Tigerite Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 What utterly baffles me is why a city the size of Sheffield has so few regular supporters.Think you could say that about every major city track in this country. In my 30 years of following the Tigers all over the country the crowds have dropped off everywhere, particulary in the last 5 years. There are too many other things for people to do in a city like Sheffield these days for less money than it costs to go to speedway and it's hard to compete.2 poor/unentertaining teams haven't helped in the last 2 years, there was pretty much only the hardcore supporters left in the second half of last season. The new owners will need to do plenty of marketing/advertising to bring some of the old faces back and bring new ones in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spin king junior Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Not a Sheffield supporter, but I have seen some inspiring racing there over the years. It was particularly exciting a few seasons ago when Ashley and Simon were reserves. The car parking has doubled in price, but only gone up a pound! It is a good stadium, good facilities and I will be very sad not to see Neil Machin greeting people at the gate. What utterly baffles me is why a city the size of Sheffield has so few regular supporters. I will be visiting there again this season. A lotta competition would be a partial answer to that. We've got 2 well supported football teams, with one being just down the road. As well as a whole host of other sports teams who've got a decent following and have had more success a lately. At the end of the day, people can only afford so much. I love going to watch Wednesday, and have also enjoyed the odd night at the ice hockey. But with the current prices, there's no way I could afford to watch em all regularly, and I'd imagine that the case for many others. But there's a good vibe going round, hopefully we'll see people coming back to the Sheffield once again and have a bit more to cheer about! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halifaxtiger Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 The new owners will need to do plenty of marketing/advertising to bring some of the old faces back and bring new ones in. Marketing and advertising won't go amiss, but I think there will be a fair few who even if they didn't go (or did and stopped going) last season will still keep tabs on what is happening with the team. I suspect that a considerable number of them will be there on opening night, simply because the line up is so much more impressive than it has been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cue Ball Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 What utterly baffles me is why a city the size of Sheffield has so few regular supporters. I will be visiting there again this season. 2x top (arguably) football teams, ice hockey team, basketball, rugby, theatres etc... Lots of variety and competition for people to spend their money on. Go to somewhere like Workington or Berwick and there is less to choose from 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowman Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 2x top (arguably) football teams, ice hockey team, basketball, rugby, theatres etc... Lots of variety and competition for people to spend their money on. Go to somewhere like Workington or Berwick and there is less to choose from So little to do in the South West that they have to name the team after a county! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cue Ball Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Exactly Willowman!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scunny1 Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Huge city, with many satellite towns surrounding it, I am also perplexed why attendances are so low at Owlerton. What bugs me most is trying to get out after a meeting and traffic lights on to Penistone road letting out about 3 vehicles, before they change back to red. My record for longest wait to get onto A61 is 48 minutes for what 250 yards? Still looking forward to our local derby though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve55 Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Huge city, with many satellite towns surrounding it, I am also perplexed why attendances are so low at Owlerton. What bugs me most is trying to get out after a meeting and traffic lights on to Penistone road letting out about 3 vehicles, before they change back to red. My record for longest wait to get onto A61 is 48 minutes for what 250 yards? Still looking forward to our local derby though It's always been a problem since the road was altered, but the longest wait is getting actually onto the road out of the car park. Much easier getting out of the Scunny car park, no traffic lights and not much traffic! I'm looking forward to the 1st meeting at Scunny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy2706 Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 2x top (arguably) football teams, ice hockey team, basketball, rugby, theatres etc... Lots of variety and competition for people to spend their money on. Go to somewhere like Workington or Berwick and there is less to choose from Obviously you know the city better than I, but Manchester has two teams yet Belle Vue seem to get bums on seats. Surely Utd and Wednesday don't have the same supporter base anyway? Certainly most of us have less disposable income than we enjoyed a few years ago and costs keep rising, but as Scunny1 points out there are many satellite towns around Sheffield. Speedway marketing appears to be sadly lacking nationally to me, it is almost as though promoters believe it to be someone elses responsibility! I wish I had a pound for every time I have been at a meeting and promoters have shouted at us to bring people in with us to boost their gates. The number of people who say 'Oh, do they still have speedway at Stoke then'? always worries me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cue Ball Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I've not been to Belle Vue for a fair few years, but last time I saw it on Sky (which I admit may well influence the level of attendance) I wouldn't say that their crowds were all that healthy. United and Wednesday probably don't attract the same levels of support, but then how many Man City and United fans actually come from Manchester?!? I would imagine that the % of Sheffield football supporters that travel to home games is much, much lower. I think speedway support across the country has dwindled regardless of track location, the ones such as Newport and Stoke that had less support in the first place have either disappeared or had to downsize the operation in order to survive. Its a vicious circle, money makes money - eg if you make loads of money you can afford to advertise on tv and/or radio and newspapers etc,and hopefully generate interest and boost attendance/profit, if you don't have loads you can't afford to advertise and once your support starts to slump you can do less about it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I went to the PLRC last season which had been my first visit for a while. Now that Peterborough are in the PL I am hoping to make at least one visit this season as I love both the track and the local pubs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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