mikebv

Certain Sporting entertainment.... Like everything else you can purchase, 'supply and demand' will play a huge part on the development of a 'price point'... Football (at Premier League level) appears to be 'bomb proof' due to all the TV money and coverage creating huge public interest. Which in turn garners enormous Sponsorship from global brands.. Domestic Rugby Union has dragged itself from being on TV on a Sunday with an hours highlights, (sometimes playing on pitches with one stand and a rope running around the other three sides for the supporters to stand behind) in the Seventies and early Eighties, to become the second highest attended Sport in the Country, played out in modern fit for purpose stadia. Again now attracting global brand Sponsorship.. Both Sports can now charge inflation busting admission fees because... Well, simply.. They can!!... Speedway sadly cannot as quite clearly and evidently, the demand blatantly isn't there.. If it cannot cut its costs to be able to significantly cut its current 'price point' then it has major, major problems going forward, as an ever dwindling fan base means even higher admission costs for those who still attend, all to just (at best) 'stand still'.... And for the past 30 odd years we have seen how successful that policy has turned out, hence we are pretty much now on the 'Speedway tipping point'...

And in the SS it mentions how loads of riders have had/are having their averages re-assessed to encourage teams to bring them over and make them assets.... Some teams have already started filling their spaces with 'gambles'.... More to come I would suggest...

I remember watching an old Speedway video from around the early 80's (1982?), cant remember which track but they showed the turnstiles with people queuing up and Adult entrance was £3.00... If it was 1982, that £3.00 entrance fee is now worth £7.40, (not Eighteen quid).... Add in the cost of Satellite TV, Internet, Mobile Phone contracts, increased car ownership, inflation busting higher house prices and rent, higher cost of Petrol, Gas and Electric, Higher cost of Home insurance, Life insurance, etc etc... And the bottom line is for so many people their disposable income percentage wise is so much reduced from the early eighties due to the cost of basic living... £18 today is equivalent to £7.29 in 1982... I would suggest if Speedway charged £7.29 back then crowds wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as they were.. Clearly perceived high admission costs are a huge factor in the demise of the Sport.... How it finds a way to reduce them to attract people who either used to go or simply have no knowledge of the sport is the major barrier it needs to overcome..

It is quite a breathtaking level of arrogance that has been shown by those who run the Sport in this Country that they have continually ignored the feedback of their very own patrons for so many years.. I would say that since this piece was written crowds are now approximately 20% of what they were then, meaning 80% of its customer base has been eroded either sadly through natural causes or the disillusionment of an ageing fanbase.. You cannot have any greater help in running any business than your customers telling you what they like you doing and what they dont, and Speedway through various weekly and monthly magazines during the past thirty years, and obviously the Internet in the past 10 in particular, have had literally thousands of pieces of 'feedback' which incredibly have been completely ignored... The frustration for the few fans that now remain is that the feedback the governing bodies have received has been year on year very, very, similar in content with many common themes running through the fans' discontent... When the mantra should have been "We are listening, thanks for the feedback , we will change" it instead became "We are right, and you fans have absolutely no idea what you are talking about". "British Speedway, now reaping what it has sowed over the past thirty years"... That would be a good strap line for the 2018 season....

No... We're hanging on till March as there are so many riders getting their averages re assessed and rules being reviewed and re-reviewed we might by then be able to put last years team out under 40 points..!!!

The major difference of course is that in Poland they cheer on 'their team' not a cobbled together, for one night only, randomly selected collection of riders out to earn an extra pay night through guesting.... In this day and age, it is asking for an enormous leap of faith to expect fans to buy into team Speedway over here when invariably it is a very tenuous link to actually being 'your team'... Some can be complicit in this deception, ignore or suspend reality, and convince themselves that they are watching the team they have built up and invested such emotional loyalty in.... Sadly these people are very much in the minority and general Sports followers (and indeed many Speedway fans of long standing) will struggle to take what gets served up as a 'professional sport' seriously... Here's hoping fixed race nights brings the Leagues some much needed credibility and integrity.. Bottom line is if any professional sporting competition ends up being so contrived it isn't actually worth winning, then there comes a point when fan attendance isnt actually worth doing either.. Who knows, maybe a new dawn in 2018!! Let's hope so....

Just watched it... Shame he cannot lead the Sport forwards in this country... Ticks a lot of boxes from the marketing side in trying to attract a younger audience.. Confident, positive, an engaging personality, ambitious and tattoos...!! What's not to like? Came across very well...

Correct... Belle Vue race in front of around 20000 fans in around 18 meetings. The Stox race in front of around 20000 fans in around six meetings at the Greyhound track.. If anyone attended just one meeting per year at both events then they would think that Stox were significantly more popular... Both sports have a huge % of their crowds as 'die hards' who attend regularly.

