A Format To Suit Fans And Riders

[john birch]

You will never get me at another so called Elite League meeting until tracks race on a fixed night or at least Wed/Thurs combi. Top flight speedway is completely untenable on Fridays and Saturdays due FIM and Premier League. And before any Coventry fans tell me Thursdays didn't work, sorry but it was the worst team in 30 years (one win in the first dozen and the wooden spoon that caused the crowd to drop off). Having said that I think the original poster's idea does have some merit though.

[Christopher Bcmma Cook]

This was my suggestion to the future of speedway

 

British Premier League North

Berwick

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Newcastle

RedCar

Sheffield

Workington

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Leicester

British Premier League South

Ipswich

Peterborough

Plymouth

Rye House

Scunthorpe

Somerset

Eastbourne

Kings Lynn

Lakeside

Poole

Swindon

11 teams per league playing each other Home & Away (20 matches) in Total.

Overall League Winner is crowned respective Champion of each Division i.e. a Northern & Southern regional Champion (receives a trophy)

Both Northern & Southern Champions have a two-legged “Final” to be crowned overall British Speedway Premier League Champion (receives a trophy)

Introduce – British Speedway KO Cup

10 Team seeded into Round 2 (Random Draw)

Round1 - 12 teams race off for 6 places in the next round home & away legs

Round 2 – Last 16 home & away legs

Round 3 – Last 8 home & away legs

Semi Finals – home & away legs

Final – Last 2 home & away legs

Maximum meetings to win the trophy = 10 minimum or 8 if seeded

Introduce – British Speedway League Cup

Same format as above but no home/away legs, luck of the draw as to who gets home advantage, neutral venues however for Semi Finals and Final.

Maximum meetings to win the trophy = 5 meetings or 4 if seeded

If someone was to do the Quadrupal of Regional League Champion, British Champion. KO Cup and League Cup champion it would be no more than 37 meetings or minimum of 34

Regional Main leagues in order to boost attendances

Teams to go back to 6-rider teams running a same format as in 97’ with 15 heats.

All Cup competitions to run under the 13 heat format.

Rider no.6 to be a Fast Track rider either nominated by the league or through the Academy team if the club has one. Must be British and you convert their National League average (unless they already have premier league average).

For the first season, all averages must be converted from either the conference or elite league into what their "premier league" average would be (unless they already have a premier league average) for team building purposes.

Guest riders can only be sought from the other regional championship i.e. a Glasgow guest can be acquired from any team in the Southern league and vice versa.

Need to look at getting the “British Final” individual meeting at the Olympic Stadium, Speedway needs to get back into London.

If the GP riders are lost then so be it, Speedway needs to fix itself before it can sustain the big names, maybe in a few years there can be a Super-Six league put together in the summer featuring speedways biggest stars (bit like Indian cricket). But lets first fix the product.

[Shale Searcher]

82.89% of people who say 87.51% that said 80% are ex Speedway Supporters!!

[A ORLOV]

82.89% of people who say 87.51% that said 80% are ex Speedway Supporters!!

At least 150% of people agree with that !!!

[SCB]

Even if you asked people "Do you think fixed race nights are a good idea" and you found out 100% of people agreed they are, once you tell them that the race night is a Monday a load of them will complain, so you try and Wednesday and thats no good and so on. You'll never please the majority with a fixed race night.

 

I've said for a long time now the issue is not a fixed race night but in stead a consistent fixture list that means teams ride once a week. Not 4 times in one week then once the week after followed by 3 weeks without a meeting. Doesn't work for the riders, clubs or fans who all end up with cash flow problems or get out of a routine.

 

At least if it was 1 meeting a week, the fans would know every week to get home from work, feed the kids and head off for the speedway. No checking "is there a meeting tonight", the riders would know 1 meeting a week so would still get 2 or 3 days to relax, go home and see the family, chase sponsors or whatever else it is riders do. I don't think the day its done matters, just be consistent at each track.

 

It madness that one clubs had completed all away fixtures last year but had only completed about 3 home meetings while other clubs had ridden half the total number of meetings but a consistent home/awya split. All clubs should have raced within 3 meetings (1 as you may race earlier in the week, 1 for a rain off and 1 because I'm a nice flexible guy) the same number of meetings all season.

[bigcatdiary]

Even if you asked people "Do you think fixed race nights are a good idea" and you found out 100% of people agreed they are, once you tell them that the race night is a Monday a load of them will complain, so you try and Wednesday and thats no good and so on. You'll never please the majority with a fixed race night.

 

I've said for a long time now the issue is not a fixed race night but in stead a consistent fixture list that means teams ride once a week. Not 4 times in one week then once the week after followed by 3 weeks without a meeting. Doesn't work for the riders, clubs or fans who all end up with cash flow problems or get out of a routine.

 

At least if it was 1 meeting a week, the fans would know every week to get home from work, feed the kids and head off for the speedway. No checking "is there a meeting tonight", the riders would know 1 meeting a week so would still get 2 or 3 days to relax, go home and see the family, chase sponsors or whatever else it is riders do. I don't think the day its done matters, just be consistent at each track.

 

It madness that one clubs had completed all away fixtures last year but had only completed about 3 home meetings while other clubs had ridden half the total number of meetings but a consistent home/awya split. All clubs should have raced within 3 meetings (1 as you may race earlier in the week, 1 for a rain off and 1 because I'm a nice flexible guy) the same number of meetings all season.

