mikebv

A toxic brand sadly BM... You only have to look at many of the TV matches... Rows and rows of empty seats, standing areas bereft of anyone actually stood there.. Companies want only positive brand association, as their name will resonate in the sub conscious of those watching.. Add also the fact that a company could sponsor a team with a significant sum of money and then find that their support will be rewarded by their number one rider (who will invariably be the chief beneficiary of their patronage), being actively allowed to destroy his own team's chances of winning the league by riding for any other team in the league, and you really have a hard sell to persuade any self respecting nationally known business to come on board..

But having a fan base like that would help any application for being allowed to move elsewhere within the same area... Sadly as it stands now, it would be difficult at most venues to make out to the local councils that the loss of them would have a huge impact on too many people...

He best not ever go to NK then as Kim is the only one allowed to have that particular 'style'..

All clear and obvious points and opportunities.. But as you say, no chance of anything changing... I do actually think that they probably do realise that their operating model and business plan is crap, but, bless them, they are simply incapable of doing anything about it to radically develop the sport... Hence we will have the same old, same old next season, and the season after, and the season after etc etc, until it all eventually becomes not worth doing as one by one the tracks disappear.. It has simply two clear options.. One. To do a 'Poland' and go balls out to attract the best in the hope fans will come back to the sport. (personally not a chance in hell they could deliver this).. Or Two. Set clear demarcation between two leagues where reaching the highest level is aspirational, with one being a mix of a few professional (but in the main), semi professional competitors, and the other being very much a development league to help supply the top tier over the long term. With all meetings ran when punters can get there not around when riders can fit it in their non UK schedule.. To keep doing the same thing again though surely isn't an option even to those currently doing it?

Sadly failing to adapt and move with the times has pretty much delivered its own demise.. If tracks could generate great crowds and thus deliver lots of rent money then maybe they would have had a chance.. Or better still, used these great crowd levels to lever a 'place of their own', somewhere in the locale , which reflected the local counciil's environmental plans but also provided the club with no rent to pay but all the income to use.. However. It must be hard to convince a local council that you are a much needed leisure pursuit, and an integral part of the community, when the crowd levels suggest very much the opposite... Woolworths, BHS, House Of Frazer, Debenhams, etc etc have all been established businesses that have failed to follow trend and move with the times, hence they are either no more, or hanging on by a thread.. Speedway, Stock Cars and Greyhounds are very much of the same ilk.. If no one uses your services then sadly there really is no need for your existence.. And if some landowner can earn so much more by selling up now than they can ever hope to receive over say the next ten years or so, then why would they not do so..? Speedway (in the UK), sadly isn't relevant anymore, with much of this irrelevance directly down to the lack of leadership, vision and capability of its custodians, many of whom have simply fiddled for years whilst Rome has burned around them... Who will be next to get engulfed by the flames?

If you have a crap haircut I believe there is now a little known rule that says no barber necessarily needs to be criticised for it...

When the Aces rode Friday at the old place, myself and a couple of mates went to Stoke most Saturday's making a Speedway weekend of it... Great entertainment... Bootsy and Crabtree in particular led the entertainment package both on the bikes and off.. Characters... Sadly now missing from the sport... Hence we are where we are as a sport collectively..

Stox get circa 4000 at the old track, around 10 times a season, so get at least as many, and probably more fans over a season than the Speedway at the NSS.. Losing both Stoke and BV will be a huge blow to the sport.. And may have an impact on Sheffield looking at the press release.. (?) Will 11 Stock Car meetings mean the Speedway gets restricted time on a Sunday? Again, more fans will attend the Stox each meeting than attend each Speedway match so more money to be gained from food and drink etc for the owners....

4G Football/American Football pitch in the middle of the track will prevent stox I would think.. Costs a fortune to put one of those in so they won't want 20 F1 stox potentially ripping it up...

Maybe those who shout this down would prefer a no league structure over a one league structure? The one positive of all these tracks closing over the past three years is that eventually we will get one league and a supply of riders that exceeds demand as places will be scarce. Meaning salaries will start to reflect the sports' actual level not the fantasy level it seems to try and pretend it is at.. No need for guests either when so many subs are sat waiting for their chance.. Survival of the fittest always includes a cull of the weakest for the species to survive, strengthen, and evolve.. Let's hope there's enough of the fittest left to move it forward..