I think the Police may get involved if they were told they being filmed for something like an "Interceptors in Hull" series on Dave... There seems to be nothing more important on these programmes than chasing a kid with no helmet, no licence, on an unmarked, untaxed, and uninsured bike.. To be fair, it must be a very serious crime though as it usually ends up with about six £50,000 BMW X5's, each with two coppers in, and the use of a £2.5 million helicopter to track him for a good half hour or so before catching him.. Crime won't crack itself....

A little lad goes to visit Santa, sits on his knee and gets asked what his Christmas wish would be... "I would like a real life fire breathing Dragon that I could watch fly around my garden" was the lads answer... Santa, obviously a bit taken aback replied.... "Well, young fellow, even Santa will sometimes struggle to make everyones desires come true, have you another wish?" The young lad thought for a moment before answering,... "Yes, I would like to see Speedway in Britain ran professionally like other Sports, well marketed, and with a fit for purpose operating model and business plan that delivers no Mickey Mouse meetings, but instead a high quality night of entertainment both on, and off the track, each week".. Santa, ponders this for a quite a while before replying. . "What colour would you like that Dragon kid?" Merry Christmas Everyone....

"I dont actually ride in Britain because years of systemic balls ups have rendered the Sport over here a basket case which is on its arse, as well as that I also pride myself on a certain level of Professionalism that sadly those who run British Speedway cannot even dream of matching"... "Next question.." Joking apart, I am sure Tai will be the conssumate Pro if asked the question, a pity he cannot be in the vanguard of what the Sport is built around in this Country.....

(About right that)...

In the New Year, 'Arena Cross' hits Manchester... Indoor Motocross.. I would urge any Speedway Promoters who can do, to attend... I went three years ago with my lad and so much of the total evening 'entertainment package' on view could easily be translated over to Speedway.. From an autograph, selfie opportuniy meet and greet with the riders, completed 60 mins before racing so plenty of time to browse the merchandice stalls and get a drink and food.. . (Each rider had his own posters and photos for sale too). Riders coming out in darkness doing a lap of honour under a spot light. Could tracks do something similar to create atmosphere?. A 'centre green' announcer who was loud (he had to be over the bikes and music), brash (well, the Promoters were American!) and informative, detailing background information about each individual rider and commentating on the action as it happened. (That last bit maybe not needed in Speedway?).. Before racing and during gaps in between for track maintenance, (all tractors were working by the way), their Promotion team fired their own T Shirts into the crowd via an 'pump action air gun'... Many were, it appeared, Small and Medium meaning many adults caught them as you would expect but many of the kids ended up with the T Shirt.. (My lad got one from someone five rows back who passed it on when he saw it was an 'S').... There were no gaps where 'nothing happened' between races, so the crowd was kept interested.. The interval took place half way during the evenings racing and was 30 minutes prompt.. Before the interval they told us about the 'mini moto' they had suspended from the ceiling. Just text your name to etc etc and you could be taking this bike home. Texts cost £5... There was a 7500 full house and I would suggest well over half of 'the dads' were texting away during that interval. That bike certainly paid for itself and more! (Certainly I contributed a tenner towards it)! Now maybe Speedway couldn't do the same but they could do something around winning Season Tickets, VIP evenings etc.. The winner was announced prior to the Final and came down and received his bike... The cost for me and my lad was over £70 but I am going again next time as it was fantastic value for money... How did I know they were coming back to Manchester? I got an email from them in October telling me so with a nice book early 15% saving... Three years they have had my email address and now have used it knowing I had previously attended. My own Speedway team still doesn't have my email address... How did it advertise itself? Lots of Social Media and it played on how "awesome" (as I said they are Yanks!) it must be to watch 'dirt bike racing' in the middle of a City Centre.. And let's be honest as a concept it is 'pretty unique' isn't it? Apart from obviously it already happens many nights of the week around the Country from March to October..!! It was a 'one off' so you could argue that it is 'different' from Speedway, however maybe if Speedway promoted EVERY meeting as if it was a 'one off' they would be delivering many, many more through their turnstiles.. Watching 'dirt bike racing' in a City Centre is "awesome" don't forget, so says the guys who play to full houses and make money out of doing so... NB: No mention of it being a 'family sport' but plenty about 'speed', 'danger' and being 'gnarly'! (Whatever that means....) In fact the only downside to the night was that I, as a 47 year old at the time, felt 'very old' when I looked around the rest of the crowd.. At Speedway, at least I still feel like a 'spring chicken'!!

