Will British Speedway Survive ?

[TB1]

6 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

As for will speedway survive - yes it will in some shape or form " but as we know it" ( or have known it ) IMHO. But it will become , I think, an even paler shadow of it's former self before being lost, like Peter Pan's shadow.

As for Mr Godfrey  saying that no clubs are likely to go to the wall - wasn't it Mandy Rice Davies who said " well he would say that wouldn't he?" . Or was it Christine Keeler?

If we go back to work in a few weeks that's good. But if social distancing is in place for many months to come, then many many sporting institutions will go to the wall despite what some say. 

The government will need a ' functioning' economy which means just that  food on the table and essential services which means sporting clubs and the leisure industry could cease to exist, probably unpalatable for a lot of people but the government will probably say it's a necessary evil!

[mikebv]

16 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

As for will speedway survive - yes it will in some shape or form " but as we know it" ( or have known it ) IMHO. But it will become , I think, an even paler shadow of it's former self before being lost, like Peter Pan's shadow.

As for Mr Godfrey  saying that no clubs are likely to go to the wall - wasn't it Mandy Rice Davies who said " well he would say that wouldn't he?" . Or was it Christine Keeler?

Don't the majority of clubs lose money each year?

If so, it could actually help some clubs to 'bank' what they would usually spend and then use it next year..

I personally am saving loads of money every week by not spending money on non essentials and usually I am skint every month, therefore clubs who lose money every week will (at the very least) now be breaking even..

ie none coming in and none going out..

I suppose a threat could be that some of the sponsors may not be able to continue their support until they can assess the impact of lockdown to their own businesses, however..

For me, Speedway's 'hand to mouth' existence may actually help it to weather the storm as it doesn't have long term contracts to its participants to honour, nor, in the main, up keep to pay for stadiums it owns, as most clubs rent. It also is pretty much based on volunteers rather than contracted staff on race nights and for admin, so won't be paying any wages to them during the downtime. ..

And it also hasn't put itself in hock based on a huge TV contract, spending money it hasn't recieved yet..

Who knows, not losing money this year for many teams may be a blessing in disguise when the sport restarts? 

[scoobydoo]

When you think that Keith Chapman  has no Income from any of the three motorsport promotions he runs,  then something may have to be sacrificed and we all know which one will go.

[wealdstone]

5 minutes ago, scoobydoo said:

When you think that Keith Chapman  has no Income from any of the three motorsport promotions he runs,  then something may have to be sacrificed and we all know which one will go.

He has my  and others season ticket money .

[Garry1603]

With the invention of Zoom, Teams, Skype and other conference facilities, surely you would think that there's plenty of time for promoters (and riders for that matter) to have some meaningful discussions, not just about how the sport survives the current pandemic but also how to develop the sport for the future. 

Sitting back and waiting for this to 'blow over' and for everything to go back to the way it was before isn't a business plan. This could be a perfect opportunity to make some meaningful long term changes.

Even in a few short weeks, I've become a little nervous at the thought of being in crowds again, and I'm sure that there are many other who will feel the same way (at least initially). The sport needs a real rethink, and there's never been a better time to do it with ALL clubs at risk rather than the ones who make losses each year and are bailed out by 'benevolent' promoters

Edited April 13, 2020 by Garry1603

[MattK]

1 hour ago, mikebv said:

 

I suppose a threat could be that some of the sponsors may not be able to continue their support until they can assess the impact of lockdown to their own businesses,

This could be a blessing in disguise. Instead of being sponsored by the local builders merchant or industrial filter manufacturer, use this as an opportunity.

Find eight companies who target the same market as speedway attracts, the over 50s. So Jaguar, Daily Telegraph, Fat Face, Saga and so on. Seven of the companies get assigned a team to sponsor and one sponsors the league. In turn, each sponsor brings a "roadshow" to every club twice in the season - which means 16 roadshows per club, per season.

Speedway benefits from the credibility of recognisable brands and a small mention on each of the brand's websites/social media. In turn, the brands get to put themselves in front of their target audience. After one season if brands see value in this approach, they can be asked for a small contribution for sponsorship going forwards.

[DC2]

25 minutes ago, MattK said:

This could be a blessing in disguise. Instead of being sponsored by the local builders merchant or industrial filter manufacturer, use this as an opportunity.

Find eight companies who target the same market as speedway attracts, the over 50s. So Jaguar, Daily Telegraph, Fat Face, Saga and so on. Seven of the companies get assigned a team to sponsor and one sponsors the league. In turn, each sponsor brings a "roadshow" to every club twice in the season - which means 16 roadshows per club, per season.

