Kings Lynn 2018..

[BWitcher]

Think its time for speedway fans to wake up and face the truth - unless BT / Sky throw money at speedway and in all honesty why should or would they ? Or a major league sponsors can be found speedway as is stands isnt viable if we bury or heads in the sand and even start next season with similar team strengths and over heads as 2017 I can see clubs closing but mid summer

 

Why isn't it viable?

Why have the crowds continued to walk away?

 

If you continue to do the very things that have played a part in those fans walking away, it will never become viable. It's not rocket science, basic business!

[g13webb]

 

Wolves would be closed within 2 months. But as you say it means very little.

 

Again you are taking the words out of the context of how it was written. Unless the BSPA can find a major sponsor, the sport as we know it, will be gone. Most of the clubs would cease to operate and that would include Wolves........

 

Some people don't seem to grasp the importance of the situation.

[waytogo28]

 

Again you are taking the words out of the context of how it was written. Unless the BSPA can find a major sponsor, the sport as we know it, will be gone. Most of the clubs would cease to operate and that would include Wolves........

 

Some people don't seem to grasp the importance of the situation.

 

I too believe that the financial credibility of the sport is in grave danger of becoming non viable. If there is no TV income and no major sponsor the %age of income via paying supporters through the turnstiles becomes significantly higher ( towards covering costs ). So it's either raise the admission fee to say £20 ( or more ) or pay riders considerably less. I believe that fans will continue to walk away if there is not major re-structuring of the sport. Or are these already financially beleaguered promoters going to be prepared to take a bigger financial hit? And how many can afford to do that? The jchapman idea with a sensible average limit is the only other way forward that I can see.

[Trees]

Tell, at what Point would Sky be interested again in Speedway in the UK ? Think we have to accept that ship has well and truly sailed. So If Its just BT that have any interest then surely the price will reflex that its a one Horse race. I feel sure the big bucks in terms of TV and in deed Sponsor is really a thing of the past. Remember at Lynn when we had Money Centre, Banham Poultry and Jark Recruitment all as lead sponsors on the team race jacket, all throwing money at the Club. That was back in the old Premiership days. The last few years Good Old Roger has chucked in a few quid, but I would suggest it wasn't on the scale of those 3 mentioned.

 

JC, I am confident could confirm this, if he so wished.

 

Speedway cannot rely on outside money to keep rolling in to prop it up. It has to become self sufficient.

 

Roger Warnes Transport deserves respect from us all.

[Haza]

Roger Warnes Transport deserves respect from us all.

including the Promotion- what an insult after the Thousands of pounds Roger and Anita Warnes ploughed into the club being made to pay at the box office last season they should have been allowed free entry for life .

[Trees]

including the Promotion- what an insult after the Thousands of pounds Roger and Anita Warnes ploughed into the club being made to pay at the box office last season they should have been allowed free entry for life .

Not sure if it's true or not but I've heard that Roger always paid to get in??

[Haza]

Not sure if it's true or not but I've heard that Roger always paid to get in??

that is 100% true - have many conversation mainly with Anita who refused to pay to watch at Lynn - That is 100% true and a total disgrace.

[Trees]

that is 100% true - have many conversation mainly with Anita who refused to pay to watch at Lynn - That is 100% true and a total disgrace.

But if it was Roger's decision, maybe his thinking was it was the company that sponsored the club so he, as an individual, wanted to do his bit and pay?? Not sure .....

[Haza]

But if it was Roger's decision, maybe his thinking was it was the company that sponsored the club so he, as an individual, wanted to do his bit and pay?? Not sure .....

total disgrace how they was treated loyal sponsors are hard to find last thing you need to do is pee them off - if Trucks R us walk away which Id be amazed if they didnt who will be main team sponsor then ? MRC possibly.

[stevehone]

Lewis Kerr will be signing. Check his twitter post. Main sponsor for 2018.

 

haven't seen Lewi's twitter, but if it's Adrian Flux you're talking about, they sponsored Lewi this season but he wasn't at KL

[BWitcher]

 

Again you are taking the words out of the context of how it was written. Unless the BSPA can find a major sponsor, the sport as we know it, will be gone. Most of the clubs would cease to operate and that would include Wolves........

 

Some people don't seem to grasp the importance of the situation.

 

I grasp the importance completely.

 

The importance is to STOP following the same tried and FAILED approach of lowering the standard. No business anywhere will succeed if their game plan is to year on year continually offer a worse product.

[Haza]

I grasp the importance completely.

 

The importance is to STOP following the same tried and FAILED approach of lowering the standard. No business anywhere will succeed if their game plan is to year on year continually offer a worse product.

