mikebv

When Sky first started showing the sport, the viewing numbers were "very good" and often in six figures. For such a small minority sport Sky would have been delighted by the numbers.. Back then though there was 24 tracks in the top two divisions plus several stand alone third tier teams... Meaning a good "core" following for the sport, and many more people who maybe didn't follow the sport, but would see their town team racing that night on TV and watch... Sadly as clubs shut, the prospective TV audience has seemed to have also reduced in line with the number who used to attend these tracks, and towns lost their Speedway to occasionally follow.. And, with the costs of the broadcast v the risk of the weather, you can see why contracts have either been not renewed, or paid up and finished early... For me, it would be better if the sport just had itself a "magazine" highlights package which used the streaming companies content,rather than putting out two hours of, often, gate and go Speedway, in two thirds empty stadia, devoid of any "tribal atmosphere".... Much cheaper for the TV company, and better, more positive optics for fhe sport, if edited well, and, if they could get it on one of the main five channels, a much greater chance of more people watching... There won't be any six figure amounts paid out to tracks I would imagine, but at least it would deliver a platform from which to try and grow from...

Chris Louis is clearly ahead of the game, and is the brightest, most forward thinking, promoter out there... Interesting that, in the main, the tracks that are run as "proper businesses" (that pay your mortgage), seem to be more successful than those which are ran by well meaning enthusiasts, who seem happy to use the sport as their own expensive recreational hobby...

When Ipswich made the decision to drop down from Div 1 nto Div 2 (and stay there for many years), did they not start and finish at a certain time? Or, was the reality not enough had an interest in going, hence the decision to drop?...

And jeopardy and consequence to the results... Plus enormous rewards... Plus plenty of away fans to create tribal atmosphere.. Plus credibility in team selection.. Plus. Plus. Plus etc etc etc...

I 100% agree... However, that last paragraph is the one that they simply cannot deliver, given what has been allowed to take place over the past few decades has left them with far too many issues to fix... What we have had for the past many years is pretty much all they can deliver. And has inevitably led them to the current challenges they face... As you surely wouldn't run the sport the way they do by choice would you? Guestfests are now part and parcel of the UK version of the sport, so, just ride on the best nights for your business, and if fhere is a clash with Poland or Sweden then just use the same guest system as they do now... The sport is pretty much in "survival mode" rather than being in "progress mode", so anything that can get just an extra 100 per week to attend, could be the ultimate difference to keeping some tracks going..

I would say there are quite possibly as many "passionate followers" of the sport who don't attend regularly in the UK, as there are who do... "Don't moan if it closes then" is the oft used comment from those die hards who go to every meeting... And, even some Promoters have been quoted uttering the same thing... But, as you, (and many thousands of fans who have lost their tracks), show, you can very quickly just shrug your shoulders and get on with life... When any business closes, it certainly isn't the customers' fault... And if a business closes after receiving years of good, honest, constructive feedback from an ever more frustrated customer base, but does nothing with this feedback, then it probably deserves to go...

"Stars" who don't seem to be able to get too many to come out to watch them on Monday's or Thursday's, at most tracks who run on those days... But do seem to get a "lot of money" for doing something with such a small audience present...

What time's the meat raffle???

My point exactly... The following is there... The relevance and jeopardy of the competition to get them to attend, unfortunately isn't... Especially on a Monday, (apart from Bank Holiday ones obviously).. Edit Re "needing more loyal fans".... The Aces have at least always had enough of them to maintain top tier racing since its very existence. Unlike a fair few others whose fans were not so loyal... Some, after dropping down, even languishing in the second tier for a good many seasons...

The thing is.... There is a "decent" following for it.... Much greater than the "average" attendance at each track... As is proved each Bank Holiday and during the Play Offs... (And the PCMM also at the NSS).. If the sport could deliver those sizes of crowd levels each meeting during the season, the sport would be in considerably better health.... They just need to find a way of doing it... Getting those who follow the sport closely, but attend infrequently, is a huge market and opportunity to capture and re-engage... The Lakeside example didn't work because it was a one off grand gesture, and you don't win lifetime loyalty using such techniques... Glasgow show that getting people to attend several times before having to pay is a mechanic that does work, as they will have started to buy into the sport, and maybe developed some emotional attachment to the team.... If you invest in a "loss leader" you need to have clear follow up plans to ensure those who have taken advantage of it, return often... Getting the many who still follow the sport but don't attend often, to attend more frequently, would be a lot easier to do than attract the same number of "newbies"...

Excellenf Post.... The modern world... And it doesn't have to cost much to get tremendous cut through if you use the modern digital platforms to regularly "bombard" those who get sent down the algorithmic "rabbit hole" to your "TV channel"... Just. Target your market... And saturate it with "content"... Just 30,000 per week extra out of a population of 80m, plenty of whom living less than 45 mins from a track, would deliver triple digit percentage growth... And, small numbers they may be, but, given the low starting base, in "real terms", these nunbers could transform the sport overnight... But it needs to be coordinated, nationally... Clubs giving stickers out from the foyer of a local supermarket is fine, but the whole sport needs to get itself recognised, as that will generate much larger, quicker results... Promoters collectively spend literally a seven figure sum on riders each season... Yet plenty of people living within a mile of some tracks won't even know the sport, never mind the track, exists... Maybe cutting that rider outlay back by say 15% and, instead, giving this cash to an experienced, professional marketing and advertising agency, who use modern day techniques, and have evidence of success in this field, would deliver much bigger crowds than any GP rider appearing at any UK track would..? Plenty can (and already should), have been done, given the clear and obvious results have shown the folly of doing the same thing over and over again... Staying insular in their own Speedway Bubble Echo Chamber won't help the sport grow, as has been proven, therefore, let's hope they are actively trying to bring in some quality people from outside the sport to drive their brand forward.... We take the p**s on here by saying each year that this is the most important AGM ever, ever, ever, etc, etc... But this year, it genuinely is probably true.. Let's hope those in charge can deliver the sport in a way that allows it to achieve the undoubted potential of its "raw materials"...

