Sky 2014

[pandorum]

Have you been to Leicester yet? Watch the racing there every week and you might just change your mind about Premier League being a better product. The truth is neither is as there are usually good races and boring races in all matches whichever league it is.

 

Exactly. That is the sport of speedway. Good meetings on bad tracks, bad meetings on good tracks. Of course the promoters could do more to improve the racing but with the number of factors that affect it the fault is not always down to the running of the track.

EL has provided some great racing over the years as has PL.

It needs everybody to work together.

More so if SKY have dumped the sport as it's not likely any of these fantasy saviours are going to leap in to fill the breach.

 

Speedway is badly run (if run at all) and has a poor product to offer up to TV.

Other sports have recovered and so could speedway.

There are lots of good ideas here on this forum.

But sadly the powers that be seem to see the fans as the enemy.

Until that changes I fear for the sport.

Next season will be a pivotal one and the BSPA need to wake up and see that tweaking a few rules to help Poole ( )will not be enough.

 

He has a point that they may ride in Britain to help pay for GP costs but BSI do not determine the pay structure the FIM do.

He has a point that they may ride in Britain to help pay for GP costs but BSI do not determine the pay structure the FIM do.

I said he had a point. That was the bit I thought was bonkers.

But the kid is not as demeneted as he sometimes sounds

[Halifaxtiger]

No totally wrong, i watch EL every week and the premier league is a better product.!

 

I suppose you could argue that as a whole that is true but in fact it is not the quality of the rider that makes a better product but the quality of the track.

 

Peterborough is way better than Buxton, but Mildenhall is way better than Coventry.

 

I think part of the problem is that the EL have taken the sky contract for granted. The contrast between the effort put in by Berwick when they were on the box and that by EL clubs was striking.

[montie]

 

 

I think part of the problem is that the EL have taken the sky contract for granted. The contrast between the effort put in by Berwick when they were on the box and that by EL clubs was striking.

 

I think that is a very good point,and the money from Sky was a bit like a drug to the EL, summed up by reading Patchets constant digs at the Sky team on Twitter--silly man

[SCB]

As TWK said you should take the time to actually read the posts before replying.

Got to agree with him there as the PL does reasonably well as a seperate entity and though having it's own problems seems to be run well enough.

Which league was the last to have a club go bust? What problems does the EL have that the PL doesn't?

[barrow boy]

Let's not kid ourselves why would sky ,eurosport ,playboy channel anyone want to pay & show the disaster that is the Elite league ? Shambolic stadiums ,teams made up of other teams riders ,ancient team managers/ promoters interviewed & spouting gibberish. Christ I am saying all this as a fan of 37 years but for me just from a tv view the GPs are a quality product the elite league is a shambles.

 

I agree

 

Here`s the rule taken straight from the rule book

15.11 After Heat 10 in an official Team fixture, only the Team that is losing may request a track

inspection, or seek abandonment of the Meeting

As I watched the farce on fast forward the following morning-I have to ask did Poole request the match to be called off at that point because if they did that would be against the rules

 

I heard or read somewhere that Belle Vue were reluctant to get involved in the decision to call a halt after heat 10 because they were worried that their suspended sentence for the original over watering of their track might be held against them. When I saw the gathering discussing it at the time I wondered why Jason Attwood took no part in the discussion.

[RobMcCaffery]

 

More so if SKY have dumped the sport as it's not likely any of these fantasy saviours are going to leap in to fill the breach.

 

 

Fantasy saviours? Who?

[Halifaxtiger]

Which league was the last to have a club go bust? What problems does the EL have that the PL doesn't?

 

I think the problems are the same. Its the scale of the problems that is the difference.

[Crump99]

FARCE is about right. But I wasn't there. Had a chat with Kelvin Tatum about it and his view was that the meeting should never have started. Putting down sawdust and more material on an already saturated track only made matters worse in his opinion.

 

I have no concrete evidence there was any conspiracy but the fact that the meeting was conveniently called off when Poole were the requisite seven points ahead could only had fuel to the argument that there was.

 

Afraid that the governance of speedway in general (look at Poland last weekend) these days is pretty poor and undoubtedly one reason why TV companies aren't falling over themselves to cover a full season of domestic speedway in the UK.

 

Glad you put that, I'm just told to get over it.

[BWitcher]

The Elite League NEEDS the Premier League to survive. You can't say that the Premier League needs the Elite League to survive - if it did - it would be dead!!!

 

I would suggest that's a rather ill founded argument there.

 

They are as equally important to each other.

 

I hardly think things would be rosy for the PL if the EL went away. Remember what happened in 95/96 when the higher league was abandoned and the leagues merged? It was the PL level clubs that couldn't survive.

