Christopher Bcmma Cook

Regarding Ipswich Witches going into the future Someone ask Chris to give me a call - I do not bring financial investment personally but loads of ideas and experience of promoting other sports, could take the work load off and help develop the club

I have not read all the replies but how about The governing body through sponsorship/TV revenue purchase around 100 or whatever engines from a manufacturer such as Jawa, these are delivered to the HQ sealed, a member of the governing body delivers 20 engines on the day of the meeting, stays to observe, and at the end of each meeting takes the engines back. Contract between governing body and said manufacturer for maintenance etc. This would provide a level playing field for all riders in terms of engine/power At the end of the engines life cycle (where maintenance does not make sense) these could be handed down to National League riders or development riders free of charge (as already been paid for via sponsorship).

Newcastle to win by exactly 16 points

Only way I can see that happening in the GP series is if it is split into TWO groups of 16 riders each racing a 5 round series with the top 8 from both groups going into a grand final.... however name 32 riders who are deserving of a place?

Can see it from both sides - I guess If you want to see the best rider in the UK win the title in relation tot he British Final then a mini GP series is the way to go, the champ will be the most consistant rider over 3 rounds - on a one-off night literally anyone could win under any circumstance. I just think British Speedway is missing a trick here

Tai won't ride no matter what format I just think that if it was changed to a series - it could generate a lot more revenue for the sport.

Another question - What do you think the title sponsorship of British Speedway is actually worth?

Obviously domestically the British Final is one of the biggest meetings in the calendar.... so why not use it to market the sport better? In 2017, I would turn the British Final into a mini-GP series, nothing majorly stupid but run the event over a 3-round format.... have the opening round at Kings Lynn, second round at Pool with the final at the National Stadium. This could well attract a main sponsor as there is the prestige of supporting a national championship and having a champion declared next to your brand, there are also opportunities for several associate sponsors to make this lucrative I am not sure if there is any prize money on offer at present? or are riders just riding for the prestige? If marketed well alongside sponsors, the investment from sponsors could well put together a nice prize pot for the riders finishing positions after all 3 rounds are completed. Also, If the meetings could be streamed on the official speedwaytv channel at a one-off price of say £15 for all 3 meetings, this would boost the coffers also, pretty sure fans who cannot travel to all events would be happy to pay £5 per meeting (unless of course there is a TV deal in place for this series).

I'd get Foxhall rocking again but who will be the man next season?

There would still be a national league for these clubs to operate in, with hopefully more clubs putting together teams.

Waiting to hear back from the witches lol

I no longer promote MMA Looking to get into two wheels

I love negativity lol

Ipswich should give away 100 Free kids season tickets to local schools etc. or even better.... advertise it in the local press, social media and physically at schools so that instead of just giving random kids season tickets, they can actually go online and register to claim a free season ticket - that way you know they will more than likely attend a few times per season. Disclaim **Must be accompanied by a paying Adult** and here is the genius marketing plan...... "only 100 tickets" kids and parents will be on that like a tramp on chips, and the clever part is, you make it in-house that its unlimited applicants so you could end up with 2,000 kids registering for a free season ticket - would certainly boost attendances could also add on the application site.... which is optional.... a Junior Memebership Kit £29.99 Ipswich Witches T-Shirt / Cap / Poster / Autograph Book a few parents would buy it

I think a few people on the EL board obviously want to see the odd GP rider which I can understand but until clubs can get in 2-3,000 spectators and the sport works commercially as a whole, its just not viable. May I also add that I would make the British Final like a mini-Grand Prix series and have it run over 3 meetings. Have it at Poole, Kings Lynn then final round at Belle Vue offer it as a one-off purchase Live on the online stream at £7.99 so people can watch it from all over the UK who are not local enough to travel

My dad gets in for free at foxhall too but he hardly ever goes unless i go as well

Would anyone sign up to the Online Streaming? or is this just too technically advanced for the people running the sport to put together?

