mikebv

Its certainly a good job Coventry, Peterborough, Somerset, Rye House, Lakeside, Swindon, Wolverhampton and Birmingham have all closed within the past decade or so it isn't it?.. And Poole dropped down into Div 2... Imagine trying to fill these teams with riders..?

Spot on apart from "if" one team gets tailed off, as it is "when"... Every season the team everyone on here says have "no chance" before a wheel is turned, invariably have their season over by the end of May and become a team with small appeal to watch either home or away... The biggest frustration for the fans is that where we are today has been predicted by us for the last two decades... As we could see the glaring obvious flaws in "Baldrick's cunning plan", yet those insulated within their own echo chamber/Speedway Bubble either couldn't, or chose not to... There should have been radical change to the operating model when the GP's started to impact UK Speedway. And they chose to not to do anything different.. There should have been radical change to the operating model when Poland started to impact UK Speedway. And they chose not to do anything different... There should have been radical change to the operating model for the return of the sport post Covid, when a year out gave them huge opportunity to reset the sport, and unpick all the nonsense that has held the sport back over the years, and disillusioned so many fans, who still follow the sport but attend either never or infrequently. And they chose not to do anything different.. Many of the same people who have led two decades of negative fan attendance, plus reduced TV viewership and media profile, are still running the sport... The sport desperately needs outside influence to drive it forward, from marketing, to adminstration, to operating model planning... People not within the Speedway Bubble.. The past two seasons of the play offs, in the flagship competition, have actually been ran by NOT following the very rules the competition was set up with, which from an outside optics view, is both amateurish and ludicrous... The sport won't move forwards until the promoters realise that they are the custodians of ALL OF IT, and not just their own clubs, and also realise that they may not have the right set of skills to lead it, and be open to get some clear direction from people who do possess those leadership skills...

I was gutted for Slot yesterday... He should have popped his head around the United dressing room door before the game and asked Ruben to play a high line and to keep playing out from the keeper with plenty of short one touch passes so his team could intecept the ball and score loads of goals.. Instead, he had to try and find a way of winning a game where the opponents decided to do something tactically he didn't want them to... Completely unfair...!! I have only watched Maguire's winner about twenty five times today to see if I am entertained... .. I can see United only getting just under 75000 for their next match now....

It is always clear, when they interview riders in English during a Polish match, that they follow the sport over here, and often discuss, with prior knowledge, how they are doing in the UK... UK Speedway, (off track), has a huge opportunity for growth, from marketing, advertising, and awareness raising, through to operating model credibility... Will they bring in people with the required skill set to deliver the obvious potential the sport has though? Tracks will spend eye watering sums (for a sport with such a small following), on riders each season, and that alone should be used to give the sport some push, as many non Speedway fans would be truly amazed at the salaries of some riders.. With those salaries alone suggesting it isn't "small time".... "Hype up everything" has to be the mantra of the sport to gain traction amongst the millions who live less than 45 mins from a Speedway track..... Any decent marketing company should be rubbing their hands at an opportunity to make UK Speedway successful given the ultra low base attendance across the country... Getting on mainstream TV, for me, is the quickest way to kick that growth in... As that will also mean national newspaper and radio coverage of the sport too... Add in some regular daily/weekly, social media content (even Sunday League Football teams do this, and can get thousands of followers), and the sport can surely only move up given its low starting position...?

Does Kelvin have a clue who some riders are? "I'll be honest, I don't know much about him" is a refrain heard far too often.... One of the key requirements of a commentator is to do research and inform the viewers of some background details about the competitors... His enthusiasm is first rate, but his lack of general speedway knowledge outside of the Premiership doesn't help...

Two clubs racing together that can only muster around 1000 fans between the two of them, (500 each at home), won't be getting a huge amount of people interested in purchasing any stream I would think...

Garibaldi's. .. With Bourbans as a guest biscuit if the Garibaldi's are needed elsewhere...

