Guest tapebreak Posted February 13, 2003 Report Share Posted February 13, 2003 With the withdrawal of the promoter of both the Australian and New Zealand Gp's the growth of the sport in Australia is slowed again. With the reputation as the quickest growing sport in the world and Australians being very competetive you would expect that it is popular down under. The fact is that 90% of people dont know it exists and alot of that 90% are speedway fans. The promotion of the revious SGP round in sydney was appalling, i myself as a seasoned speedway follower only found out that there was something on in sydney by checking the speedwaygp.com webstie. I hope in the future now that the benfield team are supposedly taking over the promotion of these events that there is some kind of television advertising and paper advertisments country wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sir Lunchalot Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Nice to have another aussie on the forum tapebreak. I sort of half agree and half disagree with you. First the promotion. I know speedway has had a hell of a time getting any air time on commercial TV, nobody's fault, just a fact of life. Early last year I even wrote to a few of the sports (especially motor sport) programs trying to get even 3 minutes of highlights of the GP's and didn't get anywhere, nor did I get a reply. However, there was plenty of advertising on pay TV and in the months leading up to the GP they did show all of the previous rounds of the GP plus the World Cup from England (and has anyone seen them ride in worse conditions than they did at Sheffield ?). The obvious reply is "but not everyone has pay TV" and that's true but at least there was an effort made. It's fair to say though that a large percentage of sporting fans were blissfully unaware that an Aussie GP was on. As for the promoter I don't blame him for pulling out. His rumoured loss ranges from $800,000 to over $1 million and I defy anyone to come back for more of the same after that. It's all about money, I would be glad if someone can explain to me how we can run a GP out here at a profit while having to transport half way round the world (say) 100 (?) people (riders, mechanics, FIM people, Benfield people etc) plus all their equipment, plus accomodate them, plus hire an expensive stadium, plus lay and then take up a temporary track, plus pay for heaps of advertising and promotional activities. I think the ball is in Benfield's court now, I will be interested to see how committed they are to an Australian GP and how they go about making it work and run at a profit. Having said all that I went last year and apart from a dubious track I enjoyed it immensely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matty wigs Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 ...and I enjoyed it too - I thought it was a great spectacle, and the Aussie crowd really warmed up as the meeting progressed. In respect of the track, I thought that it was the best 'one-off' track we saw at any of the GP's last season. It's a shame only 30,000 turned up, as Stadium Australia would have rocked if there had been say 50,000 there. I think a lot can be learned from the event. There's obviously a solid fan base Down Under, and a good number of Brits, Poles and Swedes also made the journey half way round the world to witness the event. The trick will be, as was mentioned before, increasing the number of locals foe future Aussie GP's. Improved marketing of the event can only help this. The marketing lines of 'we'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge of it' and 'Thunder Down Under' were awesome in my opinion - so come on......let's hope some rich, ambitious Aussie steps up to the plate and decides to take the bull by the horns. I'd be gutted if there weren't any more Aussie GP's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 I am waiting for my insurance money to come through and was planning a trip to New Zealand & Australia to visit relatives next year the fact they were planning Grand Prix's in New Zealand & Australia was purely coincidental :roll: :roll: and I was dissappointed to say the least when I was told they had cancelled them especially as they were within a time limit that I could have made! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matty wigs Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 I'm gutted too Shazzy as I was due out there then anyway for the Rugby World Cup!! Having an Australian partner and realistically looking at a permanent move over there within the next 18 to 24 months - you can see I have a vested interest too!! It'll be hard enough waving goodbye to the Speedway season as it is - worse if I don't have at least a GP to look forward to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Matty that is so sad. You will have to invest in SKY when you get there ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matty wigs Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 I think you're right Shazzy......but we all know there's nothing in the world like the rumble of the engines, the smell of methanol, the sound of an airhorn going off right in your ear.... Oh my.....I'm beginning to fill up already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogH Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Agree it was a great Aussie GP, but I get the impression that if it's not Aussie rules, Rugby League or cricket the Aussies don't really want to know. I suppose the large distances betwwen cities in Oz don't help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
full-throttle Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 as i understood it, the promoter had budgeted to looose about A$500,000. the attendance was above the expected so the loss was not as big, but other factors got in the way. I understand that at a lot of these 'one off' stadia, clean up cost are phenominal, that is why at Cardiff (for example) you see lots of seats covered to prevent dust/shale mess. I don't think this was done in Aus so the cost of cleaning afterwards took the tatol loses well above the budget. I am not sure if these are true facts, but reading between the lines of what I was told that is what I think happened Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st century heathen Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 It's a real shame to lose the Aussie/Kiwi G.P's . If the marketing was as bad as suggested then I think 30,000 turn out if pretty good. Perhaps you should advertise it as another one on the list of sports you beat the Brit's at :?: :-( The problem, as with Cardiff, is that a crowd that size in a large stadium can look a little lost. If the G.P.'s are going to expand and thrive how bout this. Norway could be run 1st week of November and Cardiff the week after so as to avoid clashing with domestic matches here in the U.K. No problems with the weather as they're both indoor. Aussie and Kiwi could be run end of Jan early Feb again avoiding any dates clashing over here. Perhaps even two rounds in Aus would help to justify the costs in shipping everyone/everything out there. I would also suggest the remaining European rounds be 'tinkered' with to avoid a long break between Aus/Kiwi rounds and, as scheduled this year, Poland in May. What do you think :?: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest matty wigs Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 full throttle - the seats nearest the track (about 15 rows deep) were covered - as is the case with Cardiff - I always thought this was more fpr safety than anything else???