Cash only... #cough.....

To be fair.... It was the Oxford promotion's quotes.. So. I presume. They would have had a "modicum" of "inside information" as to why they quit the top tier...

It is available at all good newsagents.... And supermarkets... And on line... And by subscription...

In last weeks Speedway Star the Oxford promotion explained why they have ditched the top tier...

Watching the Colts is akin to me watching United's U19 Academy team... And I wouldn't pay £15 to watch them... If you could get in for £15 to watch the Aces, with kids in for free, then you may have half a chance... Or maybe not...

But the fans obviously couldn't afford it as they didn't turn up in sufficient numbers.. So the promoters couldn't afford it... Hence Oxford pulled their top tier team....

I hope somebody told him that UK Hockey didn't allow teams to borrow each others players each week..... And a good many Ice Hockey players are actually American and Canadian and are fully pro for the UK season... And also, a night at the Ice Hockey delivers lights, music, noise, the odd fisticuffs, and..... ATMOSPHERE!!!! With plenty of kids there too.... A typical view from someone within the UK Speedway Echo Chamber Bubble though...

The unavoidable problem is.... A select few can afford to run a top tier team to contend for the play offs.. But most can't.. And without the TV deal I would suggest the select few would struggle too... And ultimately it is..... Hundreds of thousands spent to achieve... (?????) Answers on a postcard to win a "Happiness is 40-38" sew on badge...

Some of the many possibilities have been on here ad infinitum.... And its a lengthy random list... Would they work? Who knows? However, given the current challenge facing the sport, it is crystal clear that the current operating model and business plan doesn't... Mark Lemon in the Speedway Star pretty much outlines what they haven't done well, and the opportunities that exist, yet you do have to ask, why has it taken so long to spot when the fans could point the inherent flaws out time and time again... Let's hope those who have got the sport in the UK to where it currently sits, can move it forward... Doing the "same old/same old", once again though, wont deliver it, given the past many years of evidence available..

A blank canvas. And build it from there, using all the experience gained from what hasn't worked.... Bottom line is barely 25,000 pay to watch each week, with literally millions of people living within 45 mins from tracks... Suggesting what has been done, (over the past two decades in particular), clearly hasn't worked... So... Try something different...

Due to the current operating model, they both need each other, to help subsidise one another.... For me, it is time for brutal honesty and that brutal reality is that the GP stars and the likes of Emil, Chris Holder, Magic and Tai (if not injured), will have taken between them all, circa seven figures in combined salaries... Paid for in the main by the TV money and a significant number of well meaning sponsors putting in high five figure numbers.. Those seven figures would have been far better used as prize money for winning the top tier... Shared amongst the seven teams last year... "A Million Pound Premiership" would have given those who run the sport something to "sell" to bigger, more well known, potential sponsors, advertisers and mainstream media.... The "top stars" were almost "heralded" as being vital for the growth of the sport in the UK, as they would "bring crowds back"... The reality was they were "heralded" by pretty much the same number of fans who were always going to attend anyway, and didn't nationally after the initial novelty wore off, increase crowds across the country, to make these "truly high quality riders", anywhere near even "cost neutral", never mind "profitable", as the vast majority of those potential circa 80 million potential pundits in the nation have (still), not even heard of Speedway, never mind any of the riders who "came back"... For me, we are at ground zero and the sport should "start again"... And not miss (once again), that opportunity... Let's face it, if you were launching a brand new sport this Monday, and someone suggested, at the planning stage, using the current UK Speedway operating model, they would be laughed out of the room... The promoters are well meaning enthusiasts rather than tough pragmatists, and the sport desperately needs, (and has needed them for years), cold, hard, tough pragmatists, that let their heads rule in decison making, not their emotions.... We all would love to watch the world's best each week, and rub shoulders with them in the pits, taking selfies.. The bottom line is though that their combined costs dont, (currently) make economic sense... If the AGM is delayed you can only hope it is because negotiations are still taking place about a TV deal, (as that will be fundamental), however, let's be honest, every TV Company over the past decade, has dropped the sport, so its "stock" may not be running that high... Surely time therefore for a total, well planned, reset and relaunch in the new year... A few steps back to move, hopefully, forward over the next few years.. . Using whatever operating model, and standard of riders, that it can afford to bring growth......

However ... The Championship only pay rates they can afford due to doubling up.... Championship HL's will want (at least), double if they only have one job... Would the Championship stlill be "OK" then?

Is that 2026 or 2027?...

£3.60 for the Speedway Star.... Less if you subscribe or go digital... Still a fantastic publication... Raised its game given most news is now instant on the internet... Lots of articles and discussion points.... Spot on re the current plight by the way, YOPG...