racers and royals Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 I am a former greyhound owner/Trainer, as per my name, yes figures are missleading, especially when taken over a short time span, if we look over say 3 years, what stadia have opened succesfully ? I am afraid to say i can think of none, but yes Coventry has reopened, but it was an existing stadium, so can we class it as new ?, and Towcester is planned to Open in 2013. Closures, and this is off the top of my head; Oxford, Portsmouth, Walthamstow, but what is really worrying is the threats hanging over Wimbledon, Belle Vue, Hall Green, Swindon, and to a lesser extent Birmingham & Poole, the only reasons the latter two are a little safer is that they are Council owned, but be assured Both The GRA and Stadia UK are only in this to sell Stadia, and line there own pockets, and top up pensions, the income they receive from greyhound racing itself, will barely cover the wage bill of these 2 organisations, so they have to sell stadia from time to time, so that they can continue. Whoever thinks Greyhound racing is thriving is living in cloud cuckoo land, Owners are down, Trainers are down, Spectator figures are down, Indeed there is a shortage of dogs themselves, Yes there may be an odd exception to this, but they are the exception rather than the rule, Stadium Closures continue as before, and as in Speedway the spectators are very much the same who went racing 10 years or more ago, except for the Saturday night 6 packers, and they are only in it for a piss up, and good night out, before they go Clubbing, very few if any attend on a regular basis from these promotions. I don`t think anyone has said it`s thriving(even myself despite what Orion say`s i said) its very difficult for most lesure industries-however take out the GRA and Stadia UK and with BAGS income and good crowds at weekends i cannot accept that dog racing is in terminal decline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Strangely enough greyhound racing in Ireland is booming with 17 tracks there of which many have had a lot of money spent on them over the last few years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhoundp Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Strangely enough greyhound racing in Ireland is booming with 17 tracks there of which many have had a lot of money spent on them over the last few years Mick all those Stadia that had money spent on them, which was government provided., but now they are feeling the pinch, due to the economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomo1 Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Aah yes, Government funding!! Thats another topic entirely!! ps. wasn't there some (recent?) interest in opening a Speedway track somewhere in Ireland?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 I've been down to Dundalk dogs and the grandstand is very much on the plush side. Hosts both dogs and all weather Horse Racing and had many million Euro's lavished upon it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Dog Racing 'appears' to be thriving in Sunderland - or is that just the publicity people at work. :unsure: I've never been in my life - so I don't know. As an aside - I've been to loads of Dog Tracks for Speedway and yet I have NEVER seen a live Dog Race in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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