Speedway benefits from the credibility of recognisable brands and a small mention on each of the brand's websites/social media. In turn, the brands get to put themselves in front of their target audience. After one season if brands see value in this approach, they can be asked for a small contribution for sponsorship going forwards.

 

Liking the sound of that, but speedway is so ad hoc it doesn’t seem to have the expertise to do this.

[scoobydoo]

2 hours ago, wealdstone said:

He has my  and others season ticket money .

If the league is shrunk down to one H&A meeting promotions will need to give back 50% of the season ticket money already paid by supporters or if it doesn’t start at all a full refund

[arthur cross]

3 hours ago, MattK said:

Find eight companies who target the same market as speedway attracts, the over 50s. So Jaguar, Daily Telegraph, Fat Face, Saga and so on. Seven of the companies get assigned a team to sponsor and one sponsors the league. In turn, each sponsor brings a "roadshow" to every club twice in the season - which means 16 roadshows per club, per season.

Speedway benefits from the credibility of recognisable brands and a small mention on each of the brand's websites/social media. In turn, the brands get to put themselves in front of their target audience. After one season if brands see value in this approach, they can be asked for a small contribution for sponsorship going forwards.

Suppose you're the marketing manager at somewhere like Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph (by the way, after the relatively huge investment by media standards - both financially and page-wise - that the Daily Telegraph's made into women's sport in the past 18 months, I'm sure its marketing manager will be crestfallen the moment you approach stereotyping that newspaper among the over 50's but that's another story).

Such a marketing manager, blessed with a multi-million-pound budget (even post-coronavirus) and various options of where to spend that budget will ask you how many folk their company's going to reach by tapping into British speedway.

However well you gloss up this potential reach, any marketing manager at that level of corporate-UK will look at that reach you've just quoted them and then thank you for utterly wasting their time by wanting them to consider a project whose reach is way beneath anything they'd normally consider.

There's plenty of cross-credibility for speedway in getting itself linked to Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph - there's a miniscule amount of cross-credibility going the other way !!

If hooking up with big brands is so easy, how come even rugby league's Super League has to dredge as low as tins of mushy peas (Batchelor's in case you're wondering) to fill its post-match interview background on Sky - and that's for a sport with at least 3 clubs (Wigan, St Helens & Leeds) attracting average crowds of 10,000 and several more at least attracting over 5,000, the type of crowds British weekly domestic speedway hasn't seen this century !!

 

 

 

[DC2]

10 minutes ago, arthur cross said:

Suppose you're the marketing manager at somewhere like Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph (by the way, after the relatively huge investment by media standards - both financially and page-wise - that the Daily Telegraph's made into women's sport in the past 18 months, I'm sure its marketing manager will be crestfallen the moment you approach stereotyping that newspaper among the over 50's but that's another story).

Such a marketing manager, blessed with a multi-million-pound budget (even post-coronavirus) and various options of where to spend that budget will ask you how many folk their company's going to reach by tapping into British speedway.

However well you gloss up this potential reach, any marketing manager at that level of corporate-UK will look at that reach you've just quoted them and then thank you for utterly wasting their time by wanting them to consider a project whose reach is way beneath anything they'd normally consider.

There's plenty of cross-credibility for speedway in getting itself linked to Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph - there's a miniscule amount of cross-credibility going the other way !!

If hooking up with big brands is so easy, how come even rugby league's Super League has to dredge as low as tins of mushy peas (Batchelor's in case you're wondering) to fill its post-match interview background on Sky - and that's for a sport with at least 3 clubs (Wigan, St Helens & Leeds) attracting average crowds of 10,000 and several more at least attracting over 5,000, the type of crowds British weekly domestic speedway hasn't seen this century !!

 

Stannah stair lifts?

 

[wealdstone]

3 hours ago, scoobydoo said:

If the league is shrunk down to one H&A meeting promotions will need to give back 50% of the season ticket money already paid by supporters or if it doesn’t start at all a full refund

I think it may well prove to be a hard job to get the money back

[OveFundinFan]

Josh Brookes, favourite to win the 2020 British Superbikes championship is back in his native Australia and he does'nt think BSB will take place this year.

That's what I am thinking for speedway in 2020 too.  This virus is not going to go away as quick as we may wish it to. 

[DC2]

1 hour ago, wealdstone said:

I think it may well prove to be a hard job to get the money back

 

Unless you paid by credit card.

