Tampere Gp

[Midland Red]

If Cardiff was 40,000 then I am mistaken but that is still half the stadium empty, I always thought the attendance was around the 33,000 mark. Given that in the seventies we had crowds of 90,000 to 1000,000 (Wembley, Katowice) etc and that without all the BSI/Sky promotional propaganda it shows how the popularity of the sport has fallen along with the product itself. Even with the GP circus going into major cities and arenas those figures will not even begin to be challenged again, but the fare served up is also nothing like what it needs to be to fill up the stadia, that we have 5,900 in Finland is a joke for a world championship event.

 

I repeat my opinion from other threads - attendances will suffer through live televising of meetings, GP or League - especially when you see the prices for Cardif!

Its a different world to them days especially when you can watch it live on tv, tablet and phone. They could probably fill it a bit more if ticket prices were a little cheaper. It is an expensive days/weekend, I used to stop overnight but hotels prices even outside Cardiff have got crazily expensive.

 

Posted at the same time as mine - with similar sentiments

[A ORLOV]

Places like Tampere and Cardiff are easily reported if wanted, as all tickets are scanned to get in. Doesn't really matter who pays for the ticket IMHO: is it the promoter giving one away, a sponsor giving one away or a rider giving one away that he got for free from the promoter. If the ticket is scanned, the crowd will increase +1. If a sold ticket is not scanned, it's still money in the promoters pocket.

 

Finland was announced 5896 at the stadium. The capacity was 13k, so less than half sold. Add to that the beertents at either ends were full all night, thats 1000 less sitting. So around 4500-5000 sitting while the racing is on. Of course it looks empty. It looked empty last year when the ratio was 15k capacity and 10614 scanned tickets.

The stadium can announce any figures of fan numbers, even allowing for 1000 in the beer tents the figure of 5896 is very questionable unless the majority of those were sat behind the camera showing the event.

[Terry]

Who would you want a round a the borefest that is Vojems?

 

Niamh

 

Used to be a decent track along with Prague, til they stopped putting dirt down.

[Ghosty]

I have been involved with Speedway since 1966, could never get enough of it. I choose to miss the Tampere GP (being shown @ the local Pub) which would have been the first I've missed by choice.

 

Or own Elite league is now guess the guest & that's not one per team but several.

 

Speedway has to reinvent itself on all levels if it's going to survive, do others agree?

[OveFundinFan]

I agree with you, CB7, here is a quote from one of my earlier posts..... "Big shake up needed from the top down."

[Grand Central]

Finland was announced 5896 at the stadium. The capacity was 13k, so less than half sold. Add to that the beertents at either ends were full all night, thats 1000 less sitting. So around 4500-5000 sitting while the racing is on. Of course it looks empty. It looked empty last year when the ratio was 15k capacity and 10614 scanned tickets.

I understand fully that so many people stayed in the beer tents.

Far more enjoyable than watching the track I would think.

 

And if the quoted figure TRULY is what the raw data from the scanners tell them of the attendance.

Then the only explanation is that you are underestimating the beer tent capacity by quite some bit.

 

My guess is that they look at what the scanners says and then they add on quite a few extra for vanity purposes.

There are always enough freebies given out that it is not an accounting problem.

.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Grand Central

[bill94d]

Oh how bored we must all have been in the pre-GP days (NOT).

 

Quite rightly, all the comments 2 GP's in are negative. Ask any supporter who started watching speedway 50-60 years ago if World Championship speedway was boring, or rubbish. Knock me if you will but the future is in the past.

You and I are singing from the same hymn sheet. Go back to the old boring past (or not), do away with points total, let promoters build a team to win, keep it, have promotion/relegation/ no play offs and a real world championship instead of this sponsored circus. Only that way will British speedway stand a chance.

[theflyingkiwi]

You and I are singing from the same hymn sheet. Go back to the old boring past (or not), do away with points total, let promoters build a team to win, keep it, have promotion/relegation/ no play offs and a real world championship instead of this sponsored circus. Only that way will British speedway stand a chance.

 

Promotion and relegation would never work in British Speedway and most tracks would be reluctant to race in the EL. I for one like the GP series but unfortunately BSI have had serious problems in the last two GP's. I don't think the answer is returning to a one off final and its very unlikely that any rider would agree with it due to the exposure the GP series gives them and their sponsors. Even if the GPs were scrapped where would the final be run? There is no speedway stadium in the world with sufficient capacity. If the series were to be taken over by OneSport would they really be able to do anything differently? I do not think so, In fact I think that they would do a worse job than BSI.

[bill94d]

 

Promotion and relegation would never work in British Speedway and most tracks would be reluctant to race in the EL. I for one like the GP series but unfortunately BSI have had serious problems in the last two GP's. I don't think the answer is returning to a one off final and its very unlikely that any rider would agree with it due to the exposure the GP series gives them and their sponsors. Even if the GPs were scrapped where would the final be run? There is no speedway stadium in the world with sufficient capacity. If the series were to be taken over by OneSport would they really be able to do anything differently? I do not think so, In fact I think that they would do a worse job than BSI.

