Will British Speedway Survive ?

[BWitcher]

2 hours ago, flipper11 said:

Thats 100,000 a year die from flu/pneumonia, are you sure? or are there no deaths during spring & autumn. 

Freely available to view the figures here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending27march2020

Scroll down to section 3, hover over each week on the graph.

[orion]

10 hours 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 doubt Wimbledon would be worried by poor ticket sales the television money is where the large part of the income comes from . Not look into why its been called off so early but worrying  about ticket sales won't be it 

[The Doctor...]

11 hours 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 would be impossible to manage.  So many general admission tickets and soc is would mean they couldnt sensibly queue or manage.  2m between each group in the queue would end up with folk in Leatherhead.  And having required numbers of nhs and control staff on site just to manage a normal day would make it impossible. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by The Doctor...
.

[Sidney the robin]

7 hours ago, MattK said:

What value is there in clubs cobbling together teams just to run meetings? Rider still expect to be paid and putting on meetings which only attract a few hundred supporters is a guaranteed way to lose money.

A reason why your notion of  bringing  back the big stars is a risky one it is completely the wrong time to implement it.

[waytogo28]

I think ( sorry in my opinion ) I believe that it would be better to scrap the whole season - oainful though that might be to riders, promoters etc.

Because, things are not going to bounce back to normal immediately and attendances will likely be half of what they were last seaon, not double!

This is because there is going to be a lot of reticence to going out needlessly ( fear of the second wave ) and things will get back to "normal"               ( possibly ) in a stuttering manner.

Things will probably be more like "back to normal" in 2021.

[Falcon1983]

The big stars should never come back those days are over and UK speedway needs to let go of that dream and lay the foundations for future generations to enjoy the sport 

[Spl77]

8 hours ago, BWitcher said:

Of course it isn't completely invalid. They are both viruses caught from social contact with others.

If you die, you die. It's not something extra special if you die from covid-19.

As for the experts?.. Yes, they told us without a lockdown 20 x more people would die..

Only problem with that... it hasn't happened in countries where they've not locked down.

The 'experts' don't know. That is what they assumed would happen... and it hasn't. That's why their projected death figures change day by day. It's all new.

Besides, this discussion is nothing to do with that in the slightest. We're discussing when covid-19 eventually goes away.. and as I have clearly said, if the media were telling you 400 people were dying daily, people would be scared of going out.

What we have established though Falcace is 350-400 deaths a day from social contact is irrelevant to you..  so, I assume, in a month or so when flu/pneumonia deaths are down to around 100-150 a day, if Covid is down to around 250 deaths a day, all is good with you right?

 

I think the fact that covid 19 has a death rate of between 6 and 10% make it far worse that flu which runs at approximately 0.1%. I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of downright prats who still insist on comparing it to flu.... Wake up! 

[FAST GATER]

10 minutes ago, waytogo28 said:

I think ( sorry in my opinion ) I believe that it would be better to scrap the whole season - oainful though that might be to riders, promoters etc.

Because, things are not going to bounce back to normal immediately and attendances will likely be half of what they were last seaon, not double!

This is because there is going to be a lot of reticence to going out needlessly ( fear of the second wave ) and things will get back to "normal"               ( possibly ) in a stuttering manner.

Things will probably be more like "back to normal" in 2021.

Would agree 100% .

[BWitcher]

Just now, Spl77 said:

I think the fact that covid 19 has a death rate of between 6 and 10% make it far worse that flu which runs at approximately 0.1%. I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of downright prats who still insist on comparing it to flu.... Wake up! 

No it doesn't have a 'death rate' of between 6 and 10%.

When in doubt, make it up eh?

[Falcon1983]

33 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

No it doesn't have a 'death rate' of between 6 and 10%.

When in doubt, make it up eh?

