Thank you to the BSPA

[Dave Stummings]

This demise of once a great family sport in Great Britain is now on its last legs thanks mainly to the BSPA.

You ran the sport your way for years and years. When speedway was on a high, as it was in my opinion up until probably the mid-eighties, you took the fans and riders for granted.

Now you’ve ruined the sport and you have got the nerve to ask now for a National Supporters Group to meet 3 times a year at various venues around the country.

“To provide a structured platform for supporters (each representing one of the sport's tracks/clubs) to meet with the BSPA to air their views (however critical!) and provide ideas. 

The BSPA see supporter engagement as critical to the future of the sport - seeing the formation of this new Group which it believes will add significant value to the sport's continued development.” 

I love this part ‘will add significant value to the sports continued development’! Poppy cock!!!!

When emails have been sent to BSPAHQ asking questions and making suggestions they the BSPA have not even had the decency to reply! What great public relations that is!

My speedway fix will probably be at Lydd/Rye House when they have a meeting or training school, both of course black listed by the SCB and at Iwade, not black listed. Perhaps that’s where speedway’s future lies, away from the BSPA?

Somebody from the BSPA must read the forums and wouldn’t it be nice if just for once they had the decency to actually reply…….

[cityrebel]

Far too blinkered to see what's happening right under their noses.

[g13webb]

9 hours ago, cityrebel said:

Far too blinkered to see what's happening right under their noses.

 Not sure  'Blinkered'   is the right wording.....

[waytogo28]

10 hours ago, Dave Stummings said:

Somebody from the BSPA must read the forums and wouldn’t it be nice if just for once they had the decency to actually reply…….

I bet they don't read much of the forum because they see all feedback as negative and derogatory. With the head of the BSPA being a 100% in agreement with  "my way or the highway" philosophy what can you expect? As for replying to a post - I am confident that they see it as a"below them".

[Ray Stadia]

7 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

I bet they don't read much of the forum because they see all feedback as negative and derogatory. With the head of the BSPA being a 100% in agreement with  "my way or the highway" philosophy what can you expect? As for replying to a post - I am confident that they see it as a"below them".

Of course, you are assuming they can read!  

[Speedtiger]

7 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

Of course, you are assuming they can read!  

Ha ha....but true,. BSPA blame everyone and anyone but themselves. The sport being run into the ground by Buster, who is a complete clown, is now doomed. 

[moxey63]

You worry about the future when such clubs as Reading, Belle Vue (Hyde Road), Oxford, Cradley and Coventry lost to the sport. They all won titles in the 1980s. The sport isn't too big to lose. Bradford shut, months after winning the title in 1997. The sport now hangs by a thread. Lesser clubs are pulling down shutters one last time. The sport is being run under the BSPA umbrella but each member goes off in their own direction to run their respective club. They have no real power, as each venue is owned by someone else who may take a stash of cash for redevelopment. The sport lost its chance to own each and every stadium, it lots the chance to cement the sport by at least owning the tracks they race on. That is the problem.  When the future rests in the hands of others and is not controlled by the sport, the future looks cloudy. 

[Tsunami]

8 hours ago, moxey63 said:

You worry about the future when such clubs as Reading, Belle Vue (Hyde Road), Oxford, Cradley and Coventry lost to the sport. They all won titles in the 1980s. The sport isn't too big to lose. Bradford shut, months after winning the title in 1997. The sport now hangs by a thread. Lesser clubs are pulling down shutters one last time. The sport is being run under the BSPA umbrella but each member goes off in their own direction to run their respective club. They have no real power, as each venue is owned by someone else who may take a stash of cash for redevelopment. The sport lost its chance to own each and every stadium, it lots the chance to cement the sport by at least owning the tracks they race on. That is the problem.  When the future rests in the hands of others and is not controlled by the sport, the future looks cloudy. 

No different from any other sport.

[stevehone]

i just posted this on the Peterborough thread ...

