Eastbourne 2020

[Fromafar]

51 minutes ago, Marky_Mark said:

Where have you seen that Brennan has been sold? I haven’t seen anything to say that he’s become a Glasgow asset, only that he’s been signed until the end of the season? 

Glasgow claim to have bought him.

[J-D]

Who owns the stadium these days?

[cityrebel]

3 minutes ago, J-D said:

Who owns the stadium these days?

Still owned by the Dugard family.

[Marky_Mark]

3 hours ago, Jaizer said:

Glasgow Twitter page

Ok thank you. 

[Marky_Mark]

3 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

Surely when a club folds their riders become the 'property' of BSPL?

Usually yes, but technically they haven’t folded? Company is still trading and we are told it will pay all of its debts so in theory shouldn’t have their asset base stripped and would be able to sell or pass on to a new company prepared to run speedway?

[mikebv]

5 hours ago, iainb said:

Don't know, maybe, maybe not... I would have said that with the right pay scale, Championship level Speedway would have been easily sustainable at Eastbourne.

It was quoted that 6 away matches would have cost them £25k to £35k...

Meaning not much less than £6k needed per match.

That's £12k plus the VAT to pay seven riders for two matches from your home income.

(£14.4k or so?)

And that's before you pay the rent and ancillary meeting costs.. 

What would that be in total?

£17k or so? £18k? 

For the 2nd Division of a sport with such a small following that is a lot of outgoings.. 

No wonder not many make money..

[woofers]

5 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Shall we try guess who was first rider to want to leave them??

Would guess Lawson and Kerr were the two ‘leavers’, Kennett the retiree, and lionsfan2012 the first to state £50k on speedway updates.

Wonder which Promoter objected to the Team GB U23 fixture taking place, despite it being scheduled in an Eastbourne ‘protected slot’?

There is a wealth of information in this article that sheds new light on the actual running of speedway in Britain and locally at Eastbourne, some of which will put the ‘know all’s’ on here back in their box, but other aspects that have never been spoken about. It’s a fascinating and insightful Q&A session, and as far as I can make out, open, transparent and honest - something Ian Jordan has always been. I will miss his enthusiasm, bravado and telling it how it is.

[IainB]

21 minutes ago, mikebv said:

It was quoted that 6 away matches would have cost them £25k to £35k...

Meaning not much less than £6k needed per match.

That's £12k plus the VAT to pay seven riders for two matches from your home income.

(£14.4k or so?)

And that's before you pay the rent and ancillary meeting costs.. 

What would that be in total?

£17k or so? £18k? 

For the 2nd Division of a sport with such a small following that is a lot of outgoings.. 

No wonder not many make money..

Not everybody paid Eastboune rates though by the sounds of things

[IainB]

20 minutes ago, woofers said:

lionsfan2012 the first to state £50k on speedway updates.

Those Leicester fans can be quite mischievous 

[J-D]

1 hour ago, cityrebel said:

Still owned by the Dugard family.

I know redevelopment was sort a few years back, but the facility should be looking to be purchased by British Speedway as a development centre. 

[Phil The Ace]

42 minutes ago, woofers said:

Would guess Lawson and Kerr were the two ‘leavers’, Kennett the retiree, and lionsfan2012 the first to state £50k on speedway updates.

Wonder which Promoter objected to the Team GB U23 fixture taking place, despite it being scheduled in an Eastbourne ‘protected slot’?

There is a wealth of information in this article that sheds new light on the actual running of speedway in Britain and locally at Eastbourne, some of which will put the ‘know all’s’ on here back in their box, but other aspects that have never been spoken about. It’s a fascinating and insightful Q&A session, and as far as I can make out, open, transparent and honest - something Ian Jordan has always been. I will miss his enthusiasm, bravado and telling it how it is.

Len silver is the man that objected to a team GB U23 meeting taking place

[woofers]

27 minutes ago, Phil The Ace said:

Len silver is the man that objected to a team GB U23 meeting taking place

Do you know why ?

[screm]

58 minutes ago, J-D said:

I know redevelopment was sort a few years back, but the facility should be looking to be purchased by British Speedway as a development centre. 

Not sure British speedway has that kind of money,. Remember there are already tracks sitting there doing little or nothing, Buxton for one.

