How To Make Speedway More Appealing To Younger Fans?

[george.m]

That would be good. A Prize (Cash) for the first Rider to beat the 'Black Knight'. It would be great for kids - just the sort of thing that would appeal to them.

 

Home and visiting Heat Leaders could all have a go.

 

Races to be run before the Meeting x 2.

 

During the Interval x 2.

 

After the last Race in the Match x 2.

 

I'm sure there will be some reason it CAN'T be done - but I still think it is a good idea.

Why not the ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Knight?

[waiheke1]

 

 

That would be good. A Prize (Cash) for the first Rider to beat the 'Black Knight'. It would be great for kids - just the sort of thing that would appeal to them.

 

Home and visiting Heat Leaders could all have a go.

 

Races to be run before the Meeting x 2.

 

During the Interval x 2.

 

After the last Race in the Match x 2.

 

I'm sure there will be some reason it CAN'T be done - but I still think it is a good idea.

i think it is a good idea in theory but.... i cant see how say a darcy ward or holder would fit it.into their schedule, nor whete the money would come from to pay there costs as they would no doubt want a decent sum if they were to treat it setiously

[The Know]

 

So you think it's a game of football then, racing on a boarded circuit, on 500cc highly tuned motorbikes, inches from one another, with little or no protection if something goes wrong then ................ hmmmmmmmmm, you're a hard man to please obviously!!

 

No what i am saying is there are far more dangerous sports around nowadays. yes speedway is dangerous but not an extreme sport. All bike sports use highly tuned engines and they race side by side, some at nearly 200mph. the protection they wear is very similar. And before you say they have no brakes, they do, its the engine.

 

back on topic.

 

how about these.

 

Maybe only run every two weeks. cheaper to go, more will hopefully turn up.

drop points limit. build to your pocket. even if your team loses people will come to see the dream team. ala man u.

bring back the match race at each meeting.

bring back the test matches.

all kids under 18 free.

all kids under 10 free goodie bags, take them in the pits and on track. like nascar.

before meeting, motorcross or trials demo.

after meeting disco for older kids.

 

i think speedway needs to be made to feel specil again, make it an event with more going on for all, maybe run in the afternoon on a weekend not a school night ? Poland does.

 

there is a lot that can be tried but those running it and those attending need to change.

 

[Nikko]

At the Kent Kings we:

 

1) Have an iphone/Andriod version of the website which is very popular.

2) We are on Facebook & Twitter

3) We have downloadable posters from our website.

4) We have a partnership with the Kent Youth Football League

5) We are going round the local schools with teenage riders they can relate to.

6) We are already advertising that our riders will be available at every meeting for photos and autographs.

7) At our first meeting a mystery new "fan" will be at track....and I think the kids are going to love him.

[BWitcher]

No what i am saying is there are far more dangerous sports around nowadays. yes speedway is dangerous but not an extreme sport. All bike sports use highly tuned engines and they race side by side, some at nearly 200mph. the protection they wear is very similar. And before you say they have no brakes, they do, its the engine.

 

 

The riders who race in the sports you allude too say different.

[g13webb]

I believe we at Kings Lynn benefit from everything that is good for the sport. Having the Stadium owned by Buster, we don't have to pay for Car Parking, The admission prices are kept to a minimum, the programs is only £2.00 a time, and all the money spent at the bar and shops all go into the business. Buster is very astute and runs a tight ship. But he knows that running a viable operation is of paramount importance. So when we talk about the ability to run the sport on a professional basis, it must be far more difficult to make ends meet for those promoters who rent their stadium and don't have the same luxury a we do at Lynn. What I'm trying to say is, although the numbers of supporters are encouraging, with all them benefits, we at Lynn are not overrun with enthusiasm from the supporters, so it must be doubly hard for those club,s where the costs are higher and the average supporting numbers are lower. Oh for a Magic solution.......

[Trees]

The riders who race in the sports you allude too say different.

McGuiness says the riders are mad doesn't he and his racing on the Isle of Man is pretty extreme!! Engine braking is instant .......... NOT!

 

There's no doubt about it our sport is EXTREME and some of us would do well to remember that when we watch the racing

[SCOTLAND1314]

At the Kent Kings we:

 

1) Have an iphone/Andriod version of the website which is very popular.

2) We are on Facebook & Twitter

3) We have downloadable posters from our website.

4) We have a partnership with the Kent Youth Football League

5) We are going round the local schools with teenage riders they can relate to.