 

IF, and it's a big IF, Buster is trying to bring down some pay scales across the board then surely that's a good thing for the future of the sport?

it's not a good business model to be paying out more than comes in, no matter who the rider is

[Aces51]

It was Adrian Smith, CEO at Belle Vue, who came up with the idea of the National Supporters Group and put it forward at the AGM, I think with the support of Peter Adams. Adrian has only been involved in Speedway for two seasons and can always be found on the terraces during meetings talking to fans. He is always willing to listen to what they have to say and to explain his own views. He shouldn't be tarred with the same brush as some of the longer standing members of the BSPA.

It's got to be an idea worth trying. Maybe the BSPA still won't listen but if the fans representatives put forward well thought through, sensible and practical proposals, they just might.

 

[Speedtiger]

28 minutes ago, Aces51 said:

It was Adrian Smith, CEO at Belle Vue, who came up with the idea of the National Supporters Group and put it forward at the AGM, I think with the support of Peter Adams. Adrian has only been involved in Speedway for two seasons and can always be found on the terraces during meetings talking to fans. He is always willing to listen to what they have to say and to explain his own views. He shouldn't be tarred with the same brush as some of the longer standing members of the BSPA.

It's got to be an idea worth trying. Maybe the BSPA still won't listen but if the fans representatives put forward well thought through, sensible and practical proposals, they just might.

 

Ok BUT what will that achieve? I have many Aces mates and go over to BV 8 or 10 times a year....the crowds at NSS are really poor and have halved over the past 2 seasons and the management don't seem to have the ability to promote the club....and get more people in and make money. I'm told by someone who works in admin at BV and she says they are loosing over £300k per season....so I'm not sure we should have much confidence in his ideas. The sport and clubs are going bankrupt with more to come I fear and I doubt very much a fans representative at the BSPA will change things...As you say they won't listen! 

[Mr Snackette]

On 1/19/2019 at 1:33 PM, moxey63 said:

...............The sport is being run under the BSPA umbrella but each member goes off in their own direction to run their respective club........

On 1/19/2019 at 9:54 PM, Tsunami said:

No different from any other sport.

Not for the first time Tsunami is talking out of his rear end!

Decently run sports have chief executives who are independent of the clubs they represent. So when the EPL make a decision they have  Richard Scudamore to implement it. He does not  "go off in his own direction to run his respective club",  as he doesn't have a respective club to run! Mind you the EPL will have to find someone new as he is due to retire shortly!

Similarly the ECB's Chief Executive Officer is  Tom Harrison, a former professional cricketer was previously a Senior Vice President for international sports agency IMG.

The RFU are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Executive to replace Steve Brown, who was recruited in 2011 from Abbott Labs. One thing for sure his replacement won't be  an official of a RFU Club!!!!

And if you go further afield, all the Commissioners of the major sports in the USA....NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS are all held by fully independant individuals who are not connected with ay particular franchise.

The list is endless.

In fact speedway had the chance to have someone to run the sport, mind you that was over 30 years ago now! The problem is, that speedway is ostensibly run by little men, who run small businesses, and are frightened to allow a third party  to take control. The decision not give JB the chance to run British Speedway in the way he wanted, was probably the first stab wound in the heart of the sport! Sadly the self interests of those that were supposed to protect the sport have done nothing but slowly turn the knife, and are to a large extent responsible for the hemorrhage that we now see.

So yes, Moxey's analysis was spot on

 

[adonis]

On 1/14/2019 at 9:04 PM, Dave Stummings said:

 

 

This demise of once a great family sport in Great Britain is now on its last legs thanks mainly to the BSPA.

 

You ran the sport your way for years and years. When speedway was on a high, as it was in my opinion up until probably the mid-eighties, you took the fans and riders for granted.

 

Now you’ve ruined the sport and you have got the nerve to ask now for a National Supporters Group to meet 3 times a year at various venues around the country.

 

“To provide a structured platform for supporters (each representing one of the sport's tracks/clubs) to meet with the BSPA to air their views (however critical!) and provide ideas. 