Unfortunately you are largely right. Commercialism is here to stay and we will have to lump it. it is unfortunate that the stadiums to hold 40k+ spectators do not have a track there permanently. We certainly missed a trick with the new Wembley and the Olympic Stadium in 2012. Let us hope that Prague and Cardiff do not let us down.

[Sotonian]

Unfortunately you are largely right. Commercialism is here to stay and we will have to lump it. it is unfortunate that the stadiums to hold 40k+ spectators do not have a track there permanently. We certainly missed a trick with the new Wembley and the Olympic Stadium in 2012. Let us hope that Prague and Cardiff do not let us down.

Who are 'we'? Putting that aside, there was never any chance of a permanent track at either of those venues. Don't forget that even Wembley was a temp. track after 1956.

[Ghostwalker]

Speedway has to reinvent itself on all levels if it's going to survive, do others agree?

 

I don't think re-invent is necessary but somethings do need to change.

For starters simplify the rules a bit, no tactical substitute, no jokers and etc where all riders ride their scheduled heats (except for 2min violation, TT and other exclusions).

For league racing that is two teams with 5-6-7 riders in each team who do their schedules heats,

 

The biggest issues for speedway is 1. costs and 2 weather. Costs need to be reduced and tracks/teams need to be better to deal with weather.

For the latter; it is actual track management (how to fix a track that has been rained on), communication to fans and away team,

don't wait until 5-10 min after the scheduled start time to cancel it.

 

So there are many areas in which speedway can be improved but the difficulty is to get everyone to work in the same direction.

Especially in league speedway where each clubs only works for what's best for them, like Vetlanda who wants to scrap the averages

because they have a big sponsor who makes sure that Vetlanda can sign the best riders while the rest of the teams struggles to

keep their economy in balance.

 

I by far prefer the GP-series then having a one off event which fans/media won't care about for 360 days of the year.

A GP-series is also much more fair and no one can say that any of those who have became world champions under

the current formula haven't been worthy champions.

 

Imo I think the temporary tracks do have a place in the GP-series but there are too many this year and the track building needs to be sorted.

[Mixy230]

Statistics on x2 GP's so far

 

50% of the tracks to rough

50% of the tracks to slick

 

On average the tracks are perfect so far

 

50% of the tracks can not be bothered to get starting tapes to work

 

Chris Harris can ride bad rutted tracks with a bit of random grip 100%

Chris Harris not so good on gaters tracks 100%

 

First time I have seen Hancock slide off a bike in a long time 100%

 

100% Shambles so far

 

Seriously what a mess for a professional set up /sport!

If this was an amateur sport committee members would be resigning over this debarkle in embarressment!

 

Genuinely feel sad for the sport and the way its run (GP and Elite)

 

M

[Humphrey Appleby]

We certainly missed a trick with the new Wembley and the Olympic Stadium in 2012. Let us hope that Prague and Cardiff do not let us down.

 

Speedway was never ever going to feature in the plans for those stadia. It's far too much down the pecking order nowadays, and speedway couldn't afford those venues anyway.

[bill94d]

 

Speedway was never ever going to feature in the plans for those stadia. It's far too much down the pecking order nowadays, and speedway couldn't afford those venues anyway.

'Fraid you are right Sir Humphrey about the pecking order and hence the lack of financial clout.

[SCB]

Chris Harris can ride bad rutted tracks with a bit of random grip 100%

Chris Harris not so good on gaters tracks 100%

So far Bomber has finished 2nd and 10th. If he does that all season as a Bomber fan I'll be happy In fact if his lowest score all season is 6 I think he'll be happy!

 

Sadly, Prague is a track he has always struggled on and 3 would be about what I expect Saturday Desperately hoping he proves me wrong though

[fatface]

It's a good time to kick the GPs if you are someone who hankers for a time when Barry Briggs was world champion, the Beatles were number 1 and you could get ten pints, a bag of chips and bus home for two bob. The more reasoned thinkers will look at the bigger picture.

Has BSI made mistakes? Absolutely. In particular, the PR post-Warsaw was abysmal.

Where they right to take the sport to the biggest stadium in speedway's most popular country? Yes, it was bold. but the right move. It's a great shame it didn't work out this time. They need to take full responsibility and serious lessons need to be learned.

Are they right to try and broaden the world championship to new markets like Finland, New Zealand, Australia? Of course. Not all will be a roaring success. But ambition is good. The easy short-term solution would be to stage meetings in tried and tested permanent tracks to an ever-dwindling hard core.

Has the experiment to take the sport into big stadiums with temporary tracks been successful? By and large yes. Cardiff alone has given the sport some of its greatest nights in the last 15 years - arguably even in the sport's history.

