HGould

That's a generalisation. There is no Leadership at the top that's true. There are some Clubs though who using their own initiatives are seeing crowd growth and are seeing newcomers coming to Speedway. A number in the Championship I saw with my own eyes at Birmingham and on travels last season. It works locally, that may be the way to go.

Some people seem to think we have to wait for all the foreign riders to arrive, we have to wait until Covid 19 is totally eradicated, we have to have perfect conditions, perfect team strengths, perfect crowd levels. If we wait too long for the second wave, scared to go out late summer, the second wave will arrive in winter and be 10x more dangerous as a result. Herd immunity idea is not dead, it has to be allowed once the NHS can cope. We have to go out and every day we all take "a risk" in any form of life. Things to some degree will never be the same. Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season. seems some on here want to see speedway die so they can say "I told you so".

Speedway could take place though, of some kind as plenty of British riders and UK based riders would be clamouring to ride. It's very unfortunate that a team like Wolverhampton can't offer a team place and a job to a British rider but that's a topic for another day.

I would go to speedway at the first opportunity. I'm an OAP and get more or less chance of getting infected at Perry Barr as I have the local Tesco. Most people will be keen to get back to any level of normality. It's not as if I'm going to be in a crowd of 40,000 at Villa Park....700 at PB minimal risk and far more exciting.

Wimbledon, Glastonbury, other massive Events cancelled as the lead time to set up and organise logistics is MONTHS....you don't organise them in weeks. By cancelling now that limit losses massively. Speedway could theoretically be given green light and actually facing within a week. To suggest there is and correlation between putting Wimbledon on and organising Swindon Robins v Wolverhampton Wolves within a week is scaremongering nonsense. Speedway meetings with initially British riders could be organised very quickly. Clubs will have everything ready to go very quickly

There will surely come a point when restrictions have to be lifted as the death rate follows the infection rate in falling to early march levels. Millions of jobs in retail / leisure and especially our own Coastal and Tourist Towns will implore that restrictions are eased otherwise we won't have a pandemic we'll have a great depression. Many of the Events being cancelled are major ones that take a huge amount of logistical planning and expense and so have to be cancelled now to save unnecessary expense. Speedway could resume in part one would assume within 7 days. It would take longer for foreign riders to arrive back in UK and some may decide not to bother. The issue by then may not be "social distancing" as the Government has suggested more than once that it is willing to try "herd immunity" again in summer once NHS can cope. The big problem for speedway may not be lockdown, may not be social distancing, may not even be crowds of up to a few thousand, it'll be the medical cover and possible usage of A+E departments. That's a practical and ethical issue. I am still hopeful that we may see "some speedway" in July / August, what form it takes is another matter entirely.

Two Clubs, I've seen so far has suggested reduced / free admission - £10 all 16 and above at Eastborne for first 2 Fixtures due to likely financial hardship. Poole also offering free admission all 2020 meetings to NHS Staff. Hope more will follow suit

If Poland gets green light and races every night, why shouldn't UK.??? British Clubs and specifically British riders need to earn. If a few Brits and some overseas riders have to decide, that's up to them their choice. If UK shuts down due to Poles many UK Clubs would not reopen. If any UK Clubs do close and seems likely some will if we are not racing by August, it'll be vad enough, without just lying down and letting Poland ride all over us. Their model is frighteningly like PL soccer, and probably more at risk from Global economic crash than UK is

Would be nice if The BSPA announced they were giving some of the Eurosport money to PL/CL/NDL Clubs don't you all think? It was clearly given to the Sport by Eurosport and not just for a few promoters at the top table of PL to guzzle up. 22 Clubs - if they gave just £100 k of the rumoured 500k deal at about 5 grand a club it might help a few through difficult times. Doubt a penny will trickle down though.

I have removed Curtis as requested. I mistakenly believed / was told Curtis and AP who do the website are all part of Nigel Pearsons Media empire. I apologise for any offence caused.

Laurence and David are the Promoters. I don'r blame Laurence or David (or Peter for that matter) for the poor website and media. It's one of many controlled and run by AP It was a website format that looked great 4-5 years ago, now very tired and dated. Some Clubs are formatting and developing their own unique styles and they look a lot smarter and up to date

Sums up the problem . Three of those names agree 100% with. They have little or no influence though at BSPA which is a closed shop of inward looking thinking.. Bishop promotes an NDL team very well but NDL has always been something the BSPA treat as an aside. Kilby has been around a few Clubs and seems to have found a niche at Swindon, meaning he didn't have time to do much with us brummies, but very positive force. Painter is probably the most interesting, involved in motor sport and speedway for a number of years, he now runs Team GB and in a few years they have developed incredibly well and professionally. throw in 2 other names who could have a lot more influence. Adrian Smith CEO at Belle Vue very professional and forward thinking. Peter Facenna at Glasgow is part of a family who have delivered an amazing business model and invested significant sums in to Glasgow. Smith and Facenna should be spearheading the Sport with Painter (all very successful businessmen) guys like Kilby and Bishop focused on marketing it. Not product that needs tinkering with but dead heading those driving the product and bringing in real talent. All of those will be lost though if they feel they are just banging there head against an immovable brick wall.

