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THINGS DON'T CHANGE


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1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

If it was cheaper..do you think more people would go???? I'm not sure they would...not in enough numbers to counter act the price drop...those that rent stadiums won't see their rent go down to compensate lower admission prices...and would lower admission prices make the sport any more appealing and cooler????  again..I don't really think so. The whole thing needs completely re branding to create a new and different audience to the one it attracts now.....and even that may not be enough...but maybe just maybe it might.

Certainly is a misconception thinking that half the price, means twice the attendance and that's only to stand still income wise. It 'would' give a better atmosphere and 'may; lead to even greater numbers, but would and may doesn't make it work.

It has been tried many times before and failed. I remember years ago, a bus company I think in either Nottingham or Leicester halved the fares, and saw no rise in numbers using the buses, and quickly reverted back to the original fare before they hit financial ruin.

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I think it was mikebv that posted... one promoter telling him that SKY money helped pay for his number one rider. And these people are still in charge of running the sport.

What should be a £10 night out has tried to price itself alongside football, even the programme charges. Alongside admission costs, proggies added on top could be stopping once-regular fans from attending. Crowds dwindle, admission costs rise, just to pay for that rider that the SKY money used to supplement.

Would much of that number one rider's costs go out on engine tuners? If so... more money going out of the sport. It isn't formula one.     

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2 hours ago, Baldyman said:

If it was cheaper..do you think more people would go???? 

We will find out at Birmingham this year.

They have re-introduced concessionary admission for the over 60's. As this will account for about 90% of the fan base, that will be as near to a universal price cut as you will get...so hold your breaths, and wait and see. If all goes well, there'll be loads more pensioners on the terraces, and the influx in numbers will justify an elevation of the Brummies to the Championship next year...perhaps?

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5 hours ago, Baldyman said:

More pensioners.....just what the sport is crying out for.   Maybe they can get Tena and some funeral services to become sponsors

One of the most pathetic comments I have seen on here and thats saying something. Seems to me the older generation have stuck by the sport through thick and thin and have been responsible for introducing newbies (Grandchildren) along the way. 

As for the last part of the comment re Funeral services...is that funny? 

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The whole post was meant to be tongue in cheek....Obviously lost in translation...

I'm obviously younger than you and have a different sense of humour.

My apologies to anyone old or anyone else that may have found it not to their sense of humour.

Edited by Baldyman
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11 hours ago, Baldyman said:

If it was cheaper..do you think more people would go???? I'm not sure they would...not in enough numbers to counter act the price drop...those that rent stadiums won't see their rent go down to compensate lower admission prices...and would lower admission prices make the sport any more appealing and cooler????  again..I don't really think so. The whole thing needs completely re branding to create a new and different audience to the one it attracts now.....and even that may not be enough...but maybe just maybe it might.

As we know through it happening several times before at a good few tracks, dropping the price significantly will deliver a crowd usually in high double digit percentage growth from the norm, (sometimes much more than that when done for free!)...

The issue lies in getting them to come back and pay full price...

It shows the demand can still be there though for Speedway to attract a decent crowd, just not at full price...

I always am amazed that when tracks do a "special" it almost seems to be considered guaranteed that everyone in attendance will naturally come back the week after as nothing ever appears to be done 'extra' to attract them back..

You would think some kind of further discount tickets for say the next six meetings would be sold to try and at least get people who may used to go, back into the habit of attending Speedway and for complete newbies give them time to get to understand the Sport and build recognition and to become fans of certain riders...

As has been mentioned many times, when you do a 'Special' get emails, get mobile numbers, names and addresses etc etc to target them to return....

It almost seems a complete waste of time and effort reducing the price at most tracks,  as it often appears that this one idea to reduce the price of admission is 100% of the marketing plan rather than being just the first initial part of a much more in depth and thought out strategy to grow the fanbase...

 

 

Edited by mikebv
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Three pounds admission was Wembley '81, standing on the bend, league speedway cost less than a pound at the time, I seem to remember. As for Bruce, his riding was sensational that night, possibly one reason for so many riders calling it the best meeting they had seen.

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On ‎08‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 10:02 AM, Baldyman said:

If it was cheaper..do you think more people would go???? I'm not sure they would...not in enough numbers to counter act the price drop...those that rent stadiums won't see their rent go down to compensate lower admission prices...and would lower admission prices make the sport any more appealing and cooler????  again..I don't really think so. The whole thing needs completely re branding to create a new and different audience to the one it attracts now.....and even that may not be enough...but maybe just maybe it might.

