flagrag

nagy1 It has to be remembered that Sarj agreed to sign for Leicester in 2019 he was sent the contract, local sponsorship was renewed, the club chased him for two weeks to get the signed contract back and kept saying that he had forgotten and would do it. Then 3 weeks later Leicester found that Glasgow had come in and offered a deal that was too good to turn down and were offering him near heat leader money. So quite obviously the Leicester promotion were annoyed hence the stance of you want Sarj you have to buy him. It all ended well for Leicester they got a transfer fee and moved for Ellis Perks instead who has been brilliant all year and did a lot more than James would have done I feel.

So happy for the Lions unbeaten at home and now the League title

BT did want to keep British Speedway but the BSPA decided to go with Eurosport offer as it was 5 rather than 3 years and Eurosport pushed about how they could show it free to air in UK along with possible European coverage. I really would like to know who advised the BSPA on the deals and hopefully it was not for a large fee. There are advantages and disadvantages to both broadcasters BT Advantages- Household name channel, Lots of promotion and advertising alongside prime sports, Flexible with scheduling to fit in with rain offs, UHD coverage, large social media presence and crucially committed.Happy for clubs to do own filming and post video online . Catch up service a good production budget Eurosport Advantages- 5 year deal, possibilities of Pan European coverage, free to air on Quest on limited occasions. It does worry next year in particular that Speedway will get bumped due to over running more core sports to them and with the Olympics even more so. Also Eurosport do not have a good track record of being the host broadcaster and are better in just taking another broadcasters feed like they do with Snooker,Tennis,Cycling,Olympics

As I have said previously I do think this is a backwards step for British Speedway especially being tied into a 5yr deal. Eurosport are a minor tv channel and Speedway will not get the dedication it got from BT and the coverage will not be as comprehensive. I just hope that the money was so much better than what’s BTs final offer was otherwise an even worse decision.

Jake Allen could have been used if Leicester had wanted to, Steve Worrall scored 8 last time at Glasgow in a rain curtailed meeting and 17 in the Championship shield meeting. However as myself and others have said I don’t think 12 is enough and Glasgow to win overall by 16-18 . if had been the other way round Leicester would have been confident of overhauling that deficit. For Leicester to have a chance need Perks and Proctor to bear MBA and Sam Jensen along with mountain to take points off Bailey

It will be tough for the Lions to keep this lead and can see why Glasgow are confident if we had lost by 12 away we would fancy chances of pulling it back. Leicester will need to be at their best and pick up points from the middle order of the team if they are to be crowned Champions. I do hope that I am wrong but have a feeling that the dropped points in ht15 could be crucial in the aggregate score

No not at all MD the forecast as is typical this time of year is very changeable. Leicester will be doing everything they can to get the meeting on with track work starting like last week before sunrise then preparing the track for racing. The Leicester promotion can see that they will get a larger crowd than having to run it on Thursday night so financially it’s better for the clubs it’s just a shame that if they are successful in winning the league it won’t be in front of their own fans

Not sure Sunday is an option as it would effect two other meetings as would take 3 out of National league riders final and also 3 out of the Year Wolves vs Peterborough fixture plus a lack of available guests with some riders saying they are finished for the year. I expect it to be midweek apart from Wednesday due to the England vs Denmark test match. From a a Leicester perspective I hope it’s not Monday or Friday so it does not clash with the Lions Cub fixtures at Kent and Belle It is also Leicester’s dinner and dance on Saturday so that’s not an option. I noticed earlier that forecast for Leicester has changed now with heavy rain here tonight and into Saturday morning then showers in the afternoon

It also has to be remembered that if rain forces the postponement of Glasgow or Leicester rounds of Championship final the restaging date is Sunday which then also rules Nicholls,Proctor and Douglas out of the Wolves fixture and Perks,Bickley,Bailey and Lawlor out of National League final

Rob McCaffery- Don’t have the exact figures to hand but the last season of Sky coverage was costing in the region of £22,000 per hour but when that’s compared with now a Super Sunday premier league football match is costing over £2,500 per minute just in production costs and not including travel or expenses

Even this evening during BTs Champions league matches they showed an advert for the Speedway play offs and the final GP i do have to admit that they promote the sport well even better than Sky did. Although Eurosport may be a pan Europe broadcaster I am unsure that the big Polish sponsors will want to have banners and boards at British tracks or get involved in club sponsorship even if the racing is shown live in Poland. It has to be remembered that people will only spend so much time watching Speedway on TV and with all Polish Extraliga meetings broadcast along with lots of other meetings I’m unsure how many will watch UK racing. I know Orange sport in Poland found this when they took the Swedish league that they didn’t get the viewers they expected.

