waytogo28

So who owned it and who sold it to whom?

Is there any truth to the rumour that Robert Lambert is very unsettled at KL? The rumour is that he will be on his way at the end of the season if not before.

That will be the final nail in the coffin of professional speedway ( or speedway as we know it ) in the UK when BT pull out or pay zero into the sport because it is the Sky money which has been propping it up for years.

It hardly matters How or Why BT now control all UK broadcast speedway racing ( and the GPs )' It represents the tiniest sliver of their sport broadcasting and we fans ( those that enjoy it live on TV that is ) are lucky that someone has taken it on at all. When the contract does run out I can't see them bothering to re-negotiate as it is never going to be an income earner is it? The only winner - IF it turns out BT paid anything for the rights, then of course Go Speed / RR are the real winners ( again ). As the BSPA have never found a major sponsor even during 15 years of Sky coverage ( under several "great leaders" ), what hope of that is there now?

If the new contract DOES include ALL use over the stadium for 12 months it may not be a bad / expensive deal. However if it is £350k for speedway only usage it's a millstone around their necks. Why can we never be told in clear simple terms wha the £350K includes? Speedway's smoke & mirrors style as ever.

Just as bad - or worse - than many of us thought. How DG or CM can hold their heads up and still go on saying that it was"all someone else's fault" is beyond belief. Philip Rising must also be red faced now? Why didn't the SS wait before printing that "white as white" article absolving DG /CM? What a farce the previous promotion were and how right the BSPA were to revoke their licence. If DG / CM knew about what was in turns 3 / 4 they have zero chance of any recompense from ISG. Where did the missing documents on the material used go? In someone's grate I imagine.

I can't see that Sky paid £10 million for each league match? Impossible! But if they did - WHO did they pay it too? I am confused about that kind of figure being paid into the sport as it should have meant over 15 years ( OK lower in earlier years ) that the sport of speedway should have seen vastly improved stadiums and facilities. Don't tell me the Blazers shared it out between themselves and those No1s? Every club could have bought it's own stadium and Brandon could have been saved! No - there must be a decimal place in the wrong place - maybe £107,000? Somebody tell us please.

Can't see league speedway being on BT even if it's not on Sky. Why would they take it on unless it happens to be in a contract bundle? It's not as if there are likely to be hundreds of thousands ( or even tens of thousands ) of new subscribers. The BSPA must know the state of any pull out discussions but never even say if it"s ongoing

We just need to find around 2,000 people who will put up £1,000 ( or other multiples of people and pounds ) I am willing to put up £1,000 providing it is returned if sufficient support to buy or part buy Brandon is not found. I am a fan of speedway and not a Bees supporter so there may be enough fans who will do the same? Can we get the Speedway Star to publicise such a scheme? I am willing to play an organisational part in this project but definitely cannot do that all myself. Anyone else feel the same?

Those now opting out superstars and they are thrill merchants for sure - have failed to put bums on seats over several seasons, will cost at least £5+k per match. Sadly they have proved to be too expensive when balanced against turnstile income. Not enough punters were thrilled by them ( or not enough new punters turned up in the stadiums after watching them in GPs on TV )

March 6th tomorrow Spring is springing up all over the place ( lovely flowers in the park ) have you seen the BSPA posters ( in every chip shop and taKe away ), had a leaflet through the door with your local track's fixture list etc etc?. Or is it all coming on April the 1st?

Has Terry Russell / Go Speed taken £1,500,000 out of speedway since negotiating the Sky deal or is his accumulated commission nearly £3,000,000? And no-one managed to get a major sponsor for the sport while he was in his counting.

You won't get a statement from Go Speed while the 2107 £100,000 ( or is it £200,000 ) commission is "in the bag" And you will not hear from Sky until there really are eight teams that will complete the season Why are people avoiding the main issue with Swindon?

That is about the only way that a competitive, professional speedway league can hope to continue in the UK for 2018 and beyond. Fingers crossed that that IS what the BSPA decide to do.

Holder is very unlikely to give up on his Torun contract as it is a vastly better financial deal for him than in Premiership. We have very little bargaining power because the sport is so weak now in the UK.

