uk_martin

Yes exactly. It's like saying Lakeside or Rye House are "London" teams really, isn't it? In any case, I took a look at their web site before writing that, and it looks as dead as a dodo. http://www.speedwayteam-wolfslake.de/

Now that's something Poland has in common with the rest of the world. Which other country has a capital city with a current speedway track/team in it? Isn't Hammerby, who used to race in or around Stockholm the nearest to an answer to that question, and they've gone to wall now, haven't they?

Where's that "Feeling Meh" emoji when you need it?

I would question that, if your intention is in attracting a new audience that is going to sustain the sport into the future. We live in a society where the majority of kids (cue the "I know someone who knows someone who will "disprove" this theory" posts) simply do NOT want to do what their parents let alone grandparents do, or go where they go. Kids want to be with their peer groups. Proof is in where they go for their nights out. Check out "town" on a Friday night. People in their teens and 20's will be with others of their age group. You won't see kids of that age down the Derby & Joan Club. So why should speedway be any different? If you want to attract the youth of today, then you have to give them something that they want, somewhere with other people of their age where they can go, have a laugh, have a drink, and all being well, "pull". You won't get that by promising a "Little House On The Prairie" type environment.

Was it? I'm on Twitter and Facebook, and I didn't see anything about it, and I follow the SGB Twitter account. I get to see what happens in Glasgow but wasn't aware of what was happening just up the road from me. So what does that say about how effective the publicity machine is working? And If I didn't see it, what chance the news permiating to a potential new audience who hardly know what speedway is let alone knowing to look at the Coventry web site?

Oh well...as well I asked then. Too bad that it's not being broadcast from the rooftops so that those who don't know where to look can hear the good news too. But then that may risk attracting new fans, and you can't do that in the world of speedway can you?

Whose press release? Nothing on the BSPA web site confirming Coventry's acceptance into the league. And at the end of the day, it's their league. http://www.speedwaygb.co/nlnews

Who cares? What is published in advance of the season is chopped and changed around so much that an advance fixture list is only so much wishful thinking anyway. Have a look at the Polish, Swedish and SGP fixtures, plot them on a holiday planner, and where there is a lull in activity over there, there'll be a high probability of some fixtures happening over here.

Cutting a long story short then, the "subject to confirmation" that was referred to at the AGM still hasn't been confirmed. Nor is there any idea of when the confirmation will be forthcoming, nor does anyone have any idea as to what is holding the matter up.

Didn't they drop the price at Belle Vue to £10 about 6-7 years ago? From what I was told, there was a brief surge in attendance but after a month or so, the attendances leveled out at pre price drop levels. All that the Aces got in the end was the same crowd levels for two thirds of the income. Interestingly, when they abandoned the experiment, and returned to the £15 original admission, the old faithful kept on on coming, even at the higher price. Perhaps the next person who wants to tell us about demand and supply economics should look at the concept of "price elasticity of demand" too, and explain that as part of their theory.

The return of Chris Harris would be interesting indeed, and may actually be the only thing that would tempt a Coventry fan over to Leicester. Maybe the BSPA would consider engineering an assessed 6.00 average for Bomber, like they did for Richard Hall...all in the best interests of British Speedway.

Pretty much sums it up. It's how many feel, who have either given up on the sport or who only go because of the company you keep rather than the spectacle you see.

Don't know really. Don't care either but preferably someone with a clean slate, who didn't disappoint me last year

We're all entitled to our opinions but I won't be disappointed if Cupitt isn't signed up again.

Potential? After 2 complete seasons, he has a 4.00 average in the third division of a second rate league structure. So how far do you think he'll go? With his shoddy attitude towards equipment maintenance, and a tenancy to get bored once the novelty value of a new environment has worn off, I doubt that he'll go as far as you think. If he peaks at a 6.00 NL average I think he'll have gone as far as he could. So the question is, how much effort do you put into producing 6.00 NL riders, and at what cost to those with better potential who won't be getting the time or resources as a result? http://www.speedwaygb.co/files/downloads/nl17_issue_33.pdf As for "very young" - he's 19. Bartosz Zmarzlik was winning SGP's at that age. Really, 19 is not "very young" at all these days. Maybe compared to Stoke Potters riders it will be, and maybe many fans have grand kids that age that make them think that they are young at 19, but in a competitive sporting world, it's not. He's 4 years older than Leon Flint, and I wouldn't mind betting that in 4 years time Leon will be in a far more developed stage of his career than Cupitt is or will ever be at.

We will find out at Birmingham this year. They have re-introduced concessionary admission for the over 60's. As this will account for about 90% of the fan base, that will be as near to a universal price cut as you will get...so hold your breaths, and wait and see. If all goes well, there'll be loads more pensioners on the terraces, and the influx in numbers will justify an elevation of the Brummies to the Championship next year...perhaps?

Not an exact comparison and only one ticket for around the year in question, which was an FA Cup Semi Final ticket for Villa Park in 1984, @ £4.00. So as you can see, especially when you look at the cost of football today, the cost of sporting entertainment, isn't bound by the Retail Prices Index. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/gallery/2015/feb/17/football-ticket-prices-old-ticket-stubs

Speedway was better than the alternatives AT THAT TIME for some people, however the alternatives (and look at Rugby Union as one example) have moved on, become comparatively more attractive and progressed, whereas speedway is doing the same old same old, whilst its fanbase is getting old(er)

How dare you? How can the music of Glenn Miller, Bill Haley and Roy Orbison possibly be called dull?

Phillip Rising can probably dig out some articles written in Speedway Star from 1976-77-78 bemoaning the costs rising astronomically since the introduction of the 4-valve engines such as the Weslake and before that the Neil Street Conversion, not to mention, ultimately the new JAWA 4-valver, the Weslake SOHC and the Weslake DOHC engines, twin spark plugs, twin carbs and all the other developments that were going on at the time. Same symptoms, just someone / something else to blame for it. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Ask 10 people and I suspect you will get 11 answers to that question. To me it's a bit of two things. Firstly, from a "micro" perspective, it's what value do I gain out of following the sport, and on a "macro" perspective, it's about the standing of the sport within society, compared to other sports, and here you go from a sport that once touted itself as the second biggest spectator sport in the country to being one where 25% more people go to see Usain Bolt for 10 seconds than go for 3 hours of an SGP in Cardiff.

You mean the Leicester 2nd VII? :-D

Can anyone actually dig out a calendar, and put their finger on a date, at some point in time, when speedway was at it's "height"? The sport is said to be in decline new, it was in decline in 1981, according to Phillip Rising. According to Rob McCaffrey the sport has been declining since 46 years ago (1972) and according to Moxey63 it was just as bad in the 1950's. Just as a thought, the 1940's couldn't have been all that good either, what, with the war and all that. So, if you plot this line of decline on a graph, where does it begin and how close to zero are we now?

So we've signed Luke-Sky Walker, or whatever his name is. This is the National League. What did you expect? Tai Woffinden?

Not necessarily, but it does confirm that Brummies_Ste has been retained as official copier and paster of news onto BSF.