mikebv

Spot on... Very, very basic business practice for those entities that rely on the patronage and footfall of individuals to be succesful, is that they need to be open when their customers can get there in their highest numbers.... British Speedway however has a 'better idea' than that... To be honest I am surprised Messrs Sugar and Branson haven't tried to use the BSPA's business model in their businesses...

Don't think there is any doubt... Friday, Saturday, Sunday are the best days to attract a crowd if you run a Sport, or are in the Entertainment and Leisure industry, (Speedway you would say ticks both boxes).. No surprise therefore that Poland run on these nights and at the meeting to agree each Countries race nights they didn't suggest Britain takes their days' over and that they would run Monday/Thursday (or even Wednesday as it transpired)... If Mondays were such a great night to attract a Speedway crowd you would have to think the Poles would have ensured they took it... British Speedway simply cannot compete with Poland so shouldnt even give it a consideration and plough it's own furrow.. Run at the weekend with lads who are happy earning a 'normal' job's weekly wage for four or five races a night.. Run with lads who reside over here to keep hotel and air fare costs out of the equation and, if needs be, run with five or six man teams to shave even more off the expenditure.. And run consistently, either once a week, or once a fortnight if all the League runs on the same night... Do that and maybe admission fees could gradually come down to attract even more numbers through the gate to add to what 'Weekend Speedway' would bring. It would be a lot easier to sell the sport media wise, and market it nationally collectively, (rather than individually) too, having a full fixture list over say three days, rather than the fragmented way it is currently ran..

And part time Stockport County in the 2nd Tier of Non League Football got over 6000 yesterday for their play off... And have averaged around 4000 all season... 6000 fans would be around 6 matches worth at BV... Shows how far Speedway (over here) has been allowed to fall off the wider publics radar..

The other problem then is running three or four times in a fortnight to cram meetings in to meet play off deadlines, and running in front of reduced crowds due to the cost of so many meetings so close together, and riders missing due to their countries getting priority for meetings being ran over there on the same night as the re-staging over here.... Who'd be a Speedway Promoter?

Freddie on Fire....!! Some speed he is getting...

Don't mess about getting the next race on do they? Several clear breaks for TV interviews/track grades which must help the food and drink outlets too.. Race finishes, next four riders ready to go out.... Simple really.. Very Fast Freddie this evening...

They would never get the meetings finished before midnight as he paddled around at the back getting lapped race after race... (Is it obvious I am still bitter spending around £100 to watch him do exactly that a couple of seasons ago?)..

A fair point... It was something that struck me last weekend when watching my third Polish match over two days... Big crowds in modern stadia, atmosphere being 'literally' drummed up by sections of the crowd, (crowds that are made up of plenty of people under 30 never mind 60!). An announcer engaging the fans in celebratory chants and riders giving absolutely everything on well prepared circuits (Probably through fear of losing their team place and the good money that comes with it).. Absolutely light years away from what British Speedway offers, and now being on TV every weekend it doesn't do British Speedway any favours I would suggest. .. As Jim Bowen used to say on Bullseye... "Come an 'ave a look at what yer could 'ave won! "...

My first sporting hero as a four year old kid.. Sad news... RIP Ivan... A TRUE Legend of the Sport.

Or run the Sport properly and make a signing or run RR? If RR then the next two riders should be able to take two rides each... Too easy to run guests hence the Sport does... Hence it sadly has no credibilty. ..

Spot on GW... 2.5 MILLION potential fans reside in the Greater Manchester conurbation, all within a 45 min drive from the NSS, with good motorway links to get there off the M60 Motorway Ring Road... Aprrox 1500 of these 2.5M (at best) attend each week... The ONLY Speedway Track and Team within their area... With a potential 'reach' of that magnitude, something doesn't add up does it?... And as the racing is generally VERY GOOD indeed at the NSS the lack of support has to be down to the cost of admission.. And I quantify that by the fact that there are probably 3000 - 4000 or so actual people who would consider themselves BV fans who attend sporadically over the Season with varying degrees of regularity, but simply don't see paying out the current admission levels each week as within their ongoing capability fiscally.. On here, we often talk about how to engage new fans, and mention how poor the Sport is marketed both locally and nationally , however, within most catchment areas there are a huge amount of people who 'used to go', possibly to an even higher number than those who still attend.. Just getting those back each week would be an enormous leap forward.. But at current admission levels I would say it would be very difficult to do that... Just as a throwaway thought, I always think it 'interesting' that when you do see meetings advertised in local papers either through adverts or in the weeky 'piece' put together by the local journo, they often never mention the admission costs as part of the meeting info... Most businesses who want your business scream out about how much they charge don't they? Strange that Speedway doesn't..!

With all the early call offs there must be an agreement between clubs to save as much as they can.. And to be fair, myself and around 500 others I am sure would have given tonight a swerve if the weather looked ropey.. The sad thing is not one rider there tonight would attract 500 extra punters over and above the usual crowd yet the weather will remove 500 due to the fact we have all felt conned in the past by getting meetings on at all cost or watching nonsense racing to get a result... The irony is that using just a fraction of the TV money over the years for track covers would, I am sure, have given greater confidence to those 500 to attend, as more chance of a meeting being on if all the rain has fell pre start time, yet millions have been spent on riders who have very little impact on the crowd levels.. A strange business model indeed...

EVERY spectator counts I would imagine (in particular this year), given the lack of TV money and the demise of crowds over the past few years or so... Simply even what may be called 'regulars' will often give it a miss if there is even the slightest chance of a meeting being called off/effected in quality, therefore saving expenditure has become something that needs doing, literally, 'at all cost'... Not ideal I 100% agree, but this is where British Speedway has now placed itself through the operating and business model it has chosen to run with over the past 20 years or so...

