truthsayer

Exactly what that man says. Cricket (a game I just don't understand) is the perfect example: an outdated old game adapted to modern conditions. I'd argue darts and cue sports have done the same. Variants of speedway could make the sport more accessible. Does speedway have to be outdoors? On shale? Teams? Adapting the sport to tarmac could open up new venues, more riders and making it less volatile to the weather. Electric is another way to make it more accessible and create positive PR. These things don't have to be either/or, but traditional speedway can co-exist around other formats, at which point one may become dominant.

Sports magazine programmes are not really an option any more. The rise in specialist sport channels mean that sports organisers have commercialised their sports and given exclusive rights to broadcasters, something that was barely a thing until the 1990s. Any sport has to adapt or die. Broadcasting is not the biggest of British speedway's problems, as the current business model relies on people coming through the gate (which is an outdated strategy anyway). If the product was good, broadcasting through Eurosport would be a good platform. There's no reason why speedway cannot do things that are more 'inclusive': it's a sport which should work perfectly with electric powertrains, for example, to create e-speedway. Indoor/winter speedway could be viable, as could a women's championship. Issue is that it's just not popular enough and the investment needed would represent a massive gamble for anyone.

Believe it or not, but terrestrial channels are not the big deal they once were. Younger audiences in particular don't watch 'live' TV, and the way people consume media has changed massively. Specialist channels like Sky, BT Sport and Eurosport are perfect for delivering sport to enthusiasts, giving an in depth presentation of the sport that's better than being there. Social media has democratised broadcasting. Streaming live on Facebook and YouTube allows large audiences to be reached. If you want to broadcast free to air, there's no need to work with the BBC, ITV or Channels 4 or 5. If British Speedway wants to broadcast free to air then it can do so through social media, where it can carefully target its audience. I suspect, however, that wouldn't make commercial success for a business which relies almost solely on spectators coming through the gate. Not sure I understand what you mean by 'the days of main stream coveage have long gone to be replaced by sports that fit the modern agenda/gender and cultural needs' and I doubt you do either. What's broadcast on general interest channels are popular sports. BBC has an obligation to deliver value for money. Commercial channels have an obligation to deliver programming which attracts enough viewers to attract sponsorship and advertisers. Live sport, especially action sports, are expensive to make for a small audience, but if 100,000 people watched speedway live every week there's a very good chance broadcasters would see value in running it. It's not about being 'fans' or fitting an 'agenda' it is about numbers. As Kelvin Tatum would say 'there's no question about that'

The Poles were massive favourites and the Brits took them to the last race. I'd suggest that's overperforming...

It's not comparable though. It's like watching the World Cup football final and then expecting the same on a wet Wednesday at Wycombe.

And herein lies the problem at the core of British speedway. Name me another sport which is overwhelmingly 'professional'? Maybe horse racing, maybe, but its a bigger industry with a totally different structure and purpose. Every sport needs to be fundamentally amateur, with only the top few percent actually being semi-professional, let alone fully professional. Sport is about participating, and only at the very top is there a product for the entertainment of the public. I sound like a broken record, but there is not really a grassroots of speedway - an amateur system where people can pay to play. It's a truly weird sport. In every other form of sport, a high percentage (lets say in the 90%s) people actually pay to participate because they enjoy it. There are little to no facilities to do this with speedway. It's all about the professional team product and it will be the death of speedway as we know it.

It's not the 'league's' responsibility to develop new riders. Of course they are stakeholders, and it is in their interests, but the current structure as a pro sport means the responsibility of promoters is to lay on a show for the audience. Separation of 'British Speedway' and the 'British Speedway League' would be a start, but there's no money for a development programme so that's that.

I misunderstood. Thought they had transponders these days. Stopwatch, no chance!

Yes

Then the product is bad and it's a managed decline until the existing ageing audience is no more, or there are no more venues or riders let. YouTube is the best way to reach a mass audience, but they have a lot of choice in the world. Audiences no longer view their entertainment in the same way. Going out to watch an event live when they can watch it online is an option for many people. Not everyone, but for certain people consuming content is different to how it used to be.

Want to reach a big audience? Livestream on YouTube is the answer.

I quite like it, but I do think Discovery overuse the shot.

I don't have any inside information, but I would expect putting on a speedway meeting costs more than £4k, a lot more than £4k. And you shouldn't be running a business just to break even, those investing in it should be able to take a wage and make a profit (and have some contingency for rain offs). I cannot see speedway being paid to be on TV, if anything I can see the sport having to pay for the production in future years. I doubt it is much, if anything, anymore. Travel for 14 riders, even without coming from other countries, is likely £2k a night. Medical cover will be at least £500 (probably a good bit more) and insurance won't be cheap for a motorsport event. Stadium hire, I have no idea, but must be at least £2k a night before the lights are even turned on. I have no idea how speedway clubs remain even remotely solvent based on their expenses and income.

This is missing a lot of the significant overheads which add to the expense: travel costs, stadium rent, medical cover, printing, insurance, utilities... to name but a few.

