LESS IS MORE?

[4thbender]

It's Thursday night (Speedway night at Sheffield) and I'm sitting at home looking for things to do (I might actually get in the garden and do a bit of weeding). Tonight's match has been "rained off" - the 41st casualty of the 2018 season (and it's barely 2 weeks old). I wonder how hard promotions are actually trying to get these fixtures going - I've seen meetings go ahead in far worse conditions than those outside today. 

Admittedly the weather in late March and early April has been pretty awful but, with so many blank Thursday nights planned for this summer, I wonder whether promoters are taking the view that it's an easy option to call matches off at the first sniff of moisture in the air and tell riders and fans to stay at home. Moreover, with such a dearth of matches planned for the height of the season when kids are on holiday, is it a pre-meditated plan to postpone early matches at the drop of a hat to allow the extremely thin July and August fixture lists to be "padded out" with re-runs? In the unlikely event that Sheffield fail to make the play-offs, without a load of early re-arranged rain-offs their season will be over on 23 August.

There is a clear danger that people (like me) who are looking for something else to do on Thursday nights might actually find something. When that happens, the promoters' policy of "less is more" might turn round and bite them in the bum.

[Hawk127]

I guess many Ipswich fans feel the same. Thursday and no speedway. It is the same next week with a blank Thursday albeit they do have a meeting on the Saturday. Looking at fixture lists from years gone by and barring poor weather you may have seen four/five fixtures by now. A shame that it has gone down hill and I suspect that many supporters will find alternative things to do plus you now have live speedway on Sunday on Freesport and with many meetings on You Tube, it will be easy to get out of the habit of going to a local track and instead stick to the comfort of home. I am not saying this is right but with the cost of travel, possibly food and a drink, a few pounds for a programme etc fans are far more selective when it comes to the spend. I think the current policy will not work out as the powers that be expect and some tracks may not survive. Those who rent the stadiums to the clubs cannot be happy unless the clubs are paying the same rent but for fewer race nights in which case the numbers through the gate need to go up. I know the weather has not helped but if things have got so financially precarious that it is better to call off a meeting when there is  a slim chance of poor weather in two or three days time then things really are in a bad state. Not sure where those in charge are taking the sport but you cannot help thinking that they may have got it slightly wrong. Time will tell.

[Tsunami]

1 hour ago, 4thbender said:

It's Thursday night (Speedway night at Sheffield) and I'm sitting at home looking for things to do (I might actually get in the garden and do a bit of weeding). Tonight's match has been "rained off" - the 41st casualty of the 2018 season (and it's barely 2 weeks old). I wonder how hard promotions are actually trying to get these fixtures going - I've seen meetings go ahead in far worse conditions than those outside today. 

Admittedly the weather in late March and early April has been pretty awful but, with so many blank Thursday nights planned for this summer, I wonder whether promoters are taking the view that it's an easy option to call matches off at the first sniff of moisture in the air and tell riders and fans to stay at home. Moreover, with such a dearth of matches planned for the height of the season when kids are on holiday, is it a pre-meditated plan to postpone early matches at the drop of a hat to allow the extremely thin July and August fixture lists to be "padded out" with re-runs? In the unlikely event that Sheffield fail to make the play-offs, without a load of early re-arranged rain-offs their season will be over on 23 August.

There is a clear danger that people (like me) who are looking for something else to do on Thursday nights might actually find something. When that happens, the promoters' policy of "less is more" might turn round and bite them in the bum.

I think if you think that, it's you that has been sniffing some dodgy stuff. Do you really think promotions can afford to continue to have these costly calloffs. 

Your way would seem to either blame the weather on the promotions or expect the Promoters to go ahead with a meeting on a dodgy surface, which could be dangerous to riders and would probably put many fans off because of the low standard of racing.   

Time for you to get a reality check.

[Tsunami]

2 minutes ago, Hawk127 said:

I guess many Ipswich fans feel the same. Thursday and no speedway. It is the same next week with a blank Thursday albeit they do have a meeting on the Saturday. Looking at fixture lists from years gone by and barring poor weather you may have seen four/five fixtures by now. A shame that it has gone down hill and I suspect that many supporters will find alternative things to do plus you now have live speedway on Sunday on Freesport and with many meetings on You Tube, it will be easy to get out of the habit of going to a local track and instead stick to the comfort of home. I am not saying this is right but with the cost of travel, possibly food and a drink, a few pounds for a programme etc fans are far more selective when it comes to the spend. I think the current policy will not work out as the powers that be expect and some tracks may not survive. Those who rent the stadiums to the clubs cannot be happy unless the clubs are paying the same rent but for fewer race nights in which case the numbers through the gate need to go up. I know the weather has not helped but if things have got so financially precarious that it is better to call off a meeting when there is  a slim chance of poor weather in two or three days time then things really are in a bad state. Not sure where those in charge are taking the sport but you cannot help thinking that they may have got it slightly wrong. Time will tell.

Or some fans have got it wrong, and forgot to look outside on speedway nights and blaming the wrong people for the rain.

[RobHowe]

Living in Sheffield over the past three or four days has been like living in permanent low lying cloud.

