flagrag

If all goes to plan there will be another rider in the Leicester team who will be the No1 rider last I heard on Sunday they were awaiting confirmation from the rider but is a GP star

At Sky there is a very complex system of getting viewing figures which is proved to be a lot more accurate now than BARB figures so much so Sky often take little notice of the BARB ones. As others have correctly advised all Sky boxes connected with a telephone connection send data back on a regular basis of what has been watched,recorded and deleted if you are up during the middle of night 3-5 am you may see the Green online light on your box on for around 2-4 minutes all done over a free phone number so no cost to customers and has always been part of the Sky tv contract. This system is actually going to be getting even better around Nov time as there is to be a major software upgrade on most Sky HD boxes which will bring some good new features for consumers but also improve Sky's reporting services,all boxes connected to a broadband connection will be able to get real time figures if need be and at the end of programmes, it will also show time viewed and how much was watched. Sky also get detailed figures from on demand viewings for Sky programming and also Sky Go on mobile devices

The actual viewing figures for Monday are again very good this week so shows that armchair fans do like the play off format and after the Poole match I am sure more casual fans will tune in again next week. If No deal is done for Speedway on Sky next year I don't think there is any risk of staff losing their jobs as a lot of the staff on the OBs are freelance like Cameramen or are provided by the facilities company Telegenic to crew the equipment. The Sky employed production staff will continue with Darts and assist with other sport the only cutback I can foresee is they will have two less Uni interns next year.

I have no doubt it may be a good meeting on Sunday and may still go as will be visiting the family it's just calling it Belle Vue team that I don't agree with.Leicester did not have to accept the team that BV put forward and could have said no and cancelled the fixture. I would say they can not change the team name to Premier select/allstars as they have the return fixture in Manchester next week, where I fully expect that more of the BV team will ride as have to be here in UK for their match at Peterborough.

This is a joke as others have said on Facebook Leicester should be charged under trades description act as this is not even a Belle Vue select. Correct me if I am wrong but are any of them actual Belle Vue assets ? With just one of the current team this should just be changed to a premier league select. The actual line up is quite good with riders who have all impressed at Leicester this season but to call the team BV us cheating non regular fans. I knew it would not be a full team when heard no KK or top guest but expected it to feature Cook,Wolbert,Dryml and then guests.

All I can really say as the last two posters have put there has been a huge change at Sky sports in management style and securing content rights and keeping the Safari products which is the big aports eg Premiership, Champions league This new style will possibly not help Speedway but do want to add the door is definitely not closed yet. Speedway does have one or two benefit over the greyhounds is that it can be replayed two or three times to fill schedules. Also there is good resale of the coverage to help with production costs with I believe live coverage going to Poland,Australia and South Africa. I fully agree that the bspa first choice should be to stick with Sky but don't be greedy if that deal falls through and BT sport offer an alternative deal.

If no deal can be agreed with Sky for 2014 British Speedway I would be very surprised if BT Sport did not come in with an offer it may be very low offer just to try their hand or even on a we will pay the production costs and give TV exposure to club sponsors but not pay anything for the rights. Which I could not see the Elite league operating on that basis as the clubs need their share of media rights income. I do know there is one large well known brand who are interested in sponsoring a club for a large amount and even possibly sponsoring the league if on TV. They dont care about corporate boxs,letting staff in or fringe benefits they just want to see their logo on tv on a regular basis. Although Speedway does not always attract the marketing groups that may be desired by some it does have niche markets to appeal to. As well as filling BT's summer schedule it would also increase subscriber numbers for them which they have got to do especially the 3 play business which in simple terms is getting the phone and broadband business off Virgin media and Sky. i agree they have set some strong contarcting terms for the football and Rugby but Speedway would likely be produced by their internal production teams like Sky do currently. BT's Speedway production costs would likely be 10-15k a week cheaper than Sky as they do not physically have to pay for their broadcast circuits on the fibre network or switching via BT tower even more saving from the more remote tracks that require Sat uplink tracks as little costs as they do not have to pay for any bandwith as all leased whether they use it or not. Just as a side note had a quick look at the Sky internal figures for Mondays play off and they were very good including a very high number of people watching time shifted e.g On Sky + also good number who watched via Sky Go and Sky catch up on HD boxes

On his current form I would have gone for Magnus Karlson over Klindt as Magnus is in very good form at the min both in UK and Sweden. He would have also added a few Leicester fans on the gate as they have not had any meetings for so long

As I have said before nothing has been decided for definite on Sky sports coverage of Speedway in 2014 but there will need to be some changes. Lets wait and see if these happen and then decisions can be made. My understanding on British Eurosport coverage of BBL Basketball will be on the same basis of Sky's deal with Netball Superleague the league association like BSPA pay Televideo to produce coverage and provide all OB facilities then SKy just pay a fixed price per programme. If there was to be any new broadcast partner for British Speedway it is likely to be BT sport who are keen to help fill their midweek summer schedule Speedway fits ideal if the price is right

I don't think that will be it at Leicester this year I heard that there will be possibly 3 challenge matches coming subject to teams confirming rider availability including some elite league opposition , There is also the Midland development final and Midland 4s so good chance may be 5 more meetings for season ticket holders.

