mikebv

I think the pricing structure is spot on.... My only concern is around how much Speedway is currently available to watch and whether that will impact it... I can watch the top leagues in the UK Monday, Sweden Tuesday, Denmark Wednesday, Poland Friday and Sunday, and GP/SEC on a Saturday... As well as 2nd and 3rd Div in Poland Saturday and Sunday.. That is a lot of Speedway... Hope it works out... Another spin off which may be worth pursuing is similar to the way some Sunday League Football teams are making big money out of doing their own highlight streams post match, on YouTube, with plenty of background interviews with the players, making many of them very well known, and making them "personalities" locally who are subsequently being recognised within those local communities.. Local communities who recognise the teams and players, go to watch the matches, but also benefit from the raised profiles of the teams through charity contributions raised by the clubs.. A couple of thousand or so "subscribers" to a clubs YouTube channel would certainly be a plus...

And being a youth event may bring in plenty of young kids to watch.... Which can only be good for the track to bulld on going forwards if it happens..

Did Redcar have "Div One Heat Leaders" to pay out of that 300 attendance though? Nowadays it seems every Div 2 team has to have at least one Div 1 top ten rider which can only increase the costs I would think.. Reserves in Div 2 are also no longer "juniors" but more experienced riders (and more expensive too maybe?).. Putting together a Div 2 team to compete nowadays is very much advantageous to those with deeper pockets I would say, hence Glasgow do well, Poole do well as still very much a "Speedway town", and ex top league Leicester, riding back on Saturdays, also seem to put a decent team together.. Redcar have had some innovative promoters post Brian Havelock, which I would suggest has definitely helped them to grow their fan base (and maybe picked up a few disgruntled Newcastle fans?), and are now a definite "Top Five" expectation team in Div 2, given the level of rider they can afford to bring in.. They certainly have gone from being "avoiding the wooden spoon is success" material to one of the more watchable teams in the league..

The differing rental costs of the places mentioned would be a major bearing on that I would say... Given so many are tenants, it must be a knife edge for some to "hang on in there"... Even more so over the coming months as the cost of living goes skywards..

And those advertised to be there actually turn up....

The key word being "promotion"... All done using marketing people well versed and successful in delivering crowds at the events they get contracts for... A decent marketing budget is so important to generate interest... Yet British Speedway seems to spend an enormous amount of money on everything apart from marketing itself well.... Strange plan...

I think those in charge have made it clear that 'nomad teams' were very much off the agenda.. I do think your idea does have some mileage though... In the SS interview it does say that 'lapsed fans' are very much a target market... And that market is much greater I would say than those who currently go.... Championship League Riders Final, 4TT's etc could be a possible decent money spinner given, as you say, many teams' involvement and the bonus being both comps would deliver a credible offering with no guests.... It may encourage all the "stars" to turn up too given a wider exposure...

And if circa 20-25,000 take in a live match each week, I would suggest, (by estimating using past TV viewing figures, and how Cardiff gets 45,000 or so with many being different from year to year), that the sport has 60,000 to 80,000 who will still call themselves "Speedway fans", but either no longer have a local track, to attend, or dont bother took much about meeting results from any team perspective, due in the main to the way the sport runs itself.. Another measure as to the sports following is that many of the clubs official (and unofficial), Facebook pages have a fair few thousand followers. Some, no doubt, will cross over from one club to the next but it does suggest a decent potential market for streaming... Pricing it right is key, but hopefully it will provide another revenue maker for those who do it...

But as it currently sits, clubs get zero income form those fans who decide to stay away on those "iffy nights".... At least should the meeting go ahead they may be inclined to log in and pay for the stream... With potentially a country full of fans who might want to watch some Speedway too to try and attract... As for Programmes and Merchandise? Then link them in to the streams.. Clubs can then send them out to whoever wants such things. Reading the SS the "generic" streaming seems to have sound reasoning behind it and hopes to tap in to the amount of fans who no longer attend regularly but still follow the sport closely. (Fans who outnumber those that currently do attend by some distance I would suggest)...

"Iffy, dodgy weather meetings" keep fans away so when they do go ahead the club completely lose out... At least with streaming you may get those who decided to stay away paying to watch the stream...

100% has to be the way forward.. However... Due to Brexit, gone are the days of bringing West/East European and Scandinavian journeymen over on a "no risk" basis.. The no risk basis being that that these four and five point men would have been in an almost inexhaustible supply pre Brexit, meaning one in, then one out if it didnt work out, was the operating model... It is no coincidence I am sure that after Brexit, Speedway promoters in the top two leagues suddenly discovered that we had a good many UK riders in Division 3... Riders obviously who had gone unnoticed for decades when the UK promoters were bringing over any European or Scandinavian that even remotely looked like they could handle a Speedway bike.. Until there are enough riders for the teams the current situation can be the only way the sport can be ran... And the way that the 2nd Div have already dispensed with the RS scheme after just one season suggests it will be the same for a long time to come.. (Providing there are enough teams to run the sport as a team entity long term obviously)....

Not just "some of the blame" I would suggest.., Whilst Poland got stronger the promoters tried to keep using riders who clearly had new priorities and larger revenue streams via Poland, Sweden, and the GP's... Using a huge proportion of the TV millions to keep them.... Increasing admission fees annually by inflation busting amounts to try and cover ever increasing costs which were never brought under control.... Rearranging fixtures ad nauseum to work around the top riders' own individual agendas, regardless of negative impact to the crowd level by running on those nights. . And running with Guestfest after Guestfest when fixtures couldn't be moved to accomodate them, thus destroying the credibility of so many meetings, and therefore, ultimately, the actual credibility of the whole leagues themselves... Resulting in a great proportion of the fanbase simply "giving up" watching the sport "live" but still watching the sport with enthusiasm via TV and Internet offerings... And all for riders who, in the main, "Foxtrot Oscared" the minute the big money ran out over here... The employee level you can afford by your income is the employee level you should employ...

