Helicopter View

[ColinMills]

... but what is quality - the 14 highest averaged riders or two teams of equal ability?

Speedway's fundamental problem is that too few races feature two or more riders of equal ability. When they do the racing tends to be of as good a quality as it ever was.

id describe a quality night of speedway, 2 teams (7 contracted riders to that club) no d/u no f.t.r.

names that are appealing (take the old star golden helmet of the 70s) great draw before heat 1.

in any form of entertainment, the bigger the name the bigger the attraction...if I was to buy a ticket at the 02, id

probably buy one for Bon Jovi, not a local band learning the trade!....people say its just 15 minutes, but when its dished

up with passion like the play offs, its worth every penny

[Clive Ward]

The you know and have the experience of what is the norm in other Countries. Do they get as many as 27,000 fans ? That is very impressive. What was the admission price Trees ?

Went to Gorzow with my daughter last year to watch Lynn ride in the World Speedway League and it only cost £14 for both of us. Although she is 32 she still got in cheaper than me being a female. I did suggest this to Buster in the hotel afterwards bu t obviously a no goer.

[Deano]

Not 27k no, 14k sellout and was £12 a head, double normal price ....

 

Of course, Sunday afternoon, within walkable distance of town centre, different kettle of fish to Thursday evening on the outskirts of Lynn a couple of miles from town centre boooooo

 

Yes, I was in the group with you trees. Watched the GP in the pub on the saturday night, then watched a league match on the television in the pub after the match on sunday. The whole town is geared up for speedway.

[BurntFaceMan]

 

I pretty much agree with everything JC is saying here.

 

The only thing I would partially disagree with is his thoughts on SKY TV. There is no doubt in my mind that SKY continue to get British Speedway VERY cheaply and that they have done hardly anything to promote British Speedway in the same way that they have done for say Rugby League. Would it even hurt SKY to advertise the forthcoming transmission of a Speedway meeting either during the slots before, at half time or even after the Sunday afternoon Premier League matches? I've never seen it. In my opinion, to SKY, Speedway is nothing more than something that is a cheap filler in their schedule.

 

They are not completely to blame though, I think whoever from British Speedway deals with SKY these days should be pushing more to get a much better relationship with them, particularly in promoting the sport. It hasn't happened and I can't see that changing anytime soon. SKY's involvement with British Speedway has been a massive missed opportunity.

 

This could of course change if BT make a success of the GP coverage, if so, there is no doubt they will want to cover the domestic British League. This could get interesting and could prove a big turning point for the sport in the UK IF and that is a massive IF it is handled correctly. Sadly I have no confidence in anyone involved in British Speedway being able to handle it correctly in a way that benefits British Speedway.

 

 

The relationship between Go Speed and Sky is strained to say the very least. Go Speed have had to make an awful lot of concessions to accomodate Sky and there wasn't going to be a 5 year contract (which I believe still has 2 or 3 years remaining?) unless GSI gave them all they asked for.

 

For example, Sky do not only hold the rights to Elite League speedway on TV but they also own every form of transmission rights except trackside recording for DVD only. Streaming and on demand rights are held by Sky. GSI wanted to stream and make some matches available for the public to watch online however Sky refused to release the rights back to them, even though Sky has no plans to use them themselves. They simply wanted to make sure that fans in the UK could only come to Sky for their once a fortnight or whatever it is speedway fix.

 

Sky want to keep Elite League speedway on their channels, but it's very much a case of do it their way or the highway. And if they cared about the future of the sport, they wouldn't hold on to redundant rights (streaming, on demand) to the detriment of the fans. If it weren't for Sky, you'd be able to watch some recorded and live stream matches online.

[Theboss]

 

The relationship between Go Speed and Sky is strained to say the very least. Go Speed have had to make an awful lot of concessions to accomodate Sky and there wasn't going to be a 5 year contract (which I believe still has 2 or 3 years remaining?) unless GSI gave them all they asked for.

