Is Bsi Doing Enough To Promote Speedway?

[iris123]

I wonder how much they promote speedway to the outside world.I have to admit i was in Prague a week after the SWC and saw a few posters around the city.On the other hand i have not seen anything around the Vojens area apart from in the main streets.Also the new IMG European Rallycross meeting held in a nearby town was imo very poorly promoted.By luck i was in the area a week before the meeting and although i saw quite a number of posters(20 or more along the main streets in most towns and villages in the general area) advertising a medieval festival i only saw one poster when we stopped at a petrol station.There was only a tiny write up before in the paper and i saw nothing of the results afterwards and they are a giant in the field we are told.Quite disappointed as i was thinking of going,but only saw the stuff too late to make arrangements

[PHILIPRISING]

tv audience bigger than world of sport?......very very much doubtful

YOU mean the old ITV programme World of Sport? Think TV audiences in UK, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Australia would beat that let alone those showing recorded highlights either on the same night or later. And, of course, times 12...

Edited March 5, 2014 by PHILIPRISING

[ColinMills]

id disagree, just my opinion. id say world of sport would of been around the 3-4 million mark..we all know sky only had around 180k watch..terrestial tv is far wider reaching, and lets face it, sky sports are no mugs,they dropped it for a reason

[Humphrey Appleby]

THE World Championship belongs to the FIM as a whole not the various national speedway authorities.

Yes, yes, but who owns the FIM? The national federations no doubt, so it's a circular argument.

 

Years ago, the FIA insisted it owned the rights to the Formula 1. The teams led by Bernie Ecclestone decided there was no show without them, and took effective control of the sport along with most of the money. That's what speedway should have done, and should do now.

 

Their TV viewing figures also raise the profile of the sport globally but unlike some on here i don't see it as their job to get involved with grassroots speedway or to play any part in developing riders.

I'd agree it's not BSI's job, but the various speedway authorities (or the FIM on their behalf) should have ensured they directly benefitted from some of the revenue coming in from the sport's premier events.

 

With respect to global profile, I don't think the sport has any more of a profile now than 10 years ago - at least not in any meaningful (financial) sense. SGP revenue has only increased about 50% in real terms in that time, despite there being twice the number of GPs. Crowds are much the same as they ever were, even though a couple of prestigious venues (and one less than prestigious venue) have been added.

 

Maybe things would be worse without BSI's involvement - that would be a fair argument - but I don't think it can really be said it's taken either the SGP or the sport as a whole to new heights. In fact, the rest of the sport remains in decline, possibly even in Poland.

 

And, of course, the total TV audience is bigger than it was. That has to be a major factor when attracting sponsors, which in turn help to promote speedway.

And just what sponsors is it actually bringing in? The list of SGP sponsors seems to decline year-on-year, mostly consisting of the tourist boards and companies of the millionaires subsidising the GPs, media partners, equipment suppliers, and maybe one recognisable global name which may or may not actually be paying real money for the privilege.

 

Maybe it's benefitting the rider sponsorships, although at least a couple of riders have now broken ranks either because the benefits of the SGP are insufficient, or because their sponsors actually want them to ride elsewhere. Rarely do you hear of an F1 driver withdrawing because they prefer to drive in the European Touring Car Cup, or having to moonlight in British F3 to pay the bills, and that I think sums up how far things have actually advanced in 12 years.

 

Maybe speedway is just too niche and esoteric to be sellable to any degree, but neither have BSI performed any sort of miracles.

I have to admit i was in Prague a week after the SWC and saw a few posters around the city.

BSI would probably argue that's the job of the local GP organiser, except the ones they directly organise. They get their money from the staging fees, sponsors and television money, so why spend money on local advertising when ultimately it's the local promoter taking the risk?

Edited March 5, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby

[PHILIPRISING]

WOULD Gollob have withdrawn from the SGP had Monster still been paying him a hundred grand? I doubt it. Let's not forget he hasn't been at his best for some time and his value to Monster was obviously diminished but he acquired the deal in the first place because of the SGP ... just as have Holder, Ward and Woffinden.

 

Would Pedersen have Moldow without the SGP? I doubt it. And there are various other examples of how riders are benefitting from their TV exposure in the SGP.

 

I wouldn't argue that BSI themselves have found it tough to acquire a wide variety of sponsorship contracts but the Monster one is significant and the deals with various tourist organisations like those in Denmark, Sweden and Wales have proved very beneficial and not just financially.