Is he that New Zealand lad?...

And Collins, Loram and Briggs were replaced by other World Class riders not "young 4pt lads with potential"...

Because it seems to work and appears to be popular with fans? Everyone knows. Speedway is two seven man teams over 15 heats with as many pro riders there as possible... All ridden on nights to suit the riders so they can ride in as many meetings, and represent as many teams, as they can... Mustn't ever change that... Imagine the chaos!! And who knows. Maybe the odd amateur talent could be unearthed given they will be coming up against established NDL riders so can benchmark themselves against a higher standard...

It would... My point was you could better off with a rider winning a couple of races a night rather than one winning none but still having the same average... I hope Birminghan can put together a decent team, but to he honest, I do feel that they may end up struggling to do so, and that could be a disaster for their continuation given their history.... Personally, I think an NDL place should initially have been the target as, like many tracks of their size, it does have a following of 600 or so die hards who would have supported it I would suggest.. Unfortunately, as we know, the NDL has been restructured to support the Championship, so what once was the best ran league, offering the best value for money, (and for me also the best entertainment), is now no longer the same standard... Fingers crossed they can be competitive AND sustainable...

To be fair, I think all through the history of the sport, the majority or riders have been "gate and go"... Hence the oft used phrase by those who dont take to it of "first out of the start, wins"... Maybe the rougher tracks and slower bikes brought with them more passing but for overall entertainment I would suggest that the Speedeay served up today is at least as good, if not better, than any I have watched over the years.. And also, I would prefer a six point man scoring 0,3,0,3 than one scoring 1,2,1,2 as the opponents could score only a maximum eight point advantage in the first example, wherby a twelve point one could be accrued with the second..

Unfortunately tonight ladies and gentlemen Elton John and Rod Stewart cannot be with us as they are double booked and doing a concert in Prague... Instead we have Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls guest singing for them... To be fair. Speedway can get decent crowds when meetings have some relevance. Eg The SON and domestically the Play Off finals show that there is still a "decent amount" of fans at most tracks who come out of the woodwork to attend certain meetings.. (Bank Holidays too seem to get well above average attendances at those tracks who run on those days)... Unfortunately, due to its operating model, there are not enough of those meetings that mean something during the season... Let's hope for a summer of good weather as that can be a real asset in bringing non regulars (who still follow the sport very closely), out to attend....

I do enjoy this time of the season.... The time when the vast majority of all riders are signed due to them being very much the last resort, yet, with all of them invariably being riders who could "easily put a point or more on his average"... When, in reality, they have had several years of opportumity to do just that riding for all and sundry, but haven't... The pre season preview edition of the Speedway Star is a great read so it will be worth playing "Peterborough and Workington Bingo" to see how many times their league winning teams from last season, and a few years ago, are referenced by promoters justifying why their septets are not going to be also rans... With "we have "deliberately" put this team together with "strength in depth" to always have a strong reserve", and "you only have to look at what Peterborough did last year/Workington did a few years ago" getting you a full house if, "he is yet another one in the team who could easily put a point or more on their averages" is mentioned writhin the same club review..

In 2008 the Govt gave the banks billions... Maybe this time they will give the public billions to keep the economy going?

BV didn't get away with it with Woffy.... Speedway has to keep its credibility don't you know.....

There will be whole sectors of the economy facing huge challenges... With the 'entertainment' sector in particular being hit massively I would suggest.. "Fortunately" for Speedway its demographic of mainly "grey pound" spenders might help it deflect some impact? In the past, the country it has been said, has "sleep walked" into recession... No one is sleep walking into what is ahead... For many, families in particular, after food and clothing, mortgage/rent, utility bills/council tax, car, mobile phones, broadband, sat tv etc etc have been paid for, not much will be left I would suggest for a lot of families. (Maybe not enough even exists in the first place).. They may even need their "grey pound" spending relatives to help... Not sure paying people 12 months money for working 6 will be too sustainable to be honest, (if it ever was)...

Three strong heat leaders usually ride in 14 of the 30 rides each team takes.... More if tac subs are needed... Any team with that has a pretty good advantage given there won't be too many heat losses against them, meaning those teams will always be in with a shout of a win.. Especially when five out of eight rides in Heats 12 to 15 are taken by your top 3..

Re Eastbourne. Several riders said that they would have reduced their pay if they had been informed of the difficulties.... Maybe something similar will (may) happen at any tracks struggling going forward? Getting paid less has to better than not getting paid anything.. Eg If your income is 15% less than budgeted for then the riders drop accordingly... And vice versa too, if you increase your income above budget then pay the riders more. Never a bad thing in Speedway it seems to get a good reputation for paying on time and if you can do a "bonus" it can only help recruitment and team spirit..

Track size and shape could be "perfect"... Not too big so a differential in horsepower spreads out the riders down the straights.... And nice wide entry and exits into wide bends, meaning the bikes will be going sideways for a fair amount of the lap, thus giving those who can use the grip the chance to make inroads into leads of others.. 8 percent banking is "just enough" too I would suggest for good draining and safety of riders, helping them to ride the turns... Look forward to visiting, hope it all goes well...