mikebv

Maybe Oxford will give it another go, and swap leagues again, if "big investment" comes in?

Speedway Futures Limited? An apostrophe missing somewhere maybe?

Now.... You know that... I know that .. And most on here know that, and have all said it for well over a decade .. However....

With a max five teams, there never was...

Last one out, turn the lights off please... Don't bother locking up though... It's not as if anyone will want to break in....

It's little more than an expensive hobby for most, and one that they, and those who regularly attend, happily collude to make out it has some relevance, and resonance. All cobbled together so the riders get a chance to be "professional" for six months of a year... The operating model clearly doesn't work, (as we see each season that it gets used), however, the skill set required to maximise what is very much a unique product in its most raw form, simply doesn't exist.... And those who run the sport show no signs of ever bringing anyone in who maybe could maximise its potential... Yet, will quite happily pay well over seven figures collectively to all the riders who, in the main, put hardly one extra person through the turnstiles... (Quite baffling)...

The music's the same...

This could have been written 25 years ago when the GP's started to impact UK domestic Speedway.. Then when Poland did the same a decade or so later.... Instead, we had the top riders taking the largest portion of the TV millions, and weekend meetings made up of guestfests as they were elsewhere. With these meetings still being planned in knowing some top riders wouldn't be there... And, all the while, due to the lack of UK talent being developed with, instead, dozens of journeymen foreigners taking up spots, they then had to make the top league Monday and Thursday so doubling up could enable one rider to cover two team spots in two leagues... And a few top riders could earn a few extra quid, and, again, hoover up most of the TV money... Does anyone really have any faith that 2027 will see the radical change needed after we (once again), cobble something together, and "make do and mend" for 2026..?

He said he used to go and watch the Glasgow Tigers and Edinburrow Monarchs in the 70's when staying at one of his properties in the Scottish part of England... His favourite riders were Bernie Hawkins and Brian Collings, plus, of course, Barry Briggs, who he used to go out to dinner with regularly... He used to take his sons too, and they adored Bryce Penhall... He is quoted as saying... "We love Speedway, we really do. Speedway is great, and everyone should go to Speedway and Make Speedway Great Again".. He then adapted that slogan to base his Presidential campaign on...

I always think that it is fantastic that after each AGM they are all on the same page... Sadly, it's always from the wrong effing book!!!

I had something called "pseudo gout" which the docs couldn't pinpoint was the reason.. I suggested, given the timeline, that maybe it was due to Iron Tablets that I started to take, and they thought it could indeed be linked. So, I started to take Grapefruit Juice to see if it helped.. I drank a litre a day... Unfortunately, it has had zero effect.. I am suspicious though that it might be down to the litre of vodka a day I drink it with...

My lad used to ride there for Stockport...

Seriously?...

So.... Full Steam ahead for the Premiership in trying to revive that dead horse for 2026.... So it can be flogged to death again in time for 2027... Basically.... Just keep on doing exactly the same thing, and each time you do it, expecting a completely different result... Truly Genius... Should be a roaring success... Just like it is currently...

The Speedway Bubble Echo Chamber. .

Omerta has been breached....

So, business as usual then....

Entertainment wise? I would suggest with Glasgow, Scunthorpe, Redcar, and Workington, the second tier, overall, delivers better racing... With, the NSS being the only top tier track that consistently delivers a similar standard...

In Carmarthen they used to dance around those traffic lights every Saturday night, thinking it was a disco...😄

As opposed to being a big fish in a smaller pond?

Many Polish teams have done this kind of thing for a fair few years... Good to see a UK team seeing value in doing something similar in a 24/7 media era... Be interesting to see which teams do their own VLOG covering "the before", "the during", and "the after" of their matches... 15 to 20 mins max, out on YouTube, and the other Socials... Plenty of reach on those platforms for not a lot of outlay.... Glasgow do seem to be well ahead of many others when it comes to actual promoting and marketing themselves...

A video of five people sat round a table, head scratching...

How much for lights though Dean?... And probably lights from the "main road" to the track given the nature of that road to the track (elf n safety innit?).. And riding on Mondays would impact Belle Vue, and Thursdays, Sheffield. (Do they have that 30 mile rule still?)... It truly is remarkable isn't it that we are where we are today? Even more so when everyone (apart from those within the Speedway Bubble it seems), could see it happening, particularly over the past decade or so, in front of their eyes..

Then don't run the top division at such a level... A five, or even a six team league doesn't look good if you are trying to sell the sport to sponsors, TV, and fans.. Whether reality or not, the top league in any sport is seen as almost defining it... Something to aspire to get into... Something that delivers decent financial rewards.. Something that gains the maximum publicity for the sport.. Instead, we could end up with a five team league that more resembles an "Invitational Tournament", rather than a bona fide "National Competition"... 14 teams collectively actually do make the sport look like it is "National", and not almost irrelevant, and does, geographically, cover a large part of the country... Finding a way to get them into one league further down the line, (before more tracks are lost), has to be the way forwards.. You would hope that the next 12 months are, in the background, spent putting together that one league structure and the sport then relaunches itself in 2027 with a new operating model, a collective marketing plan, and a financially sound business plan that keeps all teams profitable... There have been far too many years of "let's, once again, make do and mend", so they should make this the last one, running with whatever they can come up with... And use the next 12 months to work out a strong plan which will deliver progress and growth from 2027 onwards...

Both businesses were talked positively about by their respective sellers, and rightly so... However, how successful they would have been without the TV money, and possible sponsor values they got based on having the TV deal, may be something that anyone potentially purchasing could be asking.... Sheffield have lost Tru Plant sponsorship and Ipswich must have taken in a very healthy six figure sum in the final which has no guarantee of being repeated this coming season... And, you have to say, a five team league doesn't look too inspiring to go and regularly watch does it?.. So maybe not a "perfect time" to be selling a Speedway team, which could stretch out negotiations given so many variables from last season.. Mark Lemon was quite relaxed around maybe not having a TV deal in his interview with the Speedway Star a few weeks ago, "people will have to attend the tracks to watch the sport" were his thoughts... Which is true, but... Selling a five team league to these people won't be easy...