mikebv

Paying 14 riders for 60 races of Speedway will still be considerably more (and by some fair old margin I would suggest)... Therefore, your largest cost will always provide you with your largest cost saving in £s (but can actually be just a small % reduction in reality)... I pay out £22k a week in wages, so if I hit my budget sales I am fine as profit is budgeted for me to spend £22.5k a week.. If my sales drop 10% because my customer numbers dont hit the budgeted sales, which are forecasted in advance, I have to drop my payroll spend accordingly.. If I didnt, and carried on laying out more than I could afford, I ulltimately wouldnt have any profit to reinvest and more than likely go bust as the inevitable outcome.. And not all clubs have to pay any rent at all dont forget, AND get to keep bar, car park and food money...

For streaming to work there has to be a lot of variables that happily come together.. Number one having the spare money to invest in a "gamble" rather than needing every penny (and more) to survive.. You also can be very lucky with those who provide the service as they may be fans who will do it for a "labour of love" and then advertise their video services more wider off the back of it, using it as an example of what they do, rather than any financial gain.. And then you have the potential uptake to consider, if there are zero restrictions on crowds, and you are not getting anywhere near filling your stadium, then there isnt much point streaming the event.. If you do have restrictions, or play to full houses every week, and therefore demand to watch outstrips the supply of tickets available, then streaming can become worthwhile to do... My local football team Stockport County streamed all matches during lockdown for £7 a game.. They did it because the owner has very full pockets that go very deep, so stood all the cost, and they get circa 4000 fans a match so a lot of potential buyers, meaning around 1200 fans who were missing watching their team play logged in every week.. Horses for courses I would suggest.. For those with deep pockets to absorb all the costs then they have zero risk and it could benefit them in the overall aim of growth, however given UK Speedways tiny following and overall brand awareness, I would think for many it would be a fair old gamble..

?? Their largest outgoing is employee wages... They are one million percent in charge of that..

If you want to keep team racing then run it properly with credibility and integrity, at the correct level decreed by the clubs' fan base levels, not the level that the ego"s of the promoters want their clubs to race at.... And run it on days when you can get your best crowds in, not when your employees tell you that they are available.. And do this once a fortnight but more if your fan base supports it... And dont charge more than £15 for an adult and definitely not more that £30 for two adults and their kids, but if you do charge more than £30, then dont expect most of these families to pay it more than once per month at best.. And if you cant meet the costs using that max £15 price point (£30 family ticket), then reduce your outgoings accordingly until you can..

1991 it may be but several times before, and since, it has needed restructuring... I've said before, domestic UK Speedway massively lived off the back of a world beating set of English riders who were beamed into millions of homes on Saturday afternoons celebrating victory after victory.. Then circa mid 80's, English Speedway had lost PC, Michael Lee and Kenny Carter within just a few years. Names who were recognised nationally as elite successful sportsmen and not just known within the Speedway following fraternity.. Instead ITV started to show each week American and Danish riders celebrating on the top step of the podiums, and as this went on regularly for several years, 'floating fans' in particular started to lose interest, but more importantly, so did the TV and Newspapers. This lack of success was then accelerated by UK clubs who, seeing the US and Danes dominate, decided to instead of developing UK riders, started signing up anyone and everyone from the US and Denmark and then slowly from anywhere at all around the globe.. Bringing in literally hundreds of journeymen riders to be often replaced by hundreds of other journeymen foreign riders... Now all UK Speedway has is a Mickey Mouse operating model (that has been in various guises always there but in a modern social media age you cannot get away with), no major sponsors due to no 'proper' TV, Audio or written media coverage, and a measure of success quoted by the chairmen as being "getting all teams through the season".. It needs a root and branch review and radical overhaul as the operating model is failing abysmally and needs throwing out and a new one bringing in... But, as this 1991 document shows. That wont ever happen.

Are there Covid restrictions on crowd levels still in Sweden ? Crowds seem well down on the norm of pre Covid days a couple of seasons ago.... And even those crowds at that time seemed well down on crowd levels of five or so years ago...

