The Decline Of British Speedway

[Trees]

It must be boring if it wasn't the stadiums would be jammed.............................rose tinted glasses need removing!

It's not boring because if u have had a good match first time against a team u know u're in for another :-) Can work the other way of course but that is where all teams need to be strong away from home!

how many have vans sign written as INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY RIDER WHEN All that means they have ridden at Glasgow as well as Iwade

Not many bother with sign writing anymore do they?

[cowboy cookie returns?]

 

 

So you reckon that if teams only met once home and away nobody would get injured, and we wouldn't need guests ? Even if teams only met once home and away Poole and Kings Lynn would still need guests or R/R in place of their top two etc.

 

 

So by your reckoning Princess Diana's Funeral must be the most exciting event ever as it had the biggest audience.

Never said no one would get injured but the chances of riders missing because of other commitments would be far less and I think most sensible people would know what I ment......................I mean comparing Speedway to a dark day in this nations history

The fact of the matter is far more people are walking away from the sport then are coming into it so regardless of your view point or if you think I'm wrong the clear thing is something needs sorting...........now I would suggest that teams missing riders so much of the time crazy rules etc etc are a large part of the problem & I remember Eric Boocock on the C4 documentary that was filmed after Gary Havelock won his world title stating that the sport was down to its hard core fan base then & needed to grow.............whats happen we have had 20 years of in fighting watering down & fans walking away in ever larger numbers.

[The White Knight]

Replace Eastbourne and Birmingham with Cradley and Ipswich or Sheffield and away we go

What have you got against these three Clubs like?

[ch958]

What have you got against these three Clubs like?

 

why would 3 healthy succesful relatively well supported cubs commit suicide in a ruined EL which needs putting out of its misery

[Guest]

What have you got against these three Clubs like?

Enforced promotion is not a real concern surely? Clubs cannot be forced to change leagues! Or can they these days?

[Vince]

I know it'll be shouted down but I don't think there is actually much wrong with Speedway as far as getting people watching it! I know it could be improved in countless ways and things like stadium improvements may help people who go once to return or sporadic visitors become more regular. Tinkering with the rules, tacticals etc may infuriate the fans but don't really keep hardly anybody away. Same with having the top stars riding, only really matters to those already involved in the sport. Crowd levels could be slightly improved by these sorts of measures but there is plenty of evidence from new promotions that it doesn't bring the crowds flooding back.

 

My reasoning is simply that times have changed and Speedway as it is now is probably how it will trundle along much as it is for years to come with small bursts of popularity and longer spells of struggling. Pretty much like it has since it's inception really.

 

These days there are literally thousands of forms of entertainment available, most of it without walking outside of your door. To get people out of that door takes either a really major event or needs to be on the doorstep. Major motorsport events like F1, Cardiff SGP, MotoGP and World Superbikes take place once a year in the UK and draw excellent crowds, you can never replicate that atmosphere of generate that excitement on a weekly basis (except in Football to some extent). Other stuff like British Touring Cars or British Suoerbikes also pull good crowds but still only run a relatively few events. The vast majority of Motor racing, most sport in fact takes place in front of one man and his dog.

 

Compare Speedway to club Road Racing or Karting and it does very well, especially considering many of the meetings take place midweek when it is difficult for anybody to get good numbers through the door. There are many sports that can point back to crowd levels that were massively larger than they are today but like Speedway they would be foolish to expect a return to those levels.

 

Speedway tends to be a weekly event while even Football is generally bi-weekly and has the massive advantage of being instilled into youngsters pretty much from birth. It is impractical to have all meetings on a single night in any division as most clubs don't own their stadium. Personally I think there is merit in clubs running a small number of EL meetings and filling the fixtures with NL meetings that are very much cheaper to run.