My understanding is that Eklof could not return this year for a full season due to him already signing to ride in Sweden on Tuesdays and Thursdays which would have meant him being missing for all the Thurs away matches. This is tr same reason why other Tracks have not taken up the option of signing him. I do feel sorry for Sargeant but don't think the door is closed on a return to Leicester in the future as showed a lot of promise needs be a bit quicker out of the gate. Simon Nielsen returning is just a case of his average fitting and in hope that he can score points at Leicester to make reserve berth stronger.

Team was to be redeclared today the last changes permitted this season hence why Leicester and Somerset have made changes today .

I think you will find it will have more Scandinavian feel to the team

The door at Leicester has opened again more team changes ahead this time due to injuries. The fans will be welcoming back some familiar faces subject to team being approved by bspa I do wonder if a couple of weeks too late

With Chris Holder guaranteed a wild card selection for 2014 I wonder whether Chris Harris will accept the chance to ride in the NZ GP with all the expense and travel involved ? As Chris Holder has openly said he expects to miss this and possibly 1 or 2 more

The figure I quoted was the rough cost I had been told of and that was just for one meeting a week. I agree that sort of rent is totally unaffordable and out of context but that is DH point it is his toy and does not want anybody else to play with it. So with all the bad feeling and upset there is a section of fans some who attend others that don't due to variety of issues with the current promotor. These people would like him to go but quite obviously he does not wish to do so his only option is to make the rental of the stadium so costly it is not viable for investment. He knows that he will only get a fair market value for the promoting rights before the bspa step in and say stop trying to rip off buyers as the club has little rider asset base , as not in their interest to see new owners pay way over the top for the rights and will not want to lose a club with Leicesters support and stadium. Any new promotion would also need to have a licensed promotor as buddy/baby sitter for the first season unless they kept Alan Jones involved which in my mind would be a brilliant idea as a true fan with good principles. So unless there is a businessman out there looking to lose or right off money from other areas there is little chance of new promotion at Leicester. I would have a guess that DH would look at offers of around 1million to take it totally off his hands taking into consideration the stadium and the future use of land for sub letting and development

There is a couple of interested parties in buying the promoting rights and speedway side of Leicester but in the current fiancial climate do not want to take on the whole complex which is quite reasonable as would be huge investment. If these persons could just buy the rights and then pay Hemsley stadium rent like most clubs do I believe that there is decent money to be made at Leicester with the correct people involved and promotion of the club. The problem with this proposal is the amount that DH would want to rent the stadium weekly in excess of 8k a week just to open the gates then you would have the refs fees,paramedics,ambulance and officials fees that is before you pay a rider

As far as I know there is no tv coverage of the GP challenge as no broadcaster is prepared to cover the production costs on their own just a shame that the Polish and Danish broadcasters could not agree to joint fund it together. Then possibly Eurosport may have been interested in showing it.

The delay after the sun had set I believe was due to it being the official interval. I am sure myself and others in the queue for food and drinks were glad that they did wait to start again.

I have a feeling that may have been Kaukos last match this season as already pulled out of Redcar on Thursday and expect team change to replace him so that he can get fit again as his injured knee is clearly causing him problems still and then dislocates his shoulder again. The next question is do you use a point from Edberg average to sign a better replacement for Kauko or keep using guests for Alex and replace Kauko up to his average. I know others were asking about Mr Darcy he was not there last night so may have been something in last weeks reports of promotion fall outs.

Well Mick if the reports and stories from Leicester on Saturday are right nothing more wilm be seen through Dave Darcy's eyes as he is no longer involved with the club after falling out with Mr Hemsley, He will go back just to being a supporter and sponsor. There was also rumblings of other officials not being happy the way that they are getting spoken to

I think the problem with Branford at the min is confidence maybe it's the track or other things. There was rumours going round on Sun that was his last match for Leicester hence why no team kevlars the name I heard as replacement was Sargeant or Lewis Rose we shall have to see.

It was the rider himself who said that he was in the meeting on Saturday so he must have got the info from FIM or DMU as Leicester have been granted a guest facility to replace him at Rye House. Sounds like plans may have changed unless another rider is missing through injury ?

There was some questions over a work permit but the UK border agency have let him in the country to ride last week so he may already have one. The question is what his average would be and who he would replace

I too thought that Mr Popple was really bad tonight with a number of mistakes with wrong race line ups and helmet colours wrong. It is all well and good to have a a bit of banter with the crowd but feel the silly comments and public slanging match was very unprofessional. He does seem to want to create issues and problems with people and fans. Onto the meeting I picked Lawson as the winner and thought he rode very well I was very disappointed with Klindt was very poor seems to have lost his bite. It was good to see Darkin again and feel that he could do a good job at Leicester in middle order but not a replacement for Kauko if needed.