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Not sure about this year but previous seasons their has been a contribution from BSPL to the production costs for the season as the sport needs tv coverage to attract sponsorship for clubs and riders . Where this money came from not 100% sure got told by one person it was out of the Rowe deal along with club contribution

Also helped that a couple of senior Sky sports executives in late 90s tlll early 2000s used to go Speedway on a regular basis. Once they moved on it meant Speedway did not have the internal support that it used to have

I have reached out to a few contacts at TNT and WBD about the situation. At present the UK league racing is very much up in the air with options being considered. Do they use league Speedway as a cheap rights acquisition that’s UK based in the summer to help fill TNT schedule this will require an enhancement to production standards and costs on producing each meeting e.g More Cameras, better lighting, UHD coverage, new graphics etc The other option is to remain as it is and look to cut some production costs bit further but then this will only be broadcast online via Discovery + which may upset fans and sponsors. It should all be decided in next few weeks once a few more things away from Speedway are sorted

It will be interesting to see now that British league racing is moving to TNT whether production standards and budgets are done to TNT standards it would be good to have more cameras and possibly UHD coverage This move with Eurosport has been on the cards for two years and I did previously post this would be happening I would wait and see what offers come out as I understand there may be some offers for Sky Sports customers in the near future

I have a feeling that the stadium owners may have helped WBD make the decision to cancel Cardiff with possible compensation. Looking at the dates of when the GP was scheduled to be hotel prices seem to be sky high even more than when the GP was on. Nearly all Speedway fans will have cancelled their rooms by now so I believe that you will now see a large scale concert take place at the stadium that weekend we all know the hotels get tipped off before public release of events

My apologies I forget about the German and Danish ones what I meant to say was that WBD are not event promotors . They do however still have some very good ideas and plans on how to move the series forward with further progress made on possibly having a London GP if all the logistics and arena availability was to fall into place for another year

It has to be remembered that WBD and BSI previously are not event promotors they are the series rights holders . For example Warsaw is staged by PZM and then staging tracks are the promotors for other rounds with Belle Vue being a joint venture between BV Speedway and British Speedway promotors association. Do I think that Cardiff would run in 2025 of still under BSI no I don’t think it would as crowds would still be the same levels

Just for clarity this is not a WBD decision to cancel Cardiff .My understanding is that the company that have put Cardiff on for the last two years were planning to do it again in 2025 however due to the low crowds the stadium have increased the rental costs considerably for 2025 abb they lost money last year on staffing costs as very little customer spend inside the stadium. Speedway also ties the stadium up for 9 days and means paying lots of extra money for security. Expect to see a major concert to fill the gap when the Speedway GP was planned to be

One the main reasons why the Cairns chose Poole to start his career was race night and location . It is also helped that a local Poole sponsor will also be sponsoring Will in 2025

The plan is where possible is to ride at Leicester Thursday travel upto the Manchester stay overnight with his parents, wash bikes and then travel up to Glasgow Friday lunchtime. Can also do the same for Edinburgh,Redcar and Scunthorpe away meetings on Fridays

No will be riding for ZG in both U24 and ExtraLiga once he turns 16

Think he may well be going to another track now

All sorted out and club & sponsor will announce when appropriate. Club have always said that this change would have no effect on Leicester Speedway just a change of sponsors and bit of rebranding work to be done around the stadium to show new sponsors logos

Jack not sure about riding at Sheffield as his home track after witnessing some nasty crashes and near misses. May be more complicated not to ride in UK at all as don’t believe him and his family will be eligible to live here if not working here so could mean setting up home in Poland

The Cairns family are based in Hertfordshire but distance is no problem for them. They think nothing of hiring and driving up to Workington to have a practice for 3hrs . Like most Leicester fans I am very disappointed that Will won’t ride for the Lions at present but understand and respect his decision maybe one day in the future. Although not sure if he may sign as a Lions asset and then be loaned to other clubs in a similar way that BV signed James Pearson then loaned him to Birmingham

The uncertainty with Birmingham has been the cause of mixed information about Lawson who due to logistics would prefer to remain in the East Midlands . But if the Lions were to lose a couple of riders to the Brummies then may be some changes in team plans

Well my choice is obviously very biased but it was Sky’s production followed by BT both of whom were very professional and forward thinking with their production with Sky making it HD, Jib cameras, Kerb cams,multiple slow mo’s then BT took over and made it a UHD production However this came at a cost with each Sky meeting production costing the same as what Eurosport spend for 5 UK meetings. There simply is no budget for UK racing everything is done using the cheapest option possible for example they use a lot of University students who are looking for unpaid experience that’s why we get some dodgy camera work and editing, vision mixing . The Sky production was normally a 15-18 main cameras and 2 slo mo plus 2-3 radio cameras while Eurosport is 4 main cameras plus 1-2 radio camera they don’t even pay the OB provider for lighting for presentation and instead Mr Morris brings his battery flood lights. Who knows when the contract is up for renewal again Sky may be interested as would now be a good fit for the Sky Sports + channel and is a good filler when no Football

As discussed on the official Speedway podcast a lot will depend on where William Cairns decides to sign for in Premiership. If he pledges his allegiance to Leicester then the RS at the start of season will know it’s only a contract up until end of June . The last I heard on the Cairns situation was that his family want him to ride for Leicester obviously but have said he can choose his Championship club but William will make the ultimate decision . Logistics have to be remembered too if he signs for a Monday night Premiership club means early rush to get Poland for U24 league

The crash happened just in front of camera so they must have held back showing the footage after speaking with Phil Morris on rider condition

That is what Paul Cairns wants to try and resolve this winter. Dan is now a lot more independent with his own mechanics and maybe a sit down with Mr Dickson can sort out their differences. If the sponsorship package is correct that can also change riders minds

When Cairns decides he wants to ride Premiership which he currently is stated a saying 2026 due to his Birthday not being until June it will be at Leicester Cairns will do NDL and Polish U24 league and be a wildcard in SGP2

Reports have been going around Leicester recently that Paul Cairns wants to meet with Dan Thompson and to resolve the issues so that he can return to Leicester with sponsorship on offer . He will not be on the RS list so can possibly see him being no6

Only Cubs NDL riders but do get additional benefits paid for like tyres, Kevlars

There was a number of reasons that this had to be sorted before the weekend firstly Eurosport needed to let their OB partner need to have their trucks and what crewing is required for example going to Ipswich will require an overnight stay and staff need to book trains etc Also as featured in press release clubs can now start promoting the meetings and riders can book flights

Maybe it was cost saving measure as they needed two 5-1s in 14 &15 having to face Becker and Fricke so thought why pay extra money out with an unlikely positive outcome