 

Finally though I have long been in favour of advertising Speedway as an extreme sport and emphasising the mad, bad and dangerous angle I don't think it would do very much more than generate on of those relatively brief spells of popularity and then only if done really well. Making the sport fit into realistic expectations and trying to keep the fans you have and make small improvements in crowd levels over time is the way forward in my opinion.

 

 

[topsoil]

As Vince says above there isn't a lot wrong with the basic concept of the sport. It is just a shame it keeps shooting itself in the foot. Too many rained off meetings, too many rider absences, inadequate facilities, lack of investment in training etc.

If you look at old footage of the sport in previous decades there is night and day between the quality of the product on the track.

Unfortunately costs have also gone up accordingly and a lack of investment and long term planning is catching up with the sport big time.

[Nikko]

I think the sport needs to go back to grassroots and then rise again from the ashes.

 

Too many old promoters churning out decade old ideas to an aging fanbase in crumbling stadiums.

 

Its been said before but look at Rugby League, 20/20 cricket, Darts as examples of sports that reinvented themselves and have benefited from this.

 

I wish we all new the answer to save this great sport, and it is a great sport, but unfortunately speedway is stuck in a rut..

 

If Barry Hearn came along, even with his track record, and said to the BSPA "I could turn this around" the response from the old guard would be "You dont understand son, put a meeting on and they will come, we dont need your new fancy ideas" - Enough said.

[orion]

 

why would 3 healthy succesful relatively well supported cubs commit suicide in a ruined EL which needs putting out of its misery

The Lions have had there best year money wise in the El this year by all accounts ..Clubs find it hard it all leagues and club tend to go bust because they are poorly run as a rule ... Brum lost a packet in the PL Boro have done the same this year . One of the biggest problems we have is thinking that the PL is doing well .

[Grachan]

I like the idea of the leagues amalgamating an splitting into divisions with promotion and relegation. One problem with that might be the lack of riders to go round though. This is one reason we need double up riders, fast track riders and so on.

 

If you were to make a league of 18 teams - as it once was - and then start putting the riders that currently ride in the UK into those teams, you are down to National League riders by the time you get to the reserves.

 

But I say if there are enough riders to go round then amalgamate the leagues and have promotion and relegation.

 

Have the same points limit in all leagues but have a rider average conversion between the leagues, so that if a rider drops down his average goes up or if he goes up a league his average drops. Same as now.

 

Any rider from a relegated team can keep his higher league average if he stays with the same team so that it gives an incentive the better teams to be a "glamour" club in the higher league and give them a good chance of going back up.

 

Not sure where the extra riders come from though! Maybe we should go back to fat old blokes with moustaches riding at reserve like we had in them there good old days.

[Nikko]

All good ideas Drop a Gog, lets hope theres many more thrown into the mix.

 

I wasnt being negative, I have wasted many hours over 2 years discussing new ideas with a well known promoter. The problem is he doesnt think theres a problem, and has gone on record to say so.

 

Lets see what people come with.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Nikko

[Grachan]

I don't think the return of second halves would solve anything. Second halves weren't popular even when the sport was in it's heyday.

 

I remember once they actually introduced some sort of competition for second halves (was it the Golden Sash or something like that?), with points being added up and so on, just to get people to hang around and watch, but most people still went home after the main match.

[moxey63]

I was listening to the radio the other day, about the £8 minimum wage, how some businesses were saying, they wouldn't be able to afford it if brought in and would either have to close or lay-off some staff.

 

The show host (it was LBC and James O'Brien) questioned this attitude, asking if it was actually such a worthwhile business... if it couldn't afford to pay its staff this amount (which would be introduced in five years' time).

 

He was sort of right.

 

Similarly with speedway. If a track can't afford to run in its current shape, it has to make changes or even pull down the shutters.

 

It sounds simplistic, but how can a promoter say he's doing his job to the best of his ability or doing the sport any favours, simply by bailing out the track every year.

 

Surely, by accepting they'll lose cash every year, speedway bosses don't appear that high up on the business side of the sport.

