mikebv

I think we can all agree .. This is the best, most comprehensive, and detailed update so far....

My lad gets paid for playing football on Saturdays and on Sundays... Semi pro level on the Saturday and normal Sunday League stuff the next day... The bloke who owns the Semi Pro team runs a Sunday team and pays a few of the lads to play.. There are a couple of other teams on the Sunday who also pay players, with the three teams easily better than the rest... UK Speedway, for me, has a similar vibe to it... Many benefactors who are quite happy running it as a hobby they can afford, and, with no real kudos, publicity, or financial rewards for winning, meaning, its more of an enjoyable labour of love, rather than a bona fide sporting occasion that they present... And, given the lack of authenticity as a team sport that Speedway in the UK has, you can see why many are quite happy to never change things...

Yet literally seven figures spent on the riders who if any of them rode down the street outside their track, no one would have a clue who they are or what they do... A baffling complete waste of what is a huge resource, given "nothing changes" from one season to the next in regards to crowd growth....

It's barmy isn't it? They will get around 1000 fans (tops), and spend around £400k to £500k to do it... Money that, if they have got it to burn, would be better invested in getting 1000 extra fans at the 14 existing tracks... This growing the sport hugely in percentage terms.. Maybe use some of this cash to fund free away fan admission to add a bit of tribal atmosphere, and make you feel you are actually at a team sport with relevance?

There has been four teams confirmed since last October... Or did you forget that?😁 My point being they could have put their fixtures together, and added on anyone who joined later into the gaps... Mondays and Thursdays are guaranteed nights so wouldn't have been difficult to add in those latecomers...

Is that to see that they have enough clashes with FIM meetings, and domestic individual meetings like the U21 Championship, to smash out of the park that 196 guest total from last year?

No idea why the NDL and the Championship havent put their fixtures out... And the same for the four guaranteed to run Premiership teams... The Prem can add in any other fixtures later on their Monday's and Thursday's.. Sponsors may want to bring some business associates, so need to plan, and some fans will want to plan holidays around fixtures..

If they have got a spare £200k, and then some, plus £300k, and then some, for riders,, to launch this venture, then they would be far better off putting that money into marketing the UK version of the sport as a whole...

Wasn't that the season that, halfway through it, Sam Masters was No1 in the averages of BOTH leagues?.

Now the Aces promotion machine can really kick into gear and go to town advertising the first Premiership match against... ??????????? Not sure why the four teams so far running haven't put out a fixture list . We know all meetings will be Mondays and Thursdays so just use the blank dates left to run the Ipswich and, maybe, Northampton meetings if they do exist.... Any Mondays and Thursdays blank can be just TBC until all sorted... At the least then fans can start to plan around some dates...

Brady Kurtz earned more than BZ last year in the GP's..... €132,750 to €128,250.. MJJ says in the Speedway Star that the GP's are less about financial return, but more about being able to gain better deals in Poland, as your standing grows, and more sponsors also come on board if you are doing well in the GP's.. Breaking even "needs luck" given riders have to pay all their own costs..

Nobody outside of the few thousand who watch Speedway each week know who he is... And that is the biggest issue the sport has... Most of Manchester won't even know what the NSS is, nor even who the Belle Vue Aces are... And even what Speedway is.. So, sadly, It matters not one jot to crowd levels how well Dan rides the NSS...

I must say I did have a wry smile when he said re riders potentially giving up the sport... "The trouble is that then as time goes on you run out of riders and there won't be enough to sustain a league system in the UK".. Even the odd American could maybe spot the irony of, one of the many, holding down TWO team places in the UK, making such comments..... Difficult to develop riders to keep a league system going when spaces are not available for them to take up...

In the Speedway Star is says that the 8% reduction for missing a season (from a professional league), is to be approved at the end of 2026 season...

My point exactly... Expecting to work six months and earn twelve months money from Speedway in the UK is folly... The competitors, and competitions, do not resonate with enough people, therefore the renumeration package should reflect that low standing... Not be something far in excess of what is affordable...

