2015 Sgp & Swc Calendar

[PHILIPRISING]

CALENDAR due out mid-October after Torun.

 

Would Emil being European or World Champion make any difference in his own country? I doubt it. His own federation don't seem to give a damn!

[customhouseregular]

Thank you Philip for the on-going dialogue. Signing off now to watch "Gunfight at the OK Corral".

[New Science]

WORK about to start on Tampere track for 2015 ... shorter straights, wider corners. Lessons learned they say ...

Unfortunately your first chance is your best chance ,particularly at new venues !

[Humphrey Appleby]

For a supposedly World sport to rely heavily on Poland and Denmark surely diminishes the image. How many paying customers are needed to make a GP viable when one adds in the tv coverage and associated revenue. i was under the impression Auckland attracted around 20,000 this year...surely enough to make it viable.I may be a little naive here (given the current world situation) but would not Russia pay well for a major sporting event televised all over Europe?.

 

Unfortunately, there are really only 4 or 5 countries where speedway is ridden professionally to any extent, and no more than 8 with a sizeable fan base. That basically restricts the number of countries that will be interested in hosting, and generally the GPs in the smaller countries are underwritten by fan promoters.

 

You'll find that the reported GP attendances are often a work of fiction, and the real numbers (especially those who actually pay the full price) are likely somewhat lower. I seem to recall hearing a figure of around 11,000 for this year's NZ GP, and I'm not sure any of the GPs pulled anything like 20,000 in the end.

 

As to how many fans are needed to make a GP viable, it depends entirely on the underlying costs. These include the staging fee payable to BSI which can be substantial, the cost of renting the venue (likely to be higher for a one-off big city venue compared to an existing club track), and any additional costs needed to transport the riders and officials (which is required for GPs outside of Europe). Didn't Bill Buckley say he needed something like 25K+ at each NZ GP to break even, and that might even have been with local government support (which apparently wasn't forthcoming)?

 

Russia is an interesting one. Clearly Russia wouldn't pay the asking price to BSI otherwise they'd almost certainly have had one before now, especially as the SEC has disproved the argument about logistical problems. The bottom line is that if the Russians want you there, nothing is a problem. However, dealing with Russia is always dodgy, and the Ukrainian situation makes it even more difficult for do business with Russia at the moment.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Humphrey Appleby

[Mark]

CALENDAR due out mid-October after Torun.

 

Would Emil being European or World Champion make any difference in his own country? I doubt it. His own federation don't seem to give a damn!

Any clues on the 3 new venues. Warsaw, Horsens, Berlin ?

[customhouseregular]

 

Unfortunately, there are really only 4 or 5 countries where speedway is ridden professionally to any extent, and no more than 8 with a sizeable fan base. That basically restricts the number of countries that will be interested in hosting, and generally the GPs in the smaller countries are underwritten by fan promoters.

 

You'll find that the reported GP attendances are often a work of fiction, and the real numbers (especially those who actually pay the full price) are likely somewhat lower. I seem to recall hearing a figure of around 11,000 for this year's NZ GP, and I'm not sure any of the GPs pulled anything like 20,000 in the end.

 

As to how many fans are needed to make a GP viable, it depends entirely on the underlying costs. These include the staging fee payable to BSI which can be substantial, the cost of renting the venue (likely to be higher for a one-off big city venue compared to an existing club track), and any additional costs needed to transport the riders and officials (which is required for GPs outside of Europe). Didn't Bill Buckley say he needed something like 25K+ at each NZ GP to break even, and that might even have been with local government support (which apparently wasn't forthcoming)?

 

Russia is an interesting one. Clearly Russia wouldn't pay the asking price to BSI otherwise they'd almost certainly have had one before now, especially as the SEC has disproved the argument about logistical problems. The bottom line is that if the Russians want you there, nothing is a problem. However, dealing with Russia is always dodgy, and the Ukrainian situation makes it even more difficult for do business with Russia at the moment.

Many thanks for your informative reply.

[DutchGrasstrack]

 

Doubt it. Whilst grass track is reasonably popular in the North-Eastern Netherlands, speedway doesn't really have much presence these days. Road racing has a largely different set of fans.

 

The Amsterdam World Final wasn't a great success either, despite being held in a decent enough stadium, and that was more than 25 years ago. The Danish speedway scene is one of the bigger ones in the world, and if their fans won't travel a couple of hours to Copenhagen (without even mentioning the Swedish fans who're close enough too), then I can't see the few Dutch fans are going to bother, far less the Germans or Poles.

 

I think a Dutch GP can attract a great crowd, if it's held in the right place. The Gelredome stadion might be the place to be, close to the German border as well. Speedway and grasstrack is pretty much a shared sport in NL (also DE), most people visit both sports.

 

I can see many Germans, Poles, Danes etc. coming over to NL. The icespeedway GP's in Assen attract every year loads of visitors, I believe that there are more foreigners there then Dutch people.

Any clues on the 3 new venues. Warsaw, Horsens, Berlin ?

 

Melbourne?

[Ghostwalker]

I think a Dutch GP can attract a great crowd, if it's held in the right place. The Gelredome stadion might be the place to be, close to the German border as well.

Speedway and grasstrack is pretty much a shared sport in NL (also DE), most people visit both sports.

 

I can see many Germans, Poles, Danes etc. coming over to NL. The icespeedway GP's in Assen attract every year loads of visitors, I believe that there are more foreigners there then Dutch people.