What it also did was raise the salaries of the riders lower down 'the food chain'... If your No1 is getting £3k a night then your 2nd and 3rd Heat Leaders will be expecting something not a million miles off as there may be only a couple or three points average between them. You then have the second strings maybe a point or two behind the third heat leader with their enhanced expectations... Add on a massively in demand '4pt Superstar' No6 on a 'gift average' who will get a lot more than the usual reserve pay and there's no wonder very few clubs make it pay... Suppose the 2pt No7 gets what's left!!? Maybe the 'Sky Money' is how so many (no disrespect intended) 'middle order journeymen' have become full professionals over the years? In a Sport that cannot afford so many full time Pros... To be fair to them though, if I was half as good as the best 'player' in my team, who had a nine point average and got £3k a night to deliver it, I'd want around £1500 a night minimum for my 4.5..!

They spent it on the top riders.... One Promoter told me that the 'Sky Money', "basically paid for his No1".... So the money went on those top riders who for the past 20 years have rode over here whilst, at the same time, clubs have lost thousands from their fan base... Many are indeed the very same top riders some want to see back riding over here regularly to bring back the thousands of fans lost during those past 20 years of them riding over here.. Errrr. Hang on... I think I spot a slight flaw in the cunning plan there...

Re businesses and customer feedback... For a good few years now, Toys R Us have been perceived as significantly more expensive than their competitors... Feedback from an ever dwindling, income stretched customer base was they needed to reduce prices... However, sometimes a business cannot reduce prices due to its bottom line margin % which needs to be maintained to pay its running costs... Less income will obviously erode the cash value of that operating margin over time, resulting in an inevitable conclusion unless it can reduce it's cost base significantly...... Therefore listening to your customers who tell you what they think of you is a priceless commodity... Choosing to ignore that feedback through willful "we are right" stubbornness, or even genuine "because there is nothing else we can do" will still end up the with the same sad ending... I would suggest British Speedway still has plenty of opportunity to turn the ship around, as there is still "lots they can do".. Whether it has the desire, vision, leadership and capability level to do it or not is the question...

Adrian Smith does the same at BV.. Not just around the 'posh seats' either he ventures over to us great unwashed on the South Stand....

One of the main issues the Sport has is that often the Promoters appear not actually bothered whether a profit is made or not, and its ran for a fair few as an expensive hobby which other parts of their income can afford to subsidise. That can never help move the Sport forward as there is no organic growth, no vision to better itself year on year. . Matt Ford seems to come in for much criticism but as far as I know Poole Speedway is his main income therefore he runs it like a business. Not spending more than he budgets for, speculating to accumulate and replacing riders who fail to deliver success.. For many in the Sport it appears to be a chance to become a 'Lord of a fiefdom' (ignoring how miniscule the 'fiefdom' actually is), when maybe in their normal business life they are just another statistic.. It seems running a business in the real world is somewhat different to running Speedway as so many seem to circumnavigate normal business practice as soon as they put that 'Promoters hat' on.. I hope the CEO at Belle Vue, Adrian Smith, doesn't find himself succumbing to the "ahh, but this is Speedway" nonsense that gets rolled out time and time again to explain/defend the latest ridiculous decree, and can use his expertise to influence the Sport going forwards.. 'Outsiders' though have sometimes appeared better welcomed in 'Royston Vasey' than in British Speedway through the years....

I think the new competition is being set up to help grow the Sport in nations that currently have Speedway but not much chance of ever reaching the SWC final, whilst maybe trying to reduce Poland's huge strength in depth advantage to make the competition less predictable.. For me, a shame the SWC is being changed as it provides the best racing of the year, however I can see the logic of trying to develop the Sport in other nations. And having a 'team' wearing your nations flag in a World Final may help generate interest in these countries....

And the Sport when riders were household names in the Seventies due to TV coverage regularly on World Of Sport, played on their individual (and International Team success) rather than the domestic team they rode for.. Whether Belle Vue did well or not was irrelevant to the overall success of the Sport in comparison to what Peter Collins did on ITV on regular Saturdays during the Summer in European, Intercontinental and World Finals, (and the WTC too).. Nowadays of course the 'team dynamic' is nothing sadly but a pale imitation of what it once was, unfortunately we don't have a great 'Team GB' to get a nation interested, nor do we have the free to air terrestrial TV coverage to bring the likes of Woffy to a wider audience..

The big plus of targeting kids is simply their parents take them and pay to get in.. Kiddie pressure to go somewhere they like is something I and millions of others know only too well to our (literally) cost......!! There is only so much disposable income a family has for 'entertainment' so very often 'the kids' will dictate the place to visit... Obviously you would want to target all demographics to attend the Sport but targeting kids would I would suggest bring the biggest and fastest return on your investment... Look at Mcdonald's and Burger King, they have two very different customer profiles and advertise themselves accordingly. McDonald's target the kids through parties as well as advertising (at great length and cost), how '100% natural chicken breast' their nuggets are, and Burger King target the adult market through pushing 'taste' , 'quality', and 'size' of Burgers (eg flame grilled Whopper etc)... Now look at the huge disparate success of each business.... I would suggest Mcdonald's know which demographic makes them the most money and targets them accordingly... What Speedway does miss for me is the huge opportunities that treating EVERY meeting as an EVENT would bring. For many tracks 500 more punters a night would see them in profit... To do that you don't need the same 500, any random 500 each week will do... If some stay and become regulars then great, if not there is a huge catchment area of thousands around most tracks that have never even heard of the Sport on their doorstep.. Don't spend £3000 a match on a No1 who whether there or not hardly has any impact to the crowd level as the locals 'wouldnt know him from Adam', instead spend half that a week employing someone who can get the locals into the stadiums!!

