speedway. the future.

[Peter]

7) Promotion and relegation-a MUST!

Promotion and relegation was tried in the early 90's, but it wasn't a success and the idea was dropped after a couple of years. I seem to recall Swindon finishing bottom one year, but no Division Two team wanted to be promoted, so Swindon stayed in the top flight. A lot of Premier League clubs don't have the finances to be able to compete in the Elite League, that is why there are so many clubs in the PL.

[Star Lady]

2) No more meaningless competitions. BLC, need I say more.

 

Like Chris Brown I think this competition could well have some merit but only if the rules are set out at the start to provide both EL and PL clubs with reasonably equal chances and more importantly those rules must be stuck to. Unfortunately the whole comp has been brought into disrepute this season with the constant dispensations and bias towards some EL clubs. I know I'm not the only fan who treats the whole Bloody Loopy Cup with contempt for this reason.

[Grachan]

I think Swindon were relegated twice. The first time they managed to get out of it - I'm not sure how, butit may have been because certain tracks closed and there needed to be an evening up of the leagues. The second time, I think they were relegated and replaced by Arena Essex, though the old memory is a bit fuzzy on this. The whole thing was a complete disaster though.

 

Another thing with promotion/relegation, which I believe has been touched on before, is that you cannot have that and a points limit, otherwise you could find a situation where strong teams are relegated while their own assets are riding for other teams through no fault of their own.

[Beowulf]

Lars,

 

Re last seasons play-off's and your comment that Eastbourne were far and away the best team. The league table said Eastbourne drew ONE more match than Wolves, that is all, hardly a vast difference I would say.

[Tony]

any predictions?

where can you see speedway being in the next 5 years?

I know that I didn't expect to see it where it is now 5 years ago.

 

Danny King ban - 97 replies

Speedway, the future - 4 replies.

 

I think we're floggin a dead horse on this forum wolfcrazy.

I tried a couple of detailed posts, with solutions, on this subject and asked what people thought. - 0 replies.

 

Conclusion? Members are more interested in trivia and negativity than the future of the sport :-(

 

Anybody disagree?

 

I think you'll find PL fans may not have seen this thread in the EL forum.

 

Conclusion? The new section will solicit more response

[rob]

1) Get rid of the play offs.

 

But bring back the Young Shield. That gave the teams in the middle realistic targets after poor starts.

 

2) No more meaningless competitions. BLC, need I say more.

 

If so, bring back the Premier Trophy. The local derbies are good to open up the season

 

3) If we must have the GP's then please no more temporary tracks, the racing is crap and no sort of advertisement for our sport.

 

No way this can happen. 36,000 people were at Cardiff last year; that's more than 5 times the number that stood at Coventry in the cold in 2000.

 

 

7) Promotion and relegation-a MUST!

No. It would be a financial disaster. If teams want to race in the EL then move their on their own accord. Look at the trouble happening in Sweden and Poland with their finances. This would develop British young riders, as when in trouble promoters would just look overseas.

[Mylor]

7) Promotion and relegation-a MUST!

No. It would be a financial disaster. If teams want to race in the EL then move their on their own accord. Look at the trouble happening in Sweden and Poland with their finances. This would develop British young riders, as when in trouble promoters would just look overseas.

 

The EL, Swedish and Polish leagues could probably overcome their problems at a stroke if they agreed that riders could only ride for one European club. This would not only cut their costs but create more teamplaces for youngsters.

[Tony]

The EL, Swedish and Polish leagues could probably overcome their problems at a stroke if they agreed that riders could only ride for one European club. This would not only cut their costs but create more teamplaces for youngsters.

 

I am so much in favour of that although I realise to make it viable we'd need each league to have more fixtures.

 

IMHO supportes want to see continuity of their team and they want to bond with riders, this is so hard to do with the current merry go round in the winter and guesting arrangements.

 

If this aspect could be improved I'm sure fans becoming more involved quicker will help to increase attendances.

[Tony]

Surely this will only increase costs?

 

Crumpy currently earns X in the UK, X in Poland and X in Sweden, if he can only ride in one country, he will want 3X from the promotion.

 

I would think that wouldn't be the case.

 

My hope would be that, in the above example, Crumpie would save all the time and expense of travelling abroad, at least so often, and be provided with increased meetings in the UK to compensate.

[Mylor]

SCB,

 

You may wish to read my posts under European Club Championship -

 

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forum/view...opic.php?t=3294

 

I've copied a couple of sections here -

 

So how does it reduce costs?

Because riders can only ride for one team in such a competition. They would reduce their travelling, machinery, workshop and support costs, but, when it takes off, the spinoffs should be enormous.

The promoters don't have to spend enormous amounts hiring 2 or more GP riders to stay competitive and some PL teams may, in this new environment, like to take up the opportunity to ride in a higher league

 

 

Hopefully the EL would be too big to be run on the present basis leaving some dates for the return of the prestigious individual meetings such as the Olymique, Brandonapolis and even the Internationale. After all, the GP riders will have some time on their hands, only riding for one club. Now would Channel 4 or 5 be interested in those?

