More On The Decline Of British Speedway

[Kipper]

25% cost of materials, 75% gross margin to cover staff costs, premises, tax etc is a reasonable split for a manufacturing company. Not so sure on a service company as speedway is.

The FTSE 250 company I worked in for 30 years (in a sort-of niche market) was pretty pleased with a PBIT of 15 to 20 %.

PBIT = Profit before Interest and Taxation on a £200Mpa turnover.

[pugwash]

25% cost of materials, 75% gross margin to cover staff costs, premises, tax etc is a reasonable split for a manufacturing company. Not so sure on a service company as speedway is.

The FTSE 250 company I worked in for 30 years (in a sort-of niche market) was pretty pleased with a PBIT of 15 to 20 %.

PBIT = Profit before Interest and Taxation on a £200Mpa turnover.

Edited November 27, 2014 by pugwash

[Deano]

25% cost of materials, 75% gross margin to cover staff costs, premises, tax etc is a reasonable split for a manufacturing company. Not so sure on a service company as speedway is.

The FTSE 250 company I worked in for 30 years (in a sort-of niche market) was pretty pleased with a PBIT of 15 to 20 %.

PBIT = Profit before Interest and Taxation on a £200Mpa turnover.

 

Thank you Kipper.

 

 

 

So not quite so radicle.

 

£13.6's worth of cost for every £17 ticket.

 

Potentially £100K profit over a season isn't going to go very far re-invested. It's a tough one, but I think it really needs to be done to get more investors on board and not "rich fans".

[arnieg]

Them figures suggest speedway promoters are doing a good job. The average Premiership football attendance is 36000 so about 150% than in the YouGov Poll. The average Aviva Premiership attendance is 12500 so about 95% of the youGov Poll, the average 2020 cricket attendance is 7000 so about 50% of the YouGov poll. The average Super League (Rugby League) is 9000 so about 190% of the YouGov poll

 

So with there being 70 speedway fans, even if you matched ti tot he best performing sport (Rugby League) there should be about 130 people at the average Elite League meeting in the UK. But promoters manage to get 10 times that (1300 is surely not an unfair average for the EL right?). So well done to the individual members of the BSPA who actually manage to geta greater % of their fan base to meetings that any of the major sports in this country!

for further analysis of the yougov sample see

 

http://www.speedwayp...com/Zebra.shtml

[Shale Searcher]

 

When it comes to staff, most speedway promotions only have rider costs - although some may pay a team manager (?), and/or travel costs for key personnel. Other than that, speedway is hugely reliant on volunteers, which skews the financial analysis considerably.

As a raker at Leicester s Blackbird Rd in 1983, we were paid £1, a free programme and cup of pits urn tea a the interval!!!!

[Ray Stadia]

As a raker at Leicester s Blackbird Rd in 1983, we were paid £1, a free programme and cup of pits urn tea a the interval!!!!

Based on inflation, I would say £1.00 in today's terms would be about £3.50! Not even minimum wage. However, free entry (I presume) and you did get a chance to get 'up close and personal'.

[Shale Searcher]

Based on inflation, I would say £1.00 in today's terms would be about £3.50! Not even minimum wage. However, free entry (I presume) and you did get a chance to get 'up close and personal'.

VERY!!!! And I still do do it now, + a raft of other race day jobs, and still thoroughly enjoy being damn close to the racing!!! (No remuneration these days!!) AKA No BFH!

[The White Knight]

Based on inflation, I would say £1.00 in today's terms would be about £3.50! Not even minimum wage. However, free entry (I presume) and you did get a chance to get 'up close and personal'.

At Sunderland we worked for nothing and payed to get for Admission. Anything to try to keep our Track open. That was forty years ago.

 

That went well - didn't it? :sad:

[BuzzCagney]

The biggest problem that we have is there are too many people in influential positions who don't think there is a problem with speedway.

I know a sponsor who has put money into the sport for nearly 20 years. He pays up and goes along. Gets a bit of food plonked down in front of him and happily accepts all the nonsense of cancelled meetings, missing riders, poor entertainment and dwindling crowds without complaint. And when I ask him why he doesn't make the bosses more aware of these issues he just looks at me as if I'm the one who doesn't get it!

I fear the sport is dying by a thousand cuts. One painful slice is accepted after another and if something isn't done soon this once proud sport will have bled to death. To me its already probably too late to save it but there might be someone out there with the vision and power to save it. I certainly hope so.

[Guest]

The biggest problem that we have is there are too many people in influential positions who don't think there is a problem with speedway.

I know a sponsor who has put money into the sport for nearly 20 years. He pays up and goes along. Gets a bit of food plonked down in front of him and happily accepts all the nonsense of cancelled meetings, missing riders, poor entertainment and dwindling crowds without complaint. And when I ask him why he doesn't make the bosses more aware of these issues he just looks at me as if I'm the one who doesn't get it!

I fear the sport is dying by a thousand cuts. One painful slice is accepted after another and if something isn't done soon this once proud sport will have bled to death. To me its already probably too late to save it but there might be someone out there with the vision and power to save it. I certainly hope so.

 

There's an old saying that may apply to British speedway: "...it's dead but it won't lie down...!"

Edited December 2, 2014 by Guest

[Shale Searcher]

I don't think the rakers get paid at Foxhall, although they do get a race sheet (not a programme), and definitely a cup of lovely urn tea at the interval ... what a shame it was pits at Leicester

 

Mind you, there are only a couple of rakers on each bend, which seems fewer than "the good old days" and I'm not convinced their languid efforts make any difference - would anyone notice if they weren't there?

In Blackbird Road days, there were 4 rakers each end, and we had other duties then, red flags were ONLY used in daytime meetings, we also had to try and remove riderless machines from the track DURING the racing, remove helmet colours during the racing, chain guards, chains, steel shoes, and anything else that fell off during the racing, now, we are NOT allowed on to the track once the green light has come on and not go on it untill the chequered flag has dropped and riders speed reduced to helmetless parade speed... Health and safelty and all that. Although I did venture on to the track this season during a race, coming out the second turn to safely retrieve a riderless steel shoe that had lodged in some deep dirt and on the racing line, I did it quickly and was never in any danger, the steel shoe could have caused serious injury to any number of riders, officials and spectators had it been spat out by a high revving rear wheel!! Also, we are NOT allowed to take loose dirt back onto the racing line now, the riders don't want it there, it causes sudden loss of traction as the wheels skate over it like F1 tyre marbles.... Anyway, that's for another thread .........!! Edited December 2, 2014 by Shale Searcher