 

yet admission prices go up almost every year - speedway certainly isn’t value for money .

[semion]

Bwitcher so offering an inferior product doesn't work. Check out what happened to Next's share price yesterday. I would wager Primark is doing excellent business.

[Bagpuss]

Trouble is speedway is a market stall product at Harrods prices.

[Halifaxtiger]

 

Quite possibly one of the most deluded posts I have ever seen.

 

Attendances don't double when top level meetings now are run at £10, yes they go up, but they don't double.

 

Reduce clubs like Wolverhampton and Poole to NL standard, they'd be lucky to get half of their crowd, regardless of cost.

 

Wolves had a National League level team once, they even had club legend Graham Jones come out of retirement to lead it. Vastly reduced prices. They were lucky to get 50 paying supporters. The much more expensive top flight team with the 'names' was pulling in decent crowds.

 

Belle Vue's biggest gate of the season - quite easily double the normal one - was against Wolverhampton in the league. Have a guess how much it was to go in that night ?

 

Having said that, there is absolutely no guarantee that keeping that price every week would mean that the same crowd turned up.

 

You only have to have been to Lakeside this season to see what happens when a team drops two divisions (particularly when there is a top flight club reasonably close to hand). However, it maybe that NL racing is sustainable whereas anything else is not.

 

 

It says absolutely nothing that my view has attracted 'adverse comment'.

 

When my original proposals were made many years ago they garnered one of the highest number of likes ever seen on the forum. Many of those have long since stopped watching the sport. The damage done to the sport since is unforgiveable. We've had 20+ years of utterly wasted TV coverage.

 

I think the point is that whatever you propose (and I still don't know what your proposals were or are) there are those who will be critical, right or wrong.

 

 

Course not, doubling up has no effect at all does it!

 

Fans flock in their numbers to see a team of guests, you never see them complaining.

 

Fixed nights are absolutely imperative. It is an absolute insanity that the two leagues have continued to run on the same nights for so long allowing the identity of teams to be eroded.

 

Doubling up has been around for decades but the scale of it has got so ridiculously out of hand that even true diehard supporters - my mate Tigerite, as passionate a fan of his club as anyone, is a good example - have had enough.

 

 

Nutshell: I worked in sales once and was told very early on if folk are pleased with whatever they buy, (from baked beans to cars to sport) they will tell 5 others how great it is. If they are in any way unhappy, they will tell at least 15 how rubbish it is.....

 

There is a club in speedway which has increased its gates four fold on the previous promotion and, aside from one meeting, increased attendances on every single occasion in 2017 when compared with 2016 despite the fact that it finished bottom of its league. According to its promoter, it broke even this year.

 

It remains my opinion (and I am anything but alone) that that is the case because of the huge amount of effort it puts into attracting new fans and then ensuring that it gives them what they want and treats each one as a highly valued customer.

[waytogo28]

Halifaxtiger wrote " There is a club in speedway which has increased its gates four fold on the previous promotion and, aside from one meeting, increased attendances on every single occasion in 2017 when compared with 2016 despite the fact that it finished bottom of its league. According to its promoter, it broke even this year.

It remains my opinion (and I am anything but alone) that that is the case because of the huge amount of effort it puts into attracting new fans and then ensuring that it gives them what they want and treats each one as a highly valued customer."

And they went back to basics to do their marketing which the BSPA and many individual clubs can't be bothered to do. Or can't find the volunteers to do it for them. Relying on Twitter and Facebook as your free social media as THE way to put the sport in front of new potential supporters will not work on it;s own, even though it obviously has it's place. You have to get out there and build up interest in your catchment area.

[g13webb]

 

I grasp the importance completely.

 

The importance is to STOP following the same tried and FAILED approach of lowering the standard. No business anywhere will succeed if their game plan is to year on year continually offer a worse product.

 

It is very difficult to see past the costing of decent standard speedway. To retain anything like the standard we once had we have to attract more paying customers.

 

Paying customers can be grouped into 3 categories:-

1, Diehard Supporters who go every week.

2, Old supporters, who once use to go, but don't anymore...

3, The general public who have never been to a meeting in their life.

 

Taking Group 1, These are the main bread providers, fans who live and die the sport and go each week. They enjoy the excitement, the environment, the atmosphere. They can also remember when times were good and the crowds were far bigger than they are now. They want to hang on to what we once had, but in truth it will never be the same as it was in the past. They know all the top rides and can relate to the quality they provide. They have seen the standard of the sport drop and want to hang on to what there is left....