 

The BSPA see supporter engagement as critical to the future of the sport - seeing the formation of this new Group which it believes will add significant value to the sport's continued development.” 

 

I love this part ‘will add significant value to the sports continued development’! Poppy cock!!!!

 

When emails have been sent to BSPAHQ asking questions and making suggestions they the BSPA have not even had the decency to reply! What great public relations that is!

 

My speedway fix will probably be at Lydd/Rye House when they have a meeting or training school, both of course black listed by the SCB and at Iwade, not black listed. Perhaps that’s where speedway’s future lies, away from the BSPA?

 

Somebody from the BSPA must read the forums and wouldn’t it be nice if just for once they had the decency to actually reply…….

 

How many of todays promoters were running the sport in the mid 80's ?

[adonis]

all very well suggestion an independent  comissioner  ,but who is going to pay them ,? extra quid on the admission ?

[Mr Snackette]

10 minutes ago, adonis said:

all very well suggestion an independent  comissioner  ,but who is going to pay them ,? extra quid on the admission ?

Sadly that boat sailed many years ago..... The years of stagnation, caused to a large extent, by the leadership of self-serving intellectual pygmies whose sole interest has been the protection of their own business, rather than doing what's best for the sport, has left the patient in critical if not terminal care.    I fear even if someone  who has the composite wisdom and experience of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Page were found to be a CEO, they would, in all probability,  be "flogging a dead horse", and in any event wouldn't be listened to by the "we know best" attitude of the little businessman who apparently lead and direct the sport.

[TheReturn]

Some good points on the thread. Speedway is suffering, and the BSPA perhaps needs to review how they operate, that said people have been saying these exact same things for decades and yet here we still are.

I actually think the sport could still thrive, but perhaps would need to change.  In some respect the modern age of instant media and quick one line social media means is perfect for speedway and showcasing the best of our 60 second races. 

The problem of course is you need a collaborative approach from everyone, and employing social media experts and professional web designers to create attractive short clips and social media posts... not just employing speedway mates to design websites that are about 10 years out of date and media experts with no charisma (NP).

Of course, then turning social media views into attendance and retaining requires more collaboration between clubs, including discounts to get people in the door, providing tracks that enable real racing (rather than 4 riders riding around) and making stadiums appealing to want to attend.   I also think making a bigger deal about supporting your local club/team could help, but is pointless when that teams riders ride for other clubs in the UK on different nights.  

Speedway is not dead yet, but I don't see any sign that the BSPA want to make use of the modern technology that is readily available. 

[Ray Stadia]

1 hour ago, TheReturn said:

Some good points on the thread. Speedway is suffering, and the BSPA perhaps needs to review how they operate, that said people have been saying these exact same things for decades and yet here we still are.

I actually think the sport could still thrive, but perhaps would need to change.  In some respect the modern age of instant media and quick one line social media means is perfect for speedway and showcasing the best of our 60 second races. 

The problem of course is you need a collaborative approach from everyone, and employing social media experts and professional web designers to create attractive short clips and social media posts... not just employing speedway mates to design websites that are about 10 years out of date and media experts with no charisma (NP).

Of course, then turning social media views into attendance and retaining requires more collaboration between clubs, including discounts to get people in the door, providing tracks that enable real racing (rather than 4 riders riding around) and making stadiums appealing to want to attend.   I also think making a bigger deal about supporting your local club/team could help, but is pointless when that teams riders ride for other clubs in the UK on different nights.  

Speedway is not dead yet, but I don't see any sign that the BSPA want to make use of the modern technology that is readily available. 

Perhaps we need a moratorium of team speedway for at least one season. That does not mean no speedway action, as the tracks could still be used for individual events. So, what would that do? 1. If all tracks are losing money it will give the promoters a reprieve. 2. It will allow speedway to test whether running speedway as a series of individual meetings, is the way forward. 3. It will give speedway time to rethink how it should be operating in the future, i.e. the best model for the sport. 4. As it would be a drastic action, it would mean the promoters, riders, sponsors and hopefully fans have the opportunity to work together for the sport's future.      