Correct

The only way you can calculate the death % is on closed cases I.e recovered or dead.  At the moment the death % on confirmed closed cases is 21%

On open cases only 4% are critical but that doesn't mean the 96% non critical will not suddenly get worse as the virus takes a tighter grip

But anyway we'll all be fine once the 5G masts get taken down

Edited April 9, 2020 by Falcon1983

[BWitcher]

Just now, Falcon1983 said:

Correct

The only way you can calculate the death % is on closed cases I.e recovered or dead.  At the moment the death % on confirmed closed cases is 24%

But anyway we'll all be fine once the 5G masts get taken down

Incorrect again, but hey, lets make it up again shall we! Death rates are impossible to calculate accurately as the overwhelming majority who have it are not tested.

5G masts has nothing to do with it, that's for the lunatics.

Some people are just too brainwashed to understand how many lives are lost to flu/pneumonia.

It is mentioned, NOT to dismiss the severity of covid-19, or claim that covid-19 doesn't kill people. It is mentioned to give CONTEXT. There are people who were thinking that 100-200 people dying a day was something unprecedented and worthy of locking yourself up inside. If the country took that line of thinking, it would be locked down every single winter. 

Personally I think it says a lot about a person when they casually dismiss upwards of 30,000 deaths in just over three months as 'inconsequential' or 'irrelevant'. It's a virus, spread by social contact in the same way as Covid-19.

Covid-19 is of course very very serious,  for a very small % of people and it is they whom the measures in place are trying to protect.

Anyhow, the point of this debate was simply to do with the discussion of when people would feel 'comfortable' to get back out there business as normal. 

Once the covid-19 deaths are back down to around 200-250 a day, then it will be no different to a normal Dec/Jan/Feb day... with the exception being children are more at risk on a normal Dec/Jan/Feb day than they are at any time from covid-19.

[Falcon1983]

Its not incorrect its fact using statistical websites.  Again with any stats you can only use them on confirmed cases so its irrelevant how many people have not been tested etc. 

Stats on ant disease is all based on confirmed information at on closed cases the death rate is 21% worldwide. Fact 

I think you want the last say on it as you keep backing yourself up then casually saying "we're not here to discuss this" so let's put this discussion to bed....

Nobody has the answer of when people will feel comfortable to return to spectator sports, every person is different and will feel differently 

My opinion only tho

In speedway if some feel they need to stay away it will damage the sport immensely, if 50% of football fans in the premier league decide to stay away then there will be the same amount of people who will probably buy the tickets up anyway as there is always a bigger demand

Minority sports will suffer this year

[HGould]

Some people seem to think we have to wait for all the foreign riders to arrive, we have to wait until Covid 19 is totally eradicated, we have to have perfect conditions, perfect team strengths, perfect crowd levels.

If we wait too long for the second wave, scared to go out late summer, the second wave will arrive in winter and be 10x more dangerous as a result.

Herd immunity idea is not dead, it has to be allowed once the NHS can cope.  We have to go out and every day we all take "a risk" in any form of life.

Things to some degree will never be the same.

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

seems some on here want to see speedway die so they can say "I told you so". 

 

[iris123]

8 minutes ago, HGould said:

Some people seem to think we have to wait for all the foreign riders to arrive, we have to wait until Covid 19 is totally eradicated, we have to have perfect conditions, perfect team strengths, perfect crowd levels.

If we wait too long for the second wave, scared to go out late summer, the second wave will arrive in winter and be 10x more dangerous as a result.

Herd immunity idea is not dead, it has to be allowed once the NHS can cope.  We have to go out and every day we all take "a risk" in any form of life.

Things to some degree will never be the same.

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

seems some on here want to see speedway die so they can say "I told you so". 

 

Some people.....not us. We are only speedway fans, the important 'some people' are those in government or health experts. I doubt many if any know what speedway is, but even if 'we' get back to work because we are then deemed 'essential' we just have to accept that sport and concerts most probably won't fall into that category

This from yesterday's Guardian

But, the researchers warn, if normal life is allowed to resume too quickly and the lifting of controls is too extensive, the reproductive number will rise again. Governments will need to keep a close watch on what is happening, they say.

