Humphrey Appleby Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 23 hours ago, falcace said: Broadly, I think BSI have done a good job with the GPs. With venues like Warsaw, Cardiff, Stockholm, Copenhagen and the like, they have moved the World Championships on significantly from the fading embers of the old one-off finals and the early GP series at Coventry, Pocking and the like. Live World Championship speedway on live television is now taken for granted as are some of the plush stadia it takes place in. 25 years ago, the world championship was in a very different place, despite what some fans and their rose-tinted monkey masks would say. Not sure I'd agree with that. At the end of the day, the venues are much the same as they were during the pre-BSI SGP with the exception of maybe Cardiff and Warsaw - the others all proved to be non-sustainable, and some GPs are still being held in fields in the middle of nowhere. Even towards the end of the World Final era, it was still possible to draw good crowds at the bigger venues and if venues like Cardiff had been around at the time, it might have been a different story. I think almost any half-competent company could have leveraged the television opportunities that existed towards the end of the late-1990s and early-2000s - satellite and cable companies needing to fill many hours with cheap content. But the transition to new forms of broadcasting such as streaming media seems to have been a bit more painful, and sponsorship development has probably been fairly weak over the years. On balance, I'd say things are slightly better since BSI came along, but it's no great shakes and really the SGP is still focused on pretty much the same markets as when they started. After 20 years, it's time for someone else to have a go even if speedway is a difficult sell nowadays. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyretrax Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 On 12/18/2019 at 1:59 PM, hobnob said: Nothing wrong with Phil does his job well and a bloody nice bloke Not an opinion shared in Glasgow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 On 12/18/2019 at 2:31 PM, Wee Eck said: I must have 14 fingers then! The comment made was about full stadia, not nearly full. The only one that sells out for every match is also the largest - Manchester United with 74,879. Except last night's match which was a cup quarter final and only 58,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bald Bloke Posted December 19, 2019 Report Share Posted December 19, 2019 17 minutes ago, mickthemuppet said: Except last night's match which was a cup quarter final and only 58,000 Who did they play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted December 20, 2019 Report Share Posted December 20, 2019 On 12/18/2019 at 2:07 PM, falcace said: Broadly, I think BSI have done a good job with the GPs. With venues like Warsaw, Cardiff, Stockholm, Copenhagen and the like, they have moved the World Championships on significantly But, I agree that there has been some stagnation in recent years and some freshening up could be a good thing. A more global series with new venues and new markets would be a welcome development. While I agree with the general sentiment of what you're saying, GP's are no longer held in Stockholm and Copenhagen, so I suggest rather than stagnation more recently there has been a regression add to this the continued on/off relationship with Aus/NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Eck Posted December 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2019 13 hours ago, mickthemuppet said: Except last night's match which was a cup quarter final and only 58,000 That can’t be right - BWitcher tells me, despite the stats, that every Premier stadium sells out every match. They must have been using old Arnold with the arthritic thumb to click the crowd counter last night 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Snackette Posted December 23, 2019 Report Share Posted December 23, 2019 I trust the attached table will help resolve the Premier League attendance debate! What I do know is that any speedway promoter would love to run their business with their venue being regularly filled to 95% of its capacity, particularly (as in the case of the EPL) that this is not necessarily their major source of income! Furthermore, if we accept that watching the EPL is an expensive business, then it underlines my point that if the product is right people will pay to watch it. As a result, it follows that all this tosh about admission to speedway meetings being too expensive to attract punters is just that....TOSH!! If the product is right people will pay to watch it....and there lies the issue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim G Posted December 23, 2019 Report Share Posted December 23, 2019 Also clubs may not have full capacity for all matches but tickets do not go on general sale where if they did the stadium would be full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_martin Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 On 12/17/2019 at 5:06 PM, PHILIPRISING said: ... jettison Cardiff which is a proven money-spinner... I'd like to see the accounts that show that a 40% full Principality Stadium can possibly be more money than "spin". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shovlar Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 7:37 PM, Tim G said: Also clubs may not have full capacity for all matches but tickets do not go on general sale where if they did the stadium would be full. There’s two hopes of getting a home Premier league match ticket for AFC Bournemouth. No hope and Bob Hope. Bob has left the building. Any empty seats seen are season ticket holders who have not turned up. The system used to get a regular ticket for Bournemouth home games makes it almost completely impossible due to the points system in place. Touts possibly the only bet to get inside the ground. Believe if Bournemouth had a 25,000 capacity it would still be full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 7:31 PM, Mr Snackette said: I trust the attached table will help resolve the Premier League attendance debate! What I do know is that any speedway promoter would love to run their business with their venue being regularly filled to 95% of its capacity, particularly (as in the case of the EPL) that this is not necessarily their major source of income! Furthermore, if we accept that watching the EPL is an expensive business, then it underlines my point that if the product is right people will pay to watch it. As a result, it follows that all this tosh about admission to speedway meetings being too expensive to attract punters is just that....TOSH!! If the product is right people will pay to watch it....and there lies the issue! Id agree with much of what you say except that Football gets the gates it does because the product is right. It has the huge advantage that supporters are almost born into the sport simply because