6) We are already advertising that our riders will be available at every meeting for photos and autographs.

7) At our first meeting a mystery new "fan" will be at track....and I think the kids are going to love him.

 

Did the android/iphone app cost much to build and design?

 

What is the app called?

[Nikko]

Did the android/iphone app cost much to build and design?

 

What is the app called?

 

Its not an app, its our website www.kentkings.co but you have the option to view the "Mobile Version" which fits an andriod/iphone screen.

 

Its doesnt have all the pics etc but all the news, how to find us etc is there and we are finding that alot of younger people prefer this.

They then bookmark it on the phones.

 

It will also have Home Meeting updates during the season.

 

It was designed by our web company specifically for this market and it receives almost as many "hits" every month as our main site, and Im pleased to say that is a lot.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Regards

 

Nikko

[philfromcov]

so to attract the 11-16 age group, i think you need to embrace what a teenager wants..

 

Something cheap, it goes without saying, short concentration, which shouldn't be a problem, but is when 15 minutes takes 3 hours!

midweek tracks must finish much ealier, always struggled with my three waking up dead tired for school, doesnt go down well, so should finish no latter than 9pm.

so the messing around should be reduced. once the pit door is closed that's it, no going back, 30 seconds back for tapes.

i always struggled when a teenager to go to the speedway and go out at the weekend, just a question why cant meetings be during the day at the weekends?

 

i would say no teenagers would want to be seen next to "bobble hat train spotters", neither do i come to that, so perhaps a reduced price for a "teenage/student" area, so that when they take facebook photos they are not surrounded by pensioners!

 

entrance price to include a burger and coke?

 

dare i say the betting word? at track betting only? seems like a disease of adverts for betting apps at the moment, perhaps to survive speedway has to bite the bullet?

Edited March 13, 2013 by philfromcov

[The White Knight]

so to attract the 11-16 age group, i think you need to embrace what a teenager wants..

 

Something cheap, it goes without saying, short concentration, which shouldn't be a problem, but is when 15 minutes takes 3 hours!

midweek tracks must finish much ealier, always struggled with my three waking up dead tired for school, doesnt go down well, so should finish no latter than 9pm.

so the messing around should be reduced. once the pit door is closed that's it, no going back, 30 seconds back for tapes.

i always struggled when a teenager to go to the speedway and go out at the weekend, just a question why cant meetings be during the day at the weekends?

 

i would say no teenagers would want to be seen next to "bobble hat train spotters", neither do i come to that, so perhaps a reduced price for a "teenage/student" area, so that when they take facebook photos they are not surrounded by pensioners!

 

entrance price to include a burger and coke?

 

dare i say the betting word? at track betting only? seems like a disease of adverts for betting apps at the moment, perhaps to survive speedway has to bite the bullet?

 

I am NOT in favour of Betting at Speedway Meetings. I do not think that a Betting environment is a good place to bring Children. We pride ourselves on being a 'FAMILY SPORT' so for me this would not be a goer.

[oldace]

I believe we at Kings Lynn benefit from everything that is good for the sport. Having the Stadium owned by Buster, we don't have to pay for Car Parking, The admission prices are kept to a minimum, the programs is only £2.00 a time, and all the money spent at the bar and shops all go into the business. Buster is very astute and runs a tight ship. But he knows that running a viable operation is of paramount importance. So when we talk about the ability to run the sport on a professional basis, it must be far more difficult to make ends meet for those promoters who rent their stadium and don't have the same luxury a we do at Lynn. What I'm trying to say is, although the numbers of supporters are encouraging, with all them benefits, we at Lynn are not overrun with enthusiasm from the supporters, so it must be doubly hard for those club,s where the costs are higher and the average supporting numbers are lower. Oh for a Magic solution.......

 

This is a myth that crops up time and again. For a business that only uses a stadium 20 days a year then renting is by far the best and cheapest option. Its the difference between having a mortgage or renting a house, in lots of circumstances renting is by far the better option. Renting stadia does provide problems with difficult landlords but in an ideal world of totally co operative landlords then Speedways business model is far better suited to renting than owning.

[stratton]

Owning the stadium keeping the costs down getting people back who you rely on for your livelihood has got to be the way to go.Any rent surely is dead money?

[pandorum]

How To Make Speedway More Appealing To Younger Fans?

 

Naked start girls and free drugs and alcohol and for the over 13s Justin Bieber in an interval cage fight with Michael Le Vell.