Makes a lot of sense unfortunately the plonker who does the fixtures hasn't got any.

[Tsunami]

Even if you asked people "Do you think fixed race nights are a good idea" and you found out 100% of people agreed they are, once you tell them that the race night is a Monday a load of them will complain, so you try and Wednesday and thats no good and so on. You'll never please the majority with a fixed race night.

 

I've said for a long time now the issue is not a fixed race night but in stead a consistent fixture list that means teams ride once a week. Not 4 times in one week then once the week after followed by 3 weeks without a meeting. Doesn't work for the riders, clubs or fans who all end up with cash flow problems or get out of a routine.

 

At least if it was 1 meeting a week, the fans would know every week to get home from work, feed the kids and head off for the speedway. No checking "is there a meeting tonight", the riders would know 1 meeting a week so would still get 2 or 3 days to relax, go home and see the family, chase sponsors or whatever else it is riders do. I don't think the day its done matters, just be consistent at each track.

 

It madness that one clubs had completed all away fixtures last year but had only completed about 3 home meetings while other clubs had ridden half the total number of meetings but a consistent home/awya split. All clubs should have raced within 3 meetings (1 as you may race earlier in the week, 1 for a rain off and 1 because I'm a nice flexible guy) the same number of meetings all season.

A fixed night will do no good to British speedway. As you say, you can't please everyone all the time, and a lot of stadiums just could not be available every week on certain nights. So some tracks would not be available, and could close or have to drop to another league. The only group that want a fixed night is the riders who ride in multiple national leagues, but if a single night was chosen for the UK, how many tracks would actually be able to afford them. Instead of trying to eliminate the sport totally, let's stick with the tracks on their natural nights, based on stadium availability and the wish of most of the home crowd. There are bigger issues to tackle to maintain the sport, the biggest one being the shortage of British riders which, if sorted, could lead to the near elimination of expensive foreign riders.

[Shrimmy]

Christopher bcmma cook could you please explain why scunthorpe is in the southern section when clearly Sheffield,leicester,Coventry and Birmingham are more southerly !!

[barrow boy]

Christopher bcmma cook could you please explain why scunthorpe is in the southern section when clearly Sheffield,leicester,Coventry and Birmingham are more southerly !!

And haven't Eastbourne have already announced that they will only be competing in The National League?

[Starman2006]

This was my suggestion to the future of speedway

 

British Premier League North

Berwick

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Newcastle

RedCar

Sheffield

Workington

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Leicester

British Premier League South

Ipswich

Peterborough

Plymouth

Rye House

Scunthorpe

Somerset

Eastbourne

Kings Lynn

Lakeside

Poole

Swindon

11 teams per league playing each other Home & Away (20 matches) in Total.

Overall League Winner is crowned respective Champion of each Division i.e. a Northern & Southern regional Champion (receives a trophy)

Both Northern & Southern Champions have a two-legged “Final” to be crowned overall British Speedway Premier League Champion (receives a trophy)

 

People have been saying this for years now.. Its nothing new, but its the way forward imo.. That said, you must have some sort of fixed nights for speedway. You will never please everybody. But its got to be done..

[MattK]

That said, you must have some sort of fixed nights for speedway.

 

Why?

 

I like the idea of one big Premier League, but not all the other pointless trophys and cups which time and time again have proved unattractive for fans.

 

North and South leagues are win, but 20 fixtures is not enough, it needs to be half as many again. Each league needs a play-off with at least four teams, this keeps the season alive for as many clubs as possible.

 

The aim should be to provide enough meetings so that riders can make a living in Britain without having to double up, down, left and right.

 

If we get rid of the "top" riders then there would be no reason why clubs can't ride any night of the week they want.

[SCB]

I also don't get a north/south split. With Wolves, Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester possibly ending up being split. So gone are 3 local derbies, in stead they all get 1 each. Brilliant idea! Throw in Peterborough not being a million miles away either. The problem with a north/south split is you potentially ruin local derbies. What if one of that lot end up split off from the rest, doesnt get the derbies and struggles?

 

Have a two tier league system, clubs race at their level, taking into account local derbies. Try and encourage half a dozen PL teams (including Brum in that list) into the EL so it's more even. The gap between EL and PL is closer than ever now.

 

And get over this stupid them and us battles between the EL and the PL. Grow up, we're all in the same mess with the same rubbish.

Edited November 10, 2014 by SCB

[Christopher Bcmma Cook]

My poor geography lol but it gives you an idea, might be only 20 league meetings but with cups etc and success depending you could end up with over 30 meetings.

 

One could argue that the play offs should remain in both divisions to keep interest alive but it should be more about keep supporting your team.

 

At present you win the league and one club gets the glory, two cup competitions at the least gives a great opportunity.

 

Then it offers more individual meetings.

 

Can't see a better way forward in my eyes, could boost attendances and reduce travel costs for riders

[Christopher Bcmma Cook]

Wolves, brum, Leicester and Coventry would be in the same league so plenty of big meetings = ££££'s

[Starman2006]

 

 

North and South leagues are win, but 20 fixtures is not enough, it needs to be half as many again. Each league needs a play-off with at least four teams, this keeps the season alive for as many clubs as possible.

 

I personally think 22 fixtures one home one away is enough. But i also agree you should have a semi and final in both leagues, then a grand final.But in any event, it should all be done and dusted by the end of September, otherwise you will struggle with the Weather..

Edited November 10, 2014 by Starman2006