mikebv

If some tracks are losing money by running it would be a plus!!

100%.. The irony is that for a great many years hours and hours have been spent moving fixtures all over the place to accommodate the riders' own individual ambitions and agendas.. As obviously they cant be in two places at once.. Therefore moving fixtures around a a bunch of semi pro riders' "other job" cant be that much more difficult or time consuming surely? Especially as Mon and Thu are fixed for one league.. Those riders can have Mon and Thu days off in their "other job" and ride Speedway those days.. Employers are very, very flexible these days given the 24/7 demand of the world...

Probably realised a few weeks in that with only six teams any weekly coverage would mean the same ones appearing over and over again.. With the four play off teams then getting shown even more so.. And if wouldnt be beyond the realms of fantasy to suggest that showing the six teams ad Infinitum would considerably have impacted attendances at these tracks to quite a devastating level, as when on TV the crowds seem to dwindle significantly.. And with Monday also being a "fixed night" the crowds at other tracks could be impacted too as those many Speedway fans who attend, but dont really care who wins any UK League match, but do love watching the racing, stay in and watch the TV offering available, rather than attend their own local track.. Maybe it's been a good thing overall having so few matches, and has protected crowd levels somewhat..?

Just a complete coincidence HT I am sure....

Been the obvious way forward for donkeys years... Teams winning leagues and then closing due to paying out far more than they expected the team to earn is simply ludicrous... The pitfalls of their system are obvious and signposted clearly... Therefore they either don't see them due to incapability, or simply revert to type and stick their head in the sand to avoid doing "something different".. It's similar how they will allow "poor" teams to exist, rather than sharing the talent around when it's clear these teams have "no chance", as all it means is that several "top teams" will then end up paying high 50/60+ point money for a good amount of home victories, and a fair few away.. When budgeting for 45 a match appears the usual M.O..... With the irony being the team doing "too well" don't get the crowds to pay for their "success" and face possible closure.. Whilst the team at the bottom keep getting beat so don't get the crowds to even pay for their "failure" and also face possible closure.. But don't forget, every team at the start of the season start off "pretty equal" as the averages say so... Another clear pitfall of the system that they use, year after year, after year, after year etc etc.. (File away with points money as being obvious and signposted clearly)...

Majic...

Be like the boat race.. Same two qualify for the final every year.. Home and Away 20 times each means 40 matches.. Plus a two leg semi and play off final is a total of 44.. Plenty of rides for the lads...

Good call.. With the addition of the IOW back in the 2nd tier. The sport needs their promotional input.. I would dispense with "fixed race nights" and include Leicester on a Saturday in the top tier, (maybe as Kent's replacement?) Still call the leagues Premiership and Championship so it doesnt mention "development league" in the second tier.. Even though many of the riders may be that level.. Bottom line though is the strength of the teams will have to be fair, (we know averages dont work due to be being far too easy to manipulate and the many variables that deliver them) so dont just use them as the sole determinant.. Maybe some "rider control" agreements will be needed as a temporary measure to ensure all genuinely come to the tapes "relatively even"...? Rather than the usual "everyone is equal"... (Apart from the teams that everyone on here says "they've no chance" and those teams then finish 40 to 50 points behind the top teams at the end of the season). And a salary cap might be a useful addition too? Whatever they do, they need to work very closely together.. Winning any league isnt a priority given how the leagues are set up, but having competitive, close Speedway is important to keep the fans interested..

Dont need a roof in Manchester... It never rains...

Maybe just not rearrange and they lose everything but their petrol money.? Especially if some tracks lose money by opening.. It would actually be less of a loss to them.... You will soon see much more of the current "call it off 48 hours in advance" by promoters given they can even save on the travel money by doing so.. Not a great situation to be in is it?

The amount of times Stox run v the amount of Speedway meetings.. The old track at Kirky Lane used to get around 4k ten times or so a year for the Stox.. If stox ran 20+ times a year, I would suggest many less per meeting.. And vice versa.. If Speedway tracks only ran 10 meetings, properly like Stox does, then I would suggest a fair few bigger crowds per meeting than they currently get..

You are though also in a world of litigation that didnt exist many moons ago.. If I was a ref and there was a slightest doubt then it wouldn't start, just to protect my own backside.. Again though.. Track covers would help.. There are serious challenges to overcome without doubt to get racing on, however, the priorities of those who run the racing needs to change.. eg Find a way to make something like track covers work (as is proven already by various tracks globally and also in the UK).. They pay out hundreds and hundreds of thousands, to 90 or so riders, who can prevent a meeting taking place.. Yet dont spend one single penny on something that would actually help racing take place.. As with much of the operating model.. Fudged thinking...

Without going all days of yore... In the past, riders have taken to a track and "turned it over" with the result that the inside became slicker and the "heavy slop", that had been sent out wide by their back wheels, then got removed... We see even in the GP's how a wet track will settle down after five or six races so have as many riders as needed doing 20 to 25 laps on it... One at a time if needs be to ensure health and safety.. (And no one complain that this is an advantage to those doing it).. I remember seeing BV v Berwick in the days of Tatum, Nilsson and Knight on a saturated track and after an hour or so of track work it produced some of the greatest racing I watched around there. With Neil Collins flying past riders due to the racing being down to more about natural ability and not just horsepower. (And it must have been great racing for me to remember it as such amongst the hundreds of other meetings attended).. At this rate, and very soon, there wont be enough tracks left for the riders to decide not to race on.. How ironic would that be?