 

Group 2, These were once the same as group 1, but over time their support has disappeared. They have seen the standard drop, and the prices going up, and felt they have had enough. They have seen the number of races dwindle, more breaks and feel no connection with the club. The VFM aspect has all but gone.

 

Group 3, This is the open question, Can the sport appeal to the General Public. Even with the lack of promoting, I still feel that anybody, that was interested in bike racing, would take it upon themselves to locate and watch. So one has to assume most of those in this group has, at some time been to a meeting. The fact that the sport failed to retain their interest, indicates they didn't like what they saw.

 

It is difficult to see where these ' More Customers' are coming from. Group 1 is an Elite fan, dwindling in numbers but diehard to the end. But they are a dying breed that will continue to disappear. Group 2, is a lost cause. The promotors had the opportunity to look after these valued fans but failed miserably. It will be very difficult to entice them back again. Which leaves us only with Group 3. For the sport to stand any chance of survival, it has to appeal to new fans. To do that, we need to put on a better show that will generate excitement and atmosphere at a cost most can afford. These new fans will not know of riders like Dolye, Holder, Woffy, so to pay top dollar for these would be of little importance. The product needs to be simple and straight forward. no stupid rules. One rider one team, someone the fans can relate with as their rider. We need to go back in time when the sport was so simple and appealing...

 

The comments JC posted was so constructive and necessary. I don't agree with all he wrote about averages, but the majority was spot on. Unless we can find a recipe to restructure this sport , we haven't many years left. The sooner we start planning the better.

[Star Lady]

Nail hit firmly on the head GRW.

 

It just got me thinking about the difference between speedway and stocks/bangers. They use similar or same stadia and at Lynn they pack them in for stocks. I know little about them but do they have World Champ standard drivers at all meetings? Or do they just provide value for money and entertainment?What do they charge for admission and how long is there actually something going on? I know they do plenty of advertising and promotion, you can't travel far in the West Norfolk area without seeing at least half a dozen posters. I haven't seen a speedway poster since JC left the club.

[Haza]

 

It is very difficult to see past the costing of decent standard speedway. To retain anything like the standard we once had we have to attract more paying customers.

 

Paying customers can be grouped into 3 categories:-

1, Diehard Supporters who go every week.

2, Old supporters, who once use to go, but don't anymore...

3, The general public who have never been to a meeting in their life.

 

Taking Group 1, These are the main bread providers, fans who live and die the sport and go each week. They enjoy the excitement, the environment, the atmosphere. They can also remember when times were good and the crowds were far bigger than they are now. They want to hang on to what we once had, but in truth it will never be the same as it was in the past. They know all the top rides and can relate to the quality they provide. They have seen the standard of the sport drop and want to hang on to what there is left....

 

Group 2, These were once the same as group 1, but over time their support has disappeared. They have seen the standard drop, and the prices going up, and felt they have had enough. They have seen the number of races dwindle, more breaks and feel no connection with the club. The VFM aspect has all but gone.

 

Group 3, This is the open question, Can the sport appeal to the General Public. Even with the lack of promoting, I still feel that anybody, that was interested in bike racing, would take it upon themselves to locate and watch. So one has to assume most of those in this group has, at some time been to a meeting. The fact that the sport failed to retain their interest, indicates they didn't like what they saw.

 

It is difficult to see where these ' More Customers' are coming from. Group 1 is an Elite fan, dwindling in numbers but diehard to the end. But they are a dying breed that will continue to disappear. Group 2, is a lost cause. The promotors had the opportunity to look after these valued fans but failed miserably. It will be very difficult to entice them back again. Which leaves us only with Group 3. For the sport to stand any chance of survival, it has to appeal to new fans. To do that, we need to put on a better show that will generate excitement and atmosphere at a cost most can afford. These new fans will not know of riders like Dolye, Holder, Woffy, so to pay top dollar for these would be of little importance. The product needs to be simple and straight forward. no stupid rules. One rider one team, someone the fans can relate with as their rider. We need to go back in time when the sport was so simple and appealing...

 

The comments JC posted was so constructive and necessary. I don't agree with all he wrote about averages, but the majority was spot on. Unless we can find a recipe to restructure this sport , we haven't many years left. The sooner we start planning the better.

top post - what I dont get is why promotions dont treat die hard fans with more respect why do they take that group for granted- also why is there 0% effort into trying to attract new fans .

[semion]

Trouble is speedway is a market stall product at Harrods prices.

Like it Gordon, and welcome back..... Nothing Like Southend quality at West End prices.

Edited November 2, 2017 by semion