Completely different in every way. Global event attracting around 1 million spectators over 2 weeks and with players from all Continents needing huge infrastructure and planning that can't be stopped at a few weeks notice...equivalent to a huge oil tanker. League speedway if you are lucky 1000 to 1500 fans in many cases less, no massive infrastructure and can be arranged / cancelled very quickly. Equivalent of a coracle

Heard that too although I think much of it may be linked to what City Council claimed is owed by Dave Gorton (is it Gorton or Gordon - sorry) and Chris Morton. Good race track yet reputed to be losing money each season. Look at Glasgow, another good race track, probably the best in terms of professionalism in the UK and they admit they lose tens of thousands a season. Which Clubs (if any) do make any money based purely on Speedway? Scunthorpe (mainly you'd guess from track rental) Ipswich (big crowds and great Sponsors) Swindon - possibly Kent - Len claims he's never had a season where he has lost money. Almost every other one I can think of has at some point admitted either hanging on or losing hand over fist. Very worrying times.

As you say, no surprise sadly. Quick look at Redcar and no April Fool but a nice Easter Egg touch http://www.redcar-speedway.com/2020/03/27/easter-egg-hospital-visit-update/ Quick look at Eastbourne and an attempt at an April Fool (and a double header for Saturday on their TV Channel announced since the April Fool) -: https://www.eastbourne-speedway.com/because-the-eagles-are-worth-it/ April Fool from IOW on Facebook too. Swindon (another progressive Club) - no April Fool but a game to play - https://www.swindon-speedway.com/news.php?extend.3407 Come on Brummies sort it out!

Bit disappointing no effort at an April Fool on website, might have cheered us up a bit.

time to look at the few who are promoting the sport properly and looking at new options; problem is how many of them will survive the cull that's about to be caused by the Covid-19 issues. In the case of one of them the IOW how do they survive no NDL next season.

I don't think ANY of the Clubs I referred to are promoting to kids. They are looking to attract kids who then ask their parents to take them again. Can't blame them for trying but some will blame them for trying!

Many of the Clubs in the Championship are attracting new young fans. We certainly are at Birmingham and on Away Match trips to places like Somerset; Redcar; Eastbourne saw plenty of evidence that other Clubs are doing the same and not only getting them in but showing them around and making a bit of a fuss of them. Yet when my Club do that what happens, some of the grumpy old men in the old guard moan about "too many kids", and a new family coming for the first time that may have "knicked my space" get abuse. Hardly welcoming is it?. We have some of the best facilities in Speedway at PB and good to see the work done to try to encourage new blood.

great post Ben and well done for trying to calculate things.

Because you asked what line of business the Masons were involved in??. Politely you were responded to!

I'm aware of a few Clubs who were already offering Concessions to NHS and key workers and Military / Emergency Front line so well done Poole on going a bit further. Hope that when the season does start (and lets all be hopeful and positive that it will start at some point) that all Clubs will follow this with similar schemes.

Lots of work on Pits and Riders Car Park, lot of painting and cleaning of kick boards and replaced and cleaned various bits of air fence. Also some replacement of the temporary stands on first turn to meet new safety requirements with regular working groups most weekends. I think Peter and David own Cleaning Contract Company covering London and South East where they are based.

Kent have refunded but as they sold for combined CL / NDL with no either /other of part season option, I guess they have assessed that they won't be running all matches or most likely NDL at all. Some Clubs seem to have put holding statements up saying they will review and monitor. Most clubs including mine nothing as yet.

Depends how many he has sold I think? He did have a lot of stick when launching late and for high cost (on here and social media). Kent also sold a combined CL and NDL ticket, no option to buy one or other League. So he obviously realises just not enough matches can be fitted in now for both so either won't run NDL or CL. So may be announcement coming about no NDL who knows? Nice bit of PR hopefully premature. I think most Clubs will wait until end of May at least? Clubs like Brummies have done a fair bit of stadium work, some of it vital safety work, so may have already spent some of my season ticket money so, I'd be happy to have a pro rata refund or even carry over to 2021 if that helps my Club.I appreciate some fans might want money back though. Not many Promoters as rich as Len but if you're a Kent fan fair enough.