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sir Lunchalot Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 The story I heard was that all the unexpected additional costs came from the late taking up of the track and repairing the damage to the infield. The seating / stadium etc wasn't the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poona Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Fingers crossed, I'm in the running for $18 mil tonight & if my numbers come up I'll be off to follow the GP tour over there (should have enough to shout a few fellas down here along). Back to reality, the Oz 02 Gp was a great spectacle, sure more bums on seats would have added to the atmophere but it was the best array of talent I've seen since I was a pup & all the big boys from overseas would come down annually for our season, THAT INCLUDED OUR OWN GUNS!. Even if we don't have a GP here if someone with a few bob, a bit of ticker & some passion for the sport could get the talent back down here (test matches etc) I believe the crowds would come flooding back. I know it's all about $$$ but they did it in the old days so why not now? Maybe after tonight I'll be the man for the job(touch wood). Anyways, I,m off to Gosford to watch Mick Poole flog everyone, oh & the NSW sidecar titles. HOOROOOO........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 how bout this. Norway could be run 1st week of November and Cardiff the week after so as to avoid clashing with domestic matches here in the U.K. Theory ok but not really as there are two many other events that go on inside the Millennium stadium to take the pitch up for a one off meeting in the middle of the football season they would just be laughed at, that is why the grand prix is at the end of the season after the FA cup has been played there in May (ish) in fact last year they only had a little while to prepare the track to due another sporting event there close to the grand prix. I think anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
full-throttle Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 The story I heard was that all the unexpected additional costs came from the late taking up of the track and repairing the damage to the infield. The seating / stadium etc wasn't the problem. Thanks Luncy, I recall being told that the costs had come from something that needed doing after the meeting, and the cleaning was what I thought , but in retrospect I think your acount is more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tapebreak Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Well for starters id like to point out that i have never been to an event that is in its first year that was succesful especially coz no body knew it was on. I think the big problem with the current promoter withdrawing is that there will be another bad year before the speedway fans start to support it. I know for a fact that in my little town we can get 3-4 thousand extra people to a bike meeting than we would on any car night so i dont think its a lack of fans wanting to watch the event. I think as a sport on its own people dont know too much. In this country speedway is viewed as a buch of cars, sprintcars etc and i guess thats why the Aussie sprintcar league is attracting so many americans. I think the solution to the problem is to initially advertise more and also put something on free to air television or it will never take off. Free to air is the best advertisment as everyone has access to it. Why not advertise it during another big sporting event (eg. cricket world cup games) which are not being shown on the pay network channels. The second part of the solution would come in the education of those not exactly sure of what speedway is and by this i mean start showing more of the series. The third part would be to give the Aussie round some meaning by showing the complete series so that when they arive in Australia there is some knowledge of the series and the fact that people have been watching it all year gives them another incentive to go and see the finale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sir Lunchalot Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Speedway on free to air TV in Australia has a huge problem. I believe it would become very, very popular if it ever got on to free to air TV ... but before the free to air channels will take a risk with anything they want things that are already popular !! Somehow the speedway folk have to convince the TV networks that it is popular already and I would have thought right after the Aust GP last year would have been the time to approach them. Did we miss the boat perhaps ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st century heathen Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 how bout this. Norway could be run 1st week of November and Cardiff the week after so as to avoid clashing with domestic matches here in the U.K. Theory ok but not really as there are two many other events that go on inside the Millennium stadium to take the pitch up for a one off meeting in the middle of the football season they would just be laughed at, that is why the grand prix is at the end of the season after the FA cup has been played there in May (ish) in fact last year they only had a little while to prepare the track to due another sporting event there close to the grand prix. I think anyway See what your saying but November would be well before the Stadium was used for football finals. The chances of a clash with an international is slim. Don't know about rugby because I don't watch it. I just think it would be worth investigating. Problem is now its not a true world championship is it? Unless I am mistaken. Without a southern hemisphere round its really only a European championship. I really enjoyed watching them on sky last year though. I thought the Aussi round was brilliant on the box anyway I think world championship refers to the participants rather than the location. However it would be fantastic if Aus/Kiwi rounds were revived, and what about the Yanks. Be great if we could we could find a way to incorporate the U.S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st century heathen Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 I think world championship refers to the participants rather than the location. No sorry with all due respect I think your wrong about that. Its based on a 'world series'. The participants nationalities create the International' tag. To be truly a worlds championship based on Grand Prix (rather than a one off event) its accepted it should encompass events in both the North and the South hemispheres. The victor can then pronounce I am the 'Worlds Champion'. Like I said, who ever wins in 2003 series can really only say I am the, 'European Champion' even if the nationalites of the riders were all the same. Road Racing and F1 run on the same principles. While I respect your opinion I still don't agree. :-( Riders from both nothern and southern hemispheres compete in the G.P.'s. How could Crump, for example, be called the European Champion :?: :? It's the fact that you're competeing against the rest of the world that makes you a world champion in any sport. Think of the athletics world championships. They are held in one country, for arguments sake Germany, that doesn't make the competitors German Champion. As they are competing against competitors from across the globe they are, quite rightly, know as World Champions. If the 100m sprint record was broken would that make it a new German record because it hadn't been done in the southern hemisphere aswell :?: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st century heathen Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 I aggree with you, we're not going to agree. :-( F1 and MotoGP are great but Superbikes are probably better still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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