[Garry1603]

5 hours ago, scoobydoo said:

If the league is shrunk down to one H&A meeting promotions will need to give back 50% of the season ticket money already paid by supporters or if it doesn’t start at all a full refund

I would imagine it will be given as a 'credit' towards next season.

[Speedtiger]

9 hours ago, MattK said:

This could be a blessing in disguise. Instead of being sponsored by the local builders merchant or industrial filter manufacturer, use this as an opportunity.

Find eight companies who target the same market as speedway attracts, the over 50s. So Jaguar, Daily Telegraph, Fat Face, Saga and so on. Seven of the companies get assigned a team to sponsor and one sponsors the league. In turn, each sponsor brings a "roadshow" to every club twice in the season - which means 16 roadshows per club, per season.

Speedway benefits from the credibility of recognisable brands and a small mention on each of the brand's websites/social media. In turn, the brands get to put themselves in front of their target audience. After one season if brands see value in this approach, they can be asked for a small contribution for sponsorship going forwards.

Nice idea...full of ambition, will it happen? Not a chance!

[MattK]

21 hours ago, arthur cross said:

Suppose you're the marketing manager at somewhere like Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph (by the way, after the relatively huge investment by media standards - both financially and page-wise - that the Daily Telegraph's made into women's sport in the past 18 months, I'm sure its marketing manager will be crestfallen the moment you approach stereotyping that newspaper among the over 50's but that's another story).

Such a marketing manager, blessed with a multi-million-pound budget (even post-coronavirus) and various options of where to spend that budget will ask you how many folk their company's going to reach by tapping into British speedway.

However well you gloss up this potential reach, any marketing manager at that level of corporate-UK will look at that reach you've just quoted them and then thank you for utterly wasting their time by wanting them to consider a project whose reach is way beneath anything they'd normally consider.

There's plenty of cross-credibility for speedway in getting itself linked to Jaguar or the Daily Telegraph - there's a miniscule amount of cross-credibility going the other way !!

If hooking up with big brands is so easy, how come even rugby league's Super League has to dredge as low as tins of mushy peas (Batchelor's in case you're wondering) to fill its post-match interview background on Sky - and that's for a sport with at least 3 clubs (Wigan, St Helens & Leeds) attracting average crowds of 10,000 and several more at least attracting over 5,000, the type of crowds British weekly domestic speedway hasn't seen this century !!

It's all relative. Yes of course those companies have multi-million pound marketing budgets in place for TV, print and other advertising. They also have little roadshow stands sat around perfect for a speedway event.

I agree, offering them free space is a very long way from them paying for the privilege. Maybe I'm aiming a bit high and middleweight companies would be a better bet. For example, Morgan used to do a thing with Leigh Adams. I don't know if that was because he purchased one of their cars, but they are the kind of company which I think would be an ideal fit.

[DC2]

4 minutes ago, MattK said:

It's all relative. Yes of course those companies have multi-million pound marketing budgets in place for TV, print and other advertising. They also have little roadshow stands sat around perfect for a speedway event.

I agree, offering them free space is a very long way from them paying for the privilege. Maybe I'm aiming a bit high and middleweight companies would be a better bet. For example, Morgan used to do a thing with Leigh Adams. I don't know if that was because he purchased one of their cars, but they are the kind of company which I think would be an ideal fit.

I applaud your idea, but yes you might be aiming too high.

And I can’t see many speedway fans being able to afford a Morgan. A mouth organ maybe.  

Or a mobility scooter.

 

[MattK]

1 hour ago, DC2 said:

I applaud your idea, but yes you might be aiming too high.

And I can’t see many speedway fans being able to afford a Morgan. A mouth organ maybe.  

Or a mobility scooter.

 

That's another thing speedway desperately needs to do - a thorough demographic survey. When I look around the car park at Swindon it's all Audis, BMWs, etc. my old Passat looks decidedly poor. I'd love to know whether speedway's "working class" image is still representative of today's supporters.

[DC2]

8 minutes ago, MattK said:

That's another thing speedway desperately needs to do - a thorough demographic survey. When I look around the car park at Swindon it's all Audis, BMWs, etc. my old Passat looks decidedly poor. I'd love to know whether speedway's "working class" image is still representative of today's supporters.

You could be right.

Presumably they’re in the Legends Lounge munching on prawn sandwiches? Or should I say prawn and avocado on sourdough with a pinch of saffron and a soupcon of lemon zest?  

Edited April 14, 2020 by DC2

[DC2]

10 minutes ago, MattK said:

That's another thing speedway desperately needs to do - a thorough demographic survey. When I look around the car park at Swindon it's all Audis, BMWs, etc. 

And that’s just the Honda workers.