Iwright71- Can you please remind me which match this season that BT have bumped off their channels to show something else ? The only thing I am aware of was a meeting a few weeks ago which was to be televised but then the home promotion asked for it not to be shown

Racers and royals That would be good but honestly do not see that happening especially with Poland unless PZN change their view of having the coverage officially available in the UK. I do wonder why the viewing figures are so much better for the GPs and Speedway world on BT than when Eurosport had it last, it’s down to commitment with proper modern studio presentation and not knowing whether it would be on TV or whether the Tennis had over run or they had changed to another sport

My worry with Eurosport getting UK league racing is that we could be taking a step backwards in coverage. This year the coverage has been very good UHD pictures,strong presentation and well produced. BT have also been very accommodating with showing play offs on alternative dates than planned. Eurosport actually are host broadcaster for very little sport they buy in coverage like the GPs from IMG With the Olympics in 2020 I can see Speedway getting bumped often and as their core sports of Cycling,Snooker and athletics will always come first. I understand that Eurosport have dangled the carrot of pan Europe coverage but I am not convinced there will be that much interest from other countries and I cannot foresee there being large increases in overseas sponsorship. If I was asked to give my professional advice to BSPA I would accept at lesser bid from BT as feel they can showcase the sport better and I feel the sport does owe them some loyalty as it was BT that gave it a platform when they made a mess of the Sky deal

I had any interesting catch up with an ex colleague at the weekend who is now at BT and we was discussing Speedway and he advised of a couple of interesting things that BT were very happy with what they got and especially the viewing figures this year. Also he asked if I knew whether the deal has been signed with Eurosport as BT have just appointed a new head of media rights whom was non too happy that BT were losing Speedway so could be interesting times

Meeting rained off as track unfit and now showers in afternoon

From what I understand Eurosport will have worldwide rights to British Speedway so will broadcast it on their channels across Europe. Hence why some Polish sponsors are interested in Sponsorship as can guarantee to get your company name on a Poole or Kings Lynn racesuit or an advertising banner on the track would be a lot cheaper than you would pay at Leszno or Wroclaw for the same thing. 2020 does seem a strange year for Eurosport to take on Speedway as they have a busy summer of sports rights with it being an Olympic Year and I know they are still bidding on other rights including some European football

Method From what I have been told by colleagues at BT they were very interested in keeping British Speedway but Eurosport put in a higher bid and could offer pan Europe coverage which the BSPA liked as they hope to attract some Polish sponsors as well. I just hope that everyone realises where Speedway sits in Eurosport priorities well down the list behind Cycling,Tennis,Athletics,Football,Swimming ,Snooker and Olympics also they only have two channels to show it on so will be interesting to see their scheduling

To answer some of the questions about streaming Speedway from tracks when Bet 365 did the meetings each one was costing them over £500 per meeting and cost over £2,500 per track to setup. The I Follow system that is in place for football league cost over £30,000 per club to setup Some of the old Speedway infrastructure is still in place but has been taken out of some stadiums and is not really up to standard now. The rollout of 5G mobile networks over the next few years will really bring down the cost of remote production and enable smaller sports more options with streaming.

THJ I would count Josh Pickering out of guesting against Leicester.

FromAFar- Not sure there is much in it Berwick to Leicester for Doolan or East Sussex to Leicester for Ed K. Although I did hear that the beer was rather good at the Longtrack in Germany last night

As it stands at the moment Leicester are planning on staying in the Championship and riders at that level have already been spoken to. Sheffield will depend on the new owners and how they feel about top level racing, But the lure of a 5year tv deal may swing them as it has at Somerset. Like most clubs Glasgow have been encouraged but the owners don’t think crowds would support it in the week and logistical not perfect with Belle Vue being nearest rivals .

Eddie Kennett is riding in world Long Track on Saturday so Eastbourne have Rory guesting and they can have a guest if they wish on Sunday. Leicester’s guest will be announced very soon and is a bit of a track specialist at Eastbourne.

Not sure if this is correct but there was reports going round after the meeting that Craig had his SCB hearing this afternoon before the meeting and that may have been the reason for his performance. What I do know was that SCB chairman Jim Lawrence was in attendance along with other SCB appeal members Mick Bates and Rob Godfrey as was the SCB administrator so there may well have been some truth in these reports. If correct I expect a statement in the morning as obviously he will not be at Wolverhampton for Kings Lynn on Monday night.

Philiprising- Eurosport will be showing the Olympics in the UK in 2020 it’s only because of the protected rights legislation here that they have to allow a free to air broadcaster share the coverage. They also have a number of high profile snooker tournaments during the summer and as I previously indicated like with the SGP and British Speedway they are chasing after other rights some a lot bigger than Speedway including some football not UK but major European league as well as other high profile sports. So with just two channels my worry is that Speedway will get bumped on a regular occasion and viewers will end up with recorded replay. We shall have to see how it all works out the main thing is keeping the sport on British TV for fans and sponsors