It's very easy to say, 'we used to get 90,000 at Wembley in 1821'. Where we actually came from was our one-off World Championship Final being played out in front of crowds around 20k at places like Bradford, Pocking and Vojens with delayed coverage on some satellite station no-one watched.

I have to smile when people quibble about whether Cardiff gets 40k or 45k per year. If someone had told you in 1994 that twenty years later, a well-established British Grand Prix would be taking place every year in the Millennium Stadium consistently attracting a crowd 40k, all covered live on Sky Sports at peak-time Saturday night, I think you would have thought they were dreaming.

Furthermore, were it not for the success of the revamped World Championships in the form of the GPs and SWC and the subsequent economic benefits and increased profile, it is very much less likely stadiums like Torun, Leszno and the new Belle Vue would be ever be built. The promise of hosting annual World Championship events is huge foundation stone for those projects ever getting off the ground.

[iris123]

Furthermore, were it not for the success of the revamped World Championships in the form of the GPs and SWC and the subsequent economic benefits and increased profile, it is very much less likely stadiums like Torun, Leszno and the new Belle Vue would be ever be built. The promise of hosting annual World Championship events is huge foundation stone for those projects ever getting off the ground.

Not sure I agree with you,especially on the last bit.Togliatti is a great stadium and has never hosted a GP and I doubt that the hosting of a GP once a year comes close to the Polish league meetings which are the true foundation and bring big crowds in regularly.It would be madness to build a stadium in the hope of hsting a GP once a season when other polish clubs also have a stadium to rival it.Belle Vue on the other hand has no competition in this country and you are probably right on that one

[Jacqueline]

Now our photos from Tampere are uploaded:

 

Training:

Slideshow: http://picasaweb.google.com/114630658458485823371/SGPTampere2015Training#slideshow

or

Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/114630658458485823371/SGPTampere2015Training

 

Race:

Slideshow: http://picasaweb.google.com/114630658458485823371/SGPTampere2015#slideshow

or

Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/114630658458485823371/SGPTampere2015

[theflyingkiwi]

I think the GP's are all about balance. BSI have taken the GP's in the most part to attractive new venues where the racing is just part of the weekend. Its all well and good saying lets scrap the temporary tracks in the big cities to move to the established venues but as we saw last year with Bydgoszcz that was a disaster and in reality who go to those meetings apart from the die hard fans? A long weekend in remote towns aren't going to tempt the 'casual' fans so to speak but if we forget about the failings of Warsaw, which as we saw had more to do with the old guard moaning about the tapes rather than the track, it attracted 50k fans to a speedway meeting. The glory days are over however it was somewhat nice to see a Speedway meeting in a national stadium sell out and I would rather have that and compromise on the racing than watch a GP in a glorified field.

Edited May 18, 2015 by perkdon

[Mixy230]

It's a good time to kick the GPs if you are someone who hankers for a time when Barry Briggs was world champion, the Beatles were number 1 and you could get ten pints, a bag of chips and bus home for two bob. The more reasoned thinkers will look at the bigger picture.

 

Has BSI made mistakes? Absolutely. In particular, the PR post-Warsaw was abysmal.

 

Where they right to take the sport to the biggest stadium in speedway's most popular country? Yes, it was bold. but the right move. It's a great shame it didn't work out this time. They need to take full responsibility and serious lessons need to be learned.

 

Are they right to try and broaden the world championship to new markets like Finland, New Zealand, Australia? Of course. Not all will be a roaring success. But ambition is good. The easy short-term solution would be to stage meetings in tried and tested permanent tracks to an ever-dwindling hard core.

 

Has the experiment to take the sport into big stadiums with temporary tracks been successful? By and large yes. Cardiff alone has given the sport some of its greatest nights in the last 15 years - arguably even in the sport's history.

 

It's very easy to say, 'we used to get 90,000 at Wembley in 1821'. Where we actually came from was our one-off World Championship Final being played out in front of crowds around 20k at places like Bradford, Pocking and Vojens with delayed coverage on some satellite station no-one watched.

 

I have to smile when people quibble about whether Cardiff gets 40k or 45k per year. If someone had told you in 1994 that twenty years later, a well-established British Grand Prix would be taking place every year in the Millennium Stadium consistently attracting a crowd 40k, all covered live on Sky Sports at peak-time Saturday night, I think you would have thought they were dreaming.

 

Furthermore, were it not for the success of the revamped World Championships in the form of the GPs and SWC and the subsequent economic benefits and increased profile, it is very much less likely stadiums like Torun, Leszno and the new Belle Vue would be ever be built. The promise of hosting annual World Championship events is huge foundation stone for those projects ever getting off the ground.

"Yes, it was bold. but the right move" ? Its only the right move if you plan things properly! no back up tapes? surely that is basics!!!!!!!!

There are businesses that move premises over a weekend at open again on Monday, BECAUSE THEY PLAN EVERY DETAIL!

There are event companies that travel and set up exhibitions and stands at events GP's because they are experts in planning and leave as little as possible to chance!

Edited May 18, 2015 by Mixy230