Stoke closing down

[False dawn]

Just to be clear. The discussions here about top riders, budget constraints and falling crowds is all very interesting. But Stoke closed because the stadium was sold from under them. 

[Great Central]

29 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Just to be clear. The discussions here about top riders, budget constraints and falling crowds is all very interesting. But Stoke closed because the stadium was sold from under them. 

False dawn that is spot on, and you can understand in a way why so little was spent on the stadium if the lease they had allowed the owners to do this. Not much incentive to spend any money knowing that it could be snatched away at short notice.  

[adonis]

1 hour ago, Great Central said:

False dawn that is spot on, and you can understand in a way why so little was spent on the stadium if the lease they had allowed the owners to do this. Not much incentive to spend any money knowing that it could be snatched away at short notice.  

Even if they had any money to spend . even at £10 a point  90 points is £900  out of the takings . then pay a ref ,stadium renbt . ambulance ,insurance . equipment ,shale , and maintenance .doesn't leave a lot of change on gates of 150

[Guest]

3 hours ago, False dawn said:

Just to be clear. The discussions here about top riders, budget constraints and falling crowds is all very interesting. But Stoke closed because the stadium was sold from under them. 

I understand the sale of the stadium was known for some time. At one time the stock car promoter made a £1million offer for the venue but it did not match what the owners felt it was worth.

2 hours ago, Great Central said:

False dawn that is spot on, and you can understand in a way why so little was spent on the stadium if the lease they had allowed the owners to do this. Not much incentive to spend any money knowing that it could be snatched away at short notice.  

How co-operative in regard to upgrading the stadium as needed were the speedway and stock car promotions?

1 hour ago, adonis said:

Even if they had any money to spend . even at £10 a point  90 points is £900  out of the takings . then pay a ref ,stadium renbt . ambulance ,insurance . equipment ,shale , and maintenance .doesn't leave a lot of change on gates of 150

You point out crucial financial data in regard to a speedway meeting and the costs involved. Speedway is quoted as attracting a circa 150 spectators. How many  turned up when there was a stock car meeting?

Edited September 16, 2019 by Guest

[adonis]

30 minutes ago, gustix said:

I understand the sale of the stadium was known for some time. At one time the stock car promoter made a £1million offer for the venue but it did not match what the owners felt it was worth.

How co-operative in regard to upgrading the stadium as needed were the speedway and stock car promotions?

You point out crucial financial data in regard to a speedway meeting and the costs involved. Speedway is quoted as attracting a circa 150 spectators. How many  turned up when there was a stock car meeting?

There would be significantly more . and the drivers pay to race of what is usually not great prize money . However If you lived in rented accomodation , would you be likely to finance improvements to the structure for the landlords benefit . same applies to a rented stadium , should think

[orion]

6 hours ago, mikebv said:

 

Bottom line is, you can't spend what you haven't got and most tracks look like they don't have much spare from what they pay out now. Therefore finding six grand a night (or maybe even more given they will have an expectation based on earnings elsewhere?) for two World Class No1 riders would be a 'tad' difficult I reckon..

 

No the bottom line is you can't keep losing fans  and not replacing them . cutting the standard has clearly not worked but still it's the same plan the next year .Another 5 clubs will go under by next year and the plan will be the same again .no one talking about world class no 1's thou quite clearly is not a problem for Swindon as the good crowds pay for it .

Edited September 16, 2019 by orion

[Sidney the robin]

10 hours ago, orion said:

No the bottom line is you can't keep losing fans  and not replacing them . cutting the standard has clearly not worked but still it's the same plan the next year .Another 5 clubs will go under by next year and the plan will be the same again .no one talking about world class no 1's thou quite clearly is not a problem for Swindon as the good crowds pay for it .