The air is saturated with moisture.

The ground is saturated.

And yet the promoters are to blame for this?

Words fail me.

[toontrader]

I thought the blank dates in the summer were to avoid clashing with world cup football dates  which would reduce crowds

[soupy]

More or less

[4thbender]

11 hours ago, RobHowe said:

Living in Sheffield over the past three or four days has been like living in permanent low lying cloud.

The air is saturated with moisture.

The ground is saturated.

And yet the promoters are to blame for this?

Words fail me.

Words might fail YOU, but happily they haven't yet failed ME. Maybe your powers of observation have also failed you.

In 2017 there were 360 Championship matches; this year there will be 220 (that's a 39% reduction - with one MORE team!)

I began supporting the Tigers 52 years ago, but this is the first time I've felt that my loyalty is being taken for granted. Once summer really gets underway, with a load of blank Thursdays in the fixture list, fans like me might get out of the Speedway habit. After all, there are many alternative Thursday night distractions:

• Quiz Night at the Red Lion
• Crown Green Bowling at Hillsborough Park (they're after new members)
• A round of golf at Worrall Road
• Leave for the caravan a day early and have an extra-long weekend
• Have a swim at Hillsborough Leisure Centre
• For those with more eclectic tastes there's Spearmint Rhino or (dare I say!) Naked Night at La Chambre.

With the exception of the latter, these are all Thursday options I'm planning to take up over the course of 2018. If Speedway wants to reverse the trend of diminishing numbers on the terraces it had better get its act together. Otherwise fans like me might discover that there's life outside Owlerton Stadium.

[GWC]

What do football fans do as there isn’t a home game every week?

Perhaps you would go to Utd one week and Wednesday the next?

[foamfence]

5 minutes ago, GWC said:

What do football fans do as there isn’t a home game every week?

Perhaps you would go to Utd one week and Wednesday the next?

They have been brought up with that and the TV is chocker with soccer.

[4thbender]

39 minutes ago, GWC said:

What do football fans do as there isn’t a home game every week?

Perhaps you would go to Utd one week and Wednesday the next?

I'm not a fan of lost causes.

[TonyH]

In the main I’m with 4thbender on most of this, people will find something else to do, particularly as the Promoters have taken away what we’ve all been accustomed to over the years - and that’s Speedway once a week whoever you support. The already reduced fixture list is yet another nail in the coffin, and brought about in an effort for the Promotion to lose less money. It’s my theory that far too many clubs are run by people who have other business interests that give them a core living, they can then spend a good few quid buying a speedway club to run as a toy. If it were their core business to make speedway stand on its own feet I’m positive that there’d be a completely different approach.

I also don’t believe that calling a meeting off early in the day (or before) is as costly as some suggest, and if that’s the case then there will be an appetite to knock it whenever possible with a dodgy weather forecast on the horizon. Let’s also not forget that many fans are so used to being in a stadium when the meeting is cancelled that they will take one look at the weather and if there’s any sign of rain or drizzle they will stay away. It never used to be like that.

Things have changed dramatically in our sport over the past few years, especially engines which rev at something near double from that of 20 years ago. This allegedly makes them almost impossible to control on anything less than a perfect track. Take last night at Swindon as an example, they tried to get it on and ended up with a dramatic crash in the 1st heat because riders couldn’t turn and ended up calling it off. Who was at fault there, riders? Ref. ?track?  weather?........more likely it was what they are trying to control.

The whole industry needs to take a good look at where it’s heading and consult the old guard (riders & Promoters) of yesteryear very quickly. They knew how to make it viable. There is an answer somewhere, but I’m afraid it won’t change until it’s too late.

[Fromafar]

Technology  is ruining the sport,and I agree that nowadays fans are going to look at the weather and a dodgy forecast means why bother,it never used to be like that.Riders just don't fancy wet meetings,they know that the meeting will be re- arranged anyway. 

[Tsunami]

2 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Technology  is ruining the sport,and I agree that nowadays fans are going to look at the weather and a dodgy forecast means why bother,it never used to be like that.Riders just don't fancy wet meetings,they know that the meeting will be re- arranged anyway. 

Agreed, but it still doesn't make the promoters responsible for the calloff. That's the fault of the weather.

[Moranboys]

1 hour ago, Fromafar said:

Technology  is ruining the sport,and I agree that nowadays fans are going to look at the weather and a dodgy forecast means why bother,it never used to be like that.Riders just don't fancy wet meetings,they know that the meeting will be re- arranged anyway. 

speedway has been a lot of peoples lives for a long time and it is like a drug.less meetings doesn't necessarily mean fewer people, especially people who live and breath the sport as i do.i have lost track on how much money it has cost to follow this brilliant sport, yes i get just as frustrated as the next person when meetings are called off and have also lost count of the number of times i have gotten to a track, usually after a lengthy journey only to be bitterly disappointed with the bloody weather, but unfortunately this is part and parcel of our wonderfull sport and will never change.the amount of water that has fallen over the last few weeks has been phenomenal.everywhere you look it is sodden, especially the gardens.christ,i still have water teeming off my garden down the drive.we are all totally p....d off with the weather but just think how the promoters must feel.for rob godfrey to call off a meeting then it must be bad.i,for one, hate to see a meeting on a wet track where our fab sport is reduced to a farce.i would rather wait until conditions are fine so that these very brave men can put on a show for their public.as far as i am concerned,there is no finer sport on this planet when everything falls into place so please supporters, get off the promoters backs because, without them, our sport wouldn't, exist and just lets be grateful that although yes we do have a diminished league program, we do still have a sport to follow.apologies to anyone whose may not agree with this post.

