Attendances

[Ben91]

Did you not read it fully, you will not be seeing same teams and riders every few weeks at your track !

 

If you used all current elite and premier plus 2 like Birmingham & Eastbourne moving up then that would be 24 teams so 12 in both north and south, you face teams in your region twice home and away and you would face each team from other region once either home or away and if you went to there track one year, they would come to to your track year after.

 

You would still get variety but also a better league system for teams and hopefully cut costs for travelling fans/riders etc

 

 

And if people are scared of change then keep things as they are and lets all watch speedway die a slow and painful death because clearly things as they stand are not working.

 

It's just a non-starter for me, teams change every year, you can't run a two year system, fans wouldn't buy into it, especially if it means they are stuck with a gash side for two years rather than one. As a country we are not that big we don't need to follow American style regionalism. If the sport was just promoted properly and meetings were run properly the fans would come back.

 

Where is your mid point? There will be teams in the midlands only getting one local derby a year with some rivals and that is either home or away, while they will be expected to travel to Edinburgh/Berwick/Glasgow or Plymouth/Somerset for league meetings and vice versa because they are in the North or South half of the league.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Ben91

[AndyK86]

 

It's just a non-starter for me, teams change every year, you can't run a two year system, fans wouldn't buy into it, especially if it means they are stuck with a gash side for two years rather than one. As a country we are not that big we don't need to follow American style regionalism. If the sport was just promoted properly and meetings were run properly the fans would come back.

 

Where is your mid point? There will be teams in the midlands only getting one local derby a year with some rivals and that is either home or away, while they will be expected to travel to Edinburgh/Berwick/Glasgow or Plymouth/Somerset for league meetings and vice versa because they are in the North or South half of the league.

Teams would still change as they do now, it is not a two year system ! All it is that if Sheffield (North) face Somerset (South) at the Oak Tree in 2016 then in 2017 Somerset would visit Sheffield, it is quite a simple system.

 

Cut of point you work from the top on map until you have your 12 for north then the 12 teams or whatever amount into south.

 

It could at least be tried and i know the next argument, not enough riders blah blah blah ! Reduce teams to 6 man teams or whatever.

 

Let's finally be radical and stop making crappy little changes every year like they do and create a real game changer, get sky sports on board who would have more variety of meetings with one hell of a superbowl finale of the speedway season, they could market that and hype it up good style.

[RobMcCaffery]

Agree with that. Even the bit about the rules. Some people cry "the rule are complicated" and "rewrite the rulebook". It won't make any more people attend - the most complicated rulebook in sport is F1 and look how many people watch that!

 

Speedway fails because promoters thing 15 races spread over 2.5 hours with some old guy chatting to himself between the songs on "80s hits" and "now 23" is entertainment.

This is what you see. Not everyone is necessarily so shallow and ageist.

[Ben91]

Teams would still change as they do now, it is not a two year system ! All it is that if Sheffield (North) face Somerset (South) at the Oak Tree in 2016 then in 2017 Somerset would visit Sheffield, it is quite a simple system.

 

Cut of point you work from the top on map until you have your 12 for north then the 12 teams or whatever amount into south.

 

It could at least be tried and i know the next argument, not enough riders blah blah blah ! Reduce teams to 6 man teams or whatever.

 

Let's finally be radical and stop making crappy little changes every year like they do and create a real game changer, get sky sports on board who would have more variety of meetings with one hell of a superbowl finale of the speedway season, they could market that and hype it up good style.

 

This is my point, the 12th side down would be somewhere in the midlands probably? So then they will be missing out on a lot of local derby revenue as they only host some of their local rivals once every two seasons. For that reason alone I can't see it working/being voted in if it went to the AGM.

 

I'm an advocate of keeping teams as they are actually, there's not a shortage of speedway riders by any means.