Poole's track last week was good... A bit too slick probably but you could tell by the closeness of most of the racing that the riders behind were confident that the rider in front, nor themselves, were going to hit any dodgy part of the circuit, hence were able to concentrate on racing, not just riding to ensure they completed the race.. And there were a few genuine passes made that were down to rider talent and not rider mistakes... On other visits I have made to Poole they have seemed to have MX 'whoops' down the back straight.... Or maybe it was just the tide was in... Edinburgh will do well to get anything from there I would suggest given how strong Poole looked last week..

Most rented stadia is owned by the greyhound fraternity which I can't see wanting to sell up for development as that sport would pretty much cease to exist if they did... Therefore if ever there was an opportunity to find some common ground between use and profit (for both), it's surely now... And if clubs are losing money by holding meetings eg Brum and Newcastle, then maybe less, but actually meaningful, meetings would be better for them...?

I'd raise that and ask... What is the point of either of the top two leagues....? Both equally undermine each other....

Or let the landlord then rent out the Speedway track to someone else...? If any track pays 52 weeks rent for 20 weeks or so use they must be crackers.. Especially in this current climate..

The NDL (pre covid) was the lowest level possible. .. Yet also appeared to be the most profitable.. Something in that worth scrutinising if they desperately want to keep "team speedway" for me...

Spot on.. Personally if with a paying adult I would make 16 and under completely free.. As many as the adult wants to bring so they can do what they want together as mates... Hardly any are there now so it will make almost zero difference to income and the more who attend together the less of an 'old fogies' reputation will exist.. And who knows, when they get jobs some may actually want to return... Nothing to lose and something possibly to gain has to be worth a go surely? NB. And no one uses social media like teenagers do, with most of their sharing being done showing all the friends, followers etc where they have been or currently are... So you will get free advertising hitting thousands within hours...

At Poole last week for me and my 18 year old lad it was £27... That to me was "more like it"... Not sure I would pay much over £30 for two adults and think its VFM to be honest, and never understand why clubs dont heavily discount the price to at least 16 years of age (say a fiver max), as so many get lost to the sport in their teenage years when £12 and more is bandied about as admission..

Bingo... Dont run 20 meetings and pay out literally hundreds of thousand in salaries for 40 meetings, with poor returns and attendances.... Instead run say 10 meetings over six months from April to September (March if Easter falls then), with BIG prize money and promote and advertise them properly, using all the Bank Holidays available, and run Saturday and Sunday if it's your best day to attract a crowd.. Even those who rent must be able to negotiate 10 meetings per season only with their landlords given the current economic situation, and those landlords who keep the bar and car park take would be pleased to have large crowds attending Speedway meetings that have some "meaning" surely? 16, or even 12 at a push, riders of similar level at each meeting, therefore all races competitive and (if only 12 riders) the prize money shared would be greater.. Plenty of meetings for the riders, a chance to still earn good money and "proper, meaningful speedway" for the fans to watch.. Stick in a few "extras" to supplement the racing similar to the way the IOW do and who knows, it may help relaunch some "team racing" that starts again from scratch and doesnt remake all the mistakes which has led it to its current situation..

As my lad was told when he started cycle Speedway racing.. "You dont have to be the fastest, you just need to be fast enough to not let them past"..

I remember the side cars at the old Hyde Rd track doing 2nd Half races and also remember the crowds that stayed behind were much higher than the usual 2nd half racing attracted.. A novelty value maybe, but Speedway could certainly do with a few of those.. Those with bigger tracks may run Stox already so the sidecars wont rip up the tracks as badly as those monsters do.. And having seen them in the US racing on tiny 110m circuits without destroying the surface, ran alongside the solos rather than after them, (akin to Grasstrack), I can definitely testify that they are a great watch.. 15 heats of Solo racing in a contrived made up team sport scenario isnt cutting it so anything else that can pull punters in has to be worth a go .

