Will British Speedway Survive ?

[Sidney the robin]

1 hour ago, MattK said:

What do you think is the difference in cost between the likes of Doyle, Crump, Pedersen, Iversen and Woffinden? Even if Woffinden is 30% more expensive, he'd more than pay for himself in additional bums on seats.

Matt if Swindon  say on a good day   get a crowd of say 1,5/800 is that crowd anough to pay the likes of Woffinden the extra revenue.Also  you might have two other big earners in the meeting as well, also  you have strongly  maintained the crowds have dwindled sufficiently in the last few years yet you believe we could afford to pay the bigger earners.A way of paying for the bigger earners is that the supporters go to less meetings and spread there meetings around therefore ensuring each club  get better crowds. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Sidney the robin

[MattK]

12 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Matt if Swindon  say on a good day   get a crowd of say 1,5/800 is that crowd anough to pay the likes of Woffinden the extra revenue.Also  you might have two other big earners in the meeting as well, also  you have strongly  maintained the crowds have dwindled sufficiently in the last few years yet you believe we could afford to pay the bigger earners.A way of paying for the bigger earners is that the supporters go to less meetings and spread there meetings around therefore ensuring each club  get better crowds. 

I think Woffinden would pay for himself in additional gate reveue. However we all know the reason he won't ride in the UK is because he doesn't like multiple race nights and that, like most top riders, two leagues and the GPs are sufficient to generate income and sponsorship.

[Sidney the robin]

57 minutes ago, MattK said:

I think Woffinden would pay for himself in additional gate reveue. However we all know the reason he won't ride in the UK is because he doesn't like multiple race nights and that, like most top riders, two leagues and the GPs are sufficient to generate income and sponsorship.

 I think promoters need to know what crowds they are getting first.None of us really know , even at Swindon last year you were never really sure what the crowd would be.

[HGould]

There will surely come a point when restrictions have to be lifted as the death rate follows the infection rate in falling to early march levels.

Millions of jobs in retail / leisure and especially our own Coastal and Tourist Towns will implore that restrictions are eased otherwise we won't have a pandemic we'll have a great depression.

Many of the Events being cancelled are major ones that take a huge amount of logistical planning and expense and so have to be cancelled now to save unnecessary expense.

Speedway could resume in part one would assume within 7 days. It would take longer for foreign riders to arrive back in UK and some may decide not to bother.

The issue by then may not be "social distancing" as the Government has suggested more than once that it is willing to try "herd immunity" again in summer once NHS can cope. 

The big problem for speedway may not be lockdown, may not be social distancing, may not even be crowds of up to a few thousand, it'll be the medical cover and possible usage of A+E departments. That's a practical and ethical issue.

I am still hopeful that we may see "some speedway" in July / August, what form it takes is another matter entirely. 

 

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, Falcon1983 said:

Think Woffy would probably be more like 300% more in costs but all depends on his earnings in Poland if they are not as agreed he may want to top up his earnings 

When it comes to the very top riders I actually thinks its the away tracks that generally get the biggest uplifts and benefits..

When Jason Crump came back one year to the Aces we saw a 600 or so uplift initially. But many of those were fans who had stopped going as the team were so poor..

It lasted about two matches before crowds started to drift back and we ended up with only slightly more than were there pre Crumpys return as the 'novelty' wore off..

It would have been interesting to see NP's impact to Sheffield and JC's to Ipswich, to see if home crowds reduced as the season went by and the 'wow factor' wore off. I would suspect though that their planned four visits to the NSS however would have delivered their best crowds of the year..

If they didnt have a prior engagement obviously. It is noticeable isnt it how many top riders often miss away matches due to their wider calendar yet never seem to have any clashes at home? (Matej Zagar appeared to have a 'few' clashes of meetings when we visited Lakeside I seem to remember.)

Strange that....

Maybe taking a leaf out of Rugby and Crickets operating model and centrally contract seven top riders could work..? One for each track..

Take a contract and you commit to racing every meeting. That way every track will benefit from having 'two stars' per meeting and a fan would go in confidence  knowing they 'should' be there..

It would also mean the Promoters sharing costs and working together for the common good.. 

Having an 'odd superstar' here and there wont collectively make much difference crowd wise as the season progresses i would think, but maybe seven collectively would? 

 

[MattK]

1 hour ago, HGould said:

I am still hopeful that we may see "some speedway" in July / August, what form it takes is another matter entirely. 

Do you think, even when the lockdown is lifted, that people are suddenly going to go out and congregate in large groups?

[Wolfie456]

1 hour ago, HGould said:

There will surely come a point when restrictions have to be lifted as the death rate follows the infection rate in falling to early march levels.

Millions of jobs in retail / leisure and especially our own Coastal and Tourist Towns will implore that restrictions are eased otherwise we won't have a pandemic we'll have a great depression.

Many of the Events being cancelled are major ones that take a huge amount of logistical planning and expense and so have to be cancelled now to save unnecessary expense.

Speedway could resume in part one would assume within 7 days. It would take longer for foreign riders to arrive back in UK and some may decide not to bother.

The issue by then may not be "social distancing" as the Government has suggested more than once that it is willing to try "herd immunity" again in summer once NHS can cope. 

The big problem for speedway may not be lockdown, may not be social distancing, may not even be crowds of up to a few thousand, it'll be the medical cover and possible usage of A+E departments. That's a practical and ethical issue.

I am still hopeful that we may see "some speedway" in July / August, what form it takes is another matter entirely. 

