How Do We Attract A New Young Audience?

[Grachan]

 

Good idea but not possible at some tracks due to the fort knox type barriers in place. At Coventry there is approximately a 15 foot high fence to protect everyone from any stray Stock Cars deciding to leave the track.

Coventry used to be great for slapping riders on the back as they returned to the pits.Pity.

[Skid Sprocket]

 

 

 

Good idea but not possible at some tracks due to the fort knox type barriers in place. At Coventry there is approximately a 15 foot high fence to protect everyone from any stray Stock Cars deciding to leave the track.

It happens at Redcar from pits to track down aprox 50-60 metres some riders very sociable, shouldn't single one out but Matej Kus very friendly towards supporters.

[Red Flag]

It happens at Redcar from pits to track down aprox 50-60 metres some riders very sociable, shouldn't single one out but Matej Kus very friendly towards supporters.

It has been the norm at Wolves for a few seasons now

[Star Lady]

 

Good idea but not possible at some tracks due to the fort knox type barriers in place. At Coventry there is approximately a 15 foot high fence to protect everyone from any stray Stock Cars deciding to leave the track.

y

 

Same at Lynn but nothing stopping the riders walking round the bottom of the terracing...the crowds aren't big enough to be unsafe....not sure about the terracing at ?Brandon tho That was pretty decrepit last time I went for a wander.

[iris123]

y

 

Same at Lynn but nothing stopping the riders walking round the bottom of the terracing...the crowds aren't big enough to be unsafe....not sure about the terracing at ?Brandon tho That was pretty decrepit last time I went for a wander.

Not sure about the terracing,but there is a danger of getting attacked by a dog or two,so I have heard

[Paulco]

Might not be to everybodies liking , but when promoting a meeting , speedway needs to concentrate on the controversial side . In 2011 I went to a meeting in Poland , Gniezno v Bydgoszcz . The home side had Scott Nicholls in their side and the away team had Emil Sayfutinov in theirs . All over the town of Gneizno on the lead up to the meeting , plastered on every available wall or lamppost , was posters with a picture of their Cardiff difference of opinion the year before . We need to big up any kind of potential controversy

[george.m]

GREAT summary which I will be passing on to Buster Chapman in the hope that he and his colleagues will at least take a serious look at it ... which in the case of Buster at least I am sure he will.

If speedway is serious about it's COLLECTIVE long term future then the answer is quite simple.

Bring in the experts, the consultants who turn business's around.

But it doesn't come cheap.

 

Before they provide the answers, they will tell you what the question is!

How we attract a new, young audience may not be the right option.

[Trees]

I'm guessing league racing ain't the answer to attract crowds.

 

Events involving solo speedway, sidecars, short track, drifting would attract crowds on Friday\Saturday\Sunday

[Alan_Jones]

I'm guessing league racing ain't the answer to attract crowds.

 

Events involving solo speedway, sidecars, short track, drifting would attract crowds on Friday\Saturday\Sunday

 

Why not go the whole hog and have football, darts and T20 cricket instead of speedway?

[martinmauger]

Moving not really off topic but slight sideways (!), it has always baffled me why motorcycle road racing (MotoGP, Superbikes, etc) is so massively popular. And not just the big events, where 10,000's watch, but club meetings too. The viewing is often appalling, you pay the Earth to stand 1/4 mile away from one part of the track, the riders come round once every minute and a half and someone has passed someone else - maybe - or not even arrived at all on the next lap and the chances are you won't have seen what happened, a dozen races if you are lucky. Unless somoene like Rossi is going for it, the riders follow each other around the track waiting for a mistake, but as we know speedway riders often race side by side and around the outside. The big bike companies are involved of course but the bikes themselves hardly resemble bikes you can buy to ride on the road, and yes, I was a keen biker myself once but it does liitle for me. Yet I can watch the, apparent, borefest pit-stop to pit-stop race that is F1, from beginning to end.

 

That said, road racing events do, and have alomst always, attract huge crowds....