You are deluded Swindon up until the playoffs will barely break even, does a sponsor help to pay for Jason ??? The club have made great strides this year under Rosco/ and Lee Kilby and the crowds have been generally very good but there has been a few weeks when they have been  lower than they have deserved to be .The NL fixture was a huge disappointment gate wise and people are picking and choosing there meeting's more nowadays but yes you are right the club are going in the right direction.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Sidney the robin

[teaboy279]

4 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

You are deluded Swindon up until the playoffs will barely break even, does a sponsor help to pay for Jason ??? The club have made great strides this year under Rosco/ and Lee Kilby and the crowds have been generally very good but there has been a few weeks when they have been  lower than they have deserved to be .The NL fixture was a huge disappointment gate wise and people are picking and choosing there meeting's more now a days but yes you are right the club are going in the right direction.

I think the main reason the NL fixture is not representative of the potential support for it was, challenge matches dont get people excited for thier own riders, barring Anders Rowe the rest of the sprocket team was a select side.

[Sidney the robin]

10 minutes ago, teaboy279 said:

I think the main reason the NL fixture is not representative of the potential support for it was, challenge matches dont get people excited for thier own riders, barring Anders Rowe the rest of the sprocket team was a select side.

Totally right and being on a Sunday might of been a hindrance a renowned family day.If i can remember rightly Swindon did have a few meeting's around that time and not everyone has a budget to say stretch to three or four meetings in 20 days.I think the sprocket team could attract 500 regular's but on that day it did not show it i hope Lee Kilby has a rethink on that over the winter.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, orion said:

.Another 5 clubs will go under by next year and the plan will be the same again .no one talking about world class no 1's thou quite clearly is not a problem for Swindon as the good crowds pay for it .

Ominous and worrying prediction.

[cityrebel]

4 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

You are deluded Swindon up until the playoffs will barely break even, does a sponsor help to pay for Jason ??? The club have made great strides this year under Rosco/ and Lee Kilby and the crowds have been generally very good but there has been a few weeks when they have been  lower than they have deserved to be .The NL fixture was a huge disappointment gate wise and people are picking and choosing there meeting's more now a days but yes you are right the club are going in the right direction.

Clubs running two teams in this day and age are never going to make money Sid. It's a good job some do, it helps keep the numbers up in an ever shrinking NL.

[Sings4Speedway]

9 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Clubs running two teams in this day and age are never going to make money Sid. It's a good job some do, it helps keep the numbers up in an ever shrinking NL.

Its certainly difficult to justify running another team in another league and charging a lower admission as a sensible business model as it could be seen a threat to the original team. That said i feel a NL side running on a weekend afternoon would bring in enough to make the venture successful and sustainable. Perhaps a link up with Reading to reintroduce the Racers as the Junior side could be possible? I think the track shape and standard at NL level would provide an excellent level of entertainment.

[Sidney the robin]

22 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Clubs running two teams in this day and age are never going to make money Sid. It's a good job some do, it helps keep the numbers up in an ever shrinking NL.

Regrettably you are right a real shame as i believe the NL has come along way. 

[arnieg]

1 hour ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Its certainly difficult to justify running another team in another league and charging a lower admission as a sensible business model as it could be seen a threat to the original team. That said i feel a NL side running on a weekend afternoon would bring in enough to make the venture successful and sustainable. Perhaps a link up with Reading to reintroduce the Racers as the Junior side could be possible? I think the track shape and standard at NL level would provide an excellent level of entertainment.

That tends to be the worst of both worlds (see Coventry at Leicester last year for example).

Too far for more than a handful of Reading fans to travel, but not attractive to Swindon fans as the team is badged as Reading.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Its certainly difficult to justify running another team in another league and charging a lower admission as a sensible business model as it could be seen a threat to the original team. That said i feel a NL side running on a weekend afternoon would bring in enough to make the venture successful and sustainable. Perhaps a link up with Reading to reintroduce the Racers as the Junior side could be possible? I think the track shape and standard at NL level would provide an excellent level of entertainment.

 

22 minutes ago, arnieg said:

That tends to be the worst of both worlds (see Coventry at Leicester last year for example).

Too far for more than a handful of Reading fans to travel, but not attractive to Swindon fans as the team is badged as Reading.