I definitely think there are no 'special' meetings these days. Without sounding like an old biffer, I grew up watching 1980s National League speedway. Most weeks there was a rider you wanted to see and a few times a year there would be a really big meeting, with some big stars you'd never usually see at your local track. Now it feels like it is the same riders week after week, and there's no special nights. Speedway has many problems, most of which are grassroots issues and not about the 'survival of the Premiership' but one issue I think they have is the inability of a promoter to develop and promote their own product. The cartel means they all have to serve up the same tripe as each other. I'd love promoters to be able to put on their own shows. Based in a holiday resort... forget league racing and serve up entertainment for the tourists. Only got limited access to your venue... run the events that work in your area. I've always said speedway's a bizarre example of a team sport (it's seven individuals who roughly wear the some colours, and when you add up how much they score you get a winning 'team') but I also accept there is an audience for it. But stuff like touring teams, legend teams, Harlem Globetrotters etc. are all part of the show. Speedway could learn so much from other sports, like the pro and development tours in darts, the pantomime of wrestling and the progression structures (and club racing scenes) of other motorsports, but giving promoters the freedom to do (or at least experiment) what works in their market could at least give British speedway an opportunity to survive. It won't survive on the bland and outdated bilge that is league racing. To quote Kelvin Tatum 'No doubt about that'

I wonder what percentage of the general public know what speedway is!

That's exactly where the sport needs to be if it is to be viable as a spectator product. The biggest issue we have just now is that there are just not enough local riders of a suitable level to fill a league with teams, which is why there is this current dependancy on riders commuting from mainland Europe. I grew up watching the National League of the 1980s. It was a decent semi-professional level and although times have changed, if 'team' speedway is to be viable that's the kind of level you need to be looking at.

The idea has a lot of validity, but it doesn't address the core problems, which are a lack of venues and a lack of facilities for new riders to come through (and the resulting lack of locally based riders). Long term, it doesn't really strengthen the sport. It just takes three struggling leagues and makes one big one that's a bit more viable. FWIW I think it's a good idea, but without a grassroots/amateur structure below it all you are doing is dragging things on for a few years, when that structure will face the same issues.

For me, this just emphasises that speedway really is not a team sport, rather an individual one masquerading as a team sport. It's true of almost every sport that the most successful teams have the biggest wage bills but the 'team' element of speedway is tiny when compared to football and Formula One (which is a true team sport). The points limit is weird, but on the other hand it's the only way to make speedway remotely competitive as a team sport.

This is one of the biggest barriers to moving forward IMO. To move forward the sport needs to get rid of the outdated concept of team speedway being the operating model. And by doing that you alienate the few diehard fans still putting money into the sport. There's also no riding talent sitting out there to create a 'new' spectator product, so it makes it very difficult to reinvent the sport as a team game - hence the current rearranging the deckchairs. In his excellent post, 'HGould' suggests there are 5-6 'profitable' clubs based on large 'benefactors or large Sponsors or a combination of those'. This does not mean the club is profitable, it just means it is being kept afloat. It's not viable going forward and I'd suggest the number of actual profitable clubs (where the business can pay investors a return and/or reinvest in the business) is zero.

Why would the Ekstraliga be even remotely interested in this?

Business owners are also told what days they can run on, and are at the mercy of their landlords, the weather and their fellow franchise owners. Add in rising utility costs and you have a completely unsustainable business. Most sports have reinvented themselves in some way or another over the decades. Speedway, however, tries to serve up the same old product without any positive evolution.

Is anyone really under the illusion that you can run a speedway team as a profitable business? The sport is bankrupt because the product is rubbish: overheads are too high and income too low. The operating model is largely out of the control of the 'promoters' and so there is very little which can be done to turn the business around. Promoters come in to 'save the club' or because they are enthusiasts who like the idea of running a sports club.

I'm not sure they are blind, it's more like they are in survival mode. But the stakeholders are too invested in it. What do they do? There are too many stakeholders, all struggling to stay afloat. They can't rescue the ship when they're struggling to stay alive themselves. So they just try to run it as 'less bad' as they can. It needs a blank sheet, a whole new start. It also needs to be amateur, or at best semi-professional. It needs a product developed for the competitor, not (just) the spectator. They're all too invested in it as it is. So it is a managed decline.

This weekend, almost certainly yes. But behind cricket and horse racing, and in terms of general interest still behind football. In the football season, a BSB round will be behind all the premiership and championship games and international sports like F1 when it comes to TV audience. Fans attending in person doesn't really matter in a lot of ways, it's all about the overall audience. Touring Cars are also typically more popular than superbikes. Rugby is also ahead in the popularity stakes too, as well as cycling. My point is that it is no conspiracy. Foggy was all over the press when he won a TV show watched by 9 million people. That's 9 million people buying your newspaper or clicking on your website. Foggy did get some mainstream coverage when winning world superbikes, but at peak the audience at Brands Hatch was a claimed 120,000. That's a lot less than 9,000,000. I'm not saying its right, but it is what it is. Speedway either has to pay to be featured in the mainstream media, or else it needs to have a big enough audience to be (commercially) worth their while to cover. Media cover the things they think are popular, because that's what pays the bills. WSL is a bit in the middle though. There is an appetite for women's football, as shown by the world cup viewing figures and the popularity of some of the personalities in the game.