It truly is akin to "Turkeys voting for Xmas" the way they just set themselves up from season to season to fail ad infinitum isn't it? I am though always amazed that no one within the sport ever comes out publicly to say "This simply does not work".. Riders, who should be earning much more for what they do, seem to have no issues (presumably because they get to ride for anyone they can night after night).. Promoters, who see stadiums much less than half full and have to set up funding pages to stay afloat, never seem to come out and question "Just why the 'hell' are we doing it like this"?.. The Speedway Star (a truly excellent publication which any sport so small is so lucky to have) seems to have had a fair few editorials and comments published around much of what we all collectively discuss on here so 'within the sport' there must be at least some tacit understanding that the operating model simply isn't fit for purpose.. Yet each AGM ends with "we have a great plan and look forward to another excellent season of speedway"... Whilst each season ends with less paying customers than the year before.....

Cook is easily in the 'top five' riders riding in this country... And will be for a fair few years yet I would imagine as 'the best' eg Bewley and Holder, move out to Poland...

They will be more likely working out which riders they can get in to replace their own to improve their teams.. With the top league teams then realising that they already have them..

I remember the talk during the pandemic from one of the promoters that six man teams were one plan being considered.. Maybe the FS scheme was a compromise to this.? Basically six man teams and a "junior"... Thus. It would keep the septet team structure, make it look as if we are using the 'Polish model' (to a fashion), and therefore have a development plan, and I would imagine be a 'bit cheaper' than the usual 2nd tier second string riding at No7.. And who knows, some may benefit from it.. Tom Brennan certainly appears to be able to hold his own against more experienced opponents.. Most though certainly dont add much to the entertainment factor, but hardly their fault..

You don't want 'fan involvement'... Imagine how long the AGM's would take because the 'fan owned teams' kept saying "Really? Are you mad?" to every agenda point raised by the clubs ran by sole promoters...

Ultimately Ian who cares who the champions are? It really doesn't matter... And that is THE No1 issue the sport faces... No2 is its Mickey Mouse operating model that allows the No1 issue to exist... Some say "we need to attract new fans" and of course the sport does, however, just getting back one half of those who "used to go" but got pissed off watching "their riders" ride for all and sundry (to the detriment of their own team), or becoming slowly disillusioned by the application of make it up on the spot nonsense rules, whilst facing inflation busting price increases to pay for rising rider wages, would be far of an easier challenge to undertake.. Running a dual league system with barely any demarcation from each other is not much short of utter madness, and can only be done to ensure enough rides for far too many professional competitors for a sport with such few followers.. The operating model simply does not work so to keep churning it out annually (with a cost saving tweak here and there), expecting it to miraculously sort things out is crackers... When teams can dip in and dip out of any league with such regularity it says everything about the level of "kudos" even the clubs recognise in their very own competitions... When they don't see any merit in winning any particular league (and could even go bust by doing so), why should the fans take it seriously?

Four team tournaments? Always for me created the best racing as all riders were heat leader/best second string standard.. However... Some can't afford to pay 7 riders of down to reserve/junior standard now for 60 races out of their home meetings money, so paying 4 heat leaders, and best second strings, for 64 races, would be completely out of the question I would think.. The concept of having only heat leaders and second string level riders on show is for me though something worth considering in the top league hence my thoughts on five man teams.. You could still pay out for 60 races from your home meeting, 12 races each, and cap the salary at 'X' pounds per point... No make weights and plenty of 'no disrespect' journeymen average riders to have as replacements, so close racing should be delivered and no need for credibility removing guests. And struggling teams should be able to at least find someone to come in if they wanted to make changes.. If you take this year as an example, all six teams could have ran a decent 1 - 5 and called it "Elite". Giving it a stand out brand which was different from the league below. In all sports the 'top league' is the flagship and should 'stand out' and be aspirational... Plenty of rides for the riders (which is the only reason UK speedway really exists) and decent points money as five are sharing the pot not seven... Unfortunately for UK Speedway the biggest failing, and ultimate barrier to any success, is that (all down to the operating model), no league carries any kudos, which means every meeting ran in finding a 'champion' is also pretty meaningless from a 'team sports' perspective... Unless that ever gets sorted, so fans, media and bigger sponsors then start to take it seriously, it can never succeed... The saddest irony of all is that a 'great night out' can still very much be had watching the exciting 'raw material' of the racing on offer... (As the IOW are showing)... It's just a shame UK Speedway try to shoehorn it into something they can't deliver 'properly', thus diluting their very biggest asset...

Of course he will. All down to riding more....

Or a five month ban if the seasons starts in April...