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Do any Lakeside fans know if AJ is riding tonight ? As last season he missed the Elite league riders final and both EL matches ?

I am not sure why the BSPA have taken such a hard nosed approach to this other than to protect their income through the gates. As although they have an exclusive contract with Sky as long as the clubs don't do the filming themselves or promote that you can watch heats online then nothing more would have been said about this. I can see this being very difficult to control especially in the busier tracks I am sure there will still be streams appearing

Start delayed until 8pm hoping to get track done

Good to see the Sheffield promotion bringing in Jason Doyle to ride against his old club Leicester this should make it very interesting now

RMC It's not that Sky don't want to use footage online its just got a limited appeal for most Sky subscribers in general. One of the problems is like most large broadcasters some of the contracting is one size fits all whether its Test match cricket or Weber cup ten pin bowling. The broadcaster will always like to have more covered in the contract than not enough. If Sky did hand the online rights back to BSPA would they then allow Sky to continue to show live and highlights on Sky Go as well as clips on Sky sports websites and phone apps ? I personally think it would be quite difficult for Brtish speedway clubs to stream meetings online and to make it pay to make it worthwhile as you have to factor in the production costs e.g filming the meeting,getting the pictures onto a server to broadcast it then you have all the subscription side of things. I know the bet365 coverage cost over £800 a meeting to do. They could of course do a basic free service using a You tube channel but they have limits on amounts of viewers, both of the above options will take away from the stadium crowds. I would like to see a Speedway highlights show on Sky talks have happened previously but never came to anything but maybe possibly this year if a few things were correct but again would all the video companies provide all their footage for free ?

The broadcast rights for sport did used to be split down seperate for TV and online which in turn meant that you could sell the online rights to a group of companies who would each feature it online but spilt the costs between them. It then all changed in 2013/14 when Sky launched Sky Go which enabled customers to watch Sky sports online and via a mobile. Sky were quite happy at this point to continue to operate like this but one of these groups of companies took Sky to court saying that they didn't have the online rights so when the new contracts were put in place Sky made sure that in the TV rights they had the online rights as well for most sports even now online companies can't show football matches in top leagues live online. The problem Speedway has got is that they need the TV deal so are not in a position to try to get some online rights moved away from the tv contract it was exclusive rights that Sky agreed to. It remains to see how BT sport will fare will GP coverage if its a success which it looks like it will be , I am sure they will be keen to get the elite league from Sky

I have some mixed news to bring you, Now that the channel is public I can confirm in 2016 even more Sky customers will be able to watch Speedway and other sports. A new channel is launching called Sky sports mix it will feature a selection of live and recorded sport including Speedway. The good news is that you don't have to be a Sky sports subscriber to get this new channel it will be available to customers with just the entertainment or variety bundle so even more viewers hopefully. It won't feature every Sky meeting but at least 3 or 4 I have been told of the course of the season. The timing of this is not great for Speedway clubs as the potential viewing audience is going to increase by another few million which may have helped gain more sponsorship for clubs and the league. The not so good news is all pricing is going up in June unless you are on an offer, it may be worth speaking to the call centre who do have a 6months half price sport and movies offer valid at present for people not in contract with no new min term so you can leave at any point. Another offer available is upto 20% off if you have sports,movies,phone and broadband this is for 10 months but is subject to new 12 month contract .Unfortunately I cannot advise of confirmed price rises until Monday as strict embargo but will be around the admission cost of a NL meeting for sports subscribers this making Sky Q even better value for money

Also confirmed that former Lion and Sheffirld no1 Simon Stead will be missing after his crash at the Ben fund meeting last Saturday so hopefully they can get a good replacement for him

Sponsor announced tonight The Leicester Paul Chapman & sons Lions it's good that they have new team sponsor

I expect an annoucement about the new team sponsor for Leicester very shortly and is a name that many will know. Let's hope that Leicester does not get any of the snow predicted on Friday as could do with dry weather to further repair the track

Leicester vs Swindon now Wednesday 13th April the return of Jason Doyle live on Sky sports should be a good match and atmosphere. I just hope we get a clear day and no delays as lighting is not the best at Leicester

No LionKing Sarah is no longer a member of the Leicester back room staff as is stated in this thread ,she has just had a baby so has left her role with the Lions.

One thing for sure I don't think Sarah will be getting a congratulations card from DH after this winter

I find it quite entertaining that LionKing has now become an expert on centre green presentation and has tried to pass on some tips to Mr Popple who I must add does make a few blunders and gets confused. I have an idea LionKing why don't you and Mr P swap positions for the Sheffield meeting he can go up to the box and do the incident recording and you can show all the fans how you think it should be done out on the centre green.

Right now the team is complete we can look forward to the season starting I just hope that Ullamek and Paddy H are here for the whole season and don't mess the club around again

BT have been offering the Speedway work out to their existing talent pool for the last few weeks and have offered screen tests for new presenters starting in the next week or so. Darren Fletcher was keen to do some as already a huge Speedway fan and personal friend with Tai but has his BT sport football commitments as well as his BBC 5 live shows. It is unfortunate in 2016 its also the European football championships as would have been available for Cardiff at least I have a feeling that he will be involved in the World Cup at BV though I am sure that they will also have a former/current rider too Scott Nicholls is probably the best bet or maybe Simon Stead but possibly has too many PL matches on Saturdays that will clash with GPs

BecketLion - I would have liked to have seen Simon Stead return to Leicester but once he signed for Sheffield that couldn't happen due to sheer volume of fixtures he would have to miss I think it was around 9-11 meetings when he would be missing.

Shale Searcher -Peter Karlsson burnt his bridges back in 2014 when he guested for Leicester on high fixed money didn't hardly score or put any effort in. Kenneth Bjerre may be the best of what's available but is not what Leicester need if he was in place of Klindt or Wozniak but not at the top end of the team

Would rather have Mikkelson at Leicester than Paddy H

N Klindt will be the captain in 2016 at Leicester and has been involved in new Kevlar design

I would have had Barker at Leicester rather than Ullamek or new No1 but couldn't happen once he signed for Glasgow as they were not happy to have him racing most weeks the night before their home meetings

Hopefully we can get somebody to do a Polish speedway TV add on for the season. As most of the European streamers I have found do not normally do Polish channels

I did hear around Christmas time that Leicester had offered Crump a deal May-Aug as they had a GP rider who was prepared to do UK until Sweden starts and the the GPs become regular.

Therefused- I think the main reason why Stead has not been signed is fixture clashes I think I counted about 7 or 8 meetings that he would miss it would be the same with Lasse Bjerre not that he would be the answer. Seb Ullamek is the not the rider he was but nobody else was prepared to come to Leicester and still a problem filling that last place

Yes definitely Leicester that owe him the money as many riders have confirmed by the Lions faces and also other riders have been warned about getting their money. It's such a shame it has come to do this as one of the big advantages the Lions had was always paid on time