Posted this on the EL board yesterday, thought i would share it here incase some people dont go on there lol plans slightly changed, the additional 10 league matches are aborted let me know what you think Proposal for the future of British Speedway - in many aspects going back to basics and growing the sport from the bottom up, rather than trying to accommodate change just to try and attract about 10 GP riders to compete - who are expensive and unaffordable in the current climate with low crowd, no investment and no direction. My ideas are for riders who want to ride in Britain who are not potentially associated to the GP series, offering lots of opportunities to "earn" with lots of meetings with some diversity to mix it up for the fans. - All teams consist of 6 riders built to a maximum of 38 points, no restrictions on how a team is built I.E. no draft riders etc. I will use 6 teams as an example for this post for what teams could look like using the latest averages from today. Reserve to ride at 5 & 6 IPSWICH WITCHES 1. Scott Nicholls 2. Gino Manzares 3. Nico Covatti 4. Ben Barker 5. Adam Ellis 6. Danyon Hume KINGS LYNN 1. Mads Korneliussen 2. Kai Huckenbeck 3. Robert Lambert 4. Richie Worrall 5. Lewis Rose 6. Josh Bailey SOMERSET 1. Troy Batchelor 2. Jake Allen 3. Josh Gracjzonek 4. Charles Wright 5. Arthur Sissis 6. Zach Waijknecht POOLE 1. Krzysztof Buczkowski 2. Kyle Newman 3. Jack Holder 4. Bjarne Pedersen 5. Bradley Wilson-Dean 6. Oliver Greenwood GLASGOW 1. Hans Andersen 2. Nike Lunna 3. Richard Lawson 4. Paul Starke 5. Danny Ayres 6. Fernando Garcia RYE HOUSE 1. Edward Kennett 2. Ludvig Lindgren 3. Rory Schlein 4. Kasper Lykke 5. Ben Morley 6. Rob Banford LEAGUE STRUCTURE Two Leagues split between "Northern/Southen" yes some tracks are closer to others but it can work. 12 teams British League Northern - Belle Vue, Leicester, Coventry, Wolves, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Workington, Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Berwick & Edinburgh. British League Southern - Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Swindon, Lakeside, Poole, Kent, Plymouth, Peterborough, Somerset, Rye House, Isle of Wight, Eastbourne. Race each other once Home & Away then top 6/bottom 6 race each other home & away (additional 10 meetings) whoever is top of the bottom 6 wins the Regional Shield, only 4 of the top 6 can qualify for the play-offs. Top 4 from each League race off against each other end of season play-offs for overall British Champion, each winner of the regional league declared regional champion. You can only guest riders during the league from the other region, during play-offs you can only guest from riders who are not involved in the play offs. League Race format is 15 fixed heats with no nominated heats, highest average rider at no.1, second highest at no.3, lowest two riders at 5 & 6, points 3-2-1-0, no protected races. Example Ipswich vs Kings Lynn 1 - Nicholls/Manzares vs Korneliussen/Huckenbeck 2 - Ellis/Hume vs Rose/Bailey 3 - Covatti/Barker vs Lambert/Worrall 4 - Nicholls/Barker vs Lambert/Rose 5 - Manzares/Hume vs Huckenbeck/Bailey 6 - Covatti/Ellis vs Korneliussen/Worrall 7 - Nicholls/Ellis vs Huckenbeck/Worrall 8 - Manzares/Barker vs Korneliussen/Rose 9 - Covatti/Hume vs Lambert/Bailey 10 - Nicholls/Hume vs Korneliussen/Bailey 11 - Manzares/Covatti vs Worrall/Rose 12 - Barker/Ellis vs Huckenbeck/Lambert 13 - Barker/Hume vs Huckenbeck/Rose 14 - Manzares/Ellis vs Worrall/Bailey 15 - Nicholls/Covatti vs Korneliussen/Lambert REGIONAL LEAGUE CUP Consists of 4 mini leagues of 3 teams racing against each other Home & Away once, Group winner progressing into the Semi-Finals. The twist is that The league cup is contested over 12 standard heats with two nominated heats, managers must nominate riders for the last two heats in private to make them use their tactical nous - also as a twist this competition would feature a point scoring format of 4-3-2-0 to put the emphasis on team riding. Example - Poole vs Somerset 1 - Buck/Newman vs Batch/Allen 2 - BWD/Greenwood vs Sissis/Waijknecht 3 - Holder/Pedersen vs Gracjzonek/Wright 4 - Newman/Greenwood vs Allen/Waijknecht 5 - Buck/Pedersen vs Batch/Wright 6 - Holder/BWD vs Grajz/Sissis 7 - Buck/Holder vs Batch/Grajz 8 - Pedersen/Greenwood vs Wright/Waijknecht 9 - Newman/BWD vs Allen/Sissis 10 - Buck/Newman vs Grajz/Wright 11 - BWD/Greenwood vs Sissis/Waijknecht 12 - Holder/Pedersen vs Batch/Allen 13 - Nominated Heat 14 - Nominated Heat BRITISH CUP 4 clubs to obtain buys into the 2nd round from both North & South divisions leaving 16 clubs to battle it out in Round 1, all teams go into the same hat and draws are done at random - all meetings are 2 legged knockouts and this competition provides the opportunity for northern/southern clubs to clash. To keep things interesting points will remain 3-2-1-0 but will run over 12 standard heats with a heat 13 nominated race.Highest average at no.1, lowest at no.6 - the rest can be slotted anywhere else in the team. for example, Glasgow vs Rye House 1 - Andersen/Luna vs Kennett/Lindgren 2 - Ayres/Garcia vs Morley/Banford 3 - Lawson/Starke vs Schlein/Lykke 4 - Lunna/Garcia vs Schlein/Morley 5 - Andersen/Starke vs Kennett/Lykke 6 - Lawson/Ayres vs Lindgren/Banford 7 - Andersen/Lawson vs Kennett/Schlein 8 - Starke/Garcia vs Lindgren/Morley 9 - Lunna/Ayres vs Lykke/Banford 10 - Andersen/Ayres vs Kennett/Morley 11 - Lawson/Garcia vs Schlein/Banford 12 - Lunna/Starke vs Lindgren/Lykke 13 - NOMINATED SUMMARY If you look at a team that go all the way in all competition, you have 32 League meetings, a potential 6 play off meetings at the end of the league, 4 meetings from the League Cup Group, then a further 4 meetings from semi/final. Moving into the British Cup even if you get a buy in round 1 you then go into the last 16 so thats 8 meetings A total of 54 domestic club meetings. those who fail at the first hurdle get 38 meetings. COMMERCIAL TERMS All competition should have a Title Sponsor, there is no reason why the regional leagues cannot be sponsored by a betting company who get exclusivity on betting rights for domestic speedway, someone like BetFred, Bet365, PaddyPower etc. The League and British Cup competitions should also attract a lower-level sponsor - there are loads of opportunities, for example British Cup could attract a power-tool company like Metabo, Milwakee, Snap On etc. and the League Cup could get an energy drink sponsor or an oil company etc. it would really be easy to get if you don;t ask for crazy money. TELEVISION DEAL I would personally explore having an online speedway channel, first of all I would partner with a broadcaster either Sky Sports or BT Sport and sell League rights only - agree a fixed number of race nights exclusively live with the broadcast partner. Then utilise a pay-monthly online channel where selected meetings from the remaining league fixtures and cup competitions are streamed live. Take the 24 clubs, if each averaged 1,000 spectators thats 24,000 people, if 20% of these people signed up to the online channel at a pay-monthly £4.99 to get exclusive online streaming of meetings, interviews with riders, features on teams, re-runs of old meetings etc. etc. That is a monthly revenue of £23,952 or (£287,424) annually which potential to grow if marketed correctly against marketing the sport correctly and increasing attendances/popularity. I am sure most speedway fans would happily pay £4.99 per month (which is not a bank buster) if it can guarantee some decent content, which could include say 10 additional meetings per month LIVE, interviews with riders, team features, maybe could introduce a chat show etc. It could also hold archive footage of meetings, can re-run classic meetings, and if savvy enough - could have a fanzone section where those supporters who are techy advanced can submit their own videos - maybe of a fans day out view, traveling to an away meeting, their own interview with club riders etc. it would pack the content out on this basis without paying the fan. thats my 50 pence worth of input, speedway in my opinion in broken, and as with anything you build a foundation first, i won't meet a girl tomorrow, marry her the following day then build a relationship after. Also out of interest - who would win the above example meetings lol