[Fortythirtyeight]

5 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

Surely when a club folds their riders become the 'property' of BSPL?

They didn’t own most of the riders anyway.

[Fortythirtyeight]

9 minutes ago, screm said:

Not sure British speedway has that kind of money,. Remember there are already tracks sitting there doing little or nothing, Buxton for one.

Why would the BSPL buy a track on the south coast when all of the BSPL have their own tracks and there’s nothing in the kitty anyway?

[Phil The Ace]

46 minutes ago, woofers said:

Do you know why ?

Not sure why, but I had a conversation with someone about a month ago about it. And I remember them saying that they were fuming with len silver for stopping young lads race for team GB. 

 

Putting 2 and 2 together. I assume it's about what Eastbourne put 

[old bob at herne bay]

9 hours ago, hammer1969 said:

Agree, speedway could do with more people like Ian Jordan.

I don't think so  hammer 1969 ... we would like some teams to remain in business ! 

On  totally surprising fact that emerged from the Q and A was that neither speedway nor stocks could  have taken place in 2020 due the the condition of the stadium ( electrics)  !  One wonders why there was any money spent at all by the promotion in 2020 promoting a club that basically had no track to race on ?

[hammer1969]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

I don't think so  hammer 1969 ... we would like some teams to remain in business ! 

On  totally surprising fact that emerged from the Q and A was that neither speedway nor stocks could  have taken place in 2020 due the the condition of the stadium ( electrics)  !  One wonders why there was any money spent at all by the promotion in 2020 promoting a club that basically had no track to race on ?

The stadium certificate was turned down in the Spring of 2020 as work was required before it could be issued and it appears to me that most of the promoting, rider retaining payments, vans advertising and other costs  etc for the forthcoming season had already been incurred during late 2019/early 2020 before the stadium problem of renewing the certificate due to the work needed became apparent to the owners of the stadium.  Presumably the owners then informed the Stockcar and Speedway promotions of the problem.

[marko]

I wonder if we will see the Thurrock Hammers promotion move to Eastbourne, they already sponsored the NL team, and are effectively a promotion without a track and Eastbourne is a track without a promotion.

Of course I would like to see Essex have a track again but I just cannot see it in the current climate, the only hope would have been had Arena Essex being developed into a sports park with the speedway staying.

[25yearfan]

Fair play to Ian Jordan for being very honest!

 

The bottom line is that without the Dugard family speedway in Eastbourne would have been nothing more than a training track facility like nearby Iwade or Lydd. It probably was sustainable in the 1970's 2nd Division then the 1979 move into the top flight saw the Eagles struggle financially until dropping down in the 2nd Division again in 1985 where they had a few years of sustainability although the emergence at the time of Martin Dugard would of no doubt made any losses more bearable to the speedway mad Dugard family.

 

Come 1990 and with Martin Dugard having flown the nest to the top flight the speedway promotion was sold to Gareth Rogers who only lasted a year. 1991 saw Eastbourne not start the season cause they wern't allowed into the newly amalgamated top flight until one of the promoted teams Wimbledon closed and moved in mid season. Top flight speedway was then staged regularly losing money until a few years ago when they made the sensible move into the 3rd tier to compete in more sustainable financial waters.

 

Bottom line is without rich benefactors Eastbourne speedway is only going to be viable in a League like the National League or a League thats inbetween the current 3rd tier and the Championship.

 

The time has come for speedway clubs in this Country to take a leaf out of Mildenhall speedways book and run at a level that is best for them financially and on a night/afternoon that is most ideal.

 

- Two Leagues next season -

 

No fixed racenights, 

 

Top flight consisting of up to 11 tracks that can still afford to run at that level.

 

Ipswich, King's Lynn, Peterborough, Wolves, Belle Vue, Poole, Sheffield, Glasgow and Leicester are the only 9 current tracks I believe capable of being sustainable/ have enough financial clout behind them to run in the top flight.

 

National League of a higher standard than the current NL featuring all the rest and any tracks brave enough to run a reserve team at this level.

 

Northern and Southern Conference Leagues consisting of 4 man teams running alongside senior tracks for riders not ready for National League racing.     

 

   

Edited August 30, 2021 by 25yearfan