[RobMcCaffery]

there are no teams anymore , even the national league is full of superstars whose only idea of Team is that they all have the same name on ntheir paycheck , as far as the sport goes their team mates wear the same race jacket but helping any other member to score points only tarnishes your superiority

And there's one of the modern faults that needs to be rectified. Not an easy task. We need to repair these fundamental problems before we start to even think about trying to attract new fans, of whatever age.

[Gemini]

Coventry used to be great for slapping riders on the back as they returned to the pits.Pity.

Ah now you mention it that little bit is still open as they return to the pits as I think the high fence is next to the track.

 

 

 

.......Trees.......I'm guessing league racing ain't the answer to attract crowds.

Events involving solo speedway, sidecars, short track, drifting would attract crowds on Friday\Saturday\Sunday.

No interest to me though, although I've no idea what drifting is. I don't even like individual meetings so I'd only attend league matches.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Gemini

[Robert Lee]

Ah now you mention it that little bit is still open as they return to the pits as I think the high fence is next to the track.

 

 

 

No interest to me though, although I've no idea what drifting is. I don't even like individual meetings so I'd only attend league matches.

 

C'mon Gemini, everyone knows what drifting is - it's what snow does on a windy day. This must be a plan to extend the season through the winter months.

[Skid Sprocket]

I'm guessing league racing ain't the answer to attract crowds.

 

Events involving solo speedway, sidecars, short track, drifting would attract crowds on Friday\Saturday\Sunday

I always discourage raw newcomers from individual meetings, a team meeting is a far better to introduce a newbie with a simple explanation of the rules;

 

"Our team" wear red and blue helmets (at home).

A win gets 3 team points, second 2 and third 1 point

At the end of the night the team with the highest points total is the winner.

 

After the meeting they can go in the bar and start to learn the finer points of the sport or go home and reflect on the unique spectacle they have just witnessed keen for the next time!

[g13webb]

Moving not really off topic but slight sideways (!), it has always baffled me why motorcycle road racing (MotoGP, Superbikes, etc) is so massively popular. And not just the big events, where 10,000's watch, but club meetings too. The viewing is often appalling, you pay the Earth to stand 1/4 mile away from one part of the track, the riders come round once every minute and a half and someone has passed someone else - maybe - or not even arrived at all on the next lap and the chances are you won't have seen what happened, a dozen races if you are lucky. Unless somoene like Rossi is going for it, the riders follow each other around the track waiting for a mistake, but as we know speedway riders often race side by side and around the outside. The big bike companies are involved of course but the bikes themselves hardly resemble bikes you can buy to ride on the road, and yes, I was a keen biker myself once but it does liitle for me. Yet I can watch the, apparent, borefest pit-stop to pit-stop race that is F1, from beginning to end.

 

That said, road racing events do, and have alomst always, attract huge crowds....

 

You and me both mate !! I have spent much time and money perusing my hobby of watch Motorbike racing, and cannot fathom the reasons why there such disparity in the viewing public. My own view is that the sport has become to predicable, the bikes are too fast, all riders are of similar ability , and the appeal has consequently diminished. Where once, a meeting lasted all night, now its over in less than a couple of hours. Most riders are aloft and go about their business, then off to the next meeting. They show little evidence of actually caring about the club or the fans.....

 

Moto GP and BSB are a day out, something you look forward too. From the moment you leave home to the time you get back the day is completely dominated by the sport. The characters are bigger and more responsive. Walking through the pits, everyone is in a good mood and want to oblige with photo's and chats. The friendship within the fans is better . The racing is normally good. the poor riders make the good ones stand out. The colourful bikes and Kevlars all adds to the occasion .

 

I feel for our Promoter in that their hands are tied. Riders now demand a big percentage of the gate funds, The fans don't have deep pockets and need VFM. all of which highlights the biggest problems of all. There is no surplus to spent on presentation, promoting and other idea. I have often said that Sponsors are keeping this sport alive, and without them it will die. The costs now are far too big for a sport with little following ............

[crazysue]

In the past it was a huge jump from being 15 and it was say a fiver then at 16 it was £17, thats when they start to decide to knock it on the head. Now that you need to be in some form of education till your at least 18 a student rate is needed to try and keep them coming along. I agree it should be till around 22 years old as most will likely still be in Uni etc.