 

It does raise the question... whether their attitude at attempting to keep the sport going at their base despite losing money year in and out, is whether they have done the sport more good than bad.

 

Alright, so many a track has been saved from folding, but the attitude of injecting cash into floundering clubs has only hidden the need for them to sort out the problem.

 

When a promoter says they have lost £100,00 in a season, surely they should have to answer to somebody independent, who has the interest of the sport at heart.

 

Speedway cannot keep on the way it is.

 

Not enough fans, admission being raised every year and fans dwindling. Something has to give in the end.

 

But have we any promoters... with the business head to lead the sport out of the doldrums?

 

If they are prepared to lose so much of their money, just to give an ever-dwindling fanbase somewhere to go once a week, I question it.

[Vince]

I was listening to the radio the other day, about the £8 minimum wage, how some businesses were saying, they wouldn't be able to afford it if brought in and would either have to close or lay-off some staff.

 

The show host (it was LBC and James O'Brien) questioned this attitude, asking if it was actually such a worthwhile business... if it couldn't afford to pay its staff this amount (which would be introduced in five years' time).

 

He was sort of right.

 

Similarly with speedway. If a track can't afford to run in its current shape, it has to make changes or even pull down the shutters.

 

It sounds simplistic, but how can a promoter say he's doing his job to the best of his ability or doing the sport any favours, simply by bailing out the track every year.

 

Surely, by accepting they'll lose cash every year, speedway bosses don't appear that high up on the business side of the sport.

 

It does raise the question... whether their attitude at attempting to keep the sport going at their base despite losing money year in and out, is whether they have done the sport more good than bad.

 

Alright, so many a track has been saved from folding, but the attitude of injecting cash into floundering clubs has only hidden the need for them to sort out the problem.

 

When a promoter says they have lost £100,00 in a season, surely they should have to answer to somebody independent, who has the interest of the sport at heart.

 

Speedway cannot keep on the way it is.

 

Not enough fans, admission being raised every year and fans dwindling. Something has to give in the end.

 

But have we any promoters... with the business head to lead the sport out of the doldrums?

 

If they are prepared to lose so much of their money, just to give an ever-dwindling fanbase somewhere to go once a week, I question it.

The thing is that said Promoter has enough business sense to be able to lose £100,000 per year to his sport/ hobby. I find it difficult to believe that most Speedway promoters do a good job of running many different kinds of business and yet are incapable of making the best of Speedway. The running of the sport is actually already in the hands of people with excellent business heads, granted it might not seem like that at times but it's a fact.

 

Without 'hobby' promoters the sport, like a great many others, would have disappeared by now. Very easy to sit back and say what needs to be done when the vast majority on here have absolutely no idea at all of the figures involved. The majority of our suggestions are based on complete guesswork and while I agree that those running the sport would be foolish to completely ignore them we would be equally foolish to assume we know the answers when we don't even know half the questions.

[cityrebel]

I don't think the return of second halves would solve anything. Second halves weren't popular even when the sport was in it's heyday.

 

I remember once they actually introduced some sort of competition for second halves (was it the Golden Sash or something like that?), with points being added up and so on, just to get people to hang around and watch, but most people still went home after the main match.

i totally agree with you, I hated 2nd halves when I was a kid. I used to watch them at Wimbledon because I lived close to the stadium. The 2nd halves at wembley were pretty special because they used to invite a couple of top riders to compete in them most weeks, that was enough to tempt my old man to stay and watch them. Edited September 24, 2014 by cityrebel

[EC Rides Again]

This thread must appear on the Forum every 6 months or so.

 

As much as I am an old nostalgic I fear that harking back to the good old days of the 60's and 70's is futile. We live in a world of internet and electronic games, on demand/multi channel TV and multiple participation sports and activities competing for the public's time and money. Add in the economic changes to other speedway heartlands like Poland, where it was previously a Communist state, and the centre of gravity of the professional sport has inevitably shifted overseas.

