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£10 Sport?


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Johnny the Spud:

First off fantastic name. Secondly as simple a your post is, it's absolutely spot on. The presentation of speedway meeting needs to be updated across most teams. Old songs played through crap PA systems are not good enough. As you say a huge part of the Grand Prix's appeal is this the razzmatazz, hot girls, the glitz and glamor.

At league meetings, play some modern music for the kids to enjoy, doesn't need to be cutting edge, but not old & dated.

There's a bunch of things they could do to attract more people. Have a penalty shot out competition like at local

School fairs, bouncy castle, children's entertainer walking about, support local teams & they will in turn support you.

But just having 4 blokes doing 4 laps x 15 is not enough in this day & age.

Edited by Tex
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Take a bow Johnny the Spud. Agree 100% with your post. Sounds so simple and glaringly obvious but it's amazing how many seem completely clueless with regards to putting on, or at least trying to put on, an entertaining experience.

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Johnny the Spud:

First off fantastic name. Secondly as simple a your post is, it's absolutely spot on. The presentation of speedway meeting needs to be updated across most teams. Old songs played through crap PA systems are not good enough. As you say a huge part of the Grand Prix's appeal is this the razzmatazz, hot girls, the glitz and glamor.

At league meetings, play some modern music for the kids to enjoy, doesn't need to be cutting edge, but not old & dated.

There's a bunch of things they could do to attract more people. Have a penalty shot out competition like at local

School fairs, bouncy castle, children's entertainer walking about, support local teams & they will in turn support you.

But just having 4 blokes doing 4 laps x 15 is not enough in this day & age.

 

The PA systems are probably outside the remit of the speedway promoter but down to those who own the stadiums - I think. If speedway promoters want them upgraded they may have to pay for the work (?).

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Stop trying to make the sport worth £10, if it's £17... make it worth £17!!! Get in touch with local bands to see if they want to do a pre meeting concert on the centre green, get the presenters to do a mini quiz in the interval, choose 1 rider a week to meet the fans and sign autographs and advertise it the previous weeks programme, stick a questionaire in the programme, get fans to tell you what they think you're doing right and what you're doing wrong, get them to include their email address and you've got a database to inform them of upcoming meetings. Visit other tracks and look at their presentation with a critical eye, if you see something good, copy it, if you see something bad, make sure you're not doing the same.

 

It's not really that difficult to do things that add value to a meeting without spending money. most of it is just common sense.

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most of it is just common sense.

And thats the scary thing!

 

What they prefer to do is go on twitter and slag off the fans. Yeah, great idea, because that'll get them to turn up won't it! i wonder how many fans have stopped going over the years because they've been slagged off by promoters and management?

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The athletics at the "other Perry Barr" features plenty of well-known names off free-to-air television1 so that gives it a big head-start compared to speedway for attracting a big crowd paying big money2.

 

It's a bit tricky trying to compare athletics with speedway for crowds/revenue because there are relatively few major athletics meetings each year around the whole country compared to each of the Elite, Premier and National League clubs staging a full schedule of home meetings.3

 

Speedway relies much more on people attending plenty of meetings at the same place each year ... athletics is aiming for more folk looking for one or two good days out each year.4

 

1. It was also live on television and live on radio...which by speedway logic is a good reason for crowds to stay away.

2. Bloomin' big money. 3 or 4 of these athletics meetings can pay for a speedway season ticket...and they say we have to tighten our belts and that people don't have money any more...

3. There's enough for someone to go to one every 2 weeks somewhere in the country...the same frequency as an EL home schedule.

4. Rugby Union also relies on regular crowds...now lets look at rugby ticket prices...http://www.leicestertigers.com/tickets/information.php - Any Leicester speedway fans like to compare prices between the Tigers and the Lions? Again, an example of a sport that is well supported proving that there is money in them pockets...and that Rugby has found out how to extract that money (check out Leicester Tigers's attendances) and speedway has not.

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It's not really that difficult to do things that add value to a meeting without spending money. most of it is just common sense.

 

So is ANY promoter doing it right??