How can I watch that Polish TV highlights programme on Sundays? What is the name of the broadcast company? Any tips would be appreciated. When they did offered Pay Per View I paid for a monthly pass for live matches and that was excellent value. Presumably it did not raise enough revenue.

I am not in the business of spreading misinformation. It was just my opinion, gained from the little information that seemed definite about Swindon ever riding in a new stadium ( surrounded by houses - I just can't see that in a modern development ). If someone has confirmation the the new Swindon stadium will be finished ( and when) I will be cheering along with many others. It's the uncertainty that concerns me. There has been a lot of uncertainty this closed season - will Leicester run? Now we know it will. Coventry confirmed as riding but then that hope finally being extinguished and now possibly gone for ever. No news from Sky seems to have turned into NO Sky coverage. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility ( until we hear otherwise ) that Swindon could slip from use as a speedway venue. Just exploring maybes, gleaned from postings on here and in the SS. Is that not what a forum is for? Or is for the 10 or 12 dominate ones feffling and blinding at each other over curious feuds, far from what the majority of posters know anything about. Those posters don't seem to want any "conversation" about what is going on. It's not so slow, it seem to have really speeded up over the last few months. If the Gerhadt engines proves no something riders don't really want and don't take up as new engines, that will be another costly dead end ( have they been bought by the BSPA and how many? ) Can they be sold back to Gerhadt? If the about to be launched, marketing initiative is damp squib there will be no more bums on seat or feet on terraces in 2107. The demise then will be a rolling stone / avalanche.

This change from Sky to BT is a further contraction of interest in TV companies broadcasting live speedway. The BT deal will be sure to be three year one and at the end of that, the tiny viewing figures will very likely bring an end to league matches on TV. Except for the GPs which can presumably be sold on to other countries.

There is some blame i feel attaching to Horton because if he had tied it up earlier at Brandon all would have gone through. The calls for him to be banned are because he is a "repeat offender" at pulling out of or closing down clubs.

Maybe it's just us old "dinosaurs" who don't like every other word in a rider's interview to be "f**king this and f**king that". I don't and believe it comes across he's a spoilt brat ( at 26?) with a very limited vocabulary. There are plenty of negative expressive ways of venting his disappointment ( some of which I understand). I wish the powers that be / those pulling the strings of speedway would let Tai run Team GB for five years - because without him we are unlikely to see a medal again. We have nothing too loser by doing it his way ( only those expletive filled views! ).

The plight of clubs and the - will they -wont they be part of the situation, certainly does affect whether Sky broadcasts any 2017 season matches, because if one more track dropped out Sky do not have to keep to the contract. This requires , we are told, there to be 8 teams racing the Premiership. We have not had any schedule of televised match from Sky for next season and that was the reason for my post.

So, according to that piece in the Coventry Observer - there never was a deal for Sandhu to re-instate Brandon after the fittings & lights were ripped out. Who did make that claim? Horton? BSPA? Cllr Stokes? Or did it just pop up like an urban myth?

A week is a long time in speedway! Just as it is in politics and business. Anything can and might well change before the first meeting of the year takes place anywhere. Fingers crossed that Swindon make it to the tape and complete the season because if not there will be no Sky meetings.

I think that it was never on and agree with those who say it was a backup / safety net to keep the Sky contract. Will we now get confirmation from Sky that there are to be televised matches in 2017? Whoever is mainly to blame, it was all "curtains" when the stadium was trashed and nothing truly positive has been done since then.

I feel that it is much more likely that the decline in attendances at speedway matches will continue year on year. Including 2017. Too much time and effort has been spent tinkering with this rule or that rule over the last ten years at least. Only serious, professional marketing efforts will attract new fans and although we are yet to see what the BSPA is doing in that direction this year the rebranding is of no interest to would be fans. They need to see close racing with passing ( therefore thrills and excitement that might draw them back ). There is no point in preparing a track to suit the home riders if that results in a crashing defeat for the visitor and very little entertainment. I purposely chose my forum name because I think we have a very long way to go if we are to celebrate 2028 ( or 2023 whichever you choose! ) as a centenary. I feel that this is not the much trolled "doom and gloom' but a very realistic outlook for the sport.