it is already so popular in the UK and children follow their parents in so many cases. Almost every kid plays football at least for a while. The atmosphere of supporting a football club is so tribal that for a large number they simply can't imagine doing anything else on a Saturday afternoon (mainly), after all there are plenty of poor games played at all those clubs during a season. The success of being in the top division counts for a lot as well given that they get to see different world class players most weeks. I don't think it would suddenly bring big crowds to Speedway clubs if the tracks and racing were great every week. We now have one of the best tracks in the world in a large city producing consistently good racing in front of relatively small crowds. Still seems that winning is what will bring crowds into the local Speedway track every week and as soon as the winning ends so do the reasonable crowd levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 Trouble is Vince it wasn’t always like that . Back in the 70s and 80s a lot of clubs had a real slump in attendances . The interesting bit is how the sport was rebuilt again after some of those terrible disasters and the dark days of hooliganism etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted December 26, 2019 Report Share Posted December 26, 2019 27 minutes ago, Vince said: Id agree with much of what you say except that Football gets the gates it does because the product is right. It has the huge advantage that supporters are almost born into the sport simply because it is already so popular in the UK and children follow their parents in so many cases. Almost every kid plays football at least for a while. The atmosphere of supporting a football club is so tribal that for a large number they simply can't imagine doing anything else on a Saturday afternoon (mainly), after all there are plenty of poor games played at all those clubs during a season. The success of being in the top division counts for a lot as well given that they get to see different world class players most weeks. I don't think it would suddenly bring big crowds to Speedway clubs if the tracks and racing were great every week. We now have one of the best tracks in the world in a large city producing consistently good racing in front of relatively small crowds. Still seems that winning is what will bring crowds into the local Speedway track every week and as soon as the winning ends so do the reasonable crowd levels. Agree entirely...it's in the nation's mindset and enjoys full media exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 11 hours ago, steve roberts said: Agree entirely...it's in the nation's mindset and enjoys full media exposure. Yep .......... sickening isn't it! There's so many things wrong with football but it's all overlooked for the love of your club ..... tch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teaboy279 Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 On 12/23/2019 at 7:31 PM, Mr Snackette said: I trust the attached table will help resolve the Premier League attendance debate! What I do know is that any speedway promoter would love to run their business with their venue being regularly filled to 95% of its capacity, particularly (as in the case of the EPL) that this is not necessarily their major source of income! Furthermore, if we accept that watching the EPL is an expensive business, then it underlines my point that if the product is right people will pay to watch it. As a result, it follows that all this tosh about admission to speedway meetings being too expensive to attract punters is just that....TOSH!! If the product is right people will pay to watch it....and there lies the issue! For all my sins i am an Arsenal fan, and have a few mates with season tickets so I can go pretty much as often as I like. I dont care what the stats say, I ve been to the Emirates and there has been maybe 10,000 empty seats on more then one occasion. In fact in my last 3 visits it's only been the littlebaway section in the corner totally packed. I think they must count season ticket holders regardless of whether they attend or not as that seat isn't for general sale. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor... Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 20 minutes ago, teaboy279 said: For all my sins i am an Arsenal fan, and have a few mates with season tickets so I can go pretty much as often as I like. I dont care what the stats say, I ve been to the Emirates and there has been maybe 10,000 empty seats on more then one occasion. In fact in my last 3 visits it's only been the littlebaway section in the corner totally packed. I think they must count season ticket holders regardless of whether they attend or not as that seat isn't for general sale. Yeh we do it as tickets sold so will always show as pretty much a sellout. I've been season ticket holder for donkeys years and it's been like that since we moved from Highbury. Makes us look a bit daft really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teaboy279 Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 4 minutes ago, The Doctor... said: Yeh we do it as tickets sold so will always show as pretty much a sellout. I've been season ticket holder for donkeys years and it's been like that since we moved from Highbury. Makes us look a bit daft really. And ten minutes into 2nd half there are still a few thousand watching the game underneath on tv while they drink a beer... The people i go with regularly, leave the match on 88 mins, 30 secs to get to the underground before its gets crazy. Last time I stayed till the end and just walked from the stadium to st pancaras. Took 45 mins or so and was relatively pleasant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor... Posted December 27, 2019 Report Share Posted December 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, teaboy279 said: And ten minutes into 2nd half there are still a few thousand watching the game underneath on tv while they drink a beer... The people i go with regularly, leave the match on 88 mins, 30 secs to get to the underground before its gets crazy. Last time I stayed till the end and just walked from the stadium to st pancaras. Took 45 mins or so and was relatively pleasant. Yeh is a nice walk to St Pancras if the weather behaves. My former house was 30 seconds walk from the old stadium - i rather miss the being back home by 5pm bit now i'm down in South London near Palace. Am lucky if i get back by 7 these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrhbig Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 On 12/18/2019 at 2:31 PM, Wee Eck said: I must have 14 fingers then! The comment made was about full stadia, not nearly full. The only one that sells out for every match is also the largest - Manchester United with 74,879. sorry Bournemouth sell out , because it has a very small capacity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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