IainB

What would a "gambling deal" consist of though? There's no wide spread media exposure, that we know of, and there's only 14 venues for the sport and a many of them are in population back waters. It makes no commercial sense, in the current Speedway climate, that I can see, for a major betting company to be involved.

Now it's confirmed we're in the failed PL, just waiting for the announcement of Nick Morris & Drew Kemp to put the rotten cherries on the icing of a horse rubbish cake 🎂

Makes me laugh when Robbo is on, great rider but... whenever he's asked anything about a meeting or a rider, he's never seen it or them 😂 Love it when Crabby is on, no nonsense as a rider and manager, no nonsense as a pundit

Brum, Oxford and Lynn didn't have a no 1, bottom 3 teams by a long way

You always need a number 1 imo

... or just stay in his Polish hotel room and watch it on BSN Sorry, couldn't resist, you set em up and I'll knock em in 😁

It is when you could be sat on a Saudi bench earning £700k a week 😂

In name only, which is why I can't get my head around your [the sport needs the PL] argument. Even if it was one big (and 14 is not that big) league you can call it what you want " the top best ever league in the country ever league... ever"... it's still the top league

Or a virtual team, matches to be played on the Speedway Challenge app and streamed live PPV on a Saturday night 😂

He does tend to use 10 words where 1 will do 😂 If you don't like that you'll hate the Talk Speedway podcast, that can often go on for around 2 hours as one of the presenters takes so long to ask a question!

Max - Edinburgh Brady - Holsted, Somerset Dan - Edinburgh Jaimon - Leszno Tom - Eastbourne Belle Vue - Poachers

Looks a good side... at home anyway 😉

... he typed knowingly 🤔😉😁

Mystic Flag 🔮😂

... and lower league players of many other sports also do

I'd say Sheffield are far from obvious as things currently stand. Bear in mind these are the people that were asking Peterborough to compete in the PL without a track!

So we now have a "Far from ideal league" and a Championship League. Sounds like of there's no buyers for Ippo and Sheffield BSPL are going to run them as back stop "owners" maybe?

... and just who are those 5 teams?

Business as usual then... I'm sure that'll save the sport

"If someone had bought the club who I'd want to work with, then I'd probably have said no to riding in Sweden but it hasn't come about - there's no buyers at the moment." That's a killer sentence!

Do they have a tv deal do you know?

Time to bring back Fred Truman's Indoor League, Speedway would fit in quite nicely 😁

With Speedway's focus seeming to be switching towards betting, could it go the same way as Greyhounds i.e. daytime meetings ran in front of minimal crowds for a far eastern sports betting markets?

I can't take the credit, I just asked ai the question and even that doesn't know actual speedway attendances, so I'd think a fair amount of estimation has been done. Ps. I also asked it how much it costs to stage a speedway meeting, for your other topic, the emergency services are currently on their way to all Google data centres on the planet, as they're currently going up in smoke 🔥🚒😂

You are absolutely correct. Upon reviewing the most recent data for the 2023/24 season, placing Greyhound racing in the "1–1.2 million" bracket is likely too generous for the current climate. The sport has seen a sharp decline since its pre-pandemic figure of ~1.9 million (2019). It has almost certainly been overtaken by Ice Hockey in terms of actual paying spectators. Here is the corrected breakdown of why that figure was too high and where it actually sits: 1. The "Ghost Meeting" Factor While Greyhound racing still has a high volume of events (daily meetings), the vast majority are now held in the daytime specifically for online/shop betting markets, often with negligible or zero physical attendance. * Correction: The "real" spectator number (people actively buying tickets for a night out) is likely now below 1 million. * Trend: Major track closures (e.g., Crayford, Peterborough, Belle Vue) have further reduced capacity. 2. Ice Hockey has officially overtaken it The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) released confirmed figures for the 2023/24 season, reporting 1.25 million total spectators. * Significance: This officially cements Ice Hockey as the UK’s biggest indoor sport and places it firmly ahead of Greyhound racing. * Average Attendance: The EIHL average is now approx. 3,600 per game (with teams like Sheffield Steelers averaging nearly 8,000), whereas average Greyhound attendance per meeting has dropped significantly. Corrected Top 10 Ranking With this adjustment, the "Chasing Pack" changes order: 6. Rugby League (~1.5m - 2m) 7. Ice Hockey (~1.25m) (Up from 8) 8. Greyhound Racing (<1m) (Down from 7) 9. Tennis (~700k) 10. Basketball (Rising fast, though total aggregate numbers are lower due to venue size). You were right to flag that—Ice Hockey is now the clear #7 sport in the UK by attendance.