Falcon1983

The big stars should never come back those days are over and UK speedway needs to let go of that dream and lay the foundations for future generations to enjoy the sport

Think Woffy would probably be more like 300% more in costs but all depends on his earnings in Poland if they are not as agreed he may want to top up his earnings

Isolation has left me bored so I have been putting together a detailed plan on how British Speedway could look in the future and perhaps even prosper a little bit vs how it operates now. Over the next week or so I'll post each segment in "parts" as some is quite alot of info for one post. Will be good to pick it apart, discuss the positives and negatives etc. And generally give us more to talk about To give an idea before it goes up later in the week My idea is to move the British Championship into a mini Grand Prix type series and have it as the "main event" of speedway in this country at the same time it gives most support to British riders. League racing still operates to give spectators that love league racing and team association tho its across two divisions only (British and National league) with a junior racing/training programme. It unfortunately loses the GP stars or those more or less guaranteed every meeting in the Polish top flight, I've omitted them tho the calendar in my plans reduces league fixtures so maybe one or two may committ however it's based on clubs operating on its chosen race night where they can gain most footfall. Would love to hear everyone else's suggestions in the meantime Structures Formats Etc.

Think I'm behind the times How do you calculate average for NL moving up to CL CL moving up to PL PL dropping down to CL CL dropping down to NL

What is the conversion for a rider dropping into the championship from the prem And what is the average conversion for a championship rider dropping into the national league

True very true and I agree but with one set of fixtures a top 4 finish could be very exciting as it should be close. Unless they do one set of fixtures, whoever finishes top is league champions and top 4 qualify for KO Cup semi finals... gives teams something to ride for

I think if it restarts one set of fixtures but keep the play offs should be achieved.

People love a raffle

Maybe they should do a coupon so £18 to attend the first meeting, £16 for the second, £14 and then £12. Discount only works if you have been to meeting one it would mean ppl have to go each time So meeting one £18 Two £16 Three £14 Four £12 Five £12 Six £12 Seven £12 And so on... If you miss the sequence you restart but if you're savvy you buy a friend a ticket

If Poland are going to dominate domestic speedway in terms of having any racing once this is all over then let's hope the UK can come back in 2021 I was going to say come back stronger however it won't ever be what it was before, so I'm hoping it restarts in 2021 in a format that simply works for the Sport in this country.

No Eurosport money to distribute I'm afraid

With anything written it's the way you read it. I didn't see any issue with it

John Berry was before my time but someone my old man respected hugely and the mention of Billy Sanders the same.... I say before my time I would have been too young to remember but they probably would have seen me. Billy again such a character from what I hear the best story I ever heard was the prank he played on my parents on their wedding day. Billy somehow stole/borrowed a sheep from a field and covered it with squirty cream and locked it in the back of my parents wedding car so when they were about to be whisked off they were met by a rather hyper sheep ready to run for it lol

This is why if the main event in british speedway was an individual championship for British riders all the promotion can go into this and developing stars no matter whether they end up in poland or not then interest could then drop to local teams etc as well

When I used to run a regional MMA promotion we knew we could not get the big names domestically as they were all signed to domestic shows who had the TV deals for which there were really only two of those. So we focused on amateur talent plus those upcoming professionals who could use us as a stepping stone for the big show. So in terms of selling shows the fighters actually sold the tickets for commission to friends, family and fans however we still had to promote the event to the locals or casual fans who didnt have a personal connection So we basically used the local talent and promoted them to sell the show and to make them "stars of the show" who people would recognise over time We had the local fighter who become known as the guy fighting in the blue and white star shorts Another guy was a polish fighter who was part of the olympic wrestling squad in the past who walked out to a polish rap performer doing his ring walk A local young lad who had the look and the body that women die for The local ticket seller whom sold 220 tickets to the shows that had a 1000 capacity as he was so well known if you didnt buy a ticket to watch him you'd at least recognise his face on a poster We developed mini stars in our catchment area that people came to see... many loved the polish guy and people would say theyve come to watch Rafal... plus having a big local polish community... it drew people in to watch their countryman One of my amateur champions has just signed to the UFC and the guy in the star shorts has just lost a title fight in the biggest promotion in europe. The same belt that was once held by Conor McGregor Most have gone on to perform on the biggest platforms across Europe. So with domestic speedway stars and personalities can be created through the right promotion and the special thing about speedway is the opportunity for rider and fan interaction