 

That was the age my two older ones stopped going, they both turned 16 at the beginning of their final year of GCSEs but because they were not old enough to get a student card, had to pay the full adult rate, so stopped going.

 

Since then, eldest has been maybe about 3 or 4 times (he is now 22) whereas he hadn't missed a meeting for the five years before and middle son has not returned at all (he is now 19).

 

Youngest son (almost 18) loved dynamics and technical side of speedway but found the surroundings difficult and stopped going about 3 years or so ago. He came to Cardiff with us this year and weirdly, despite it being busier and noisier (the things he struggles with most), he absolutely loved the spectacle of it and wants to go again next year...no interest in going to a normal league meeting again though.

Interesting. Quite a lot of similarities to my 12 year old. And they both like crashes.

 

Also interesting that so far we've had the opinions of 2 young people and both like filling in the scores, which is the thing that Philip and Kelvin think youngsters don't want to do.

 

My 17 year old also enjoyed filling in the scores this year at Cardiff....

[mikebv]

Until they are 18, let 'ver kidz' in for nothing. They are not there now so no loss of revenue, but the burger and coke sales will go up..!

 

Who knows some may get hooked and keep going when they reach 18. They certainly wont by never attending like happens now

 

(So nothing to lose)!

 

I attended a 'supercross' event last year in the Manchester Arena. £70 for me and the lad....

 

3 hours of racing, tricks, noise, light shows, music, interviews with the riders, photo areas so you could take a 'selfie' with the riders etc etc, you could almost think that the night was actually planned!!!

 

They fired T shirts into the crowd with an air gun (my lad still has the one he caught)...

 

They had a kids mx bike hanging from the Arena ceiling, you could win it if you texted their number (£5 a text). Looking at the amount of people furtively texting during the ten mins alloted they must have paid for that bike several times over...

 

The place was packed. 7000 people full house. I, at 48, was probably one of the oldest there....

 

The SHOW was literally 'light years' away from anything I have seen less that 2 miles away at BV (or indeed anywhere except Cardiff)..

 

Now maybe Speedway promoters dont have the money or infrastructure to put on such shows, but keeping the action moving, engaging with the crowd, doing giveaways, running competitions etc etc costs little but can deliver lots..

 

It is ironic that as my lad is now 12, BV expect him (me) to pay seven quid to get in. After years of attending for free. Just when he starts to do less running around with his mate and more watching and understanding the action, the sport will drive him away as my pocket isnt bottomless so it is either BV or United weekly for him (and Mr Glazer has won).

 

We will attend the first meeting then cherry pick 'as and when' through the season so in essence, the sport has lost my weekly admission fee too

 

Kids these days will all grow up to be event planners as within minutes of one of them suggesting eg "anyone want to go swimming?"via text, facebook, snapchat, instagram etc etc, a whole army of them arrive at the alloted time and place...

 

Let them in for nothing and let them 'hang out' at the speedway, one text and you could get 100's there and some may actually think its 'cool' if marketed to them correctly...

 

(NB. Note to promoters. Its Rihanna kids listen to, NOT Renee and Renato so you may need to change your playlist)..!!

 

PS best wishes to Cov for their attempt at getting more kids into their track with free admission, hope it works...

Edited January 1, 2016 by mikebv

[fatface]

Some great suggestions here. Some very vague ones. I wince when I hear the words 'American razzmatazz' - anyone remember the Sky Sports cheerleaders on a cold Monday at Boundary Park?

 

What British Speedway needs is a short-term plan and a long-term plan. In the short-term we need to address the match day experience and long-term we need the facilities to be brought up to modern standards and be economically viable.

 

My league speedway experiences last year were at Plymouth and Poole. The racing at both wasn't too bad, but the time in between racing was dull. The only amusement was to have a pint or look at the trackshop. Neither particularly great.

 

I live in Devon and the best match day experience is going to Exeter Chiefs rugby. Quite simply, stuff is happening all the time, right from noon through to midnight.

 

There are bands on before the game, big screen interviews and previews, bouncy castles, face painting, throw the ball through the hole games, half-time competitions, good food, the players stay around after the game for pics and autographs and then visit the bar afterwards for a Q&A with a host.

