john birch Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Sadly it can - and - it will unless something is done by the Promoters to pull in more Punters - and by that I DON'T mean introducing even more stupid Rules than they have at present. :sad: In fact - getting rid of the more stupid Rules might actually help..................................... :rolleyes: One thing they need to do with individual meetings like the British Final is go back tothe old 20 ht top scorer wins formula.If they must then seed Nicholls,Harris,Woffinden and A N Other into ht 20 and draw the gates out of a hat.At last years Brandonapolis Mick Horton tbf put together a decent line up.The result-a 2.5 hour borefest waiting for the final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoMinuteWarning Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Here's some interesting facts from Coventry Speedway re. attendances and how they have fallen. In 1987 (when they were champions) Coventry's average BL attendance was 4,831. By 2001 it had dropped to 2,063. I imagine it is less than that now. The 1986, 87, 88 and 90 British finals at Brandon all attracted over 8,000 - in 1990 it was nearly 9,000 at 8,960. By 2001 the British final drew a crowd of just 2,329. I doubt it even gets that now at Wolverhampton. Makes you wonder where all the missing thousands went? Interesting figures, but I think that every track's attendances are way down from those of the 1980's and 90's Speedway today (apart from Cardiff) is a mid-20th century sport that hasn't reinvented itself for the 21st century. People want glamour, excitement, entertainment in a seated, smart stadium, and there is just no money in the sport in the UK to achieve those things. For heavens sake, we can't even afford to even pay all the bonus points in the PL, how desperate is that? Speedway shot to popularity in the 1920's and 30's 1. on the back of the motorcycle being the working man's personal transport. That has long-since changed, few are seen on the roads these days, and 2. on the back of the introduction of greyhound racing in 1927, whose promoters kindly built many of the city-centre stadia which ensured the establishment of our sport. And whose promoters have been, and still are, closing the remaining greyhound tracks. Time has come full circle. Throw out the specialist bikes by all means, and use only stripped down road bikes with little or no modifications allowed, devise some sort of all-weather track surface if you can - but you'd still need a big injection of capital to sort out some of the truly awful near-derelict stadiums in which our sport is raced, and I can't see where this would come from. I'm trying to be realistic, and I can't subscribe to Uncle Len's "everything in the garden is rosy" mentality. But if promoters can't see what's happening to our sport, I can only see it's future being a circus event of big stadium "entertainments" (something like motocross has become) and some Sunday afternoon events at a field in the deepest countryside. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyfan Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Well at Belle Vue in 1987 it was £3.10 inc programme. Next year it is £19.50 an increase of 530% To put in perspective the national average wage then was £13,500.00 On the same scale of speedway increases it now should be £85,000.00!! In reality it costs about 3 times as much in 2013 to watch speedway as it did in 1987 The strategy of accounting for lost fans by simply upping admission was always going to produce the results it has Remember the Lakeside v Poole match a couple of seasons ago when the admission was free for the live Sky match?? The place was packed out and even Middlo had trouble getting into the stadium because of the tail backs!! Surely that told the promoters that if the admission prices were set at a reasonable rate (say £5) then the fans would still come and watch and they would still make there money by getting more people in for less money......at £17 pounds plus in this economic climate they won't!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Well at Belle Vue in 1987 it was £3.10 inc programme. Next year it is £19.50 an increase of 530% To put in perspective the national average wage then was £13,500.00 On the same scale of speedway increases it now should be £85,000.00!! In reality it costs about 3 times as much in 2013 to watch speedway as it did in 1987 The strategy of accounting for lost fans by simply upping admission was always going to produce the results it has These figures are don't look right, but the conclusion certainly is! The 1987 average wage was £8,140 ( £17,857 in 2010 prices). The current figure is around £24,000. That's a factor of three increase which would make the equivalent admission fee £9 (the data goes up to 2010, so that would probably be £10 by 2013). So admission prices have gone up way faster than average earnings If they had gone up in line with inflation the admission price would be just : £ 7.50 Source: http://www.measuringworth.com/ukearncpi/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woz01 Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 £12 would be reasonable i think. There are plenty of Bees fans in Coventry that i know who only attend 3-6 times a season due to costs, im sure they would attend more with lower admission prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldace Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 These figures are don't look right, but the conclusion certainly is! The 1987 average wage was £8,140 ( £17,857 in 2010 prices). The current figure is around £24,000. That's a factor of three increase which would make the equivalent admission fee £9 (the data goes up to 2010, so that would probably be £10 by 2013). So admission prices have gone up way faster than average earnings If they had gone up in line with inflation the admission price would be just : £ 7.50 Source: http://www.measuring....com/ukearncpi/ The site I went on showed the average to be £13,500 in 1987 which from memory I agree seems a little high but £8000 doesn't seem correct either. Whichever way you look at it though admission in real terms is 3 times what it was in 1987. The thing was though before I finally gave up on the sport the constant inflation busting increases only served to lower my spend per annum on the sport. From attending with the wife and 2 kids home and away the soaring cost saw my wife give up going along with my daughter then we dropped away matches moving onto selected home matches before finally nothing at all. The actual cost though is not the real issue, the issue is that for £20.00 I want £20.00 worth of entertainment, speedway falls short so I don't go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj350z Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Found my programme last night and a look at the scores confirm what everyone (except me!!!) was stating! Copy below: You will notice the cost of the programme was 25p. Normal programme prices in 1979 was 15p. Admission prices: Pop enclosure Adults £1.70 child 85p. Main enclosure £2.20 child £1.10. No mention of concessions (SCB would have been pleased!) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Brilliant and thanks for the confirmation that I haven't gone completely senile yet. Don't suppose you know what the first leg score of the Leicester v Coventry match was? Hardly worth us turning up really for that battering. (I say 'us' because back then I was supporting the Lions.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmauger Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) That was one heck of a nite: 15 coaches from Hull, Viking flags on sale in stadium car park (I still have mine), terraces packed all the way round - but wrong result. Yes, I know Hull really lost the league earlier in the season with rider no-shows at Swindon and (in)famously at Wimbledon where the 5 remaining Vikings battled only to lose by 6 or 7 points. Shared champagne with Bees fans afterwards so it wasn't all bad. I recall Coventry got pretty reasonable crowds in the late 1970's / early 1980's and you had to find a good spot to watch from. My last attendance at Brandon back in 2003, v Hull again in the British League Cup (or Bacon and Lettuce Cup), was revealing on a couple of levels. Admittedly we arrived an hour or so before the start but my companions for the nite thought the speedway must be off already as they had recently visited Coventry on a stock car nite and the car park would apparently already be packed at that time. I reckoned it was because it was a pretty much a non-event meet. The Vikings never got near Coventry on that nite and were already heading for the Premier League wooden spoon though we won the treble in 2004. Chatting with some Bees fans we sarcastically remarked that "as Hull are going so well (not) we had obviously (not) pulled in a big crowd, LOL!". The Bees fans were a bit dumbfounded and replied "but we only get this many here every week". I was genuinely shocked as the crowd was maybe 1/3 of the numbers I recalled at Brandon. Sadly, it's probably the same everywhere these days..... Edited January 30, 2013 by Martin Mauger 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj350z Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Brilliant and thanks for the confirmation that I haven't gone completely senile yet. Don't suppose you know what the first leg score of the Leicester v Coventry match was? Hardly worth us turning up really for that battering. (I say 'us' because back then I was supporting the Lions.) Aggregate scores from the programme was 93-63 (see below) so the score at Leicester must have been 35-43. Probably got that wrong again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJ Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Well at Belle Vue in 1987 it was £3.10 inc programme. Next year it is £19.50 an increase of 530% To put in perspective the national average wage then was £13,500.00 On the same scale of speedway increases it now should be £85,000.00!! In reality it costs about 3 times as much in 2013 to watch speedway as it did in 1987 The strategy of accounting for lost fans by simply upping admission was always going to produce the results it has How very true. Perpetually squeezing the pockets of the (dwindling) hardcore does look to be a rather doom-laden strategy. It'd be intriguing to know the equivalent inflation for competing entertainments- such as Football (probably Division Two/Three most appropriate given the comparable crowd sizes), Cinema, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandonbee48 Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Gemini, your memory is spot on. Bees beat Hull 42-36 in the title decider, and then walloped Leicester 50-28 in the second leg of the Midland Cup final, having won 43-35 at Leicester in the first leg earlier that week. Ole Olsen got a 12-point maximum in the Hull meeting, and 13 paid 14 against Leicester. The crowd was over 20,000, but short of the all-time record Brandon crowd. Unofficially that was 27,000 for the Brandonapolis in 1951 - on a Thursday night! Showing my age here but i was at the 1951 Brandonapolis aged 7 with my dad, standing on my little wooden stool on the back straight. This was the night my hero, Les Hewitt beat Split Waterman with a last bend swoop to win it. A completely different world back then before the mass advent of TV in 1953, but those old-time promotors like Charles Ochiltree, Johnnie Hoskins and Ronnie Greene knew how to sell and market the sport.Rather like the Poles do today. Regards. Alan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Aggregate scores from the programme was 93-63 (see below) so the score at Leicester must have been 35-43. Probably got that wrong again!! Thank you dj350z. Some names to get the memories stirring in that programme! Wasn't looking good for Leicester then if we'd already lost at home by 8 points. Regarding the attendance of 20,000 I think the capacity now is set at around 12,000 so what has happened to the extra room for 8,000 fans? I don't think the terraces have ever been altered so it must just be down to good old 'Health and Safety' restrictions these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj350z Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) Your'e welcome Gem. John Boulger was a favourite rider of mine from Leicester - always seemed to be a nice chap and fair rider. Yes, H&S will definately be the reason the capacity has reduced. Recognise any of these Leicester riders from a reunion in 2010: Edited January 30, 2013 by dj350z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TesarRacing Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Good photo DJ. Looks like Vic White at the back, 3rd from left. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Your'e welcome Gem. John Boulger was a favourite rider of mine from Leicester - always seemed to be a nice chap and fair rider. Yes, H&S will definately be the reason the capacity has reduced. Recognise any of these Leicester riders from a reunion in 2010: John Boulger, Ray Wilson, Vic White.... ??..... Graham Plant..... ??...... Two I can't get. Graham Plant hasn't changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 the guy on the extreme right looks like John Hart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsbottom Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 The guy in the middle with the glasses and cap is I believe Roger Mills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj350z Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Yep, 10 out of 10 for Gemini, Dave and Ramsbottom!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 The strategy of accounting for lost fans by simply upping admission was always going to produce the results it has Spot on 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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