[Fromafar]

Agree,the Promoters do what they think is best for their situation,but nowadays the riders don't want to ride if the track is wet and fans turning up with rain or rain sodden track normally have to hang about while "discussions are going on with REF" and that usually results in no racing 9 times out of 10 these days,hence fans reluctant to make effort ( only my opinion)and contributes to below average crowds when this happens.

Edited April 13, 2018 by Fromafar

[Moranboys]

7 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Agree,the Promoters do what they think is best for their situation,but nowadays the riders don't want to ride if the track is wet and fans turning up with rain or rain sodden track normally have to hang about while "discussions are going on with REF" and that usually results in no racing 9 times out of 10 these days,hence fans reluctant to make effort ( only my opinion)and contributes to below average crowds when this happens.

but can you  blame riders not wanting to ride in wet conditions, you only have to take last night at swindon as an example.is it going to stop you from attending.

[Fromafar]

15 minutes ago, Moranboys said:

speedway has been a lot of peoples lives for a long time and it is like a drug.less meetings doesn't necessarily mean fewer people, especially people who live and breath the sport as i do.i have lost track on how much money it has cost to follow this brilliant sport, yes i get just as frustrated as the next person when meetings are called off and have also lost count of the number of times i have gotten to a track, usually after a lengthy journey only to be bitterly disappointed with the bloody weather, but unfortunately this is part and parcel of our wonderfull sport and will never change.the amount of water that has fallen over the last few weeks has been phenomenal.everywhere you look it is sodden, especially the gardens.christ,i still have water teeming off my garden down the drive.we are all totally p....d off with the weather but just think how the promoters must feel.for rob godfrey to call off a meeting then it must be bad.i,for one, hate to see a meeting on a wet track where our fab sport is reduced to a farce.i would rather wait until conditions are fine so that these very brave men can put on a show for their public.as far as i am concerned,there is no finer sport on this planet when everything falls into place so please supporters, get off the promoters backs because, without them, our sport wouldn't, exist and just lets be grateful that although yes we do have a diminished league program, we do still have a sport to follow.apologies to anyone whose may not agree with this post.

I think we can all agree the Promoters are in a no win situation regarding the weather.

[Tsunami]

7 hours ago, TonyH said:

In the main I’m with 4thbender on most of this, people will find something else to do, particularly as the Promoters have taken away what we’ve all been accustomed to over the years - and that’s Speedway once a week whoever you support. The already reduced fixture list is yet another nail in the coffin, and brought about in an effort for the Promotion to lose less money. It’s my theory that far too many clubs are run by people who have other business interests that give them a core living, they can then spend a good few quid buying a speedway club to run as a toy. If it were their core business to make speedway stand on its own feet I’m positive that there’d be a completely different approach.

I also don’t believe that calling a meeting off early in the day (or before) is as costly as some suggest, and if that’s the case then there will be an appetite to knock it whenever possible with a dodgy weather forecast on the horizon. Let’s also not forget that many fans are so used to being in a stadium when the meeting is cancelled that they will take one look at the weather and if there’s any sign of rain or drizzle they will stay away. It never used to be like that.

Things have changed dramatically in our sport over the past few years, especially engines which rev at something near double from that of 20 years ago. This allegedly makes them almost impossible to control on anything less than a perfect track. Take last night at Swindon as an example, they tried to get it on and ended up with a dramatic crash in the 1st heat because riders couldn’t turn and ended up calling it off. Who was at fault there, riders? Ref. ?track?  weather?........more likely it was what they are trying to control.

The whole industry needs to take a good look at where it’s heading and consult the old guard (riders & Promoters) of yesteryear very quickly. They knew how to make it viable. There is an answer somewhere, but I’m afraid it won’t change until it’s too late.

So you agree with 4thbender about promoters calling off meetings too early, you conveniently think that promoters try to kid fans about the cost of falloffs, and then question when a promotion tries to run a wet meeting, a rider said later it looked rideable, but because of the serious crash and injuries it was then called off, No doubt that meeting cost or will Swindon a lot of money to pay for starting the meeting.

So, Promotions in your eyes are wrong to call meetings off too early, lie about the cost of a call off and question it when a meeting is actually held but the track not safe and rideable.  

You called Victor Meldrew ?  

Edited April 13, 2018 by Tsunami

[Gr8scot]

Call-offs ARE costly!!! 

The stadium rental alone is a killer.  Stadium owners don’t just say, “have this one on us” they are business men too

ALSO, ask another question, if no-one goes to speedway but stays at home to watch it on whatever you can..... will the tracks be kept open to film for your viewing pleasure?