 

None of this has to cost too much. Indeed if the BSPA clubbed together, they might find that shared ownership of big screens and bouncy castles might be quite a decent investment.

 

Speedway can replicate a lot of these ideas. How about on track bike races for kids? A Top Gear-style leaderboard on the terraces for fans to do a virtual lap on a SGP Xbox game - even taking on some of the riders at that night's meeting? Pits tours? Trophy tours? (When do we ever get to see the EL, British GP, SGP, etc trophies?). Every match day has to feel like an occasion. Instead, too many just feel like another meeting ticked off.

 

Beyond that I am a big believer in ditching GP riders, bringing the leagues together and regionalising them in order to cut costs, make the product more competitive and actually make teams feel like real teams again.

 

Long-term the big threat to speedway is facilities. Frankly, our current crop is the UK is absolutely awful and not up to modern day expectations. But with limited ownership, there's not a great deal to do about it.

 

The Belle Vue project could be a watershed moment for the sport. If it succeeds, it will provide the financial blueprint for British clubs, if it fails, well it's hard to see a long-term future for the sport. There are certainly no new greyhound stadiums being built and the appetite for rugby or football clubs to share with speedway is ever dwindling.

 

Land is increasingly hard to come by, so when there is land available is has to be utilised to the full and be sustainable. The days of a stand alone speedway track only being used once a week 6 months a year are long gone.

 

Clubs have to find partners in their community that can share quality sports facilities with and find a mixed economy that works for all. What a lot of other sports - particularly Olympic sports - have going for them is the backing of public funds in the form of the National Lottery. What a lot of them don't have is regular paying customers beyond the actual participants and their family. Something speedway can bring to the table.

 

The recent Government announcement that more funds will be put into grass roots sport is actually a real opportunity for speedway - though I doubt many promoters would have even batted an eyelid.

 

Now is the time to buddy up with NGBs, sports charities, community groups, local councils and sports events and find a way of creating vibrant community facilities for year round use. Without a long-term plan for facilities that makes a real difference to the locality, the sport will forever be on a slippy slope.

[Vince]

I think there is a big issue with expecting the things you see at BSB, MotoGP, Supercross or most other events replicated at league Speedway. None of those things play to the same audience every week for months at a time.

 

If you took the best from all of them within a few months it would be old and stale. Equally club Road racing would often be pleased to see an average Speedway crowd, while club motocross which has thousands of riders competing every weekend usually has family and friends as non paying spectators. Even British Superbikes which has terrific presentation and TV coverage and is probably the best sports day out I've ever been to doesn't pay very many of it's competitors with the majority paying to be there via sponsors. The British Supercross is the same with the majority of riders paying to be there and therefore helping with the costs.

 

As far as the riders taking to much money out of Speedway it's a difficult one. The very top riders earn OK but not exceptional money while the vast majority vary between getting by or having to contribute toward their racing one way or another. It's right to say they would be paying to compete in any other sport at a comparable level but generally they would be competing less often and more locally at times that would fit in with a normal working life. They would also have the option to not compete if they had work commitments, something that Speedway riders don't have the luxury of. If you take into account the time off work and travelling costs in addition to upkeep of bikes that is when Speedway becomes a very expensive sport to participate in. Take away the money and you won't have many riders able or willing to commit to the sport.

 

The idea that the riders don't care about team performance is something else I wouldn't agree with. Possibly true at the highest level (although we have seen performances by injured riders that would say otherwise. I can't imagine anybody claiming that Chris Harris for example isn't passionate about his team). I would say that most of the riders in the PL and NL care very much about their team, it might be different to the time when riders spent years at the same team but riders involved with a decent promoter still care about their team even if only there for a season.

[speedibee]

I'm guessing league racing ain't the answer to attract crowds.

 

Events involving solo speedway, sidecars, short track, drifting would attract crowds on Friday\Saturday\Sunday

you would wind up with an Australian type meeting , where the solo's as they call them are only an interval attraction between cars sidecars etc . I would not want to pay to see , short track or drifting either