mikebv

Seem to remember it was a three hour show virtually EVERY week during the season when Sky first showed British Speedway.... And then they had a further two full repeats, as a minimum, at the two other time lots of morning and afternoon.... A minimum NINE hours in which to SHOWCASE your largely forgotten/unheard of Sport.. NINE hours per week of coverage going out on one of, (if not THE) fastest growing global media platforms at the time and also since... You then had the GP's with similar coverage featuring riders who virtually to a man appeared in the British League.. This meant circa 18 hours of coverage most weeks! For a Sport with very, very little TV coverage in the preceding 10 years or so... PLUS wasn't it over £1M to be shared amongst a fluctuating 11 to 8 teams each Season? Yep... British Speedway's problems are all definitely down to Sky. In fact they should be ashamed of themselves.. Providing the Sport with just hours and hours of prime time coverage virtually every week, and giving it seven figure sums each season, just to have the 'honour' of showing it.. I mean, no wonder the Sport didn't prosper...!

I too don't give a monkeys where 'my' riders also race... Until of course they are 'somewhere else' when 'my team' have a meeting.. And invariably following a Prem team we actually get more of an advantage as often it's the Championship or NL team that lose out.. However, it 100% doesn't make it right, as those riders missing from those meetings (that still go ahead) remove any credibilty those meetings had.. One way or another one track's business will suffer by riders not being able to be in two places at once, which does the overall Sport zero favours.. For you its a team sport, for me that boat sailed a long time ago.. Now it's nothing more than a flag of convenience for the lads to earn as much coin as they can around the World (which given the risks they take no one can ever begrudge).... But let's not pretend it has anything in common with 'proper Team Sports' when so much sharing and borrowing takes place due to an operating model miles away from being fit for purpose.. As I said previously, do it properly or don't do it at all.. Especially as people like your good self who are happy to accept what they are watching is real in a Team Sport context are becoming less and less in number each year..

100% Agree.. However... Team Speedway will never be ran properly as surely if they could do it properly they would have done it by now? Team Speedway is a misnomer now anyway, it simply just a conduit to allow lads to earn money by riding as many times in one week as they physically can... Pretty much what you see now is individual Speedway with riders sharing the same coloured kevlars for the odd evening before putting on another set with a bunch of different individuals the night later who are doing exactly the same.. In fact. Exactly the same as if they attended individual events around the country seven nights a week. The key difference being is if they did that the events over the seven nights a week would have credibilty and maybe prize funds that resonated enough with the locals to attend..? If Team Speedway cannot be done properly it completely undermines the whole point of fans being there, therefore no real point in attending it... All the ingredients that go into the actual racing itself can be breathtaking which for any Sport is truly a unique selling point which is criminally overlooked, and undermined, by the nonsense that accompanies it.. All you have now is a Sport desperately clinging on to the goodwill of those who are left who willingly (or maybe stubbornly) let themselves seperate the nonsense from the racing... Simply, if you cannot run the Sport properly, then don't do it at all, as you will never, ever, be successful.. Nor should you expect to be. ..

Agreed... Watching PC blast off into the distance, like he did in many races, certainly wasn't a 'spectacular' race... Nor was watching Mauger, Olsen, Michanek etc etc do the same to '2 point reserves'.. The difference was? These guys brought a crowd in through their reputations... When these riders, and more such as Penhall, Carter, Lee etc came to your town crowds were up.. A more modern, but lesser impact of the same were Nielsen and Gunderson, with probably the last rider with any 'extra pulling power' being Jason Crump.. These guys had reputations, THEY attracted the improved crowds NOT the team who were in situ.. Those who attended may not even attend again that season, however I am sure the racing on that night was improved considerably in the eyes of the regulars by the large attendance. (Even if tangibly it probably wasn't much better than normal).. Even in the 'good old days' it was the riders riding for, and bringing success to, England into your homes via World Of Sport that generated the interest in your local team... Racing today overall is at least on a par, if not better, than all those years ago I would say, as there now is much less of a disparity between riders in the meeting/races that there once was, so not sure the racing is to blame for the Sports decline.. British Speedway has virtually 100% lost its tribal, emotional connection that fans need to follow a team sport by the ludicrous, (almost comical if it wasn't so sad) way it has ran itself... I would suggest that this is infinitely more the problem than poor racing..

Let's be honest. .. It is probably time to give up on Team Speedway in Britain... The Sport can deliver a great night out if you just take the racing at face value so just deliver that, and dispense with all the unworkable nonsense that has to go into shoehorning the Sport into a Team framework.. There are far too many logistical issues which have been allowed to become 'the norm' to ever be unravelled so there will never be enough credibility to make it a success.. (That is, without the root and branch radical overhaul that I don't believe anyone in the Sport can or wants to deliver).. Therefore. Let the tracks run once a month (which might be an increase!), and run individual meetings... Run at weekends, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and put up a good prize fund with plenty of local advertising.. (Would £20k be acheivable?) Run kids races, juniors, intermediates and experts... Four hours or so of entertainment for £20. Plenty of side shows for the kids to keep them entertained. . In short, make it a proper day out and an event.. You could still run GB fixtures with the best performers (or those who just ride in Sweden and Poland).. The racing at a good many tracks can be superb... Sadly, under a 'Team Banner' the Sport has lost so many fans there will never be enough people at these tracks to appreciate it.. So time for British Speedway to play to its strengths and not its weaknesses...