A typical well meaning rule to try and even up the league more... And then also, typically in UK Speedway fashion, they eff it up by allowing the No1 pick to say "I'm not riding there"... (Which I get if offered more money and have local sponsors elsewhere).. In the US draft system, the bottom team gets several concessions from the teams who want their pick, should they not want to use that player .. Eg The team with the highest average last season would have needed to offer Birmingham either money or a rider/riders.. Instead we had Birmingham being out of their depth again which did them, nor Speedway, any favours . Basically. Either do it properly, or don't use it at all... Personally, out of their depth No7's do nothing for the sport, nor them, in any league ..

A ridiculously great player.... The BZ of Baseball...!!!

Let's hope even half of them stay regulars... A massive positive if so...

Lots of clubs have pretty good HD level streaming services so they could be used by the main broadcaster. Similar to how football "round up" programmes show goals from every match... It isn't always the main broadcaster covering all of them but local streamers linked to the clubs.. And of course you have BSN... Much cheaper for the main broadcaster, even if they pay a fee to the streaming companies for their content, (so they gain too)... Maybe a "match of the week" showing 20 mins or so from that match, and then well edited, snippet highlights showing the "best bits" from races around the country of all the other matches. ...? Get a couple or three riders in the studio to discuss their involvement in the meetings shown, and what their week looks like re flights to Poland, Sweden, France, Denmark etc etc... A window into the unique life of a Speedway rider, which I think would interest those non followers to take more of an interest, and raise the profiles of the riders.... Add in a five minute "young stars" segment and you would have a decent 60 mins magazine programme...

He makes good pies though... So, quite naturally, he has the perfect skill set to be an interviewer and commentator in the coverage of a professional sport....

Success after success for Poole... You cannot even say they are happy to be a big fish in a small pond, because even the top tier is no more than a puddle in the grand scheme of things with regards to pro sport recognition in this country... A very astute leadership team, who run it like a business, not a hobby. Who consistently deliver what their punters want, which is the only thing that matters in business if you want to make money...

Glasgow won the "Entertainment Championship"... Far more important in a pro sport to win that. Like winning the "fair play award" or "the most improved player" in football...

A full house!!!! We have a winner.....!!!!

Let's play comment bingo... "More passing in that one race than all 15 on Wednesday".... "More passing in that race than in a full season at Poole"... "Now that is what Speedway is about, if every club made tracks like this, rather than "win at all costs" Speedway would have tens of thousands more fans"... "Tyoical from the Poole riders, cannot handle a grippy track".. "Provide Bomber with a circuit he can race on and he delivers races like that".. "A good ride that from Lawson"... "Poole may have won but Glasgow are the moral champions given the much fairer track they prepared for both teams to race on".. "I wouldn't want my team to win a title like Poole do".. Have I missed any?

Great post... I watch most sports now on YouTube with around 15 to 20 mins highlights packages... Really got into Baseball this year, and now a massive Dodgers fan!!! Sitting through 2 hours worth of TV to watch less than 20 mins of racing doesn't really work for me nowadays... A highlights package could run 30 mins, and could even show every race, and get some detailed pre and post match nterviews with some of the key riders on view.. My lad is 22, and daughter is 27, and they rarely watch "live" TV programmes due to their busy lifestyles, so they use "catch up" to watch when they can, and binge watch series.. For me, the sport needs people involved from outside the "Speedway Bubble" as they seem almost brainwashed into doing the same old, same old, "there is no other way", often ludicrous, operating model... In house streaming only appeals to the converted so ideally the sport will get itself strongly on line DAILY on Tik Tok, Instagram, YT etc, and use the riders personalities, not just racing, to keep the sport in potential punters awareness and viewing algorithms... 30 mins to an hour a week on any of BBC, ITV, C4 or C5 can only move the sport forward quicker than 2 hours on TNT or SKY, or BSN... To bring great marketing people, and sponsors, in from "outside" requires the sport to have a huge amount of greater recognition and awareness than it has now... Get that fixed and, given the very low starting point fanbase wise, just an initial 10,000 extra punters a week interested by what they see online and/or on TV, would be "huge" for the sport, and provide great momentum to build it further. ...