 

I would think so too and we've talked about it before as well: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=69422&page=5&hl=gelredome&do=findComment&comment=2163979

[severnsider]

Russia is an interesting one. Clearly Russia wouldn't pay the asking price to BSI otherwise they'd almost certainly have had one before now, especially as the SEC has disproved the argument about logistical problems. The bottom line is that if the Russians want you there, nothing is a problem. However, dealing with Russia is always dodgy, and the Ukrainian situation makes it even more difficult for do business with Russia at the moment.

Not 100% sure of the last sentence as there were problems getting bikes to Togliatti this year and they only arrived earlier on the day of the meeting and just in time for practice as they were held up at the border for a long time before they were allowed to cross.

[iris123]

 

I think a Dutch GP can attract a great crowd, if it's held in the right place. The Gelredome stadion might be the place to be, close to the German border as well. Speedway and grasstrack is pretty much a shared sport in NL (also DE), most people visit both sports.

 

I can see many Germans, Poles, Danes etc. coming over to NL. The icespeedway GP's in Assen attract every year loads of visitors, I believe that there are more foreigners there then Dutch people.

 

 

Not so sure.I mean Gelsenkirchen is not far away from the Dutch border and wasn't a great success.You would basically be attracting the same crowd,so wouldn't expect a "great" attendance.10,000+ though would be ok for the Dutch in the right stadium,but do they have anyone who is willing to put on the show?Assen is something else really.It is almost a one-off.Not much chance for lots of people to see the sport apart from Assen + Berlin unless you make an expensive trip,so Assen has the market cornered.Wouldn't be the same for a speedway GP as there are more alternatives

[Humphrey Appleby]

I think a Dutch GP can attract a great crowd, if it's held in the right place. The Gelredome stadion might be the place to be, close to the German border as well. Speedway and grasstrack is pretty much a shared sport in NL (also DE), most people visit both sports.

Yes, but Gelsenkirchen wasn't really a success, and that's not a million miles from Arnhem.

 

The icespeedway GP's in Assen attract every year loads of visitors, I believe that there are more foreigners there then Dutch people.

What's the attendance at Assen - maybe 8K for each day? I think people are attracted to Assen because ice racing is something completely different and it's something to do in the winter months, but faced with a choice of GPs, would people choose to spend a weekend in Arnhem?

[customhouseregular]

Arnhem is a great place for a weekend.

[Ghostwalker]

Not so sure.I mean Gelsenkirchen is not far away from the Dutch border and wasn't a great success.You would basically be attracting the same crowd,so wouldn't expect a "great" attendance.10,000+ though

would be ok for the Dutch in the right stadium,but do they have anyone who is willing to put on the show?Assen is something else really.It is almost a one-off.Not much chance for lots of people to see the sport

apart from Assen + Berlin unless you make an expensive trip,so Assen has the market cornered.Wouldn't be the same for a speedway GP as there are more alternatives

 

Maybe maybe not but if you always are going with "safe bets" you aren't going make any "big wins". Arnhems isn't that far from Denmark either

"only" 600km from Vojens.So I think that Arnhem would have a slightly wider market then just NL+Western Germany. Eindhoven (90km away)

also have flights from/to UK (MAN and STN) as well as several Polish cities and also Copenhagen.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Ghostwalker

[iris123]

 

Maybe maybe not but if you always are going with "safe bets" you aren't going make any "big wins". Arnhems isn't that far from Denmark either

"only" 600km from Vojens.So I think that Arnhem would have a slightly wider market then just NL+Western Germany. Eindhoven (90km away)

also have flights from/to UK (MAN and STN) as well as several Polish cities and also Copenhagen.

But like i said it is really the same market as Gelsenkirchen.Not much difference and Germany i would say has a bigger speedway population.Of course if the sums work out it could work as long as i said,you have someone willing to take the risk.Is there anyone in The Netherlands or elsewhere who wants to take it?You also have to remember that most countries that take an interest in hosting a GP have at least one decent rider(NZ excluded and look how that has gone)which The Netherlands don't

 

As i have said what would be more realistic area wise is Rostock as you have Denmark,Sweden and Poland quite close.But are Güstrow or Teterow really up to a GP? As i doubt the Rostock football stadium as good as it is and i guess Rostock could do with the money

[Humphrey Appleby]

Arnhems isn't that far from Denmark either "only" 600km from Vojens.So I think that Arnhem would have a slightly wider market then just NL+Western Germany.

To me it doesn't really stack up as the potential audience is too distributed across too big an area, and Arnhem is not enough of an easy-to-reach tourist destination in the way that Prague or Riga are. The GPs in the smaller speedway countries that seem to do reasonably well for crowds, seem to be those where there's a well established club and a decent local rider or two.

 

That Germany can't seem to hold down a regular GP is quite telling, even though that probably has the fourth or fifth biggest fan base of all speedway countries. If they can't, then attempting to attract German fans to a GP in a neighbouring country seems doomed to failure; much as I'd like to see a Dutch GP (although I'd prefer Amsterdam).

[james1234]

A few dates on the GP website now. Prague is 23rd May

[Noodles]

A few dates on the GP website now. Prague is 23rd May

Odd, only a week after Tampere?

[Mark]

Odd, only a week after Tampere?

One date must be an error ?

[DutchGrasstrack]

Why? Should not be a problem I think?

 

Does anyone know if Melbourne is 'confirmed'? Australian media hinted 23.10 as a possible date... that brings the confirmed tracks on 8 sofar. What's more?

[PHILIPRISING]

Odd, only a week after Tampere?

JUST checked with BSI ... is correct and will happen more than once in 2015