Difference was HTG that in those days mainly semi pro riders rode a full seasons calender every week, riding 80+ times a year, earning good money to back up their 'day job' earnings... Riders also didn't have several bikes and mechanics in several countries that required them to ask for (and receive) thousands per night in salaries.... Salaries that mean admission fees have risen hugely in advance of inflation since the 70's... An unustainable business model that no one seems to want to admit to, nor change...

To be fair, I think SS was 100% correct with his forecast.. It can only be presumed therefore that it was the weather that was wrong....

Imagine trying to launch an enterprise that at the core of its business plan is the belief that it will be successful by only opening sporadically and inconsistently.... And that its opening times will be heavily dictated to by the employees telling the owners when they are available, rather than the owners opening their business when they can generate the highest customer numbers (and income) through their doors..? Any business person coming up with that idea would be considered certifiable!!.. Yet year on year, this incredibly is how British Speedway allows itself to be ran... Cannot think why it isn't more successful....

Just another in the catalogue of "make do and mend" decisions which have been delivered over the past few decades, and left the Sport (in this country) where it currently is.. It will never change until the day an independent person or body runs the Sport with a clear vision for it... Someone who will make decisions for the greater good of the Sport rather than any individual's specific needs and wants... And as we know that is never going to be allowed to happen the Sport will continue to regress at its ever increasing rate..

There would appear to be a more concerted plan to call off meetings earlier so far this season.. Some will criticise if on the night at start time there isn't a cloud in the sky but from a business angle it's the right thing to do... Many fans now steer clear of nights when it 'looks a bit dodgy' as most have felt ripped off in the past thru either paying for an abandoned meeting or watching riders going through the motions to get a meeting to the required heat to force a result... Therefore calling off a meeting early and saving thousands in costs, which will never get recouped from a low crowd, has to be the right thing to do... Especially as Speedway is now pretty much down to the die hards so every spectator counts..

Clashes will be inevitable through the 'two set nights Premiership' actually being a 'three set nights Premiership'.. Just another typical 'halfway house' British Speedway decision that tries to appease everyone but invariably ends up working well for no-one..

And the added issue with 'getting in early, whilst they can', and then not getting meetings on, is that fixtures start to pile up so tracks end up running three times in seven days later in the year, which then creates reduced crowds due to the costs involved and the 'guestfests' that often get created... As an overall business model, if you showed it to a bank manager for a loan to finance it, I would suggest not many would give you the cash..

I think it's simply the 'bumper crowds' that Easter brings is the only determinant... Given the paucity of fans who now attend, those extra 500 or so who go at Easter must become a significant part of the tracks business plan.. Rendered a complete waste of time obviously when the weather is so poor.

Another fantastic publication that launches every Speedway Season so superbly.... Just a shame that the Promoters of the Sport, as a collective, don't launch the Season so superbly too..! Anyone delivering such an excellent piece of work should be very proud of it and their achievements...

Let's hope for Lynn fans that 'Kings Lynn clap, clap, clap' isn't similar to something the Japs would chant!!!

I don't think Season ticket holders will stop going in any great numbers because as you say they have already paid up, however Poole do definitely have an issue with 'fair weather fans' who turn up regularly when successful but taper off when not doing so well.. To be fair, all clubs have the same issue, not just Poole, but given they generally have the highest attendances in the country 'when doing well', it just seems to impact Poole more when they have not such a good season.. My team for instance were pretty much dire for the last decade at the old track with a bottom two finish pretty regular every year, which meant crowds were not great but the 'hard core' 1000 or so went virtually every week regardless of result. Poole, in particular, seem to have 1000-1500 or so more fans each week I would say when doing well, whereas BV would only get around 200-300 more if having a 'successful' season.. Hence, Poole are probably victims of their own success over the last ten years or so, in that they created an expectation for their fans which is unrealistic to keep delivering in a Sport that changes team strengths so much with its 'survival of the weakest' Mickey Mouse rules.... Add in the 'halcyon days' of the 'turbo twins' in their pomp, who would also have brought people in, and you can see why the Poole of today (and Matt Ford in particular) need to try and stay one step ahead of the game when it comes to successfully building teams.. And no one should blame him for finding an angle in team building if it is legally there for him to find in the first place.. Poole Speedway has to make a profit, and to do that it with the make up of it's fan base, it appears to have to be successful to deliver that profit.. And lets be honest, there's nothing wrong with aspiring to be the best..

No need really to trial anything... They already have the control mechanic to reduce any drawn out evenings. . It's called the putting the riders on '2 minutes'!! They just need to bloody use it properly!! Put everyone on two minutes after say two minutes of the previous race finishing.. I would also add that if there is an unsatisfactory start then absolutely no pit gates open and the riders come back round straight away, meaning the bike you started the race on is the one you start the re-run on.... No faffing around adjusting clutches or indeed any other mechanical adjustments that get disovered by the 'false start'. (And surely fuel isn't required just by doing a false start)? Call the 2 minutes, and if the race hasnt already started by the time the full 2 minutes have expired, send the tapes up the moment 120 seconds have past and start the race, riders ready or not. (Excluding them will just delay meetings further whilst decisions get made as who will race in the re-run/riders go back to the pits gate to 'faff' with their bikes).. It will take a fortnight or so I reckon to embed the consistent use of what already exists, but isn't used anyway near effectively enough currently..