In a recent Speedway Star,, Mark Lemon said how he didn't want to be telling riders they had to take a pay cut as he understood their challenges.. He is looking at it the wrong way, (like so many ex riders who become promoters do, as they are far too close to the riders).. He should actually be telling them... "You increase the crowds by 500 and you will get more money"... As currently, their presence clearly doesn't engage enough fans to attend...

But if they didn't run a Premiership then every Speedway rider in the world would retire... Or something like that....

But what sized Uber would you order to pick them up when they get released?... You don't want to waste money on a seven seater only to find there are only four being held do you? An UberX would have done for that many, and saved around half the outlay... So many major decisions to be made still... Personally, I would take the risk and send fhe seven seater, and sod the expense... They could always run an "Uber Fund" meeting before fhe season starts, where the riders ride just for expenses to raise money for the extra cost of the bigger taxi... Let's face it, they will have plenty of time to hold this meeting before the start of the season... Maybe the first BH in May would be a good day to hold it?... Or the second one maybe? Or maybe even the one in August!!!!

No... They just leave Speedway... Adrian Smith a case in point. . He had very limited knowledge of Speedway when he became CEO at BV, but was "blown away" by the core, raw product that took place, and saw huge untapped potential... Unfortunately he was less "blown away" by the operating model around it, and several of those who delivered such a model... One of a good number who knew what was needed, but stopped from doing anything, so those "tiny, tiny empires", many of which want so many different things from fhe sport, could keep doing the same thing ad infinitum...

It is a total sh*tshow isnt it?.. But.. Let's be honest.. Anyone who has followed UK Speedway for any decent length of time, are not really surprised in any way shape or form are they?... Just par for the course...

I'm still totally devastated he cost the Colts the title .. No idea when it was, or that he even rode for them... But I am truly devastated nevertheless... In fact, I may never get over it ...😁

There has certainly been plenty of dense fog blinding the way....

The big challenge the UK version of the sport has is to make it relevant... If you run a team sport there has to be a "tribal, them v us, feel" to the competitions.. And the competitions must have something seen to be tangibly worth winning in the eyes of any prospective, (and even actual), followers.. The "War of fhe Roses" at the NSS is a case in point... Two local rivals yet hardly any away fans are in attendance even on a BH Monday which then delivers a flat atmosphere... Many "non regular" BV fans will visit on that day, so a huge opportunity to impress them enough to attend more... Often all it does is reinforce to them that their low attendance level is justified, and what made them visit less frequently iinitially is still the way that the sport is ran.. In short. Nothing has changed to entice them back.. The sport just meanders, doing the same old, same old, and, I presume, believes it will suddenly become popular again.. Give away fans free tickets if needs be to get them there, get a bit of banter and atmosphere going, build some tribal rivalries which can be "milked" ongoing... There is plenty of room in the stadiums to fit 100 or more away supporters I would suggest...

I've watched Speedway in the USA and it's a similar vibe... It is a "night out" and not just a Speedway meeting... Kids races, sidecars, handicap racing, riders stalls with their merchandise, various competitions for the crowds to enter through the night, food and drink served to you in the stands, and a presentation level that keeps you engaged from announcer to roving mike person.. The towns I saw the racing in had a good many banners and boards up around them, including on the interstate, and loads of fhe restaurants, bars and hotels all had posters in their windows advertising the track and the racing... Crowds were "very decent" too, no GP riders in attendance, and, mainly, ex UK riders in their 40's and 50's dominating proceedings.. Speedway can be a great night out... The UK version just needs to find how to show it much more often..

There is definitely a "less is more" feel to UK Speedway due to so much of it being delivered poorly... Less meetings but much better planned, promoted and delivered could help it keep going... Two teams, seven riders per team, (any adhoc seven riders per team), fifteen heats, four laps clutch start, birthday dedications over the PA to octogenarians, etc etc etc, and all to try and win competitions very low on relevance and kudos, simply doesn't engage enough people anymore.. The racing itself though could still be "sold", and even more so if fhe prizes of the competitions engaged the wider public... Watching Speedway racing should feel like you are attending an "event".... Unfortunately, it rarely feels like you are attending one given the "sales pitch" and "race day experience" is so far away from being where both are required to be in 2026...