[Tony]

Hopefully the EL would be too big to be run on the present basis leaving some dates for the return of the prestigious individual meetings such as the Olymique, Brandonapolis and even the Internationale. After all, the GP riders will have some time on their hands, only riding for one club. Now would Channel 4 or 5 be interested in those?

 

I agree with much of your post above and the related thread but I'm not sure there's much appetite for the individual meetings.

 

I always used to enjoy them, but along with many people do so in moderation, team speedway is my first love. But we now have to consider the format of the GPs, the likelihood of increasing numbers of events and the various national championships and qualifying events.

 

I'm inclined to think the support for many more individual meetings is very limited and the attendances would reflect that.

[SammyR]

Very much like the Elite League, a few clubs in the top division in Sweden and Poland are finding it difficult to survive employing G.P. riders.

I think all three countries would be better served by excluding these riders from their leagues, by doing so reducing costs and minimising disruption.

I propose a European League consisting of two teams from Britain, Sweden, Poland, and one from each of Denmark and Czecho.

Like the current EL, each team could have 14 home and 14 away league matches, with one or two extra competitions thrown in, if need be.

Each team would use three GP riders each (let's put in the likes of Peter Karlsson to balance numbers), and the balance of the teams would be doubling-up riders, such as Howe, Stead, Harris, Screen, Barker, etc. in Britain.

For the riders in the domestic leagues, it gives them extra bookings and a chance to compete still with the worlds' best. And it makes most clubs commercially viable, preserving the number of teams in the top division.

The standard of racing would still be more than adequate.

G.P. riders could still get extra meetings by visiting the tracks in the domestic leagues for the likes of the Olympique, etc., as suggested, the WTC, and national championships. I'm sure GP riders would prefer to reduce their workload if it didn't reduce their earning capacity too much.

I'm sure the likes of Sky would fall over themselves to broadcast this league, so that sponsorship would pour in and costs could be covered.

I suppose, in Britain, our two teams would have to be Poole and Coventry or Eastbourne. I'm convinced they would pull in excellent crowds for their fixtures. Alright, no local derbies, but wouldn't we all make the effort to attend one or two European League matches to boost attendances.

Imagine our first league with enough teams for a varied and meaningful fixture list, no disruption through rider absences, and costs which were affordable to secure the future of all tracks. The same would be true for Sweden, Poland, Denmark, etc.

It could even provide an incentive for Germany, Russia, Italy et al. to try to attain Euro League status, spreading the speedway gospel, and increasing the sports' popularity here and abroad.

Sam.

[Mylor]

Very much like the Elite League, a few clubs in the top division in Sweden and Poland are finding it difficult to survive employing G.P. riders.

I think all three countries would be better served by excluding these riders from their leagues, by doing so reducing costs and minimising disruption.

I propose a European League consisting of two teams from Britain, Sweden, Poland, and one from each of Denmark and Czecho.  

Like the current EL, each team could have 14 home and 14 away league matches, with one or two extra competitions thrown in, if need be.

Each team would use three GP riders each (let's put in the likes of Peter Karlsson to balance numbers), and the balance of the teams would be doubling-up riders, such as Howe, Stead, Harris, Screen, Barker, etc. in Britain.

 

Sorry about the extended quote guys.

 

I thought about this a while ago but dismissed it on the grounds that the admission fee for, in this case 14 matches would be prohibitive. I'd expect, and probably so would the fans, an increase for the few ECC matches I proposed in my earlier posts. I think it's unlikely that promoters would use the TV and sponsorship money to subsidise admission fees.

 

Strikes me though that we're not far off having a workable solution. It would be good to have the opinions of a few promoters though wouldn't it?

[sandman]

I would like to see the promoters take a poll of all speedway supporters and find our likes dislikes etc and take the data and make some changes. If it means better concessions such as food price etc, more dirt on the tracks, better access to the riders, whatever it would take. I do think the riders need to be personalised a bit better, and I think for any tv coverage it is imperative to run a short film on a couple of selected riders at their home, a couple of minutes each etc. As it stands now, outside of a select few all the riders tend to blend together, it isnt as it was in the day when you had Booey and Ronnie Moore who truly appealed to the working class for example. I believe speedway is trying to move past that image, but we arent all rich or famous and it helps to have some on the track that we can relate to. Football is something that people can relate to because it is something we can see ourselves doing, we can relate to some of the players. I know nascar has done a great job of marketing the sport and drivers because these men although very rich, relate to the fans and seem normal people. And from what I hear, there arent the stories of drugs and wife beating etc that you hear of in other sports. Marketing of the riders, track preparation, promotion admission prices for supporters, are ultimately important. Speedway is best on well prepared tracks with dirt, and I would rather have a full stadium with a percentage of discounted tickets than one with a sparce crowd, because if those people had a good time, especially first timers, they will be back. I may be way off base here and sorry if I am. I am not or have ever been a promoter, and am surely not judging them, just trying to be constructive...maybe Norbold can relate to this as he has seen the sport at its peak. :?