 

For example, Sky do not only hold the rights to Elite League speedway on TV but they also own every form of transmission rights except trackside recording for DVD only. Streaming and on demand rights are held by Sky. GSI wanted to stream and make some matches available for the public to watch online however Sky refused to release the rights back to them, even though Sky has no plans to use them themselves. They simply wanted to make sure that fans in the UK could only come to Sky for their once a fortnight or whatever it is speedway fix.

 

Sky want to keep Elite League speedway on their channels, but it's very much a case of do it their way or the highway. And if they cared about the future of the sport, they wouldn't hold on to redundant rights (streaming, on demand) to the detriment of the fans. If it weren't for Sky, you'd be able to watch some recorded and live stream matches online.

I believe anything is possible with pro active negotiations which may involve thinking outside of the box!

[sommelier]

Maybe maths are not your thing

 

it was £18 plus £3 for a programme with my adding up that makes £21 then times 2 that equals £39 (only 1 programme needed) that's an expensive night plus buying a drink there as your not allowed to take your own in.

 

15 races a minute = 15mins for £21 is that value for money these days when there is so much more on offer to see and do around the city ?

 

Too expensive now for an unpopular dying sport

I feel at £17/£18 is not to expensive, I go to at least 4 meetings a week & would happily pay £25/£30 to watch international riders back in the EL

[van wolfswinkel]

I feel at £17/£18 is not to expensive, I go to at least 4 meetings a week & would happily pay £25/£30 to watch international riders back in the EL

Thing is most people wont pay that to watch in archaic stadiums. 29 quid for Cardiff is very good value. People saying its much cheaper to watch in Poland should remember their average wage is less than half of the UK.

[sommelier]

Thing is most people wont pay that to watch in archaic stadiums. 29 quid for Cardiff is very good value. People saying its much cheaper to watch in Poland should remember their average wage is less than half of the UK.

Yes agree about prices in Poland, I go regularly to watch Polish speedway, amazing atmosphere

[van wolfswinkel]

Yes agree about prices in Poland, I go regularly to watch Polish speedway, amazing atmosphere

What noisier than The Abbey on a Thursday night!

[heathen chemistry]

Thing is most people wont pay that to watch in archaic stadiums. 29 quid for Cardiff is very good value. People saying its much cheaper to watch in Poland should remember their average wage is less than half of the UK.

 

maybe the wages aree less but look at these stats ive found from google.....

consumer prices are 47.32% lower than uk

rent is 58.96 % lower

restaraunt prices are 60.83% lower

groceries are 49.34% lower than uk

 

a pint of beer in poland equivalent to £1.33 ....how cheap is that

cigarettes instead of being £8.50 over here in poland there £2.85

 

why do they wanna come here!!

Edited April 7, 2016 by heathen chemistry

[van wolfswinkel]

maybe the wages aree less but look at these stats ive found from google.....

consumer prices are 47.32% lower than uk

rent is 58.96 % lower

restaraunt prices are 60.83% lower

groceries are 49.34% lower than uk

 

a pint of beer in poland equivalent to £1.33 ....how cheap is that

cigarettes instead of being £8.50 over here in poland there £2.85

 

why do they wanna come here!!

To earn 3x the amount?

[Deano]

 

maybe the wages aree less but look at these stats ive found from google.....

consumer prices are 47.32% lower than uk

rent is 58.96 % lower

restaraunt prices are 60.83% lower

groceries are 49.34% lower than uk

 

a pint of beer in poland equivalent to £1.33 ....how cheap is that

cigarettes instead of being £8.50 over here in poland there £2.85

 

why do they wanna come here!!

 

It is a poor country still. People are probably worse off there than they are here.

