mikebv

nothing wrong in spending income that you have managed to bring in through your business plan... speculate to accumulate is the mantra.. just because so many cannot seem to bring in more cash than they spend, we shouldnt have a pop at those that can and do.... maybe aspire to emulate (and then better) what they do would maybe be a more positive step to take??

.....but they have to wear a hessian sack hood over their helmets so they are blindfolded.... each rider is represented by four buxom serving wenches dressed as milk maids, who carry the water in two pails attached to a wooden pole balanced across their respective shoulders and riders have to take these pails from them to the centre green container.. as blindfolded riders are an obvious health and safety risk, each of their four buxom assistants stands at the start and finish of each straight and shouts "left!, left!, left!" as their rider goes past,,, now that is a £20 sport!!! It'll pack 'em in I tell yer, pack 'em in.....

kabbadi....

said before, speedway needs a 'collective' approach on all marketing, websites, merchandise sales, pricing(?) etc etc... speedway should be 'the brand', gladiatorial, extreme, death defying, edge of the seat stuff, blah blah blah,.. the teams then have an 'identity' which the locale can identify with... riders should be 'personalities' with stories that reflect their 'reputation'.... won't cost a lot to do this, you just need the right people and a true visionary who can see how the sport can move forwards..

so much of the modern age 'success' is simply 'style over substance'.... look at the talentless tossers who become 'celebrities'? it is hype, hype and more hype... it doesnt needs thousands to get your message across (especially at a local level), I find it amazing that I (and 1000's of others in my immediate locale) will know where and when a local 'harvest festival' will take place yet when the 'greatest speedway rider on the planet' arrives next year with wolves not one iota of hype/interest will try to be generated... the week leading up to Tai's appearance should see 'teasing' daily quotes/stories in the local press as a minimum, there should be stories about cookie and worrall wanting to take his scalp and gp crown and having no time for him, not liking his 'tats'/earings etc. etc etc... it is total bollox, but it doesnt need to be true it is just creating interest!! it might a 'bit wwe' but who cares, it will put 'bums on seats' and at the end of the day speedway IS gladiatorial and should be sold as such.. (as a family sport though obviously, that goes without saying..) as for bradford, for me sadly the racing wasnt ever much cop with home riders often sodding off into the distance each race, which I am sure eventually even the home fans got bored of.. city demographics too must have played a part as ever more of the indigenous population became the minority and finally the 'bulls' at that time attracted big numbers (ironically through a massively effective marketing campaign)!!!... all would I have thought had an effect...

your comments are spot on and your opening night crowd is testament to the effort you put in and the execution of your plan.. what I do find strange is that this sport is genuinely 'unique' in that it (mostly) takes place in a city or town... just imagine the concept of motorbike riders racing against each other in the middle of manchester? ridiculous thought.... well it happens, sometimes weekly!, yet hardly anyone from manchester attends this 'event' as it is so poorly 'sold'... the crowds dropped in your case because those in charge dismissed the notion that marketing mattered and crowds dropped off as the 'hype' and information did... this year clubs in the EL have 18 meetings guaranteed, therefore EVERY match should be treated as a stand alone EVENT and marketed as such... stock cars is successful at Belle Vue people say as it is infrequent and heavily marketed, however the speedway has zero marketing in comparison so maybe that is the reason speedway isnt 'successful'??.. I was in city centre manchester on thursday and market st. had several vendors giving out free 'Manchester Evening News's, there must have been 10 thousand copies in different locations and god knows how many people picked a paper up, how much would it cost for someone from BV to be stood along side giving out £10 special tickets?? there must be 20 - 25,000 people walk thru this street each day, approx 150,000 a week, surely 500 of which would use the ticket on a monday night? (even just out of curiosity!)... locally the clubs should be hammering the message home EVERY week, giving out enough flyers, giving out promotional material, giving out free stickers, posters etc etc etc, basically brow beating people EVERY week, into knowing you exist and how they can come and see you, if 500 extra is the 'break even' figure you dont even need the same 500 every week, just get that number of people in!!. (who cares if they dont understand the rules, its four riders screaming round a dirt track in a city centre with no brakes, what's not to like?).... add in a well ran, up to date, professional looking, interactive website which reflects 'your brand' and 500 extra a night must be achievable? EVERY meeting should be a stand alone EVENT, make it 'special', get people curious, hype it up with 'gimmicks', SELL the bloody thing!.. and they will come...(?)