When Belle Vue dropped the piece to £10 for the TV match against Wolverhampton last year they got one of their biggest attendance of the season - the grandstand was packed.

However, that doesn't mean it would happen every week and experience suggests that you are absolutely right - the price drop isn't compensated for by the increase in attendances.

 

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20 minutes ago, Halifaxtiger said:

When Belle Vue dropped the piece to £10 for the TV match against Wolverhampton last year they got one of their biggest attendance of the season - the grandstand was packed.

However, that doesn't mean it would happen every week and experience suggests that you are absolutely right - the price drop isn't compensated for by the increase in attendances.

 

Agree with this. But I also think part of the sports problem is there too much of it in the UK. Less meetings, at less tracks and people will have less to pick and choose from meaning the meeting that do happen will have bigger crowds. It's why I don't get this pandering to struggling clubs, let them go, close down. Also why second clubs at tracks like Coventry at Leciester is not good. But British Speedway (and it's fans) have this odd believe that "the more speedway  the better".

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16 minutes ago, SCB said:

Agree with this. But I also think part of the sports problem is there too much of it in the UK. Less meetings, at less tracks and people will have less to pick and choose from meaning the meeting that do happen will have bigger crowds. It's why I don't get this pandering to struggling clubs, let them go, close down. Also why second clubs at tracks like Coventry at Leciester is not good. But British Speedway (and it's fans) have this odd believe that "the more speedway  the better".

Don't agree, usually when a track closes the majority of its fans are lost, when Sheffield closed I stopped going altogether as did most of the Sheffield fans I knew at the time

All less tracks with less meetings will mean is less fans

 

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25 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

Did any Coventry fans go to watch at wolves or Leicester or Peterborough last season??? Surely some did which would have boosted the crowds at those tracks

The Massif is one short tonight Baldy :(

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1 hour ago, Baldyman said:

Did any Coventry fans go to watch at wolves or Leicester or Peterborough last season??? Surely some did which would have boosted the crowds at those tracks

And how many didn't go anywhere, or how many of the ones who went every week to Coventry went every week to another track?

Far more fans will have been lost forever or hopefully only lost until Coventry return home, soon hopefully

Edited by The Third Man
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3 hours ago, Baldyman said:

Did any Coventry fans go to watch at wolves or Leicester or Peterborough last season??? Surely some did which would have boosted the crowds at those tracks

I went to all the Leicester matches and Sunday ones at Peterborough.

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On 1/8/2018 at 9:27 AM, mikebv said:

Certain Sporting entertainment....

Like everything else you can purchase, 'supply and demand' will play a huge part on the development of a 'price point'...

Football (at Premier League level) appears to be 'bomb proof' due to all the TV money and coverage creating huge public interest.  Which in turn garners enormous Sponsorship from global brands..  

Domestic Rugby Union has dragged itself from being on TV on a Sunday with an hours highlights, (sometimes playing on pitches with one stand and a rope running around the other three sides for the supporters to stand behind) in the Seventies and early Eighties, to become the second highest attended Sport in the Country, played out in modern fit for purpose stadia. Again now attracting global brand Sponsorship..

Both Sports can now charge inflation busting admission fees because...

Well, simply..

They can!!...

Speedway sadly cannot as quite clearly and evidently, the demand blatantly isn't there..

If it cannot cut its costs to be able to significantly cut its current 'price point' then it has major, major problems going forward, as an ever dwindling fan base means even higher admission costs for those who still attend, all to just (at best) 'stand still'....

Good points, although I wonder if the bit I've highlighted should be the other way round. Higher admission costs = a dwindling fan base.

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On 1/8/2018 at 9:34 PM, mikebv said:

As we know through it happening several times before at a good few tracks, dropping the price significantly will deliver a crowd usually in high double digit percentage growth from the norm, (sometimes much more than that when done for free!)...

The issue lies in getting them to come back and pay full price...

It shows the demand can still be there though for Speedway to attract a decent crowd, just not at full price...

If demand isn't there for the full price, then the full price is too high. Simple as that. A lower price needs to be applied on a regular basis, not just as a one-off.

The aim of a promoter, from a business point of view, is surely to maximise the gate receipts? Not just to keep blindly charging the same as last year + £1 (not counting increases for parking and programmes).

Unfortunately, in the manner of HM Government wrestling with the Laffer curve, this would require some testing at different prices, and for different periods of time, to see what would happen, and I can't imagine any clubs would bother to try this.

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