[oldace]

Owning the stadium keeping the costs down getting people back who you rely on for your livelihood has got to be the way to go.Any rent surely is dead money?

 

No more dead money than having a couple of million quid tied up in an asset that only gets used 20 times a year

[Ray Stadia]

No more dead money than having a couple of million quid tied up in an asset that only gets used 20 times a year

 

But in 10 years time Barratt Homes may come along and offer you £10m for the land! Has that been done before?

[SCOTLAND1314]

This topic is quite a can of worms.

 

The younger fans (the age range I refer to is 13 up to 19) need to hear about the sport?

 

The sport individually and collectively needs to market itself better. Seems obvious but I've rarely seen any speedway advertised locally or nationally (and I know I'm not alone). We really don't know how many people would attend the sport if it were properly marketed. I appreciate individual clubs don't have lots of spare cash sloshing about right now however I'd urge a significant chunk of any future TV money (or other monies for that matter) to be set aside for marketing the sport nationally. Of course it may not be much but something is better than nothing. Over and above that the clubs need to do lots more themselves (which doesn't always need lots of cash), e.g. school visits, local gala days (or any large congregation of local people)... and do them all the time not just every now and again.

 

What 'version' of the sport do we market?

 

The sport currently tries to sell itself (on the very few adverts I've seen) in a schizophrenic fashion i.e. both family sport and 'sexy' exciting sport. It would be fairly safe to say it's not working.

 

Like a few have suggested it needs to push the 'sexy', 'noisy', 'bad' side of the sport to encourage the younger fan. What self respecting younger fan would say '..I'm off to that family sport speedway tonight..' I think we know the answer.

 

How to market to the younger fans?

 

Again as has been said use the relatively cost effective mediums of Facebook, Twitter, Website etc. Last time I looked I'm sure a few clubs didn't even have a fully functioning website. Criminal.

 

Having said all that I'm sure many promotions are terrified to target the younger fan for fear of driving away the existing fans (largely 55+).

 

The speedway product.

 

We know how good speedway can be but anytime I used to try and get my mates to attend (when I was a younger fan) they would simply state that it was a geeky sport with riders just going around in circles and whomever made the gate won. And the experience would involve standing about in a cold run down stadium for hours. And to be fair they had a point.

 

So we have to make the whole experience memorable for the correct reasons.

 

The GP's introduced a much faster, slicker and professional presentation of races but league speedway has yet to properly adopt this format. It needs to.

 

On this point why is it a 2 minute warning? When was this time introduced? Can it be reduced to 60 or 90 seconds?

 

Speedway is a colourful sport but many of the stadia are drab unwelcoming places - the surroundings need to be clean and colourful and welcoming.

 

Presenters need to do more to generate a bit of atmosphere inside stadia. Build up the importance of matches, races .. Create characters and rivalries ...

 

Yes to bookies. Although there may need to be a bit of a think re how logistically this can work inside the stadium if we are making the racing presentation slicker.

 

I'm glad to hear that more clubs are opening up the pits areas for fans to walk about. I used to love watching the pits area prior to a match and even during it. But many stadia don't have great pit viewing facilities.

 

There is countless other stuff to chat through on this topic but I thought I'd chuck in my tuppence worth.

[oldtimer]

Speedway must be one of the few businesses where the people who run it take no notice of what their customers want.

You have a winning team and it's dismantled the following season to get below the team average, we hate the tactical double points, guest riders etc etc etc I could go on and on.

[SCOTLAND1314]

I am NOT in favour of Betting at Speedway Meetings. I do not think that a Betting environment is a good place to bring Children. We pride ourselves on being a 'FAMILY SPORT' so for me this would not be a goer.

 

I struggle with the term family sport even though I use it, but I don't really know what we mean by it.

 

What do you mean by family sport?

[Ray Stadia]

I struggle with the term family sport even though I use it, but I don't really know what we mean by it.

 

What do you mean by family sport?

 

Not wishing to put words into TWK's mouth, but my take on 'family sport', is you can safely take all the family to a speedway meeting, i.e. wife, children, grandchildren. Whereas some other sports are perhaps not that suitable, e.g. football. I wouldn't like to see betting at speedway, I agree with TWK, not suitable for children. Also, many fans are strapped for cash and betting would add to that pressure, in my opinion. If I had the chance though, I would like to see Japan's version of speedway, auto racing I think, which is centred around betting.