 

Unfortunately we wouldn't get that Superbowl style season finale, we'd just get two teams racing each other over two legs like they do at present in the play-offs. A radical change is all well and good but it has to work, this would be a huge gamble and could be the death knell for many clubs. While we have to think of the sport as a whole in Britain first and foremost there are ways that the current system could be made to work.

[AndyK86]

 

This is my point, the 12th side down would be somewhere in the midlands probably? So then they will be missing out on a lot of local derby revenue as they only host some of their local rivals once every two seasons. For that reason alone I can't see it working/being voted in if it went to the AGM.

 

I'm an advocate of keeping teams as they are actually, there's not a shortage of speedway riders by any means.

 

Unfortunately we wouldn't get that Superbowl style season finale, we'd just get two teams racing each other over two legs like they do at present in the play-offs. A radical change is all well and good but it has to work, this would be a huge gamble and could be the death knell for many clubs. While we have to think of the sport as a whole in Britain first and foremost there are ways that the current system could be made to work.

End of day something has to be done and this could work if all promoters just finally go radical and realise any idea even if not this one could be better for the future, we cant keep saying what if what if what if ! Life is full of compromises and promoters have to view the bigger picture and hope it benefits speedway in this country as a whole.

 

And I disagree when you say you wouldn't get that superbowl style finale, teams battling it out to finish top of their respective region and pick up north & south title go head to head over two legs to decide british league title or whatever name can be decided for it, I am sure some marketing person at Sky/BSPA could come up with something which can be sold over the season.

 

Come on promoters even if not this sort of system be radical and stop tinkering, speedway has to be sold to the public and the current set up doesn't inspire regular fans now so what chance have we got of getting new fans in, this system with great promoting and a well run professional meeting would be great for fans and sure the promoters could well see more money coming in.

 

Go big or go home !!

[Deano]

Not sure regionisation would even bring in additional crowds. I started to get bored of speedway towards the end of last season, so a new league set up would not have given me the wow factor again.

 

I'm with a previous poster, there is no atmosphere these days, so perhaps a new style of presentation needs to makeup for that.

 

I went to a twenty20 cricket match perhaps we need an equivalent. Have a home and away "current" 15 heat format league meeting, then have another competition with a completely different take on the sport.

 

Have races pitched over two laps and/or have the races handicaped, make it four man teams or six, change the scoring, each club to hold a set of standard engines that get pulled from a box randomly by each rider before the meeting. Obviously not those suggestions, but radically different to what speedway is now. But keep the thrill and speed element.

 

The league what is now the National League, was radical and quite exciting when it first appeared. It survived the test of time and has probably kept a lot of clubs open in troubled times. Perhaps speedway needs to do something radical again.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Deano

[AndyK86]

Not sure regionisation would even bring in additional crowds. I started to get bored of speedway towards the end of last season, so a new league set up would not have given me the wow factor again.

 

I'm with a previous poster, there is no atmosphere these days, so perhaps a new style of presentation needs to makeup for that.

 

I went to a twenty20 cricket match perhaps we need an equivalent. Have a home and away "current" 15 heat format league meeting, then have another competition with a completely different take on the sport.

 

Have races pitched over two laps and/or have the races handicaped, make it four man teams or six, change the scoring, each club to hold a set of standard engines that get pulled from a box randomly by each rider before the meeting. Obviously not those suggestions, but radically different to what speedway is now. But keep the thrill and speed element.

 

The league what is now the National League, was radical and quite exciting when it first appeared. It survived the test of time and has probably kept a lot of clubs open in troubled times. Perhaps speedway needs to do something radical again.

This is more like it, everybody will have different ideas of course as to how they think Speedway can be improved but radical is needed now and not the same old same old with little things getting changed that have no effect on improving situation.

[SCB]

This is what you see. Not everyone is necessarily so shallow and ageist.

Which bot of my post is ageist? Or shallow even.

[New Science]

Shocking crowd for the Olympique at Wolves tonight. Five years ago we used to get as many at Press and Practice night as we got tonight.

[secsy1]

Promotion is the act of encouraging something to happen or develop.