“Although control policies such as physical distancing and behavioural change are likely to be maintained for some time, proactively striking a balance between resuming economic activities and keeping the reproductive number below one is likely to be the best strategy until effective vaccines become widely available,” said Wu

[BWitcher]

10 minutes ago, Falcon1983 said:

Its not incorrect its fact using statistical websites.  Again with any stats you can only use them on confirmed cases so its irrelevant how many people have not been tested etc. 

Stats on ant disease is all based on confirmed information at on closed cases the death rate is 21% worldwide. Fact 

I think you want the last say on it as you keep backing yourself up then casually saying "we're not here to discuss this" so let's put this discussion to bed....

Nobody has the answer of when people will feel comfortable to return to spectator sports, every person is different and will feel differently 

My opinion only tho

In speedway if some feel they need to stay away it will damage the sport immensely, if 50% of football fans in the premier league decide to stay away then there will be the same amount of people who will probably buy the tickets up anyway as there is always a bigger demand

Minority sports will suffer this year

Yes it is incorrect as you have no idea of the amount that have contracted it.

Nor are people tested 'again' in general for a case to be 'closed'.

If you applied the same theory to flu/pneumonia, you're looking at a death rate of over 50% so it's nonsense.

I don't need the 'last say'... as I am 100% correct in the figures I've given. Folks are triggered because it makes them look rather silly in the way they've been reacting... That's their issue.

[MattK]

2 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

A reason why your notion of  bringing  back the big stars is a risky one it is completely the wrong time to implement it.

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

[MattK]

30 minutes ago, HGould said:

Some Teams WILL fold if no speedway in 2020 for sure. Some riders will retire if no Speedway in 2020 for sure, many foreign riders will never come back if teams fold so in their interests to do 1/2 or 1/4 of a season.

What upfront outlay do clubs have and how much profit do they make per meeting? Are I've said, most clubs run at a loss during a "normal" season, so fewer meetings means fewer losses.

Same for riders. All the equipment they've bought for this season can be used next year. What is perishable? Some will lose money on contracts they've signed to lease vans and maybe even rent houses, but they all have get out clauses.

[DSC67]

10 minutes ago, MattK said:

What upfront outlay do clubs have and how much profit do they make per meeting? Are I've said, most clubs run at a loss during a "normal" season, so fewer meetings means fewer losses.

Same for riders. All the equipment they've bought for this season can be used next year. What is perishable? Some will lose money on contracts they've signed to lease vans and maybe even rent houses, but they all have get out clauses.

The equipment you talk about wil need to be paid for by someone  at some point , with no income this could prove difficult 

[Ben91]

43 minutes ago, MattK said:

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

It isn’t the “scattergun” approach that is failing. It is the lack of good promotion/marketing in general. The target audience for Speedway, as a sport, can be vast in terms of age and gender. The issue is that it isn’t promoted enough and when new fans do somehow stumble across it the way the sport is run and presented doesn’t leave them wanting to come back. 

[Sidney the robin]

36 minutes ago, MattK said:

I don't have a notion to bring back the big stars. I think that is as bad a plan as watering down the standard to only include British riders. The key is marketing. Whichever approach you take speedway needs to choose its target market and laser focus on that group. At the moment the scattergun approach is clearly failing to attract any new fans and as a result clubs are dependent on a dwindling number of diehards and the occasional appearance of fair-weather fans when the team is doing well or there is an interesting rider in town.

Alot of the problems we have in the UK speedway wise,90 per cent of the time is of our  own doing.As much as it would be great to have the stars back for me it is to risky a proposition.Also we should now stop pandering to the Poles/Swedes / Gp series and get all our race nights back and run on the night's /Bank Holidays or whatever days we want to run.In our league now we only have Doyle, Iversen,Lambert who would be missed so let's start again !!!! the riders i named also how long will they keep committing to the UK.??? Speedway can still be exciting whatever level the product is , also  if you had seven available race days/nights  you could work around the kids and schooldays. That  is the market that you were talking about Matt that is the area i would aim at Kids how many parents don't go and miss meetings on a school night.?