Whilst many of the points made re marketing and the use of modern technology to do it, is laudable, the truth is speedway simply has to face many other challenges before even dreaming of orchestrating an IT inspired marketing campaign... I sometimes think that the promoters have over the years had an almost arrogant outlook as to how they thought 'their sport' was perceived, however, finally, this year many of them seem to have had an alarming reality check and saw the need for action.... Given the sports' true stature in the grand sporting scheme of things, the sport to be honest on a local level would be better advertised akin to the way the local fair/circus does when it comes to town, ie flooding the town with posters everywhere, free tickets to local businesses, schools etc etc... It's ironic that everyone knows when the circus or fair has hit town yet the same people wouldnt know that speedway permanently exists in the same town or city... The only way for an orchestrated campaign to work would be for something along the lines of the NFL to take place, examples would be 'fair' rules around team strengths, rigid expectations and enforced rules re professionalism of the owners and equal collective sharing of media and merchandise income and those who run the sport are miles away from that happening..... Most tracks seem to just need another 300 - 500 people a night to turn a profit therefore it is a sad indictment that whatever marketing campaign is used this may never be achieved.. Maybe this years 'reality check' will also see a less egotistical approach from those in charge with regards to facing up to what the sport really is and isn't and in the long run, a bit of 'back to basics' will naturally and organically move the sport forwards making it a more viable proposition to market more progressively in future.. ...

just been discussing spoty on talksport (durham and gough at drivetime).. they both mentioned that they felt tai should have been nominated... small acorns maybe but tai's stock is rising in some media outlets so maybe there is hope for greater coverage of him (and the sport) in the mainstream media going forwards..?

and he's going 'ape'!!!!

I do find the posts around the travelling for the 'young brits' somewhat amusing.... Awww bless.... ... In Aussie in their 'formative years' riders travel days to get rides, and teenage danes and swedes uproot and live in another country to gain experience... If our precious boys cannot travel a few hours to better themselves in their chosen career then maybe a 9 - 5 existence in an office would be more their calling? Maybe what they need is a bit of 'hardship' to toughen themselves up to meet the challenge of their foreign counterparts??

If, for example, charles wright and steve worrall represent belle vue then I would be amazed if their terms combined was 30% what dryml got on his own for riding at reserve last year.. If all they do is race against each other then I cannot see a massive difference points money wise from their NL deals.... "Good for your development", "A great opportunity to share the pits alongside world class talent and learn from them" etc etc etc will I am sure be the promoters mantra.... There will always be the promoter who will try and 'tap up' the best with big money, (a 'guaranteed' 10 -2 over the two heats could prove decisive?) however if the 'draft' is done with complete integrity then the new look teams should save a fortune versus previous years... (and we may even get the odd brit making dramatic improvements)....

if analysed properly then this system effectively takes out 4 wages a meeting as the N L boys will I am sure not impact the overall figure too much... if say on average 1K per rider per night (inc points money, air fares/van hire/hotel bills etc etc) then that saves the sport 4k a meeting... over a full season that's a hell of a lot of costs removed... if nothing else, well done to the promoters for eventually waking up and smelling the coffee.. let's hope it works for the long term good of the sport..

this will also stop the 'four point superstars' coming over on ridiculously high salaries and riding seven times a night from the reserve berth, keeping there for half a season as their rolling average slowly increases.. now teams with cash will need to gamble this money on a rider being in the main body of the team, which may dissuade them, thus levelling up the playing field? ...