 

Promoters are supposed to help forward or encourage (enterprise or result); publicize and sell (product); initiate (project).

 

In the Speedway Star several articles have been printed regarding the lack of support for teams up and down the country and also several letters published that state no local publicity has been made regarding meetings or events at tracks.

 

Preaching to the converted is witnessed in churches up and down the country every Sunday, where attendances have dwindled also.

 

Until heads are taken out of the sand by the ones who run the sport nothing will happen.

 

Changing the rules year in and year out will not resolve issues.

 

Making a change in League structure and race days, will help in short term with personal finances for the converted.

 

EMPHASIS must be made by every club to get out into their communities and PROMOTE the clubs.

 

NEW, YOUNG, ENERGETIC AND ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTERS ARE REQUIRED FOR NEXT SEASON.

 

TO ACHIEVE THIS IT BEGINS AT THE END OF THIS SEASON.

[Tommy Sweetman]

Shocking crowd for the Olympique at Wolves tonight. Five years ago we used to get as many at Press and Practice night as we got tonight.

Said on the Wolves web-site there was a large crowd.

 

Dont know what they would put as a large crowd,but since mid July the crowds have been abysmal.

 

How much was it to get in last night ?.

[SGP]

CLUBS run as inividual businesses and thus have their own promotional activities. Location is also important too, for example Poole which benefits from seasonal tourism.

 

In an ideal World, the BSPA should employ a dedicated company to promote the clubs and sports equally with set targets. To my knowledge, they [bSPA] never have once put out a tender for such activity.

 

If the younger audience is the prime target - which it should be - second to families, then the influences of Monster Energy would be great. Personally, such companies are not my thing - but having a British World Champion backed by Monster Energy is an ideal platform.

 

On the whole though, right now, promoting speedway is like trying to sell a ticket on the Titanic.

[topsoil]

^{I honestly don't think speedway needs to re-invent itself, the core product, four riders, four laps is fine. All that needs to happen in my opinion is for promoters to start promoting the sport to gain new fans and regain lost ones. Then when the fans have come, they need to be entertained.}

^{Ensure meetings are run efficiently, give the winner of heat 1 enough time to do a lap of honour, then straight on with the 2 minutes foe heat 2. Only after every 3 or 4 heats have a track grading interval, even that shouldn't take any longer than 5 minutes. Scrap the rider replacement rule. This will eradicate the need for two races in succession. Riders take their scheduled rides unless injured. Then they are replaced by track reserves. If this means going to six man teams then fine.}

^{Extend meetings and develop young riders for the future by insisting every team have a junior team. Race against other local teams to save on travelling. A junior meeting after every league match.}

^{Provide some sort of entertainment for fans during the grading intervals. Many different forms this can come in and doesn't need to be expensive.}

^{Promoters would do worse than to follow the excellent work done by Glasgow this season, promoting the team and keeping fans happy during the meetings. They are getting big crowds in now and reaping the benefits.}

[New Science]

Said on the Wolves web-site there was a large crowd.

 

Dont know what they would put as a large crowd,but since mid July the crowds have been abysmal.

 

How much was it to get in last night ?.

The usual 18 quid for adults

Big crowd ? Definitely the lowest ever for the Olympique .

Suppose if you keep saying things often enough people might start believing them.

Edited October 13, 2015 by New Science

[cityrebel]

The usual 18 quid for adults

Big crowd ? Definitely the lowest ever for the Olympique .

Suppose if you keep saying things often enough people might start believing them.

 

too right, they're not gonna say there was a pathetic crowd here tonight!

[oldtimer]

Speedway does nothing to attract new fans, so by definition is existing fans will age over time. Couple this to the fact that speedway is run by old men, the presentation, music etc. are straight out of the 70s, then you can see why youngsters are not attracted to the sport.

Agree.

The pitch of the product in contrast to the competitors is completely off when it comes to Speedway.