I wonder if cricket rules were implemented and each club got a point each and no rescheduled match.. (So the riders would lose a meetings earnings).. Would it have been ran?

Very, very harsh.... I think you will find the sole reasons for the issues facing the sport are simply down a 'perfect storm of a year'... Kicking it in the guts after years (decades), of fantastic, innovative leadership... Nothing more and nothing less than that.. It has faced Covid, and The Euros, and The Olympics... Errrrrrrrrrrrrr... Oh Yes.. And The Boat Race, and The Darts, and The Grand National (probably) and dont forget Wimbledon, you cant forget Wimbledon... Was the Boat Race March? I don't know, maybe it was, when did the Speedway start? Anyway, where was I? And all on the telly them don't forget, that'll keep tens of thousands of people in who would usually be at their local Speedway tracks, forming an orderly queue to watch a family sport, and bringing a friend like they advertise.. Oh. And the Test matches, I forgot about the Test Matches... Didnt stand a chance against that lot, no matter how brilliantly the sport is currently being ran... Normal service to be resumed next year guaranteed.. You mark my words.... Next year i believe the sport has agreed a deal with Eurosport where they will show loads of matches, beaming them live into living rooms the length and breadth of the country.. Hang on.Who just said that that was this year? When does it start?... Can't wait.. Hope they bring the green helmet colour back... The fans loved that, loads used to go just because of it... Their TV remote controls at home had exactly the same colours too.. Amazing.. Oh Yes. Just remembered ... And it's all the Speedway GP's fault too.. As well as Poland's...

More roosting chickens coming home...

To be fair fo the promoters.. When you have basically cobbled together a league structure, knowing it will be completely bereft of credibility by your actions, for the sole reason of providing circa 90 riders with 126 team places... And they then pick and choose when they will support you back... I can kind of understand how frustrating it must be.. But they run the sport, not the riders, and any buck ultimately stops with them.. As with many things in life... You invariably in the end, always reap what you sow..

Tide was out....

Is that the appeal of the appeal of the appeal of the appeal?

Very Cruel.........

Surely the NDL team will be going as part of the restructure? Similar to what Newcastle did? Or..... Could the reverse happen and the NDL team stay and the Eagles go? Would that be a much more cost effective and viable way to keep the sport running at the track? 600 or so fans might be more than enough and those "bumper crowds" that would no doubt rally round when they re open again could help to pay off some of the debts.. They do have a recent history of being in the NDL and weren't crowds decent for that level?

Wasnt this the "Jewel in the BSI crown"? Hence they marketed it themselves and paid for the venue, rather than take a fee and let another promotion run it, (with Wales' tourist board financial support I think).. I presume it depends on how much it can deliver in £'s to the series owners, whether or not Cardiff stays on the rota..

Followed both RL and Speedway closely for a fair few years, and always thought a certain closeness between their operating models.. Eg's Owners running the sport and making all the decisions with the usual vested interest rather than an independent body having total control for the common good. (The RFL exists but the Super League clubs rule the roost).. Club 'success' therefore, being more important than a successful national team. (Something RU and Cricket cottoned onto and moved forward from immeasurably, and their domestic games then fed off this success).. Loads of overseas players coming in rather than having development of UK based players (and guaranteed team places for them).. Players getting some eye watering contracts for a sport well down the sporting spectrum, and then trying to fund these contracts through sponsorship and debt, (supported by other businesses) rather than the inadequate gate receipts.. A very much "Open the doors and they will come" philosophy, with a view taken by those owners of "I love it as it's a very exciting sport so its bound to be attractive to everyone isnt it?"... No national joined up marketing of the sport with each club doing "their own thing" at local level, with varying degrees of success (or failure)... No set days or nights for each club, it used to be Sat and Sun and now it's any time at the behest of the broadcaster.. And. Play offs introduced that rendered many matches during the latter part of the season as "dead rubbers" given many of the same teams reached the play offs, (the ones with money), and the same others didnt... As you say, swap the word Speedway for Rugby League..

All the FIM events in this country certainly get me and my lad attending.. Pity there isnt more.. SEC round, GP Challenge, U21 Final etc..

??? My point is in 1974, if the British Final was held full of 2nd Diviison heat leaders and second strings riding, (like this years was), would it have been "as packed" as it was that year, watching genuine world class talent? Of course it wouldnt have been.. And even if the racing had been just "ok" and not as good as the NSS on Monday, its obvious the night will live longer in the memory purely down to the sense of occasion... A sense of occasion delivered by a prize that truly meant something given the amount of talent in those days who could genuinely feel they were in with a chance, and the fact failure meant no World Championship that year.. And also, a sense of occasion brought on by the huge crowd... THE most important factor by far to deliver an atmosphere at a sporting event that makes you look back and remember it fondly.. Many remember the 70's in particular through rose coloured specs.. In reality the racing at some tracks today is at least on a par, and for me, even better at some tracks, than what was delivered then.. And many meetings I saw at Hyde Rd were hammerings with PC and Ivan often miles in front of the other three.. The differences were the operating model that ensured a greater emotional attachment to your team, and, most importantly, packed terraces that made every race, never mind every meeting, seem like "an event"...