 

The old model of promoters renting ready made "stadiums" and laying a track within it is just not tenable any more. The lack of freedom to race when it is most profitable to do so is just too much for the sport to overcome. For British speedway to flourish we will have to follow the continental model of sports clubs based in receptive communities. The money just isn't there to do anything else.

 

Somerset and Scunthorpe have shown that it is possible.

[The White Knight]

This thread must appear on the Forum every 6 months or so.

 

As much as I am an old nostalgic I fear that harking back to the good old days of the 60's and 70's is futile. We live in a world of internet and electronic games, on demand/multi channel TV and multiple participation sports and activities competing for the public's time and money. Add in the economic changes to other speedway heartlands like Poland, where it was previously a Communist state, and the centre of gravity of the professional sport has inevitably shifted overseas.

 

The old model of promoters renting ready made "stadiums" and laying a track within it is just not tenable any more. The lack of freedom to race when it is most profitable to do so is just too much for the sport to overcome. For British speedway to flourish we will have to follow the continental model of sports clubs based in receptive communities. The money just isn't there to do anything else.

 

Somerset and Scunthorpe have shown that it is possible.

................................. and Redcar.

Edited September 24, 2014 by The White Knight

[New Science]

I think the sport needs to go back to grassroots and then rise again from the ashes.

 

Too many old promoters churning out decade old ideas to an aging fanbase in crumbling stadiums.

 

Its been said before but look at Rugby League, 20/20 cricket, Darts as examples of sports that reinvented themselves and have benefited from this.

 

I wish we all new the answer to save this great sport, and it is a great sport, but unfortunately speedway is stuck in a rut..

 

If Barry Hearn came along, even with his track record, and said to the BSPA "I could turn this around" the response from the old guard would be "You dont understand son, put a meeting on and they will come, we dont need your new fancy ideas" - Enough said.

The problem you have that in the eyes of their fans the product served up in Rugby League,20/20 cricket and particularly darts has never been better you cannot say this of modern day speedway.Also the atmosphere at 20/20 and yet again darts is terrific, something else you can't say about a night at league speedway !

[Vince]

I couldn't disagree more if you look at Speedway without the rosy tint of nostalgia I firmly believe the racing is at least as good and probably better.

 

The atmosphere at 20/20 and darts might well be good, run the same events in the same place every week and see how long that lasts. Again the comparison is with relatively rare events and just how many people pay to watch darts in a season? I've no idea but would suspect Speedway does well in comparison.

 

Rugby and 20/20 are a fairer comparison but with the cricket at least it's done little for gates at ordinary league matches as far as I am aware. Rugby has done a terrific job of re-marketing itself but I think has already passed it's peak since then and it's another sport like Speedway that has peaks and troughs of popularity.

[New Science]

I couldn't disagree more if you look at Speedway without the rosy tint of nostalgia I firmly believe the racing is at least as good and probably better.

 

The atmosphere at 20/20 and darts might well be good, run the same events in the same place every week and see how long that lasts. Again the comparison is with relatively rare events and just how many people pay to watch darts in a season? I've no idea but would suspect Speedway does well in comparison.

 

Rugby and 20/20 are a fairer comparison but with the cricket at least it's done little for gates at ordinary league matches as far as I am aware. Rugby has done a terrific job of re-marketing itself but I think has already passed it's peak since then and it's another sport like Speedway that has peaks and troughs of popularity.

Firstly darts is Britain's fastest growing sport,16 weeks of Premier League Darts average attendance 7,5000.World championship will sell 40,000 tickets over 15 days.There is also a further 7 major tournaments all on TV and have sponsors queueing up to get on board.This years 20/20 cricket had a total attendance of 704,205(a record) average attendance 5,772. plus a 24,000 sell out for the final ,Sorry but however much you don't believe these 2 sports are on the up and have left speedway behind for dead. I've asked this question before but please tell us where this speedway is that's better than its ever been particularly in the Elite League ?