 

You watch darts and see guys like Phil Taylor coming out surrounded by women, flash lights, young guys, young women, older guys and older women all of them going mental while having a laugh and a pint and it just doesn’t sit right with what should happen around someone like Taylor but it works because it is a product.

 

You watch people like Chris Holder being presented on a pickup truck while a scratchy version of Let Me Entertain You Plays, not many people care, it doesn’t get people going.

 

Try swapping the way both competitors are presented around, you would drag Darts back to the 80s and Speedway into the now.

 

There are sports and moments in sport that don’t require manufactured atmosphere…eg playing music for sides coming out when 80,000 are in attendance at a Cup Final probably isn’t that important because fans are hyped enough, but in the modern era of overhype some events do seem pretty low key and need a manufactured atmosphere to start the flame, and there is nothing wrong with that, speedway hasn’t ever really embraced that IMO, the presentation should be fast paced, races fired out in blocks of 3 then a short 5 min break unless an event happens and then it should be allowed to breathe, but you shouldn’t have people standing dwelling on things for 10 minutes between races.

 

If fans are only in a stadium for 60/70 mins that is perfectly fine, if anything it should be encouraged, pushed through, if fans want to leave at that stage, they can, go to the bar, meet the riders, go home, get the family away from the place early, or hang about and watch kids training, that’s fine.. give people that option, don't decide for them they are in a stadium for 2 hours +

 

The same rules re the sport will always apply, irrespective of RR, guests, stadia etc it is 4 guys on a bike going around a track, if that’s on point, you can make people forget what is around them pretty quickly, draw attention to that big track thing and away from the crap stadia and the random rules, the stadiums are crap, sure, so don't have people standing in them for hours looking at them studying what it is that's crap about them

 

If you do that you naturally create a buzz, you typically then don’t need posters etc, the sport receives about 20 hours advertising a week as it is “promotion and know how” aren’t the problem, ultimately posters etc are a wasted investment when the product is as bad as it is.

 

It is ignorant to assume people don’t know about speedway, most do, but they think it’s crap, that’s typically why they don’t attend….make it worth peoples while to attend and they will that’s what “promotion” of the sport is required.

 

I am pretty shocked that so few promoters have ventured away from what is a dated way to present the sport, you would think you would see clubs try something different now and then, out of curiosity if nothing else, I mean what is the worst that could happen…crowds could drop and people would loose interest….

 

Totally agree

[Gemini]

Shocking crowd for the Olympique at Wolves tonight. Five years ago we used to get as many at Press and Practice night as we got tonight.

Probably because most fans are already into 'end of season' mode and aren't particularly interested in individual meetings any more on a cold, dark October night.

I think Mick Horton was pondering about having a Brandonapolis at Coventry but judging by the delay in announcing it he has changed his mind. I don't blame him either as he'd just probably lose some more money.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Gemini

[customhouseregular]

And to think the Brandonapolis used to be a classic meeting.

[RobMcCaffery]

And to think the Brandonapolis used to be a classic meeting.

Sadly people only seem to want to see their team win, not enjoy a good night's racing.

 

Non World Championship individual meetings have been badly served by unbalanced fields, mass withdrawals and other forms of rider apathy.

 

If those running and competing in the event don't show it respect eventually the fans will fall in line.

 

Guess what the solution is.....

[New Science]

Probably because most fans are already into 'end of season' mode and aren't particularly interested in individual meetings any more on a cold, dark October night.

I think Mick Horton was pondering about having a Brandonapolis at Coventry but judging by the delay in announcing it he has changed his mind. I don't blame him either as he'd just probably lose some more money.

It has nothing to do with 'end of season mode' Crowds have been poor at Wolves all season this was just a continuation of what has become the norm. The Olympique used to be one of the best crowds of the season,the last chance to catch speedway before next march,interviews with the home riders and a firework display to boot.Sure in the 2nd week of October its never going to be tropical but the night was dry and clear,put a jacket on like the rest of us ,its never stopped people before.