GP Pay Rates

[Trees]

When a rider is invited into the s.g.p he signs a contract which overules all other contracts, this means the s.g.p comes first.

He has no choice but to do so does he?

[Rico]

Well it would be interesting to put that to the test if an ultimatum was made. Do you think that riders could make a living solely out of the SGP as things stand at the moment?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Kevin,

 

Just playing devils advocate as ever here

 

I think the foreign-based riders riding in the GPs are clearly starting to disregard the EL as a potential income source, when comparing it to the number of fixtures/irregularity and other shenanigans involved in riding in the UK. AJ coming out with a statement saying he is not prepared to do a full season in my opinion is quite significant and hopefully something taken on board at the AGM.

 

Is that what the EL wants or do they want to accomodate the likes of Rickardsson and Gollob (what a sad loss to the UK that is) - I'm sure most fans would prefer to see these kind of top-line riders occasionally rather than not at all.

 

I take on board your points about developing riders Kevin and how you feel the national leagues deserve compensation. As far as Britain is concerned, don't the BSPA make some sort of profit out of Cardiff ?? They certainly are involved in the event.

 

Rico

[Kevin Meynell]

Rico,

 

I think the foreign-based riders riding in the GPs are clearly starting to disregard the EL as a potential income source, when comparing it to the number of fixtures/irregularity and other shenanigans involved in riding in the UK.

 

I agree that the BEL is increasingly becoming an irrelevance, but I think you have to separate the issues. The SGP could not exist without one or more of the national leagues, whether those are in Britain, Poland and Sweden. The Polish and Swedish leagues also get nothing out of the SGP, so even if the BEL is ultimately ignored, the same issues will apply to them.

 

At the moment, the SGP hasn't directly come into conflict with the other national leagues, but could easily happen if it expanded much further. In particular, Poland with its Sunday raceday could easily be disrupted if GPs were postponed or held in difficult to travel places. As Polish fans much prefer team over individual racing (judging by the crowds), I wonder how long they would put-up with things?

 

As far as Britain is concerned, don't the BSPA make some sort of profit out of Cardiff ?

 

Well, at least one person does :-)

[Rico]

At the moment, the SGP hasn't directly come into conflict with the other national leagues, but could easily happen if it expanded much further. In particular, Poland with its Sunday raceday could easily be disrupted if GPs were postponed or held in difficult to travel places. As Polish fans much prefer team over individual racing (judging by the crowds), I wonder how long they would put-up with things?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Kevin,

 

Difference between Polish and Swedish leagues and the BEL, as I know very well you are aware, is that the number of matches are a lot less as teams generally only ride at home every other match. I am 99.9% certain that the Polish league does not run after every GP, so unless they moved every round out of Europe I doubt there will be much disruption to their schedules.

 

Why oh why does a BEL team need to run a 36 match league to find out the top half of the table for play-offs ? Overkill and the perceived need to run speedway at the track every week. Does this boil down to the need to use their (generally) rented stadia so many times over the course of a season or the demands of the consumer, us fans? Make the league special, the BIG one, allow squads that mean the missing and potentially missing riders actually WANT to ride in our flagship team competition.

 

Personally I'd love to see a league that had all the top guys in it, meetings could actually become things I'd look forward to going along to and I'd happily travel further if I felt the product was worthwhile going to see. As it is I reckon I've done 3 or 4 EL meets this season as the product doesn't particularly excite me and entice me to make the effort (I've got 2 tracks within 40 odd miles of home). Just to make sure this post has some relevance to the GPs, I reckon I've probably been to as many GPs as EL matches in a season, despite one product being virtually on my doorstep.

 

Well, at least one person does :-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just what are you suggesting Kevin , I thought it was the BSPA who were involved in the event.

 

Rico

[Kevin Meynell]

Difference between Polish and Swedish leagues and the BEL, as I know very well you are aware, is that the number of matches are a lot less

 

Sure, but whether those leagues are able to fit their matches around the SGP isn't really the issue (although it makes the situation less critical). They are still producing the riders that the SGP uses, and receive nothing in return for that (except a lot of grief in the case of the 2003 Scandinavian GP)

 

I am 99.9% certain that the Polish league does not run after every GP

 

The 20 match schedule currently run by the Polish League can just about be fitted around the 9 GPs, but if the SGP expanded any further, it would very quickly run into conflict.

 

Why oh why does a BEL team need to run a 36 match league to find out the top half of the table for play-offs ?

 

The British leagues have for years worked on the basis of staging 20-25 home meetings each season. This allows the fixed operating costs to be amortised as much as possible.

 

I suppose you could reduce the overall number of meetings, but you would still have the same fixed costs (signing-on fees, equipment provision, running the back office etc..). There is also the problem that most promotions are tenants, and if they staged less meetings, stadiums might start looking to other things to replace speedway. In fact, we've already started to see this with a number of stadiums (e.g. Oxford).

 

I actually agree with you that riding only once at home every two weeks or so may not be detrimental, particularly since that's what the average is now (19 guaranteed home meetings in a 32-week season) with the current disjointed fixture list. However, neither would I like to see a Polish-style season with only 10 home meetings.

 

Perhaps the top-flight fixtures could be structured around two-levels of competition, with the SGP stars only appearing in one of them. However, I'm not really convinced that fans would turn-out to support the perceived lesser meetings in any great numbers, even though they'd be necessary to make the British speedway financially viable.

 

In all honesty, I don't really know what the way forward for British speedway is anymore. The three big national leagues should never have relinquished the effective rights to the World Championship to a private company, but now that the FIM has sold-out for the next 20 years, it will be very difficult to get them back. I do believe though, that the SGP needs the national leagues for its continued existence, and if it forgets that fact, then it will itself have a short existence.

 

As it is I reckon I've done 3 or 4 EL meets this season as the product doesn't particularly excite me

 

As I said, I think the BEL has big problems with its product, but at the end of the day, it was team racing that got me interested in the sport and I'd can't see the SGP ever being an adequate replacement.

 

I thought it was the BSPA who were involved in the event.

 

And who is the BSPA?

[Trees]

As it is I reckon I've done 3 or 4 EL meets this season as the product doesn't particularly excite me

Yes, Rico, we can tell!!