MattK

I can only go on my personal experience, but when Leigh Adams retired from Swindon there was a noticeable drop in crowd number the following season, which Swindon has never recovered from. Of course, there are other issues at Swindon (no promotion, terrible track, derelict stadium etc.) but for me, there was clear correlation between those two events.

It's Catch 22 though. The weaker it gets, the more fans are lost and so on. The proposals above think that significantly weakening the product will somehow stem the tide of fan losses. This goes against all the evidence from the last 10 years. For me, to take the sport forward you first need to stop weakening the product and then get on and promote it.

Which is fine, as long as people are prepared for speedway to be a semi-professional sport. People complain that the British leagues are amateur enough as it is. For me, the continual dumbing down on the product is the single biggest reason for the sport's decline in this country.

How are riders supposed to make a living if you cut their number of meetings by 50%?

The biggest issue last season was rider availability due to clashes between the Premiership and Championship. How would ensuring riders are committed to Britain get around that?

Exactly. All clubs should offer free entry to the first meeting of the season. This will both get regular fans into the habit of attending and as you say act as an opportunity for nationwide marketing and to then collect contact details of the spectators.

Isn't that preaching to the converted somewhat? What's needs to happen is get down the local shopping centre and ask people who DON'T go to speedway what their understanding is of the sport both locally and nationally.

But that is their choice/problem. Marketing is an integral part of running a business and it can rarely be done on a shoestring.

Correct Incorrect. What do Lakeside do to promote speedway? I live and until recently worked in Swindon. You can go the whole season without see any signs that speedway even exists in the town. Don't get me wrong, the product is now very poor, but don't think it isn't completely within the gift of promoters to address both the quality and attractiveness issues.

Still waiting on planning permission.

He was forth in the Polish averages last year but failed to qualify through the GP qualifiers (finishing 10th) and joint bottom scored for Denmark in Event 2 of the SWC.

He rode in the GP Qualifier for 2016 and 2018 and in the Danish SWC teams in 2016 and 2017, so hardly starved of opportunities.

6 or ten each year?

You continually talk about credibility, yet if you required commitment to Britain you end up with a Premiership where the overarching majority of riders would double down to the Championship. How is that any more credible than what is on offer today?

Saying "no Poland" is too simplistic. There are many other FIM events held at weekends. A simple search turns up: GP: 10 Saturdays GP Challenge: 2 Saturdays SoN/SWC: 1/2 Saturday(s) World U21: 2 Fridays, 1 Saturday, 1 Sunday Team U21: 2 Saturdays I make that 20 weekends disrupted by a FIM event, no taking into account practice on the night before. On top of that, you have various SEC, Euro and other events. I'm not saying it couldn't be achieved with sensible fixture planning, but this doesn't happen at the moment with fewer weekend fixtures, so I don't have a lot of confidence clashed could be avoided if the British leagues were racing primarily at weekends.

Many Championship teams run on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday without top riders and they on average attract smaller crowds than mid-week Premiership teams with stars. So the evidence suggests the answer to your question appears to be "yes" the fan base would drop further without them. The follow on question to this is whether Championship teams with smaller crowds, but in turn lower costs are more profitable (or at least more sustainable)? The number of Championship clubs that seem to be in perpetual financial difficulty suggests not.

I for one am pleased GB have the strength-in-depth that allow us to drop a GP rider and replace him with an u21 who can hold his own.

Did it work on 2014? I remember riders who were wildly out of their depth being thrown into the Elite League in the name of development. The "draft" was the pivotal moment for me, when the top league no longer held the presitge or cachet it should.

I work two doors down from IMG. I might go there on Monday with my cost saving idea for their speedway coverage.

How so? Speedway is four blokes going round in a circle. How much commentary does it really need? In my opinion less is more and I actually watched last night's meeting on my laptop without the sound. It didn't impact my enjoyment and I didn't have to put up with the commentary so many seem to be complaining about.

I was quite optimistic that British and Australian riders would stay, but assumed most European riders would opt out. I find the overarching concept of the weakest league trying to dictate terms somewhat ridiculous. Poland can make rider demands. We should be trying to build our league back up by compromising with the stronger league not by alienating ourselves.

I think you'd lose half of the Premiership and a third of the Championship riders with the above suggestion. I don't think your various options would make much difference as there are only a handful of Swedes in the leagues who would benefit from a Tuesday exception and lots of Danes who would be looking for a Wednesday exception, which means only your final option might appeal to more than a handful of riders. You also have two other issues, firstly the problem of Poland slowly expanding onto Friday and secondly your definition of "international event". Presumably this would include GPs and the qualifiers? What about U21s both individual and team events? SEC and various Euro individual, team and pairs events? Domestic championships which many also now include qualifiers? This should cover off many of the Saturdays across the season. Therefore, if you want to demand priority and not alienate the majority of riders you are limited to running on just Monday and Thursday.

This is very relevant for speedway promoters, an actual, real life case study for cutting admission costs and the impact on revenue. As others have said, cinemas benefit from cross selling food and drink (something not available to all clubs), but it will be interesting to see if they can increase sales overall.

Cook withdrew from a meeting on Monday due to illness.

Why go into the tournament with a rider who isn't 100% fit, when you have a ready made replacement in the shape of Bewley?