mikebv

A difficult decision for the Promoter I would think... Given the time of year, you cannot rule out rain, (or snow!), and any dodgy weather may make some think twice before attending, and therefore pay to watch it from their armchairs.. For me and my lad It would be a difference between £58 (which all goes to the Promoter), and circa £15 which is shared between the producers and the promoter.. Maybe one of those Geo blockers could work?.. But I do have a VPN meaning i am Lithuanian anyway...

Should get the season off to a bang.... Tai or Emil would be great as the last one. . NKI not too shabby though if it is him... £24/£29 a fair price to watch that calibre of field I would suggest...

Hopefully he is a Discovery appointed CEO....

I was going to suggest... "What about the Abbey Stadium?"... Decades of Speedway heritage there, and perfect for a rebuild and track reshape now Greyhounds have gone.. A "blank canvas" on which to build too... Would be perfect I would suggest... Can't think why it hasnt been chosen...

Maybe his appointment is being encouraged/led by Discovery? Their sporting hierarchy will know him via the GPs.. Maybe they see what Speedway can be when they see how it is ran, followed, and covered in Poland and want to try and replicate it over here? The sport in the UK has generally got viewing figures that "punches above its weight", so possibly they feel that if they could get rid of the "Mickey Mouse" rules and reputation of its leagues, then UK Soeedway may become a relatively inexpensive to cover (for them) success story? Europsrt/Discovery will be used to dealing with bone fide CEO's and business leaders, and, with the best will in the world, I would suggest those who try and administer it currently are only willing amateurs, without a lot of the required skill set to run a major professional sport,, who are "doing the best they can" to run things. Hence UK Speedway remains very much a minor professional sport in the UK... Best of luck to Phil, his starting point this season with some major talent returning has good timing for him...

Poole's crowds do drop off quite significantly when they are not successful as well too dont they? And its more noticable there given the higher than most starting point when they are doing well I would say.. Maybe being a big fish in a small pond suits them best now...

But would they be with Bewley, Emil, and Nicki P et al there? Poole, quite sensbily stepped down when the top league and the 2nd Div were pretty much using all the same riders, so it made perfect sense to drop down, save money, use Div 1 HL's and ride on their historical best nght... Maybe Thursday would be more successful when some of the World's best are there?

"Integrity, Transparency and Perception"... Does Phil come on here? Great news... Just as long as his remit isn't influenced by the self interest of others it could be a major move forward for the sport in the UK... Chris Louis seems to be a voice that can see the UK version of Speedway's major fundamental issues that hold it back from being taken seriously, (which impacts crowd levels negatively and also major sponsor involvement), but can also see the huge potential that the sport has if ever done "properly" in the UK... A very positive move, and with the "major names" starting to come back, let's hope the "custodians" see the bigger picture rather than just their own team being "successful" in such a small minority sport, which currently resonates little.... A good year to launch some major marketing of the sport given the quality of riders on offer, and hopefully with his contacts, Phil Morris can help facilitate this... Just hide the water truck from him on TV race nights...

And Emil will defeat Doyle a fair few times too when they are together...

Spot on... Some true lop level talent now riding over here... Will reduce a fair few averages of those who have been HL's over the past few years I would think.. Be great to watch Dan, Pedersen, Emil, Doyle, Holder, and Fricke, (and KK if he is up for it on the nights he visits), ride the NSS next season.. Wonder if the PCMM could get them all there? Full house guaranteed I would think... Could charge £25 a ticket for that... Good to see some clear demarcation between the leagues again...

"Computer says no".......

That home track advantage better be good given the teams they will be up against...

Hope he gets an invite to the PCMM... Booooooooooooo!!!!!!

So Nicki announces his own signing.... Presume Peterborough must be hanging fire to see if Denmark invades anyone.....?

You heard it here first....

Let's hope this attracts 100's of protesters at very track he races at... Just as long as they have paid to get in...

Not great planning is it? Anyway, let's hope Emil gets signed off by the BSPL....

It seemed quite clear in the SS article.. "All riders are self employed so can ride wherever they want" was the gist... Cannot see how anyone can prevent a "self employed" person from working elsewhere alongside any other current jobs they have, unless of course, an "exclusivity deal" is built (and paid for), into the contract... I have 230 people who work for me, all with a contract, but all free to work elsewhere too.. I can suggest that "company x" "might" not have the same legal coverage as I have, but I cannot stop them going to work for them.. I also have plenty of companies come in and use my property to advertise their products, but they sign legal waivers to do so, meaning my business has legal indemnity if anything untoward happens on my property towards staff, customers or premises, resulting from their presence in my store...

Stockport now ride on the Offerton track... My lad rode for them for a few years until his football took over... A great sport which encourages fitness, resilience and a will to win... All valuable traits you would want to take forward in life...

Speedway did get over a million a year from Sky, for circa 20 years.. And ended up with absolutely nothing to show for it.. And, as soon as the money stopped, the worlds best (who basically swallowed up this cash), all "Foxtrot Oscared" to Poland... As a follower of RL, there is a certain synergy with Speedway in the narrow minded, self interest that pervades at club ownership level.. With the "greater good" for the development of the sports organic, long term, general growth, often taking a back seat, (if indeed in the car at all).. Sports such as Cricket and RU realised that no team itself, no matter how successful, would generate national interest, but that a consistently successful national team would.. Hence central contracts came about, the teams became more successful and the domestic games prospered off the back of it.. In the 70's it was watching England's Speedway team on TV during the summer months on Saturdays, beating the rest of the world consistently, that hugely helped swell the domestic following... This country loves a successful national sporting success story, so let's hope GB can build on their current high performance levels for another five years or so, as that could really kick start wider media coverage, and boost the domestic product off its coat tails...

And it also made one million percent clear in the article that "all riders are self employed" so cannot be stopped riding where they like... Which opens a can of worms re the asset system I would suggest... Can you be "self employed" but "owned by somebody?"..

What an idea for some great publicity... A rider with a helmet stood on the centre green with a load of fans there shouting "Take it off!, Take it off"..... With Jonathan Ross sat in the stands saying it was "definitely Mick Poole"....

Ipswich are the team who can generate the largest crowds I would say... Good Friday seems to always bring probably the largest domestic crowd of the season anywhere outside of the play offs.. I seem to remember over 4000 being quoted, and that wasnt actually too many years ago... With circa 3000 more recently...

I have always thought Tai's idea of only needing to do home matches had some mileage.. RR then away from home for your "global superstar"... That way the track can give them the "big money" knowing that they won't be paying for the away leg from that meeting. "If" Dudek wanted £5k a night then a track could give him that without having to pay another £5k for the away leg out of their gate money.. If every track had a global star, then you could then advertise the whole of the sport off the back of having "The World's Best" riding over here, without threatening the clubs' sustainability...

Most plan, I would think, to run at an "affordable loss/tax reduction on a wider business", therefore running "below break even" is almost "par for the course" for many.. Workington's issue was four fold... The actual size of the home wins... Too many "unexpected" away wins, and, again, some by wide margins... A change of race nights so "guests" were available for everyone else who ran Friday's... And too many consecutive meetings, too close together, at the end of the season, meaning, even though they were often semi finals and finals, fans picked and chose which ones to attend due to cost.. I do hope Ipswich can get Emil over, and I am sure all will have been costed and funded as Chris Louis seems quite a switched on promoter... Emil will definitely put a fair few extra hundred bums on seats at the away tracks, (first visit anyway), and, hopefully, will put Ipswich high up the table all season , thus keeping their punters interested enough to keep turning up at their own track after the initial "novelty value" has subsided...