As I say 'IF'..... one thing is for sure, doing nothing wasnt an option... this may turn out to be contrived bollox, but at least its a way of reducing costs with effectively 5 man teams rather than seven, it reduces air fare/hotel costs and gives the NL riders the opportunity to rub shoulders with much better riders without having to race against them... as you say it may not last, but at least it is radical (which the BSPA gets called for never being) and if SKY do come on board may get dumped, however what this does do I would suggest is give the EL breathing space in their challenge in balancing the books..

several have come on and said that they are glad that their teams are PL so therefore not effected..... well the top 20 NL riders pretty much make up the double uppers 'pool' in the PL which next year I presume will be 'ring fenced' for the EL should the inevitable fixtures clash?? that would then leave a good few 'all fall downers' for the PL... for me, IF this results in reduced admission and a genuine attempt at 'fast tracking' GB talent (and is administered fairly! ) then it may just work for the benefit of the sport... many have moaned that not enough is done for GB riders, so let's not moan now when at least four riders on view each night will be from these shores... keep them riding against each other and the racing 'entertainment' should be relative even if a few seconds slower...

It has been said many times... Everyone remembers the 'great meetings' they attended in the good old days... The one common denominator was the crowd levels and therefore atmosphere, rather than the racing.... (If the racing was as great as the crowd then that was truly the 'utopia' that this sport uniquely can bring). Sadly those who run the sport now see 'survival' as the mantra to be followed rather than simply agreeing a business model with regulations that reduces costs and would enable all to make money by charging an admission fee that would render 'decent crowds' in these difficult economic times... Without an independent body to ensure this happens, the 'haves' will always try and ride roughshod over the 'have nots' (and I cant blame them to be honest if its within the rules then everything is fair game)... As many have said, speedway's ills in this country are largely self inflicted, the current situation is delivered by years of myopic incompetence.. The saddest thing is that this website (and the readership of the speedway star) must have 1000's of 'soothsayers' as for a good many years these people have predicted the current situation 'ad nauseam' ... Truly embarrassing to be honest that those who run this sport have 'blindly' let this situation happen... Given all the facts and history before us, has anyone really got any faith that they can put together a cogent business plan to move the sport forwards in this country?

have biscuits been officially agreed??

Imagine the Leicester thread if their track had even more corners and 'jumps' for them to moan about???

a bit similar to what happens in cycle speedway this idea, but could work.... when a team goes six behind then they can choose gate positions for as long as they remain six behind... wont cost anymore for the promoters and is somewhat less contrived and mickey mouse than giving a team a 'bonus' of extra points for simply being rank.. and it doesn't massively put the team in front at the disadvantage which 'double points'/'bring in a tac No1' does...

Absolutely... Especially when hardly anyone outside 'the converted' know speedway exists anyhow... My team in manchester has a 45 minute catchment radius of 2.5 MILLION people yet despite 'best intentions' cannot get even just one thousandth of them to attend each week... Those 'gone aways' at least know/remember the sport and lets be honest if most tracks can entice just a meagre 500 of them back they wont be losing money... It has been questioned 'how do you know who have gone?' well you dont, but you do know reading the speedway press and this forum over the past ten years or so WHY they left which means you can slow the hemorrhage down by not making the same mistakes again and fixing what is broken... Also you can start to actually 'know' your current punters who still attend by market research, mobile numbers, email addresses etc so when/if they 'go away' you have at least a chance to entice them back... Every track MUST have 500 punters they can get back thru even the most basic marketing campaign surely? If not god help them...

I didnt think you would need a 'whooooosh'!!!

can see where you are coming from but to be fair to Matt Ford he does speculate to accumulate so using his 'cheque book' is an 'ends to a means'... and also he knows, through experience, the fickle nature of the pirate fans when their team is on a losing streak, ie crowds dwindle as the fair weather supporters stop turning up just leaving the die hards... hence, he needs to keep his team successful or the 'speculation' on salaries at the start of the season will leave the club on a poor financial footing...... the only gripe I would have is the way he ignored a directive re the lakeside meeting and rode completely rough shod over the integrity of the league, (which if I am honest does dilute pooles achievement considerably in my eyes as they subsequently got points from the restaging, which, without getting, they wouldnt have qualified for the playoffs) other than that blatant disregard for the rules, he seems to run a professional business model which a few others may consider following...

the theme tune to 'rising damp' might also have been appropriate...

I think you are correct, however a signed contract can seem to be over ridden by a signed doctors note... even if signed by Doctors "Who", "Spock" or "Zhivago" ....

when sixteen riders turn up (regardless of who they are)...