[Mylor]

I may be way off base here and sorry if I am.

 

Not at all Sandman!

Excellent stuff.........You're just saying what many of us are thinking. Keep posting. I'm sure you're not gonna receive many negative replies.

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

My tuppence worth.

 

It's a bit of a "chicken and the egg" scenario I think. Here we are suggesting no GP riders and the costs should be a lot less, but will the spectators be willing to put up with the resulting drop in quality? After having seen the best week in and week out will they still keep turning up to see what is basically a lower standard competition? In my opinion offering the best riders on offer has a greater chance of bringing in the crowds.

 

My beef is not with the GP's as such, it's with the way that the BSI do business with using other peoples assets basically free of charge. For the top riders the prizemoney might be ok and they have lucrative sponsorship but at the lower level the "run of the mill" GP riders have to finance their GP activities out of money earned from the domestic leagues. That's what I think is forcing the costs up. While BSI are allowed to get away with it then they will, and good luck to them, the crunch will come when someone is brave enough to stand up to them. I can see the first signs of cracks appearing in the BSI machine with Hamill opting out of the GP's and the Americans not going to the SWC.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens from here.

[sandman]

Replying to my own post, the late Simon Wigg was one who really stood out on television due to his lime green leathers and number plate. A very talented racer who knew how to promote his indivuality. Anyone could pick him out a mile away. If I happened to be a GP rider, I would want something complete different than the standard Kevlars that look like all the others even if they were day glo orange,being an individual like Wiggy is cool.... 8)

[paulr]

"What do you want to go to that dump, to watch that s**t for??"

 

The above was a response from a mate when I suggested going to Armadale to watch Monarchs v Trelawny last week.

 

It kind of backs up what I had posted earlier - that the sport suffers from a lack of publicity and public awareness. As most of us on this forum know or have stated, one visit to a meeting is usually enough to get interested in the sport....the challenge is to get new blood to attend.

 

While I read all the earlier posts with interest, many seemed to be about tinkering with the setups of leagues etc which only the existing fans would know about and agree with or otherwise. Would they actually raise awareness and attendances of the sport ? Would they get a few more column inches in the sport section of the national newspapers, what chance has speedway of ever getting a mention in a sports review in the TV news..especially when real important issues like Beckham breaking a finger nail, or England drawing a test match will get preference ?

 

Is seems to me that the sport in the UK is financially suffering - teams just holding on, tracks being threatened etc etc., and as such requires an injection of cash which, unless a Russian billionaire is around the corner with his chequebook, will require either greater revenues from Sky and/or an increase in attendances.

 

I dont know how much promotion goes on locally at/for clubs ( I dont live near a track), but there isnt even a sign for the Brandon track (there is one very faded sign for Karting) and its so easy to drive past it without even knowing it there (as we did last year!!) ... at least Armadale has some yellow signs stating 'Speedway racing' from the motorway.

 

How many speedway teams/tracks are mentioned in the sports section of area guides or tourist information (Poole fans - are the Pirates covered in any tourist offices or websites for the area ??, if so good, but how many other teams are not ??))

 

Things like 'Kids for a quid' do work - but they need to know about it first. Speedway has an opportunity in the summer months when football isnt on to possibly attract more spectators but without sufficient publicity it wont happen.

 

Its unfortunate , and an economic fact, that some tracks are in a poor state, and luckily I took my kids to Brandon first to see speedway B4 we ventured out to other tracks (once the bug had bitten)....they had been to several premier and SPL stadia prior, so had a level of expectancy of what sports stadiums should offer, and while Brandon is a poor relation in comparison to say Villa Park, at least its one of the better Speedway ones !!.

 

I have a school teacher friend and Im going to ask her to ask her class about speedway - do they know what it is etc, and the responses may be interesting. Do riders visit schools, offering free tickets for the next meeting etc ??? Can you imaging the excitement and awareness it would raise if a few riders and their bikes turned up at school ??

 

Sorry for the long ramble.... Cheers Paul

[sandman]

Well spoken for sure....

[Midnight_Lady]

Do riders visit schools, offering free tickets for the next meeting etc ??? Can you imaging the excitement and awareness it would raise if a few riders and their bikes turned up at school ??

 

Edinburgh have already covered that avenue a few seasons back tho' I am not sure just how successful it has been in the long term.

 

I think Edinburgh do a fairly good job with trying to lure new blood in to the sport. They have already covered the schools thing, they often have kids clubs in for free, they attend the local gala days and have a "float" with riders and bikes on display and posters and fliers are always put out at the beginning of the season along with adverts in the paper. There is also a bring someone along for free with tickets being arranged in advance. All in all not a bad effort from the Edinburgh promotion.