No Sky Or League Sponsorship Money Etc...

[T.N.T.]

Blinking heck my maths was bad!

 

I did rush it!!

 

Oh dear but that would be 16 + 10 so 26 meetings with 30 if you get to play offs

 

30 if you get to the play off final ...... thats still only 15 home matches from mid March - the end of October !! ..... 13 if you don't make the play offs ............. that's on average one every 18 days whichisn't going to do much for the sport or attract fans especially if the rain puts paid to a few of those.

 

 

 

Let's just use Wolves as an eample ...... Taking into ccount 11 teams in the EL

 

17 March - Olympique (from 2013)

24 Mar - League

31 Mar - XXX (NZ GP)

7 Apr - XXX (NZ GP)

14 Apr - League 2

21 Apr - League 3

28 Apr - League 4

5 May - League 5

12 May - League 6

19 May - League 7

26 May - League 8

2 Jun - League 9

9 Jun - League 10

16 Jun - ....................... Half way break

23 Jun - League 11

30 Jun - League 12

7 Jul - League 13

14 Jul - League 14

21 Jul - League 15

28 Jul - SWC

4 Aug - League 16

11 Aug - League 17

18 Aug - League 18

25 Aug - League 19

1 Sep - League 20

8 Sep -

15 Sep - Play Off

22 Sep - Play Off

29 Sep - Play Off Final

6 Oct - Play Off Final

13 Oct -

20 Oct - Olymique

27 Oct -

 

There are a few free weeks and Wolves could run a meeting when the NZ GP is on if they wish against a team that doesnt feature a GP rider (which could be most of them) and use PK or Bomber as a guest for Tai (hoping he returns)

 

EXAMPLE ONLY !!

Edited November 3, 2013 by T.N.T.

[LagutaRacingFan]

[BluPanther]

 

30 if you get to the play off final ...... thats still only 15 home matches from mid March - the end of October !! ..... 13 if you don't make the play offs ............. that's on average one every 18 days whichisn't going to do much for the sport or attract fans especially if the rain puts paid to a few of those.

 

 

 

Let's just use Wolves as an eample ...... Taking into ccount 11 teams in the EL

 

17 March - Olympique (from 2013)

24 Mar - League

31 Mar - XXX (NZ GP)

7 Apr - XXX (NZ GP)

14 Apr - League 2

21 Apr - League 3

28 Apr - League 4

5 May - League 5

12 May - League 6

19 May - League 7

26 May - League 8

2 Jun - League 9

9 Jun - League 10

16 Jun - ....................... Half way break

23 Jun - League 11

30 Jun - League 12

7 Jul - League 13

14 Jul - League 14

21 Jul - League 15

28 Jul - SWC

4 Aug - League 16

11 Aug - League 17

18 Aug - League 18

25 Aug - League 19

1 Sep - League 20

8 Sep -

15 Sep - Play Off

22 Sep - Play Off

29 Sep - Play Off Final

6 Oct - Play Off Final

13 Oct -

20 Oct - Olymique

27 Oct -

 

There are a few free weeks and Wolves could run a meeting when the NZ GP is on if they wish against a team that doesnt feature a GP rider (which could be most of them) and use PK or Bomber as a guest for Tai (hoping he returns)

 

EXAMPLE ONLY !!

And this illustrates the downside of the playoffs. If you come 5th, your season ends on Sept 1st, and that's ridiculous...

[Gemini]

 

 

.....TNT...... Get back to basics and get 11 or 12 teams, ride each other twice giving you 20 or 22 home meetings and the same amount away. End of the season the top four play off and the Champions are then crowned in the first week of October. ........Plus the rest of the post.

 

TNT.....your best ever post which echoes my thoughts exactly. Trouble is one of your fellow Wolves fans is very much against not having the top riders and will probably stop going. Can't please everyone.

[skthecat]

Why not have the play offs like this:

League winners straight through to final.