Neatly summarised IMO. But these sort of things repeatedly happen in speedway and most probably will continue in the future.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Guest

[Sings4Speedway]

1 hour ago, gustix said:

 

Neatly summarised IMO. But these sort of things repeatedly happen in speedway and most probably will continue in the future.

Maybe so but with the BSPA's insistence that the homeless satellite teams from the MSDL either find permanent homes soon or show they are actively seeking tracks there will likely be no future. Its pretty clear to all how rare and difficult it is to open a new track (simple comparisons of new tracks opened vs venues closed) so without help the volunteers who work tirelessly to keep defunct team names going whilst offering valuable track time to rising riders at great personal cost to themselves will be lost to the sport and its game over. If the grassroots leagues dont exist the sport will be dead in under 5 years.

[orion]

11 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

You are deluded Swindon up until the playoffs will barely break even, does a sponsor help to pay for Jason ??? The club have made great strides this year under Rosco/ and Lee Kilby and the crowds have been generally very good but there has been a few weeks when they have been  lower than they have deserved to be .The NL fixture was a huge disappointment gate wise and people are picking and choosing there meeting's more nowadays but yes you are right the club are going in the right direction.

What is deluded ? what is untrue ...Crowds have drop as the standard has ? clubs  closed every year ?  the plan is to cut the standard again the same plan as the last 15 years ? The problem with speedway is never thinks about how they will make crowds bigger its always been how many fans will can we hold on to .

If Swindon are barely breaking even I would say that doing pretty well seeing most clubs are losing money .

[Sidney the robin]

2 hours ago, orion said:

What is deluded ? what is untrue ...Crowds have drop as the standard has ? clubs  closed every year ?  the plan is to cut the standard again the same plan as the last 15 years ? The problem with speedway is never thinks about how they will make crowds bigger its always been how many fans will can we hold on to .

If Swindon are barely breaking even I would say that doing pretty well seeing most clubs are losing money .

You keep saying the standard has dropped i would say the Premiership level is as good as it has been for a while.Seeing Douglas/ Becker at reserve shows you that the level is not that bad.You think by bringing in the top stars that would rectify the problems i think not i would rather each club live within there means and keep the club's afloat.

[Guest]

The SGB website carries this item re Stoke in its Weekly Round-up section:

STOKE 
“It was strange in the pits tonight before the meeting it was like we’d come to a funeral; well we have in some ways, haven’t we? It’s really sad to see this old place go, but we’ve given the club and stadium a good send-off and I’m sure the packed crowd in here tonight enjoyed the racing and it shows there is support for speedway in this area.”
Potters boss Adam Isherwood summed up the emotion at Loomer Road on Saturday as the club raced their final home meeting at the venue – with the sale having only been announced in the preceding days.
NEXT AWAY: Leicester (KOC), Sat Oct 5 (7.30)

I am slightly puzzled in regard to the attendance for the final speedway meeting. The SGB site comment talks of a 'good attendance' but I understood from previous Posts - albeit sadly - that it was just 150 spectators!

Edited September 17, 2019 by Guest

[arnieg]

9 minutes ago, gustix said:

The SGB website carries this item re Stoke in its Weekly Round-up section:

STOKE 
“It was strange in the pits tonight before the meeting it was like we’d come to a funeral; well we have in some ways, haven’t we? It’s really sad to see this old place go, but we’ve given the club and stadium a good send-off and I’m sure the packed crowd in here tonight enjoyed the racing and it shows there is support for speedway in this area.”
Potters boss Adam Isherwood summed up the emotion at Loomer Road on Saturday as the club raced their final home meeting at the venue – with the sale having only been announced in the preceding days.
NEXT AWAY: Leicester (KOC), Sat Oct 5 (7.30)

I am slightly puzzled in regard to the attendance for the final speedway meeting. The SGB site comment talks of a 'good attendance' but I understood from previous Posts - albeit sadly - that it was just 150 spectators!

150 was an estimate for the previous meeting. (I can't speak to its accuracy but it sounds plausible to me.)

The farewell meeting was probably in the region of 1000 (a very rough estimate on my part)