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Probably. But even the best businesses can improve. I doubt if any promotors is 100% happy with their set up and would welcome ideas / suggestions. Hence the idea of a questionnaire

 

It's called an internal audit. Once every few months I get a mate to anonymously go into both my pubs and complete a questionnaire on lighting, cleanliness, music,atmosphere,service etc... Then I pay him to have a night out in a few competitors bars. I myself, every time I visit another bar am on the look out at how they're run

 

It keeps me on my toes and lets me know what else is going on out there.

 

I wonder how many promotors visit other tracks as a paying spectator ?

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I wonder how many promotors visit other tracks as a paying spectator ?

 

To be honest I think their time would be far better spent visiting Football, Rugby, Ice Hockey or taking a trip to the US and experiencing US Football or Baseball. If other tracks are following the seemingly established model of 'play some music, have an announcer/roving mc then rely on the 15 races to fully entertain the paying punters' they are unlikely to find much inspiration.

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To be honest I think their time would be far better spent visiting Football, Rugby, Ice Hockey or taking a trip to the US and experiencing US Football or Baseball. If other tracks are following the seemingly established model of 'play some music, have an announcer/roving mc then rely on the 15 races to fully entertain the paying punters' they are unlikely to find much inspiration.

 

agreed, variations on a 'same old, same old' theme in most cases so not much to be gained...

 

ice hockey/basketball/rugby would be worth a visit...

 

and maybe also visit a 'mcdonalds' and a 'wimpy'??

 

see which establishment is busiest and review why, ie whose got the youngest customer demographic, whose got the highest level of brand loyalty, which establishment in the customers' eyes delivers the best value for money and which of the two is seen as clean, modern, vibrant and exciting....

 

and then maybe also review which one is seen as ageing, hasnt moved with the times and has a brand perceived by many as being a relic from the '70's that simply didn't adapt to the modern day customers needs till it was too late and is now eventually updating its business model to meet the 21st century expectations of its customers...

 

might be hard to find a 'wimpy' to review though to be honest, as 'amazingly' there are not that many left.... :blink:;)

Edited by mikebv
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Brummies next two home matches against Lakeside and Eastbourne are £10 admission with the vouchers they handed out tonight. They gave everyone envelopes with about 6 of these vouchers in to hand out to family, friends, work colleagues etc. This was done a few years back and resulted in a big crowd and many newcomers, hope its the case again.

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Brummies next two home matches against Lakeside and Eastbourne are £10 admission with the vouchers they handed out tonight. They gave everyone envelopes with about 6 of these vouchers in to hand out to family, friends, work colleagues etc. This was done a few years back and resulted in a big crowd and many newcomers, hope its the case again.

 

Any idea how many of those newcomers continued after the bonus period ended! Did the venture actually work, and if £10 was proved to be an attractive figure to induce more spectators why did it not continue at the that charge? Or have I misunderstood the objective of the initial Birmingham scheme?

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Minimal sponsorhip coupled with minimal media coverage makes it a dying sport - one of the few that has failed miserably to capitalise on Sky coverage.

 

Sadly, I tend to agree. I have seen so many errors and 'corrections' made since I saw my first meeting in April 1946. I fail to see any major happening on the way to recreate my initial optimism and then fervent love for speedway.

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Any idea how many of those newcomers continued after the bonus period ended! Did the venture actually work, and if £10 was proved to be an attractive figure to induce more spectators why did it not continue at the that charge? Or have I misunderstood the objective of the initial Birmingham scheme?

Have to agree, if you are trying to attract NEW fans by charging £10 why would they come back if you whack up the price the next again week.
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Have to agree, if you are trying to attract NEW fans by charging £10 why would they come back if you whack up the price the next again week.

 

Maybe reverse psychology is needed then. Charge NEW fans £20 for their first two visits, and then they'll think that the standard £16 is cheap in comparison and will faithfully come ever after....perhaps! :wink:

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Maybe reverse psychology is needed then. Charge NEW fans £20 for their first two visits, and then they'll think that the standard £16 is cheap in comparison and will faithfully come ever after....perhaps! :wink:

and make the fans wear a black and white wooly bobble hat as they pass through the turnstiles and call it the black n white double price tatical scheme but you can only do it when you have had 10 pints and are drunk enough to think its a good idea. it has the bspa written all over it. lol
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