[ColinMills]

i personally think this year will tell us all a lot..especially cardiff, as i think crowd figures there has stagnated, so

if having a brit world champ cant break the record figure, not much else will..

as far as sponsors go with bsi/tv coverage, the amazing sponsors with terrestial tv, which springs to mind, was the daily mirror..

unless speedway can consistantly make larger columns in newspapers, or get featured at the end of news items, i dont see

this sport progressing too far

[PHILIPRISING]

UNFORTUNATELY speedway doesn't have a ready made market for sponsors and advertisers ... no major bike or engine manufacturers, limited accessories, etc. No major oil companies (like Mobil) involved and so on. Speedway lives in its own little bubble and suffers because of it.

 

Newspaper coverage does little or nothing to encourage major sponsorship these days. It is all about TV, which is why F1 flourishes.

[Humphrey Appleby]

the Monster one is significant

So we keep hearing, but yet we've never seen any sort of figure. Sponsors and recipients are normally very happy to trumpet how much they're paying.

 

It'll come out eventually anyway, when we see the revenue for 2013.

Newspaper coverage does little or nothing to encourage major sponsorship these days. It is all about TV, which is why F1 flourishes.

The newspaper business is heading towards a slow death - not even worth worrying about. Not even convinced about TV given that fewer and fewer people, especially young people, are watching nowadays.

 

F1 is still on major channels at reasonably prime time, and is still associated with glitz and glamour. Speedway is not and never will be, and if the likes of Sky don't really see it as a value proposition, then it's difficult to see where it goes from here.

[jimmy jimmy]

BSI did a lot to promote Tai as World Champion in the UK, tv and radio appearances galore. Many more people I know have heard of him after the media interest in him at the end of last season.

 

As for the European Champion......well he isn't Polish is he........so nothing.

The BSI needs to change its approach to business.

Its time to move out into the world , and not just keep milking us Poles out of money.

 

It is good that the ban on competing in the World and European championships has been suspended, but it's wrong that its only for a year. It seems to me that in the proverbial speedway sandbox, there is a place for the SGP and the SEC provided that BSI would change its approach to the business.

 

As it is, the English company has had focused exclusively on milking us Poles . It charges us higher rates for the licences in order to be able to lower its price in Vojens or Terenzano . In addition, the BSI sells its licences close to Polish borders , as in hope that our fans will travel there and buy tickets . This is an easy business , but it cannot continue so , because soon there will be no World Championships but the European Championships .The English Company must begin to jostle its elbows in the United States, Australia and New Zealand , because there was a time when speedway there was very strong . They (BSI) needs to find new ambassadors in those countries, like we had in Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs . Mauger especially worked very actively in the Antipodes , organizing tournaments , inviting riders from Europe and the speedway was alive there . But Ivan is more than 70 years old , so let BSI find someone younger, like Jason Crump for example, and persuade him to spin speedway in Australia and New Zealand. It might do worldwide speedway a lot of good. As it is riders for a half a year are sitting on their bums and doing nothing. In my time come January we flew to the antipodes and rode in dozens of tournaments. Let's go back to that. Lets invest money in that because such an investment will pay off . This is my appeal to the BSI, because I am afraid that the FIM will do nothing . They (FIM) get few pennies for issuing some 500 speedway licenses , so speedway is not of interest to them. Gentlemen from the FIM are well aware that speedway will never be a mass sport that it will not be of interest to large corporations of Japan, etc., so they simply dont care . But perhaps BSI can do something about it. America is waiting. It's a great shame that the Grand Prix has been in existence for so many years , and yet there was not one tournament in the United States.

 

I look forward, with hope, to successful tests of a new, silencer being created by Leszek Demski . This pseudo - ecological silencer , which is currently being used should be smashed against a wall , because it made speedway dangerous. In general, and this is ironic what I am saying , all the technological changes kill speedway . On the one hand thanks to them it is safer than ever on the track , but on the other hand there is less excitement for fans as riders dont ride elbow to elbow . Speedway does not have to be fast , but it has to be spectacular. In the 70's I experienced as a rider some significant changes . From a two-valve to Java. Then came the four-valve engine . There were significant differences associated with these changes , but the excitement on the track was still there. Now every change makes a much greater difference.

 

* The above text has been translated and copied from Zenon Plech's blog , the 1979 speedway world champion runner-up.

Can't say i agree with much of that at all