Thanks for the list will help me as I put together a detailed plan of what I'd do with british speedway and I look forward to people pulling it apart haha

This is the issue with the sport is that if you speak to fans you will get a split of what they want to speedway can't go in one specific direction So the future (only in my opinion) should be a multi format offering something to please all fans across the board a taste of individual, league and other formats Who do we lose who is making it okay in Poland? Doyle, Holder, Pedersen,

I think the sport needs to focus on individual racing as the "main event" of the domestic season but still have a league offering of some sort with the focus on opportunity to earn for those who dont race in Poland regularly or those who have not yet made it in Poland yet Means less meetings but diversity with events rewarding riders who ride and support British speedway If you take out the riders who ride regularly in the top 2 divisions on poland who do we lose? I'm not talking about riders who have squad places in Poland but those who make £££ by getting regular outings for their sides? I'm sure someone or a few can make that list for me

My old man used to be a container repairer down the docks and ride speedway tho he was self employed so could down tools to do the northern tour over a few days. He earned good money in both back in the day What he didnt have was a band of sponsors as with the now digital world it was harder to get in touch with sponsors back then as no internet lol easier to approach businesses now with the level of access available One bike as well all stuffed into a citroen estate. No van

I'm working on my plan for british speedway (if I had any sort of voice that is) going to take me most of the week to put it together but will post it up. Might like it if you like cricket (I don't like cricket). Stay tuned for Friday haha

MMA became more family friendly thanks to the continued development of its rules and operations. UFC originally had limited rules mismatched fights, soccer kicks to a ground opponent etc. It has forever evolved and then filtered down to grass roots level. Say even 10-15 years ago it was brutal and I doubt many families would go. Guys would rock up at grass roots level not having a clue who they would be fighting. Now kids go with their parents, women go out in groups and it's much more professional but its evolved over time speedway in its entirety is still the same as before Probably cant use UFC as an example to british speedway because UFC has all the stars but grass roots UKMMA is similar to speedway

People say the product has been diluted over the years but if you take say the last 10-15 years I've probably seen the same number of heats per season that I thought "wow what a race" diluting of product isn't necessarily the quality of riders on show, as the odd GP has shown in the past, on a poor track the racing is just as dire as any other meeting. Speedway has ploughed along more or less the same as it was at the start, all I have seen over the years are either slight tweaks to the same format or just rebranding names of leagues I.e. covering dog poo in a quality street wrapper. Think the sport needs a massive overhaul in an attempt to bring new fans in, I say attempt because you can't fault someone who tries, if an effort is made then so be it if it doesnt attract new fans because either way the sport probably is on it's way out over a 5-10 year period. I have my own thoughts on a way forward which is different to what it is now, it would mean less teams (as we'll likely lose some tracks due to this inactivity) it would also mean losing the few top end riders who ride GP and Poland etc.

Think we should all share our thoughts on how speedway could be run in this country say next year onwards and all have an open mind opinion on each suggestion rather than falling out. Could come up with some blinding ideas

I think it's time british speedway in a sense looked after it's own clubs, it's own riders and it's own fans. No restrictions on when you can run your speedway night, a less is more club offering on the league front with more focus on the individual element for British Riders and Championship. There is no better time than now really to act once this is all over, it's likely a few teams will be lost but with limited riders to go around and the necessity really to run more on the days thay benefit your business in terms of crowd size etc. Then less clubs isn't a bad thing until more young british or commonwealth riders are coming through the system

So Bewley and Lambert but what about non Brits currently riding in the UK who could make the GPs slightly off topic but keeps it going