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Speedway's future IMO


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23 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Imagine it, if there would have been Play-Offs in Premiership football when Man City won the title by 20 points, and they'd lost in the Final by a dodgy penalty. Can understand why some sports don't even go there. VAR's bad enough.

? you say not to compare Football and Speedway ..then you do it  yourself ..

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10 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Speedway is a different form of sport. In a way, it probably has less credit with non-speedway fans than at any time in the last 90 years.

By non-speedway fans, you mean people like yourself?

You're fooling yourself if you think that speedway even enters the mind of non-speedway fans. We are already aware that most non-speedway fans (certainly in the UK) haven't any idea what speedway is, so why would they worry about rules, points limits, guests, and general credibility?

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15 hours ago, djr said:

In an ideal world , every Sport would like to operate in a single-use stadium and not have to share with  other sports. 

however if 2 or more Sports could use a stadium , it must make the finances better for everyone involved.

  I also cant see that it makes the viewing terrible , just a bit further away that's all.

And you have to sell that ‘but further away’ to fans. Today football is generally the top sport and yet you would want those fans out at a disadvantage to a lesser sport ? Why should they then pay good money for a poor view ? It just doesn’t work like that anymore. People expect a good stadium with a good view and a certain standard of facility nowadays like decent toilets

Doesn’t sound like a good business strategy to give potentially your main source of income the poor standards, when probably just down the road another club is offering something better

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1 hour ago, iris123 said:

And you have to sell that ‘but further away’ to fans. Today football is generally the top sport and yet you would want those fans out at a disadvantage to a lesser sport ? Why should they then pay good money for a poor view ? It just doesn’t work like that anymore. People expect a good stadium with a good view and a certain standard of facility nowadays like decent toilets

Doesn’t sound like a good business strategy to give potentially your main source of income the poor standards, when probably just down the road another club is offering something better

Thing is, when we talk about the Shay in the 60's and 70's, I would think that the speedway attracted a lot more fans than the footy.

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5 minutes ago, chunky said:

Thing is, when we talk about the Shay in the 60's and 70's, I would think that the speedway attracted a lot more fans than the footy.

Yeah, but we aren’t talking about the 70s. It’s like comparing Wembley in the 1940s with today...

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1 minute ago, iris123 said:

Yeah, but we aren’t talking about the 70s. It’s like comparing Wembley in the 1940s with today...

Well, I was referring to a couple of posts, not just yours.

It is true what you say about the expectations regarding stadiums. It really wasn't that long along that we people were content to stand on grass mounds and crappy concrete steps, with only corrugated iron sheets for cover. As was said, multi-use stadiums are a great idea financially, but there is virtually no way to ensure equal facilities (certainly viewing facilities) for the different sports.

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The trouble is who in their right mind would plan a multi use stadium with football and speedway. ? As said the viewing for your main market is poor. Then the way speedway goes who would make a plan for a sport that might run 2,3 or.4 years then disappear for a decade etc then make another shot comeback. Better to run with two stable sports that can better use the facilities. That is generally how football plan stadia now. As I said elsewhere Millwall planned for the New Dwn to be used for concerts etc which better fit a football stadium that a Motorsport. Football stadiums are generally in built up areas anyway and a Motorsport would meet problems with residents. Who wants extra planning problems ?

Football and Rugby or Hockey etc makes sense. Maybe horse racing and speedway more so. But I now see horse racing coming under scrutiny in the States by protesters. Just like Greyhounds are in the UK

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12 hours ago, BWitcher said:

Just imagine a team winning every single game in a season, then losing in the final of the playoffs in the dying seconds. 

Nobody would watch such a sport would they. TV viewing figures would be awful.. Advertisers most certainly wouldn't be interested.

When has this happened?

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6 hours ago, chunky said:

By non-speedway fans, you mean people like yourself?

You're fooling yourself if you think that speedway even enters the mind of non-speedway fans. We are already aware that most non-speedway fans (certainly in the UK) haven't any idea what speedway is, so why would they worry about rules, points limits, guests, and general credibility?

I am a speedway fan, just not the modern stuff. For example, I prefer the David Bowie stuff from the 70s than his 80s offering. Does that mean I can't like any of Mr Bowie's music? 

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How come it's only people who pay to watch current day speedway, and some who don't (good morning, chunky), who can have a say about the plight of the current speedway? Does it tell you perhaps that they're the last few on the boat letting in water, but they have buckets? They have little chance of rescuing it and will keep trying. Don't tell them it's a lost cause. They say you're the lost cause for abandoning the boat and are on shore.

Edited by moxey63
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6 hours ago, chunky said:

By non-speedway fans, you mean people like yourself?

You're fooling yourself if you think that speedway even enters the mind of non-speedway fans. We are already aware that most non-speedway fans (certainly in the UK) haven't any idea what speedway is, so why would they worry about rules, points limits, guests, and general credibility?

