mikebv

That is correct, you need to have a ticket for the Friday meeting...

Take cash though.... Edit Shockster beat me to it...

Last weekend there were a few hundred tickets left in the East Stand that they build for the GP's, on the Friday night...

The GP's, due to their cost, do impact crowds negatively in the lead up to, and post, the meetings.. To attend the PCM meeting, the GP's and the British Final will cost me circa £500 as I pay for my lad.. Great for Belle Vue in one way, but not great when the run of the mill domestic matches get missed...

By a long way they will... The Aces fans alone will number circa 3000 if last year is replicated...

Agreed, but Zmarzlik v Kurtz will still be worth the visit... Looking forwards to watching Woryna too... Plus Lambert... And Doyle, Madsen, and hopefully Lindgren and the others who don't ride over here...

There are two GP's this weekend in the UK, at one of the best tracks in the world, with one night already sold out.. That alone shows that the sport in this country can draw plenty of people "when done right", and also shows plenty of UK fans are still willing to pay out plenty to watch it.. Showing there is still a strong affinity from many towards it... Hopefully, the likes of Richard Coleman can lead the changes so every UK meeting is "done right" and the future is a positive one...

Common Sense.... Hence, it hasn't happened, (again)...

Last week the trophy room got broken into, I believe... The police quickly caught the bloke who did it though... He was spotted walking through the town with a Green and Yellow carpet on his shoulders as he said that was the only thing he could find worth nicking... Buddum Tish....

And Brady Kurtz...

Given the fact riders ride "elsewhere", and there are so few teams, it would be a perfect time to have squad systems.. Just knock the teams back to five riders each, use fhe Danish Lesgue model, and have, a minimum, two riders in your squad.. The rwo riders who have an income from riding elsewhere... Lose the RS, and the Numbers 3 and 2, and have five riders all over a four point average.. The riders at No3, and No2 level make up the squad so they can replace any riders missing.. With fixed nights, all will be available... Edit. Using this squad system would also add some pressure to the HL and SS riders in the team to perform, as there a possible replacements "on the bench".. HL's and SS's are virtually bomb proof nowadays regardless of their performances, so competition for places can only be a good thing..

78 matches in the top flight last year, including PO matches.... 62 Guests used... A bit more than "hardly any" at not far off one a match on average I would say... Maybe the UK should do what Sweden do and all race on the one night (Thursday?), that would then sort it once and for all... They could do that now with an even number in the league.. The top two tiers used 196 in total... Tough for a team sport, in any day and age, to sell such a concept to any major sponsors, and TV companies, I would think, even more so in a world where the optics of what you do are viewed 24/7... Let's hope the likes of Richard Coleman can influence matters enough to eradicate all those "ah, but this is Speedway" nonsense rules, which really should say "ah, but this is UK Speedway...

And 100% allowed to do so by British Speedway itself...

I would be amazed if he isn't... If one employer paid me ten times what the other did, I too would be exactly the same... Especially in such a dangerous profession, and even more so on the (as Craig Cook put it in last weeks Speedway Star), "always inconsistent" tracks of the UK...

If the Poles could get away it they definitely would... They are paying £500k plus to some riders therefore I can 100% see why they would want to ensure "their riders" only ride for them...

The most embarrassing part being that he took nearly THREE laps to go from last to first in one race...

Given the amount of injuries to "top, top riders" currently, I can see Poland going down that route... TV companies, National businesses who sponsor the league and teams, and even companies who use riders to advertise their products on national TV, will all be feeling frustrated that some of the worlds best are missing due to being injured elsewhere, meaning the product quality has dropped... With the clubs and their fans the most frustrated of all... There will surely soon be a clamor from all the stakeholders to ensure "their riders" only ride one league.. I don't knows what the top riders get collectively for their other two leagues, (£200k?), but I can see a day, soon, when all the stakeholders get together and pay that differential to ensure "exclusivity"... You wouldn't need to ensure everyone is tied down to these contracts either, just the "box office elite" that RR doesn't cover adequately... Similar to the way central contracts work in cricket, you only "play" for us...

Adrian Smith, as a newcomer to the sport, was truly "blown away" by the on track action, and couldn't believe the huge potential the sport had for strong growth given its "raw materials" and its current crowd size starting point .. Unfortunately, he was also "blown away" (but not in a good way), by the capabilities of many of those who ran the sport.. Eventually realising that their skill set, and lack of any ambition for change and growth, meant he was wasting his time, and considerable business acumen, dealing with them...

Plus, riding on Mondays, using 200 Guests, the majority of ridsrs Doubling Up and Pit Gates being unable to be fixed due to absolutely no one in fhe whole of fhe country being available to do it that day.... All missed opportunities... These Poles really don't have a clue do they?...

And should have been done years ago, when the GP's and Poland took over.

Which is exactly what a sport with non league football crowd lnumbers warrants.. And I don't mean the Conference but lower non league... My lad plays North West Counties and can play on front of crowds from 500 to 1500... Sweden may get "enough" and do have a decent league sponsor... And. Denmark have made a full on attempt this season to grow Danish Speedway, and it will be interesting to see what league the Polish riders choose to race in next year as their "other league", Sweden or Denmark... Should the Poles decide that this is the way the sport is allowed to go...

I thought it was a tad optimistic given how much fundamentally is needed to unpick... And. If Poland decrees one extra league only to race in... Which I can see their rationale given how many riders they lose riding elsewhere... Then next season will see some huge drop in levels..

In the 70's the sport piggy backed off the England team doing well on World of Sport, at a time when the football and cricket teams were crap.. A good news story... The domestic sport has always been a bit "Mickey Mouse" however the money was good due to attendance numbers... In a recent Speedway Star it covered Kenny Carter winning the 1979 British Junior Championship and for that, he got £2000. (Over £13k today).. So individual meetings carried some big prizes eg the Grand Prix at White City was £5k and the Internationale at Wimbledon a Jawa bike... In 1978, PC, in his book, said when he got banned for a month, for arriving late from Los Angeles and missing a meeting due to a plane cancellation, it cost him over £20k including his Long Track money... What you could get away with in the 70's you cannot get away with now, and the Mickey Mouse circa 200 guests per season, (with just 15 teams in total), is ludicrous, (but condoned by those who attend regularly), and doubling up is now, just like guesting, a necessity. (Only in the UK though)... The promoters of today are, in the main, hobbyists, who are quite happy to lose money that they can afford to lose, hence becoming a bona fide team sport simply isn't going to happen, therefore the sharing riders operating model is all we have.. If Poland ever decided to run with the UK's operating model their sport would go bust overnight... Fans, Sponsors, and TV would simply walk away... As Richard Coleman said in the Speedway Star this week... It has about five years to sort itself out...

A deluge.....😁

The last race, a pretty much run of the mill 5-1, shows the difference between our version of Speedway and theirs . Over here? Virtual silence, apart from some polite applause, in a three quarters empty stadium.. Over there? A five figure crowd celebrate like their team were World Champions.... Any "newbies" over there couldn't help but get engaged...