[adonis]

1 hour ago, TheReturn said:

Some good points on the thread. Speedway is suffering, and the BSPA perhaps needs to review how they operate, that said people have been saying these exact same things for decades and yet here we still are.

I actually think the sport could still thrive, but perhaps would need to change.  In some respect the modern age of instant media and quick one line social media means is perfect for speedway and showcasing the best of our 60 second races. 

The problem of course is you need a collaborative approach from everyone, and employing social media experts and professional web designers to create attractive short clips and social media posts... not just employing speedway mates to design websites that are about 10 years out of date and media experts with no charisma (NP).

Of course, then turning social media views into attendance and retaining requires more collaboration between clubs, including discounts to get people in the door, providing tracks that enable real racing (rather than 4 riders riding around) and making stadiums appealing to want to attend.   I also think making a bigger deal about supporting your local club/team could help, but is pointless when that teams riders ride for other clubs in the UK on different nights.  

Speedway is not dead yet, but I don't see any sign that the BSPA want to make use of the modern technology that is readily available. 

decades ago it was different promoters who weren't listening , but at least back then you could have said all they are interested in is money , because there was money to be had , can't say that now  so there attitude must be it's my money and I'm not being told what to do with it

 

[mikebv]

26 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

Perhaps we need a moratorium of team speedway for at least one season. That does not mean no speedway action, as the tracks could still be used for individual events. So, what would that do? 1. If all tracks are losing money it will give the promoters a reprieve. 2. It will allow speedway to test whether running speedway as a series of individual meetings, is the way forward. 3. It will give speedway time to rethink how it should be operating in the future, i.e. the best model for the sport. 4. As it would be a drastic action, it would mean the promoters, riders, sponsors and hopefully fans have the opportunity to work together for the sport's future.      

Good call...

I've said before, Speedway must pay out Millions to riders yet gets zero publicity to that effect.....

The average Premiership club must pay a minimum £20k to riders for both meetings they have to pay out from their home match..

Thats on crowds of circa 1200-1500...

Maybe advertise that £20k as prize money for an individual event with proper advertising and more than 1500 will attend?

Throw in any current team sponsorship into the prize money to increase the prize fund..

Give all 16 riders an average of £1250 each and maybe they could be charged £250 to enter with the four finalists getting the £4K collected on a decreasing scale from the winner to fourth..

If you can generate a 3k crowd then double the prize fund which can only grow further interest..

Bottom line is. It cannot deliver a credible team sport currently so why bother keep flogging that dying horse?

Maybe different promoters could also use the same track? Newcomers to Speedway doing one off meetings with fresh ideas? 

Less meetings maybe, but well marketed and credible, would be much more beneficial than what we have at present..

The racing can be great to watch, as good as in any era, so sell that...

Edited January 23, 2019 by mikebv

[adonis]

17 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Good call...

I've said before, Speedway must pay out Millions to riders yet gets zero publicity to that effect.....

The average Premiership club must pay a minimum £20k to riders for both meetings they have to pay out from their home match..

Thats on crowds of circa 1200-1500...

Maybe advertise that £20k as prize money for an individual event with proper advertising and more than 1500 will attend?

Throw in any current team sponsorship into the prize money to increase the prize fund..

Give all 16 riders an average of £1250 each and maybe they could be charged £250 to enter with the four finalists getting the £4K collected on a decreasing scale from the winner to fourth..

If you can generate a 3k crowd then double the prize fund which can only grow further interest..

Bottom line is. It cannot deliver a credible team sport currently so why bother keep flogging that dying horse?

Maybe different promoters could also use the same track? Newcomers to Speedway doing one off meetings with fresh ideas? 

Less meetings maybe, but well marketed and credible, would be much more beneficial than what we have at present..

The racing can be great to watch, as good as in any era, so sell that...

I have always thought  it's all about the money , golf Boring , darts boring , snooker boring . all attract large interest ,  now its not because these things are exciting is it , it's because of the prize money .