[Knightime]

My other sport is American Football (UK amateur and will never be anything more) and I think our Promoters could learn a lot from the NFL and the way its franchises are run. Each team puts their gate money into a collective pot and it is split evenly amongst the teams in the league - this means that each franchise owner has a vested interest in the commercial success of the others - and they help each other for the common good. They keep any VIP package income to themselves which encourages them to up the supporter experience

 

 

Teams are not restricted in the players they sign - but they can only franchise (keep to themselves) two players (in a squad of 45) the rest are free agents. A salary cap stops teams simply buying up all the best players - and a draft system ensures equalisation by allowing the lowest performing team to select first when the new talent arrives from College Football each year.

 

This model would not work precisely as described for Speedway but something similar could I believe.

 

Let each team Franchise 2 riders in the Elite league - all riders wishing to compete in British Speedway declare their interest by a certain date and in reverse order of the previous standings teams select riders over 5 rounds (maybe 6 if the #8 idea prevails). I realise that race hnight clashes would cause some issues - but I'm sure they could be overcome.

 

It works in the NFL where no one team dominates for long and every team has a chance to be competitive

 

I can't reply below as I am on probation - but of course you still get bad decisions - that is why Jacksonville will not be around much longer - but past 11 years - 11 DIFFERENT champions pretty much shows the system works

Edited April 7, 2016 by Knightime

[mikebv]

And they share marketing too so all get an equal share of the merchandise pie.....!

 

Imagine our Speedway promoters all working together in close harmonious existence for the overall growth and betterment of the sport?

 

Laughing as I type....!

[orion]

It works in the NFL where no one team dominates for long and every team has a chance to be competitive

Good point ..every year I wonder who will do better out of New England and Jacksonville .

[robert72]

I feel at £17/£18 is not to expensive, I go to at least 4 meetings a week & would happily pay £25/£30 to watch international riders back in the EL

you some it up that you can afford to go to 4 meetings a week so price is not a problem to you but most families struggle to see one meeting a week as its too expensive for such an unpopular sport in the uk.

 

Speedway has lost the top riders now so they need to budget for £10/12 entrance to bring fans back or sooner than later the sport will be lost as clubs will fold because fans won't pay expensive prices for a weak product as seen at Leicester last week.

[Deano]

My other sport is American Football .......

 

The current scenario in speedway terms, could be that there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians, so a decision and agreement is very difficult to reach. Having too many chiefs generally means end up with a donkey every time you go to buy a horse.

 

Your idea, could be the answer.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Deano

[Humphrey Appleby]

This model would not work precisely as described for Speedway but something similar could I believe.

The difference between the NFL and speedway, and indeed most other professional sports, is that it's really the only place where players can turn professional and as such has no real competition for players. It also has a huge underlying feeder system - namely college football - from which to draw the best talent.

 

British speedway has none of this, and is in competition with other leagues for riders. It's also more important in speedway to have a 'star' rider of which there are relatively fewer than in the NFL. An unmodified draft system still has the potential to allow teams to accumulate a number of stars, and does not force teams to release them to other teams in need.

 

I once toyed with some ideas of how to make a draft system work in speedway, but came to the conclusion it's basically unworkable in speedway given the structure and economic conditions.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Humphrey Appleby

[Grachan]

maybe the wages aree less but look at these stats ive found from google.....

consumer prices are 47.32% lower than uk

rent is 58.96 % lower

restaraunt prices are 60.83% lower

groceries are 49.34% lower than uk

 

a pint of beer in poland equivalent to £1.33 ....how cheap is that

cigarettes instead of being £8.50 over here in poland there £2.85

 

why do they wanna come here!!

According to this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage

 

Average monthly earning in Poland are 756 Euro

 

Average earnings in UK are 2337 Euros.

 

So if stuff there is 50% cheaper they are worse off.

 

Someone posted earlier that it's about 8 quid to get into Speedway in Poland. That like paying about 24 quid here.

[Fourentee]

Small point, but the other element of American Football which contributes to equality concerns fixtures. NFL divisions are made up of a handful of clubs and their fixture lists are completed by games against teams from other divisions. The schedule, like their draft positions, varies in difficulty depending on previous performance. It's difficult to see that, or something like it, being brought into speedway and accepted by supporters.