Run it like a proper team sport with credibility? Run it to a budget that makes it sustainable for you rather than reflecting the costs your employees stump up? (Often to assist funding their own individual aspirations) Run it on nights when your customers tell you they can get there, not when your employees tell you they can get there.? Stop sharing employees who see you as the lowest paying employer out of the three they have..? Set an admission fee reflective of what you offer to the public, not one which needs to try and cover ridiculous salary levels which are far in excess of what a sport with such a poor following can ever hope to maintain.. ? A few starters for ten...

Helmet colour changes will be a priority I would imagine.. And also what biscuits will be available to have with their tea and coffee..

"What in earth is happening?" Years and years of promoters ignoring the feedback from disenfranchised and disillusioned fans is 'happening' so British Speedway continues to reap what it has sowed.. Be interesting to see if those left finally change a wholly unfit for purpose operating model before any more tracks close...? Somehow I doubt it as surely they would have done so over the last decade or so, when it was clear year on year it wasn't working...

Don't get many Cockney Reds at our teams' matches...

It is worth reminding ourselves that this is the highest level of the sport in the UK... How many there? 400? At best? If its true that any entity is only as strong as its weakest link then it's got some real problems Speedway in the UK, hasn't it. ?

Could you get Tai in to replace him.? MUST be a rule somewhere that can get found?

According to Nigel... "The weather has had a severe impact on the crowd"... Nothing else then?... What an advert (once again), for the sport (in the UK), live on TV.. My lad plays for an U17 League One Academy and they had more watching them yesterday...

Is this a cut and paste comment from one put on here last season sometime? Or one maybe from the season before? Or maybe the season before that?.. Or maybe the season before that? Or maybe the season etc etc etc etc. They never do really learn do they? All to win competitions that by their very own actions mean they become devoid of any kudos or credibility... Absolute Crackers when you think about it isn't it?...

Why not just run it as part of the League season? Challenge matches invariably don't get the same crowd interest or numbers... Every team runs one double header against nearest two rivals? Several Bank Holiday weekends and Easter are done and dusted by the end of May so each team could pick one weekend each to host their home leg which would give the early part of the season huge momentum.. It spreads out the higher cost too if ran over several different weeks so more likely to get £30 per punter. . Maybe organise some coaches and do a £75 for all three meetings special, sharing the marketing and returns of it? Make it a focal point of the season "A Festival of Speedway" type stuff for marketing and fan engagement, and post May you might see better crowds through to season end on the back of it..?

A Great team man Woffy.. Paid max after four rides.. Will need two legs of the same standard in the final I would think for Wroclaw to have any chance..

It certainly looked the part... I remember the grass banks... As we always allude to on here.. That racing last night, played out in front of 1000 punters, would have been deemed devoid of atmosphere, not worth the admission, and unlikely to be revisited again. . Played out in front of 15000 passionate fans, sat and stood close together, and you get a memorable event which will no doubt see many return next year.. The NSS and Cardiff are the perfect example of this. One a great race track which delivers great racing but struggles to get more than 1500 there to generate real atmosphere, and one that delivers average racing but a huge crowd every year to sample the great atmosphere that their very attendance generates... Speedway in the UK really need to cop themselves on that getting a crowd in (however you do it) really does make all the difference to that virtuous circle needed for long term growth.. Great crowds deliver great atmosphere which then delivers an urge to sample it again.. Sadly the vicious circle of low crowds, no atmosphere, and no urge to keep sampling it, appears to be accepted as an inevitability by many..

Vojens only ever served up good racing when it peed down and all the dirt had been removed.. Meaning track craft got you the grip needed to pass.. Last night had too much grip for a track that has tight (ish) turns hence when they rode the wider arc at two thrds track, on that berm of dirt, it was like being on rails (or as much as you could be on a speedway bike)... One (very fast) line, then follow the leader to do the same.. Scott Nicholls made a telling point early in the piece when he mentioned how he thought racing would improve when riders started to feel safer riding closer to each other.. I often wonder how often that effects racing in the UK on some of our tracks..?

Nigel does a good job in delivering an image of a fast, high octane, adrenaline rush sport.. Talking low and slow won't help that image... Lots of things are simply not fit for purpose in UK Speedway.. I would suggest Nigel and Kelvin are not one of them...

Those elected in the NFL though are still independant arbiters of the sport.. Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner) is a decision and policy maker without any affiliation to any club and is in his 13th year of tenure with several elections completed.. The clubs can replace him if he doesn't deliver what they as a collective need (growth and money in the main).. "The most powerful man in sports" is his grandiose title.. British Speedway would never allow such a position to exist and will carry on all doing their own little thing at a local level without any joined up national plan for the 'brand' of Speedway.. All running to stand still and win that unenvious race to the bottom..

Where's me Butterkist?