Conkers in Gravy Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 On 2/12/2018 at 1:32 PM, Mr Snackette said: It has been said before, but it is well worth repeating....the cost of admission is only part of the reason why people choose (or choose not to) attend an event. Wasps Rugby use the Ricoh, and average 18,000...with their highest attendance this season just short of 27,000. They charge up to £56 a seat, and don't have to give tickets away to get a decent crowd. The lesson to learn is to produce a package of entertainment that fires the public's imagination and makes it a "must see event" each and every time. Then the price of admission is not so important!! Premier League football is a perfect example of the same thing. People are prepared to pay up to £60 for a ticket if it's something they really want to see. People on this forum talk about presentation, music, interviews and so on, but the bottom line is that the sport itself has to stand on its own two feet as an event. It doesn't matter how cheap the tickets are one week, what music you play, how many sweets you give the kids, how many furry mascots are dancing on the centre green, how many chubby 16-year-old girls are on the start line or how much inane babble comes from the bloke with the mic - if the racing isn't any good or if there isn't enough of it people are not going to part with enough cash to make the whole exercise worthwhile. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Jasper Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 On 12/02/2018 at 1:32 PM, Mr Snackette said: It has been said before, but it is well worth repeating....the cost of admission is only part of the reason why people choose (or choose not to) attend an event. Wasps Rugby use the Ricoh, and average 18,000...with their highest attendance this season just short of 27,000. They charge up to £56 a seat, and don't have to give tickets away to get a decent crowd. The lesson to learn is to produce a package of entertainment that fires the public's imagination and makes it a "must see event" each and every time. Then the price of admission is not so important!! Bad example to use, Wasps do still give away a lot of tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoke Potter Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 2 hours ago, Conkers in Gravy said: if the racing isn't any good or if there isn't enough of it people are not going to part with enough cash to make the whole exercise worthwhile. This is exactly my point but it seems the good Mr Pairman and his mates just will not listen. People just do not want to buy/consume what is served up as Speedway at most tracks most weeks of the season. Universal truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawk127 Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 The lack of good close competitive racing is partly to blame for even those regulars no longer going as often as they used to let alone newbies. This is could be partly down to the bikes being far too powerful for the tracks but the lack of skilful riders who often seem to be hanging on for dear life is a contributory factor. The art of team riding is virtually dead. Get back to basics and make the sport entertaining rather than processional to the point where you might just well be at a drag race meet rather than a team match. As has been said if the product is good enough then price is not an issue but given that most supporters seem to want no more than a league meeting is it any wonder the racing is what it is with infrequent fixtures, lack of talent coming through and what is perceived as poor value for money with no more than circa fifteen minutes of racing over two hours. In this fast paced instant action society and the lack of patience amongst many, something needs to be done to make it a slicker presentation with more races and perhaps different types of racing alongside the league match. Have a contest for the fastest lap or two laps and allow betting. Each team can nominate four riders if it is two laps then one rider goes first and pulls off the track and the opposing rider comes on immediately to do their two laps. This could be after every three races and the four fastest compete in a grand final after heat fifteen of the league match. Just an idea but someone somewhere needs to think outside the box. At the moment presentation is as dull as dish water. Television does help in some ways but live meetings are not the answer. If you sit at home for two hours to watch a live meeting on TV, why on earth would you want to travel to the track. Put more racing into those two hours and people may think it is worth while but not as it stands with delayed starts, gardening, etc. Which makes it boring and an unnecessary waste of time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woz01 Posted February 19, 2018 Report Share Posted February 19, 2018 (edited) On 14/02/2018 at 4:05 PM, Sir Jasper said: Bad example to use, Wasps do still give away a lot of tickets. They give free tickets to the rugby clubs participating in the pre match stuff and occasionally for other things but the simple fact is they don't need to entice lots of people with freebies anymore. £230 for a season ticket again next season is super value. Edited February 19, 2018 by Woz01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Jasper Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 On 19/02/2018 at 4:15 AM, Woz01 said: They give free tickets to the rugby clubs participating in the pre match stuff and occasionally for other things but the simple fact is they don't need to entice lots of people with freebies anymore. £230 for a season ticket again next season is super value. JLR workers, clients of ACL or whatever its called now are groups who regularly receive free tickets or vastly discounted tickets, dont be naive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) I don't think speedway needs sideshows to make it attractive. Make the sport more attractive by turning it into a proper team sport, your riders and your team. Cut down on the needless gaps between races, the pointless restarts, for example. People's patience isn't as good as years ago. Even I don't think I could stand all that time to watch 15 heats, so why expect a newcomer who doesn't know what's happening? Panning out a meeting so fans feel they're getting value for their cash is a con in itself. Saying speedway needs sideshows is just admitting it's not a strong sport in itself, which it is. Just got to make sure any newcomer it attracts isn't put off when trying to grasp what it's all about. It is a sport... but not as we know it. Edited February 20, 2018 by moxey63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoke Potter Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 52 minutes ago, moxey63 said: Saying speedway needs sideshows is just admitting it's not a strong sport in itself, which it is. For the most part it isn't, essentially that's the point. That's why "Marketing" initiatives such as the one carried out by Mr Pairman, and countless other before him, don't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said: For the most part it isn't, essentially that's the point. That's why "Marketing" initiatives such as the one carried out by Mr Pairman, and countless other before him, don't work. The thousands of fans that have stopped going these past decades didn't stop going because the local band that used to play on the centre green split up and stopped performing. Many stopped because of the way the sport was being run.. by promoters who know best but then have to try outlandish methods to get the numbers back. There are only so many times that a speedway fan can be mugged off, and then they become an ex-fan. A team sport isn't a team sport when fans don't have any bond with the riders who are riding for it. It is a major turn off with speedway, that has the makings of a decent sport. That is the first problem to solve, the doubling up and down all over the leagues. But that's easier said than done and will no doubt send more fans through the exit gate one last time. The way it is now, speedway is just raced to allow riders chance to earn a living. It is a bit wild west, all over the place. Edited February 20, 2018 by moxey63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoke Potter Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 11 minutes ago, moxey63 said: The thousands of fans that have stopped going these past decades didn't stop going because the local band that used to play on the centre green split up and stopped performing. Many stopped because of the way the sport was being run.. by promoters who know best but then have to try outlandish methods to get the numbers back. There are only so many times that a speedway fan can be mugged off, and then they become an ex-fan. A team sport isn't a team sport when fans don't have any bond with the riders who are riding for it. It is a major turn off with speedway, that has the makings of a decent sport. That is the first problem to solve, the doubling up and down all over the leagues. But that's easier said than done and will no doubt send more fans through the exit gate one last time. The way it is now, speedway is just raced to allow riders chance to earn a living. It is a bit wild west, all over the place. I think we're actually agreeing - if the core product is decent then you don't need the sideshows. The problem is the core product - the actual racing - is rarely good enough. The first problem to solve is make the racing more entertaining more of the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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