SuperBowl is at the end of the year when the top 4 from each division collide Biggest issues with DU riders is that when they clash is the main cup comp or end of season play offs and both teams are up against each other

surely allowing ex riders in for free is an attraction for spectators people might recognise them, bump into them having a chat etc. then go home extra satisfied

I'm unware of any format or tests that are going on lol

Everyone can have their opinion for sure However, Polish speedway is losing money, Swedish speedway is losing money, bending over backwards to get these few elite riders into British speedway will lose money here - riders will not ride here for any less no matter what fixed race night etc. most crowds in Poland/Sweden are bigger than the UK. I would agree that any sport not having top level athletes is a farce but this is domestic British speedway we are talking about - look at it this way and it is different because speedway riders can race for more than one team but look at British Superbikes..... It doesn;t have all the top athletes they all race in MotoGP/WBSK - BSB doesnt even have all the best UK riders such as Camier, Rea, Crutchlow, Sykes etc. but they have the best of what is available, a few ex GP riders etc. - It is still a great product, with crowds in excess of 35,000 British Speedway does not need the top names

On my fixed 15-heat format for League Racing each rider gets 5 rides, there is no nominated heat. On the 14 Heat League Cup format which has 2 nominated heats each rider gets 4 rides each before any nominations. 13 heat format is again 4 rides each with 1 nominated heat.

To be fair granted, no matter what state of the sport, you will see some close racing at all levels, but also on the flip side of the coin you will see some dross - the same would happen even under my own proposed ideas - but my proposal is about building from the bottom down and working its way back up again to maybe a time in the future where the "stars" will come and play in the UK. At the moment all but a few don't want the UK, i fear the BSPA will bend over backwards just to attract a few additional names which in essence does nothing for british speedway because there is not enough interest to warrant having these guys at present, if all these changes are made to accomodate the big stars, what will happen is clubs will go bust, and these big stars will just carry on racing elsewhere. I'm amaized that people like holder, NKI etc. still do the UK and all credit to them

I think it would affect only a few - the d/uppers More points money in the EL, less in the PL, so all teams under one roof.... you would expect money to sit somewhere in the middle..... or maybe someone like Poole will pay the lower order PL money and put the top boys on EL money still to attract them? Its possible....