 

If they merged again at a lower level the same situation would crop up, the EL teams would be able to afford the better riders, the PL clubs fighting over the scraps.

 

Let's take your argument to the Ultimate and remove all the existing EL clubs from the frame altogether.. what would happen now? Those top PL riders who currently double up would have a big drop in income, they would want better deals from the PL clubs. Costs would rise..

 

The sport, in order to thrive ideally needs 3 levels of racing and they are all dependent upon each other.

[StevePark]

I would suggest that's a rather ill founded argument there.

 

They are as equally important to each other.

 

I hardly think things would be rosy for the PL if the EL went away. Remember what happened in 95/96 when the higher league was abandoned and the leagues merged? It was the PL level clubs that couldn't survive.

 

If they merged again at a lower level the same situation would crop up, the EL teams would be able to afford the better riders, the PL clubs fighting over the scraps.

 

Let's take your argument to the Ultimate and remove all the existing EL clubs from the frame altogether.. what would happen now? Those top PL riders who currently double up would have a big drop in income, they would want better deals from the PL clubs. Costs would rise..

 

The sport, in order to thrive ideally needs 3 levels of racing and they are all dependent upon each other.

 

Only if the PL clubs were daft enough to pay at the higher level.

[BWitcher]

Only if the PL clubs were daft enough to pay at the higher level.

 

They already do, or am I missing the PL clubs rolling in their profits?

Edited September 30, 2013 by BWitcher

[Guest]

The Sky money has gone to subsidize the GP riders who are asking for silly money in order to subsidize their GP commitments due to the BSI's low pay structure.

The sooner Paul Bellamy and his stooge are driven out of the sport, The better.

 

ISN'T it time you donated your brain such as it is for medical science?

 

Every possibilty that the offer was rejected - simply not enough material for a worthwhile study!

 

The kid made a fair point.

OK he did not make it politely but he doesn't deserve that.

He does actually come out with some sensible posts on surprisingly more occasions than most here (including me) would imagine and has shown on more than one occasion that he is not as daft as he sounds.

 

He has a point that they may ride in Britain to help pay for GP costs but BSI do not determine the pay structure the FIM do.

 

The trouble is that Hougaard Racing Fans is too involved in solving the Syria problems to sometimes take his switch into speedway debates with any seriousness.

[PHILIPRISING]

IS he really Tony Blair... wow!

[dave69]

IS he really Tony Blair... wow!

 

.......or Charles Lynton ?

[StevePark]

They already do, or am I missing the PL clubs rolling in their profits?

 

Says who?

 

There's a whole lot more than riders wages eating into the profits of PL (or any League's) clubs.

 

I'd be amazed if any club from any League is making a profit.

[BWitcher]

Says who?

 

There's a whole lot more than riders wages eating into the profits of PL (or any League's) clubs.

 

I'd be amazed if any club from any League is making a profit.

 

So they are overpaying the riders then, you have just confirmed that yourself.

[StevePark]

So they are overpaying the riders then, you have just confirmed that yourself.

 

Where do I say that?

[BWitcher]

Where do I say that?

 

Do I really need to explain?

 

You have stated that there is a lot more eating into a clubs finances than riders wages. Yes there are. The vast majority of these are fixed expenses too. From this you put together a budget, with your expected income based on previous seasons attendances etc and work out what is viable in terms of paying your riders.

 

You've stated that you believe that ALL clubs are making a loss. Quite clear they are paying the riders too much then.

[StevePark]

Do I really need to explain?

 

You have stated that there is a lot more eating into a clubs finances than riders wages. Yes there are. The vast majority of these are fixed expenses too. From this you put together a budget, with your expected income based on previous seasons attendances etc and work out what is viable in terms of paying your riders.

 

You've stated that you believe that ALL clubs are making a loss. Quite clear they are paying the riders too much then.

 

And turning that 'on it's head' it could also mean the fans aren't coming through the door as they did last year (or indeed previous weeks) which eats into the 'imaginary' profits that you seem to believe speedway has got.

 

That budget (going back to the thread) being the EL cubs relying on SKY money and spending it before they've got it for 2014. Clever? I think not.

 

I also did not say all clubs are making a loss. What I said was they weren't making a profit. There is a big difference.

[mickthemuppet]

Says who?

 

There's a whole lot more than riders wages eating into the profits of PL (or any League's) clubs.

 

I'd be amazed if any club from any League is making a profit.

So howw many Football clubs in this country are making a profit.How many have gone into administration.

 

How many County Cricket counties are making a profit..They are all being kept going by the test match money., like speedway used to do with the world speedway finals at Wembley.