 

Think you can factor in will sponsors still want be involved if they've hit hard times.

[Sidney the robin]

20 minutes ago, MattK said:

Do you think, even when the lockdown is lifted, that people are suddenly going to go out and congregate in large groups?

Is a 1000 plus spread out sensibly any different to being in Sainsbury's on a weekend life  has to go on eventually.

[BWitcher]

25 minutes ago, MattK said:

Do you think, even when the lockdown is lifted, that people are suddenly going to go out and congregate in large groups?

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[MattK]

1 minute ago, Sidney the robin said:

Is a 1000 plus spread out sensibly any different to being in Sainsbury's on a weekend life  has to go on eventually.

I don't think people will be rushing out en masse to Sainsbury's either. I think people will be exceedingly caution for the first six months or so. Especially until a vaccine or other treatment is widely available.

[MattK]

5 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.

 

Really? We are seeing event scheduled for late summer being cancelled. This isn't due to the likelihood of us still being in lockdown, it is for purely commercial reasons.

[BWitcher]

5 minutes ago, MattK said:

Really? We are seeing event scheduled for late summer being cancelled. This isn't due to the likelihood of us still being in lockdown, it is for purely commercial reasons.

I don't buy that for one second.

It's to do with the possibility of us still being in lockdown, and the lack of time and ability to organise.

I have absolutely ZERO doubts whatsoever, that the moment the lockdown restrictions are lifted that public places will be packed.

Are you suggesting, for example, Premier League (football) restarts after the lockdown there would be a lack of fans?

Pubs will be rammed too.

Sorry, don't buy it. People will be clamoring for it.

The only thing that might effect things is if they have been financially hit.

Edited April 8, 2020 by BWitcher

[MattK]

1 minute ago, BWitcher said:

I don't buy that for one second.

It's to do with the possibility of us still being in lockdown, and the lack of time and ability to organise.

I have absolutely ZERO doubts whatsoever, that the moment the lockdown restrictions are lifted that public places will be packed.

Are you suggesting, for example, Premier League (football) restarts after the lockdown there would be a lack of fans?

Sorry, don't buy it. People will be clamoring for it.

The only thing that might effect things is if they have been financially hit.

Do you think Wimbledon was cancelled as they think we will still be in lockdown at the end of June? I think it is because they are scared of poor ticket sales and attendances.

I don't think people will go flooding out. People are realising that spunking money on coffee, lunches, down the shops, pubs, restaurants etc. isn't actually required to have a life. Maybe that's just me though. I've saved an absolute fortune this last month when I haven't left the house.

[BWitcher]

1 minute ago, MattK said:

Do you think Wimbledon was cancelled as they think we will still be in lockdown at the end of June? I think it is because they are scared of poor ticket sales and attendances.

I don't think people will go flooding out. People are realising that spunking money on coffee, lunches, down the shops, pubs, restaurants etc. isn't actually required to have a life. Maybe that's just me though. I've saved an absolute fortune this last month when I haven't left the house.

Wimbledon was cancelled as they have no idea if we'll be in lockdown at end of June.

Why go through all the time and expense of organising something that you aren't sure will even take place?

Absolutely nothing to do with expecting poor ticket sales or attendance. It would be packed.

I agree with you about wasting money etc, but I highly doubt most think that way. 

Time will tell I suppose!

[cityrebel]

1 hour ago, MattK said:

Do you think, even when the lockdown is lifted, that people are suddenly going to go out and congregate in large groups?

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain. 

[HGould]

1 hour ago, MattK said:

Do you think Wimbledon was cancelled as they think we will still be in lockdown at the end of June? I think it is because they are scared of poor ticket sales and attendances.

I don't think people will go flooding out. People are realising that spunking money on coffee, lunches, down the shops, pubs, restaurants etc. isn't actually required to have a life. Maybe that's just me though. I've saved an absolute fortune this last month when I haven't left the house.

Wimbledon, Glastonbury, other massive Events cancelled as the lead time to set up and organise logistics is MONTHS....you don't organise them in weeks. By cancelling now that limit losses massively. Speedway could theoretically be given green light and actually facing within a week. 

To suggest there is and correlation between putting Wimbledon on and organising Swindon Robins v Wolverhampton Wolves within a week is scaremongering nonsense.

Speedway meetings with initially British riders could be organised very quickly. Clubs will have everything ready to go very quickly

[Tim G]

2 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain. 

People will go to these events, you only had to look at the crowds at Cheltenham when people already knew about coronavirus.

The authorities letting these events happen is a difficult one, they need to get the economy going but also need to protect the NHS.

[BWitcher]

4 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain. 

Probably the ones who have been attending sporting events for years, even though 350-400 people were dying each and every day during the winter from viral diseases... 

There will be no big sporting events until the number of deaths drops considerably and its deemed safe to reopen things.

[BWitcher]

7 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain. 

Would you attend if there was a vaccine that had a 1 in 4 chance of working?

[HGould]

7 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

No chance. Who in their right mind would attend a big sporting event with no vaccine in place. I just can't see the authorities allowing it to happen. A big surge in cases would put the NHS under immense strain. 

I would go to speedway at the first opportunity. I'm an OAP and get more or less chance of getting infected at Perry Barr as I have the local Tesco. Most people will be keen to get back to any level of normality. It's not as if I'm going to be in a crowd of 40,000 at Villa Park....700 at PB minimal risk and far more exciting.