 

2nd and 3rd race each other home and away, the winner face the team that finished #1 in 2 leg final.

Still provides end of season finale, gives team at top some advantage by going straight to final....

[Gemini]

I'm pretty sure that method has already been used before but the top team ended up missing out on a lucrative semi-final so it was ditched.

[DiamondsRock]

 

Get back to basics and get 11 or 12 teams, ride each other twice giving you 20 or 22 home meetings and the same amount away. End of the season the top four play off and the Champions are then crowned in the first week of October.

 

EL sides seem to barely be able to afford the current league "and a half" campaign, never mind running the league twice. Get back to basics, and just run it once, and mess on with the KOC / Craven Sheild if the fixture list needs padding out.

Edited November 3, 2013 by DiamondsRock

[New Science]

I believe there was one South Coast promoter who could afford a secret supply of his own Hob Nobs in case the others ganged up on him and voted for custard creams. Two others threatened not to take part because they were promised Ginger Nuts and wanted an independent body to make a decision on the choice of biscuits.

 

On a more serious note the two biggest events to affect British Speedway in the past twenty years are the rise of the Polish League, once the shackles of communism were removed, and secondly the increase in the number of GPs. Financially we can't compete with Poland but we did have Friday and Saturday tracks where the riders could earn a few bob. Since we now have a GP every other week it's no longer practical to run in the Elite League on one of those nights so these tracks have moved to midweek where they obviously don't attract the same number of spectators. Of these two I would say the GPs have had the biggest affect as no Elite league track raced on a Sunday anyway so that didn't affect anyone riding in Poland.

 

The suggestion that this is just an Elite League problem and nothing to do with the Premier League is a bit short sighted. If the Elite League was to fold what would happen to the clubs, no real Speedway fan would want a club to close down so they would apply to join the Premier League which would then by default become the top league. As riders developed they would qualify for the GPs and want every other Fri/Sat off so we'd be back to square one. I really have no idea how this conundrum can be solved, lots of fans have put forward suggestions on this forum all of them worthy of consideration, but equally some other fans would be thinking "If that happens I'm not going anymore" The wrong thing is for the BSPA to do nothing and let things get worse but doing the right thing might just prove to be very tricky.

Eastbourne run on a Saturday night,have no grand prix riders,have about 19 free Saturdays in a 30 week season and they still lost £70,000 .Just having more weekend speedway will not fix speedway's problems,improving the core product will.Just to cheer myself up I watched a rerun of the Poole/Coventry play off final 2010,nobody was complaining about rundown stadiums,poor presentation,double points etc just revelling in watching great speedway.If we can get good speedway regularly former fans will return,people will literally 'stand on a grass bank' to watch a good product ! not sure how we get a better product thou ?

[stevebrum]

And this illustrates the downside of the playoffs. If you come 5th, your season ends on Sept 1st, and that's ridiculous...

Whereas if you don't have the play offs you could be cast adrift towards the bottom and your season ended well before September.

A bit like several times who aren't in contention to top the league.

 

Plus didn't Poole qualify for the play offs right on the cut off, which was well after 1st Sept??

Edited November 3, 2013 by stevebrum

[Cockney Rebel]

Eastbourne run on a Saturday night,have no grand prix riders,have about 19 free Saturdays in a 30 week season and they still lost £70,000 .Just having more weekend speedway will not fix speedway's problems,improving the core product will.Just to cheer myself up I watched a rerun of the Poole/Coventry play off final 2010,nobody was complaining about rundown stadiums,poor presentation,double points etc just revelling in watching great speedway.If we can get good speedway regularly former fans will return,people will literally 'stand on a grass bank' to watch a good product ! not sure how we get a better product thou ?