Great posts Barry, Looks like you tick a lot of boxes when it comes to customer care and knowing what they want.. About, what seems, 100 years ago now I got a degree in tourism marketing, focusing on the Leisure industry, ie hotels, museums, musicals, shows, gardens, stately homes, fun parks, water parks etc etc,. A highly competitive area where each fight against each other for the 'entertainment doller' of their customers.. I was very fortunate in that the lecturer I had had retired at 45, a very wealthy man who had spent his adult life working successfully within, and then advising many major 'Leisure' oriented businesses on how to be successful and used his lecturing as an opportunity to share his knowledge for, as he described it, "his beer money"... He always made a point of differentiating between price and value for money as the key determinant of what people purchase. With price often the short term reason and value for money the long term reason for repeat purchases.. He mentioned often how important effective communication was in relation to customers and how repeat visits were key to the continued growth of any business, but particularly in the Leisure/Entertainment sector. He advised all his clients to have a database of their customers, which in those days amounted to telephone numbers and addresses as a basic, and birthdays, anniversaries, kids names and their birthdays in particular, as an add on 'to make the difference'. He even used to make notes on each family who attended his hotel, ie if they ever mentioned any 'memorable occasions coming up' he wrote it down on their booking forms so when they returned the following year one of the first things he asked was for example 'how did little Johnny do when he went for his 'tying a knot badge' at cubs?" A very, very powerful tool in winning the emotional loyalty of your customers, all within seconds of them visiting your establishment.. He also sent out through the year Xmas cards, Anniversary cards, Birthday cards (with small gifts for the kids) as one of his key messages was 'always make sure they remember you even through the off season'.. Now meeting and greeting every fan at Speedway would be unrealistic but targeting the kids as so few attend at many tracks would be possible. As would, in this modern age, getting email, and mobile phone data of every adult in attendance to target market them through the season and off season. Eg How many clubs push their mechandise at Xmas to their fanbase? Maybe an odd 10% off voucher sent electronically would get them interested? How many clubs know who has actually attended the match every week? In this digital age it wouldn't be difficult to know and then target anyone missing a few weeks with direct marketing.. His final two bits of advice was 'never be afraid to know the truth' and by that he encouraged all his businesses to 'pro-actively' seek feedback, as what you think you may be providing is sometimes very differently perceived by your customers, and always make sure customers went away with either a positive memory or a tangible souvenir (preferably both!) to remind them of their visit.. First and last impressions are so very, very important.... As someone who was a 1970's follower of the Sport so saw the 'great days' of Collins, Mauger, Olsen et al, I have to say that today's racing is, in the main, often of a not too dissimilar standard to what I witnessed back then (and at the NSS I see some of the best racing I have ever seen in over 40 years of watching the Sport ). So from a racing perspective I would suggest that the 'core product' is more than acceptable. The biggest difference is nowadays you often watch 'contrived meetings' full of Guests, in three quarters empty stadia rather than packed in on the terraces watching 'your team' like we did, in the main, during the Sports 'halcyon' days... A BIG crowd can certainly make an 'ordinary' meeting 'special' and vice versa, a poor crowd can make a 'great' meeting appear no more than 'ordinary'... It seems on the Isle Of White at least you are trying to bring that BIG crowd in to deliver that virtuous circle Speedway so desperately needs of.. Big crowd = More Atmosphere. More Atmosphere = More Customer Satisfaction. More Customer Satisfaction = Bigger Crowds... And delivering it too through some clear, modern thinking, pro active marketing allied to a customer focused operating model,... So more power to your elbow Barry and Team down there. .! Hope it continues to be a success, and maybe a Blueprint for others...?

I would suggest this scoring system would be used if one of the aims is to make 'lesser countries' more competitive, even more so if another aim is to help grow the sport in these countries.. USA, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, and Germany all have at least one rider who can win races at the top level, meaning they all should be competitive using this system.. (If Greg bothers to ride obviously!)

Course they would.. Every teen wants a night out once a week socialising with their Dad and Granddad! Don't they?

Could be a good deterrent that.. "Commit a crime young man and you will spend the next 6 months going to Speedway"