Blimey, that Danny Baker has let himself go..

???

Well done Hans.. Still gives everything. . A great supporter of British Speedway too..

When Nicolai is on a max and Nige and Kelvin's 'bantz' is the most entertaining thing on offer you probably are not in the best place entertainment wise..

To be fair, they are are probably too busy to think anything as they try to find 15 people or so in close proximity to make it look like someone is actually there...

Not really any good this is it? Anyone 'flicking' through the channels are probably not going to think that 'a night at the Speedway' is worth a go are they? Sad to see...

You CAN take your eyes of this one Nige....

Has Nigel told Kelvin yet that "it's great to see such a good crowd in" ?

Nor 'ex fans'... Nor 'current fans'... Nor 'current fans soon to be ex fans'.... A very strange way to run a business.,.

I wonder how many of those riders see themselves as full time professionals? I venture the answer to that question is very strongly linked to British Speedway's problems..

There are countless stories of teams threatening to 'take their bat and ball home' at the AGM's... As one contributer once quoted "it's like a bear pit"... And it's not just AGM's either.. I think it was Jon Cook who when interviewed in the SS said his time on the MC could be a nightmare as if tracks didn't get the decision they wanted out of him re a guest, or an adhoc facilty he was told over the phone that they would not run the meeting, close the track and it would be his fault...!! Speedway is in such a parlous state it simply can ill afford to lose anymore tracks.. I would suggest historical tracks like the Aces have never been more able to influence a vote (whether they are allowed to actually vote or not)...

Not forgetting the several pre AGM's held to agree the biscuits....

I know Whisperer, a strange system too... However.. Any team has a say by refusing to accept the terms on offer... Just as many established and non established clubs have in the past.. The simple truth is... Trying to run on nights during the week rather than the night that is quite likely keeping your business afloat is financial suicide.... No hindsight excuse either for Belle Vue, as one of the Aces' absolute fundamental reasons for opening the NSS was to ride Fridays and Saturdays as to keep opening Mondays was simply not a viable option... They should never have agreed to run under those conditions as 100% it doesnt (and never will) suit their business...

You may have hit on idea there I could use..... It is coming up to review time for my teams so maybe as an incentive I will tell them they could be going to watch Speedway... (If they dont significantly improve!!!)...

Are you actually saying that British Speedway would have lost Rye and the Aces rather than let them drop down? Not a chance... A mainly Northern Championship would have snatched the Aces hands off if they suggested they wanted to drop down.. As for sweeteners? I think all Champ teams will see through any of that... Several have been bitten before so won't make that mistake again...

It would appear Turkey's actually DID vote for Christmas...

Of course they did.. They could just have refused to ride in the Prem under the conditions agreed.. If Rye and The Aces had said 'not happening' the idea would have been dead.. No one would have come up from the Championship and took on a huge increase in costs even if Monday, Wednesday and Thursday were their current race nights.. Nobody who runs a business in the entertainment sector would, in their right mind, give up a weekend slot for a Monday or a Wednesday slot.. It could never make sense, therefore it hasnt...

I think your price point is around ball park where it should be.... Not sure it would support 14 riders per night... I would suggest though it would support 10... If the five per team were the following.. 1. Prem Heat Leader (current No1 or No2 in averages for their teams)@ £1500 a night 2. Championship Heat Leader/Prem Second String @£1000 a night 3. As above... 4. Champ Second String/Prem Reserve@£750 a night 5. As above... Total cost £5k a night (£10k for two matches).. At £12 you will need 1000 to pay VAT and riders.. Obviously there are other costs.. If you were looking at an average team strength I would suggest 27.5 based on the Prem.. So every teams mean average per rider is a 5.5... With a No5 on no less than a 3.00 ave to ensure no 'make weights' and keep the racing hopefully competitive.. Eg No1@8.50, No2@6.50, No3@5.00, No4@4.00, and No5@3.50 Two teams made up of roughly that should see a competitive meeting, and hopefully be afforded..

I run a Supermarket 1.6 miles away from the NSS and often mention going to Belle Vue to my team.. My team often then say 'it's a great night at the dogs'... I do my best to educate and mention it's not 'the dogs' but 'Speedway'... The comments then range from "Is that still going?" to "Is that still going I used to love going to Speedway"... The 'World Famous' Belle Vue Aces'? The 'Manchester United' of Speedway? The reality is they are not even heard of 1.6 miles away... That is the size of the task the Sport faces...

7th of April 2019.. The Boat Race.. Oxford v Cambridge... (Again).. Dont plan in any Speedway just in case...