asking for feedback, and 12 months later, an email with 10% off tickets but we were going away so couldn't go.. Proper Promotion by Proper Promoters...

I attended one in Manchester a few years ago.. I said at the time that every UK Speedway promoter should go and see how motorbike racing could be presented.. My lad caught a T shirt and I got roped in to entering the text raffle to win a mini MX bike, which was hanging from fhe ceiling, at a fiver a ticket... They must have paid for that bike several times over given how many phones were in use! Music. Lights. Noise. Colour. Excitement... And a hyped up prize too, where it was said they were racing for a £200k first prize... The reality was that this was the total paid out over the five rounds to the riders.. But nothing wrong with a bit of hype that increases your profile and standing...

Brady Kurtz? Mark Lemon taking one for the good of the sport? Woffy at Belle Vue as back up to Bewley in SWC year to show his fitness levels?...

100% advertise locally... There are Universities/Colleges who do marketing degrees so you could maybe contact them for their students to do some "real life course work".. If you decided not to employ a proper agency obviously.... Nationally? 14 teams running one meeting each would gross around circa £400k at roughly twenty quid on average (based on 20,000 fans in total visiting the 14 tracks for their opening night..)... Maybe all could give up that first nights money and give that circa £400k to a national company to see if they can get some cut through? (Budgeting for one less match per season).. They lay huge amounts to riders in relation to fhe tiny size of the sport, yet dont seem to ever use some of this money to market these riders, and their businesses, beyond those who already know who they are. Surely it's worth doing "something different" for one season to see if it can make a difference? Less riders per team and use the payroll saving for marketing for example?

Glasgow do a very good job in giving out tickets to fans to bring people they know along... The key being "not just one meeting" and "not just one person".... Getting a group there can be very much key to encourage them to keep attending when they are required to pay... Although going from free to £25 could also need some looking at...

The CL game was a "must win" to get into the seeded top eight... citeh!...

I would say that less than 0.1% of the population (80,000?) know who the GP riders are.. And of that 80,000 around just circa 20,000 actually visit the 14 tracks regularly.. And as for fans bringing others along? Do businesses who I use expect me to bring in customers to them? Or do they advertise themselves nationally so people know they exist?

They had over 20,000 empty seats on Wednesday in their CL game so probably not...

Plenty of empty seats when not on TV, too... "Big Names" are only that to the less than 0.1% of the polulation who follow the sport... They mean nothing to the 99.9+% of the population who don't.... What an opportunity for growth though if you could make admission affordable for more people, allied to a properly joined up national marketing campaign to try and make many, many millions of people aware that they have a Speedway track within a 45 minute drive of their home...

Too many seem to want to join in a race to the bottom... Which is quite baffling given the actual "rewards" available... Some see this, and quite rightly, cut their cloth accordingly and sensibly, and ensure Speedway can continue each season at their venue...

Hence whenver I go to watch United away, given so many more fans are in attendance than usual at those grounds that don't sell out.. Eg The Etihad .. We sing.. "Come to see United. You've only come to see United"... In Speedway terms, upon the likes of BV visiting all the current 2nd tier teams, (if there was one league), the crowd levels for their visit would be significantly higher than normal I would suggest.... The novelty would wear off, and probably quickly, but that initial visit would definitely see a decent amount more in attendance..

Most teams are now at die hard levels who will turn up regularly regardless of league position, as, for many, a "night out at the speedway" is their main reason for being there.. I would be very surprised if promoters budget for any crowd increases at all when planning in their forecasted income.. Especially given the age demographics of the vast majority of their fanbase..

Maybe Tony Knowles could do the Prem version?

Also, to be fair... In football your team is your team... You build an emotional attachment to them.. In Speedway you could have any number of "soldiers of fortune" representing you, from one meeting to the next, with your opponents doing exactly the same.. Which means often "your team" hasn't really won or lost, given they were not really there in the first place.. You also have jeopardy and consequence in football, with relegation meaning fans will still attend a failing team in numbers hoping to stave off this "disaster".. In Speedway, you can choose what league you want to ride in, and win, lose or draw, you choose your future... The bottom line is no trophy delivers enough kudos or financial rewards to take winning one too seriously, therefore many who attend do so for the racing rather than the result, thus seeing UK Speedway as "sports entertainment" rather than a bona fide professional team sport... Which is pretty much fine until admission prices keep rising to that certain level where the individual sees the entertainment value no longer justifying their outlay..

With,before a wheel is turned each season, the undeniably major issue that any trophy that you can win is seriously devalued, almost beyond parody, by the very operating model put together by the same promoters who expect you to take the sport seriously and turn up to watch it... An incredible concept really isn't it?

But what does "winning" bring? Definitely not rich financial rewards, in fact, you could close down due to the cost of being successful, (as has been shown in the sport).. Winning at home wlll be Scunthorpe's target, with putting on some entertaining racing, on a very good track, being the back up to it... With Stox helping to cover any shortfall Speedway may need... No idea what crowds Scunthorpe get but a title winning team won't grow crowd numbers hugely, whilst a wooden spoon team won't lose crowd numbers hugely... The wooden spoon team would be seriously cheaper to run though...

Seeing if Guest numbers are well up from their pitifully low 196 in 2025? Seeing if £30 admission can be the norm in the top tier? Seeing if you can watch your team race at every track in the top tier within a month of the season starting? Seeing which rider can have the best excuse for missing UK meetings, whilst still riding in either Poland, Sweden, or Denmark or following his own individual ambitions? Seeing which promoter can have the best reason for calling off a meeting, (with a special bonus for the one who uses the longest ranged weather forecast)? Exciting times indeed do lie ahead...

I used to watch the Colts for a tenner, with my then teenage lad, getting in for free... On a Friday night... With crowds of around 800... The racing was more than on a par with what was getting served up at top league level, and, for the two of us, was around £12 cheaper... Hence, we watched the Colts far more than the Aces... And, given most people in Manchester wouldn't have known their Matej Zagar from their Kyle Bickley, anyone new to the sport would have seen the racing for what it was... ie "the racing".. Personally instead of promoters clubbing together to put out a sixth team, they would be far better clubbing together and marketing a 14 team league with teams across the nation... At what level? "Reasonable"... As the audience they would be trying to attract probably won't know any of the competitors, so "big names" would mean absolutely nothing to them.. Time to "Rip it up and start again"...

Because, errrr. Because errrr. Because errrr.... Oh Yes..... WE HAVE TO HAVE TWO PROFESSIONAL LEAGUES, THAT'S WHY, END OF!!!!"... (Remembered it in the end).... I presume having two professional leagues is just another "necessary evil"?... Like "guests", and "doubling up", and bringing over dozens and dozens of journeymen after journeymen from abroad down the years, on five point averages, rather than developing UK riders and giving them team place opportunities.. Oh, and add in riding on nights to accommodate your employees wishes, rather than your customers... So many "necessary evils".... In fact, I am amazed any promotion could lose money given such a fantastic, fit for success, operating model...

So the 6th team, looks like a "joint venture" led by all/some of the existing promoters?.. Makes sense from a shared loss point of view... But seriously, why bother? It wont give any more credibility to any of the trophies to be won across all leagues, as the operating model used will still stay exactly the same as always..

RIP Terry....