That rather proves my point, even though Eastbourne don't have GP riders how many opposition teams turned up without the GP stars using guests, r/r etc, which may have affected the number of people attending or maybe Easbourne didn't ride on GP weekends which means fans get out of the habit of going regularly. Bob Dugard said a similar thing in the Speedway Star a couple of weeks ago regarding the GPs. I agree one hundred percent about what you're saying about not caring what the stadium is like if you can watch good racing and an exciting meeting. Unfortunately no sport can guarantee an exciting meeting/match be it speedway, football, Rugby or tiddlywinks. I do feel that nowadays some of our expectations are too high not only in Speedway but life in general, so many people live on credit that thy can't really afford and that attitude extends into other aspects of our lives. Want a nice new car? get it on credit. Want a nicer house? take out a bigger mortgage. Holiday in the West Indies? My flexible friend will pay for that. Want a League winning Speedway team and lots of exciting races? Erm.. not so simple.

If only Carlsberg ran Speedway

[BluPanther]

Whereas if you don't have the play offs you could be cast adrift towards the bottom and your season ended well before September.

A bit like several times who aren't in contention to top the league.

 

Plus didn't Poole qualify for the play offs right on the cut off, which was well after 1st Sept??

Still think something should be done to keep the season going for those that are not in the play offs. I go to watch good speedway, and don't really care if its a play off or some other meeting. Just don't want it to end early Sept..

[Steve0]

Still think something should be done to keep the season going for those that are not in the play offs. I go to watch good speedway, and don't really care if its a play off or some other meeting. Just don't want it to end early Sept..

And I don't want it to start in March - when the weather is Baltic - hardly supports the concept of speedway being a summer sport!

[stevebrum]

Still think something should be done to keep the season going for those that are not in the play offs. I go to watch good speedway, and don't really care if its a play off or some other meeting. Just don't want it to end early Sept..

To me Poland have the right idea. Play offs for those at the top end and chance for more meetings and race for positions for those in the bottom end.

Obviously they, like Sweden do have promotion/relegation which gives their leagues some credibility.

Maybe start the league racing slightly later say mid-late April and run something like a KO Cup to start the season, maybe fans will support something launched that means something.

The KO Cup became a joke and was rightfully dropped this season, but to give it some importance it needs to perhaps be relaunched perhaps with PL involvement.

[Cockney Rebel]

Still think something should be done to keep the season going for those that are not in the play offs. I go to watch good speedway, and don't really care if its a play off or some other meeting. Just don't want it to end early Sept..

I'm with you on that Blupanther, any speedway is better than none. Unfortunately not everybody thinks like that, some fans only want meaningful matches, I presume they mean league racing so with a 10 team Elite league you're only going to have 18 home meetings or 20 if you make the playoff final. A very short season.Then what? go home and wait for next year? Can promotions who have to rent the stadium earn enough in those weeks to cover the rent, assuming they rent for a year and not just on a weekly basis? Of course we can all spend our money on what we want, if fans only want to watch the "meaningful" League meetings that's their prerogative but if their club folds through lack of support of the "lesser" meetings don't be surprised.

[BuzzCagney]

Speedway survived and, at times, thrived before SKY. It can again.

So we may have to lose the top riders to cope with the loss of money- ok, lets do that.

Do away with the frankly only-there-to-satisfy-SKY play-offs. Yes, it can provide a spectacle but it also leaves the sport looking rather daft at times to the non-fan.

Go back to 13 heats and a second half. Get a local sponsor for the second half every week and it will help cut costs.Happiness can be 40-38 again.

Have one cup competition that carries real prestige and try to get a big name sponsor to add weight to it. For preference a national newspaper for the publicity.

Bring back the Golden Helmet match races. It will add interest and excitement again for minimal expense.

Get some energy into the presentations. Some clubs are better at this than others. Try to keep admission prices as low as possible, of course. People just cannot pay £100+ a month in admissions.

If this all sounds like speedway 30 plus years ago then you are right. It is. Back then speedway was exciting and attracting crowds. Speedway should look to its past to create a future. SKY didn't prove to be the answer after all and the money they paid in just made for a sport all too prepared to sit on its arse rather than look at what it has been offering. Given some brave choices speedway can survive.

