Odds On

since when was there no room for the dog track?

the only way i can see speedway returning is IF a multitude of sports pull together, speedway, greyhound racing, football, go karts etc etc.

this surely puts a huge question mark about speedway being held at Poole this season...it appears the stadium needs the secondary spend to make the numbers work.

That is one of the fundamental problems with speedway right now, simply living above its means....if there is £1000 coming through the gate each week and there is £1000 averaging a week in sponsorship etc, then another £1000 being raised by supporters clubs on average per week, then the simple maths are £3000 a week budget...sometimes you just have to cut your cloth accordingly.....teams simply cannot afford to have their top rider equating to 75-100 people coming through the gate on a match night. Yes i am fully aware the costs and income are far greater than the figures mentioned above they are purely used as an example!

in theory speedway could go ahead behind closed doors but the revenue loss could be a key factor!..simply have a pay per view live stream, cost per view is exactly the same as the entrance costs to the stadium....clubs could still get generate revenue by having sponsors adverts during the meeting, have heats sponsored, even have riders own sponsors to pay for adverts...the loss on secondary spend at the track would mean the landlords would then probably up the rent etc...but it is possible but just at a high risk/loss of income. Far from ideal.

one of the side effects of the lock down is the effect it will have on the economy, this will have a huge effect on people's health and mental health...lets hope the cure isn't a bigger problem than the problem itself.

has the sport not a record for taking back riders that have committed other crimes?...in no way am i defending any rider.

for speedway to return to Coventry it would need someone with deep pockets and also to run the whole stadium as a business, speedway, greyhound racing, stock cars, football/rugby in the middle, car boot sales at the weekends, conference facilities etc etc.

great to see Jason Crump back in the saddle but the biggest question is why?

what a load of old rubbishe...why not put the money to better use?

this would be a great signing for both Pboro and speedway in general....perhaps the Speedway Star could look in to it?

a lot of the examples used on this thread are of specific incidents!....I would say a lot of them are acts of repercussions for the "innocent" rider being targeted for something that had happened previously.....some riders were renowned for having a little black book in the tool box!

has anyone on here actually been around or in racing kennels?..

another nail in the so called top tier of British speedway, arguably one if not the best away supported teams in the league.

Must of been one of the biggest crowds at Ipswich for many a season?

Pearson going on about it being a great track last night, it was terrible for racing and as a spectacle it was terrible and boring.. Swindon are a strong team and it looks like Ipswich had there final when they beat Poole.

and some people still live in the belief that a new stadium will be built, must be newbies to the sport!

ha ha..I've been following it for around 45 years or so, last night was a borefest and if you found it exciting can I recommend a 5000 piece jigsaw to really blow you away!

Last night was a classic example of why speedway is in the mess it finds itself in this Country.. Track was poor, bumpy and little or no passes. How many Brits on show? Two hours of so called entertainment, literally ten minutes at max. a boring non eventful advert for British speedway.

always plays the victim,

Blocking only happens to where the payment holders address is, so a fan who lives around the corner could easily have a friend/family member pay who lives outside of the blocked radius and still watch the stream. Lack of secondary spend from footfall through the gates will have a massive knock on effect with the landlords and then the rent goes up, only one outcome for all concerned when that happens I'm afraid. Live streaming is a massive risk to speedway promoters, now if meetings were sell outs then live streaming would certainly have a future within the sport, right now owners and landlords need to keep the footfall it has not lose it. Another factor is if the likes of BT/Sky/Eurosport currently pay around £50k(ball park figure), they will not be willing to pay that sort of money if live streaming is available, where does that short fall come from?

a very colourful picture and outlook you paint but all that glitters isn't gold!...a major hurdle amongst many others in this is the loss of secondary spend income to Stadium/Track owners who don't own the speedway teams racing out of the stadium, can't imagine the likes of Wolverhampton(Ladbrokes) etc not increasing rent once crowds dwindle, which obviously they will do.

I'm led to believe the "blocking" of a 30 mile radius is down to where the payment address of the card/holder used to pay. 5000 sounds rather optimistic but applauded if correct.. For every £5 spent that could mean anything from one person watching to a ten or more, so basing this on 3 people watching at home at £5 income for the streamer and loss on the gate of £45(ave £15), times that by 5000 streams that's a loss of gate income of £225,000...all theory and ifs and buts!....then add the loss of income for the stadium owners of X amount on food and beverages, it will not take the owners of the stadiums to realise they are losing money on speedway meetings and in turn the rent will increase, catch 22 situation. I would say that 90% of league speedway meetings in the UK that are shown live on Tv have vastly depleted crowds, whilst I agree that live streaming would mean an additional income , it certainly has a knock on effect with any fundraising that clubs carry out on a race night and the stadiums owners.

Live streaming will be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of teams and in turn a lot of stadiums.

a level of consistency needs to be shown by the SCB, how they have come to those actual punishments is bemusing to say the least but then again nothing surprises me in this sport anymore.