The bottom line is this... Speedway allows a rider of any team to ride for a competitor in the same league... Who can then score enough points to win that other team the meeting... With that victory ultimately, potentially preventing his own team from qualifying for the play offs.. Meaning that his teams fans and sponsors, (who have supported the club financially all season), his team mates and even himself, miss out on the most important part of the season... Allowing such a situation to exist as part of your operating model would make the sport a very hard sell to mainstream media and sponsors from outside the sport I would suggest ..

To be fair to any of the TV companies, it isnt their responsibility to improve the sport... They provide the platform through their coverage to give the sports they cover the publicity and opportunity to use this platform to increase their profile and, hopefully, their followers and attendees... The UK promoters have had regular two hour adverts to showcase their sport yet seem quite content on showcasing it as something very few people attend, with swathes of empty seating and terracing being the overriding optics of most domestic meetings.. TNT (and Eurosport), were particularly poor though with their production standards, with graphics often wrong, however, trying to explain a "guest rising star" taking a "rider replacement ride" to a production assistant to get the graphics right, must have some difficulties...

Good call... Getting to know the riders at the same time.... Getting those with personalities into the studio....

The root cause was three competitions still to be completed meant pressure to get it run, so ALL promoters were involved in that situation... Not a great idea by October to still have three left to sort, and running on an FIM date which was in fhe calendar for over 12 months just compounded the self inflicted issue.. It was also almost disrespectful to fans, (and sponsors), to run such a "prestigious" meeting given many would have paid all season to hopefully see their team in the play offs, and then end up with a "select side" to follow... An independent arbiter/body wouldn't have sanctioned this meeting given the situation with GP2, (but would no doubt also have ensured two of the competitions had been wrapped up by then)... It would have been interesting to see the Tigers fans reactions if they hadn't won the semi overall...

A final in a pro sport is about WINNING.... Not entertaining... Cinema's do that.... If you get an exciting meeting as well then (for the neutral), it's a bonus.. I had a conversation with a promoter in the 90's who I was potentially going to get involved in some sponsorship with, and mentioned that the racing wasn't always up to much and when I attended Sheffield and Stoke, (which I did each week), the racing there was more entertaining... His answer was along the lines of it was all about winning as that held the home crowd levels up, and that a few meetings of entertaining racing, but losing, was a recipe for closing down.... He certainly wasnt the only promoter then, or now, with those views...

The sport is in such a position that it needs to be on one of the five main channels... That would generate interest levels that would see growth quickly... And, given the low numbers at most tracks, substantial growth with just a few hundred more attending regularly... TNT/Eurosport are very much the lesser of the satellite companies anyway...

How many casual newcomers were watching last night? On a stream only Speedway fans would know existed..? And any newbies in the stadium would have been impressed I am sure by the crowd size and feel good factor of winning, (if a Poole fan).. Years ago, even at Hyde Rd, many races were often spread out and "done" by the end of lap one, yet the large crowds, with plenty of away fans in attendance, kept the atmosphere at a level where going back the next week was almost a given... Similar racing now takes place in front of hundreds, not thousands, with almost no away fans, which is why the atmosphere at tracks doesn't make it a given you will return the next meeting.... Edit... And I would suggest the many thousands of lapsed fans who follow the sport closely but don't attend their local track regularly are the target market that should be prioritised in getting to attend .. Listening to them and fixing the reasons why they no longer attend would deliver a far greater return than hoping casual newcomers become regulars...

To be fair,... Poole have got several "big" meetings in just a few weeks given the finals they are in, and probably still had as least as many as Leicester did at their final leg... And it was the first leg, not the second leg with your team already 4 points ahead... And they rarely go 27 months, never mind 27 years, without winning....