All imo of course.

[Starman2006]

Speedway survived and, at times, thrived before SKY. It can again.

So we may have to lose the top riders to cope with the loss of money- ok, lets do that.

Do away with the frankly only-there-to-satisfy-SKY play-offs. Yes, it can provide a spectacle but it also leaves the sport looking rather daft at times to the non-fan.

Go back to 13 heats and a second half. Get a local sponsor for the second half every week and it will help cut costs.Happiness can be 40-38 again.

Have one cup competition that carries real prestige and try to get a big name sponsor to add weight to it. For preference a national newspaper for the publicity.

Bring back the Golden Helmet match races. It will add interest and excitement again for minimal expense.

Get some energy into the presentations. Some clubs are better at this than others. Try to keep admission prices as low as possible, of course. People just cannot pay £100+ a month in admissions.

If this all sounds like speedway 30 plus years ago then you are right. It is. Back then speedway was exciting and attracting crowds. Speedway should look to its past to create a future. SKY didn't prove to be the answer after all and the money they paid in just made for a sport all too prepared to sit on its arse rather than look at what it has been offering. Given some brave choices speedway can survive.

All imo of course.

[pandorum]

Have one cup competition that carries real prestige and try to get a big name sponsor to add weight to it. For preference a national newspaper for the publicity.

 

The sport could not attract ANY sponsor for it's leagues even with 15 years of excellent TV coverage so how will it attract a big sponsor for a cup with less than barely two dozen teams in it without TV?

A national newspaper :) Those days are long gone.

[tonyd]

Speedway survived and, at times, thrived before SKY. It can again.

So we may have to lose the top riders to cope with the loss of money- ok, lets do that.

Do away with the frankly only-there-to-satisfy-SKY play-offs. Yes, it can provide a spectacle but it also leaves the sport looking rather daft at times to the non-fan.

Go back to 13 heats and a second half. Get a local sponsor for the second half every week and it will help cut costs.Happiness can be 40-38 again.

Have one cup competition that carries real prestige and try to get a big name sponsor to add weight to it. For preference a national newspaper for the publicity.

Bring back the Golden Helmet match races. It will add interest and excitement again for minimal expense.

Get some energy into the presentations. Some clubs are better at this than others. Try to keep admission prices as low as possible, of course. People just cannot pay £100+ a month in admissions.

If this all sounds like speedway 30 plus years ago then you are right. It is. Back then speedway was exciting and attracting crowds. Speedway should look to its past to create a future. SKY didn't prove to be the answer after all and the money they paid in just made for a sport all too prepared to sit on its arse rather than look at what it has been offering. Given some brave choices speedway can survive.

All imo of course.

 

 

I think this is a great post and true. We have got to look back to move forward. Lets get back to basic speedway, rules that were tried and tested, no stupid double point rides and at the end of the season the team at the top of the league to be called champions.

How about putting some dirt on the tracks and reverting back to upright machines .........Controversial I Know but could a cost saving be made ? cheaper bikes? lower mainaince / repair bills for the riders?

Happiness needs to be 40-38 once again.

Edited November 3, 2013 by tonyd

[jimmy jimmy]

But we aren't in the 1970s any more, many fans can't afford speedway every week. Give me better quality once a fortnight than wobblers every week.

Edited November 3, 2013 by jimmy jimmy

[T.N.T.]

Still think something should be done to keep the season going for those that are not in the play offs. I go to watch good speedway, and don't really care if its a play off or some other meeting. Just don't want it to end early Sept..

 

How about the teams that fail to make the play-offs ride against each other for the Peter Craven or Jack Young trophy that seem to have disappeared. If there are 7 teams then include a bye and do a straight KO or put 5th, 8th, 9th and bye in one group and 6th, 7th 10th and 11th in the other. Then the two winners meeting in the final which would take you through to October.