So, perhaps some ex-speedway fans gave up bothering because they couldn't keep up with the rules. How many were put off by the ridiculous Golden Double, like the 2006 Play-Off Final that made the sport look a laughing stock for anyone not defending it? Reading were the best team all season but were done by a ridiculous rule which punished them for actually wanting to win, and it allowed Peterborough to gain (approx) 14 extra points that Reading weren't in a position to. The current day speedway system is flawed. Mark Lemon at Belle Vue says you are punished for stating the season to well and winning matches, being top of the table. Now, please tell me, who on the terraces in today's speedway really knows which team is trying to win and which team is trying to lose, if you put Lemon's words into the equation? A lot of teams are like Popeye before he consumes the spinach.

VAR could do the same for football if they don't watch it. There you are, I've compared both again. 

Edited by moxey63
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9 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

I am a speedway fan, just not the modern stuff. For example, I prefer the David Bowie stuff from the 70s than his 80s offering. Does that mean I can't like any of Mr Bowie's music? 

I like the early Rolling Stones stuff, but wouldn’t call myself a Rolling Stones fan. Just like I used to watch Road Racing in the Barry Sheene days particularly the GB v USA Easter series, but wouldn’t consider myself a Road Racing fan

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5 minutes ago, iris123 said:

I like the early Rolling Stones stuff, but wouldn’t call myself a Rolling Stones fan. Just like I used to watch Road Racing in the Barry Sheene days particularly the GB v USA Easter series, but wouldn’t consider myself a Road Racing fan

But because you're a speedway fan you'll put up with anything.  But for how long? And when you don't like the current form of speedway, do you walk away or keep in there, because you have spent most of your life following it and still like parts of its past. It would be like a divorce without seeing the kids and throwing away all the family photographs. You still have a connection. You will notice I don't comment on modern topics, like the league sections. I have no idea who's riding where this week or next. I feel I can contribute to where speedway is heading, after seeing where it's been, and why people may not be interested anymore (apart from the cult followers).

Edited by moxey63
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2 hours ago, iris123 said:

The trouble is who in their right mind would plan a multi use stadium with football and speedway. ? As said the viewing for your main market is poor. Then the way speedway goes who would make a plan for a sport that might run 2,3 or.4 years then disappear for a decade etc then make another shot comeback. Better to run with two stable sports that can better use the facilities. That is generally how football plan stadia now. As I said elsewhere Millwall planned for the New Dwn to be used for concerts etc which better fit a football stadium that a Motorsport. Football stadiums are generally in built up areas anyway and a Motorsport would meet problems with residents. Who wants extra planning problems ?

Football and Rugby or Hockey etc makes sense. Maybe horse racing and speedway more so. But I now see horse racing coming under scrutiny in the States by protesters. Just like Greyhounds are in the UK

Wouldn't cricket grounds be the best fit? Is there historical precedent in Australia? Clearly they're not obvious bed fellows but I know a lot of the Counties struggle financially. Would it be possible to have a permanent speedway track covered by cut out sections of the cricket outfield? Not in-expensive but less so than a new stadium. Generally speaking you'd be appealing to two different demographics so wouldn't be competing for the same audience [debatable].

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1 hour ago, enotian said:

Wouldn't cricket grounds be the best fit? Is there historical precedent in Australia? Clearly they're not obvious bed fellows but I know a lot of the Counties struggle financially. Would it be possible to have a permanent speedway track covered by cut out sections of the cricket outfield? Not in-expensive but less so than a new stadium. Generally speaking you'd be appealing to two different demographics so wouldn't be competing for the same audience [debatable].

Crewe was built around a cricket pitch, albeit the LMS/BR Sports Ground rather than a county venue. If anything it was too large and had to be shortened during its brief life. 

 

 

Edited by RobMcCaffery
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In the Midlands there are many older athletics venues in need to local authority investment that has sadly not been forthcoming before / after Olympics 2012 and still a few that hark back to the days when industry provided good sports facilities for their employees.

I do remember going to speedway at Scunthorpe that was an athletics track, would have been around mid 70's can't remember name of the place and there were similar venues in Birmingham (Aston under motorway) that I think Brummies looked at and in Dudley borough / Sandwell Borough (that I think Cradley looked at) and others.

Benefit of athletics tracks is that they have an obvious shape and base around which stadium is built that means work required to put down a track is reduced.

   

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10 minutes ago, HGould said:

In the Midlands there are many older athletics venues in need to local authority investment that has sadly not been forthcoming before / after Olympics 2012 and still a few that hark back to the days when industry provided good sports facilities for their employees.

I do remember going to speedway at Scunthorpe that was an athletics track, would have been around mid 70's can't remember name of the place and there were similar venues in Birmingham (Aston under motorway) that I think Brummies looked at and in Dudley borough / Sandwell Borough (that I think Cradley looked at) and others.

Benefit of athletics tracks is that they have an obvious shape and base around which stadium is built that means work required to put down a track is reduced.

   

Quibell park was scunny 

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