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British Speedway to be reborn?


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The top two leagues of British speedway has for many years relied on cheap airlines to enable riders to race in multiple leagues around Europe, however with the aviation industry collapsing the knock on effect for British Speedway is simple….. it will not have access to riders who wish to race in more than just the British league as the logistics will just not allow it.

No star riders will mean a significant drop in crowds (I am guessing levels of 50% pre CV19) which will lead to lower revenues from ticket sales along with a significant drop in sponsorship/advertising revenue as well. If clubs have less money to spend then riders will also be paid less and some will probably turn their back on the sport as they cannot afford to ride, thus reducing the pool of available riders down even further.

In my opinion British Speedway needs to give up on the idea of their rider assets holding any financial value and press the reset button to create a new blueprint to survive post CV19 ready to be launched in March 2021 (subject to government restrictions).

I believe now is a great opportunity for supporters to share their thoughts and ideas on what British Speedway ‘reborn’ should look like and which clubs should be part of it so I can send them on to the current guardians of each club.

I look forward to reading the thoughts you may share on this.

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But the promoters only want to look after themselves and not the sport can’t see them wanting to give up assets. I think it sounds a good idea though but a lot of the old promoters are old school as you well know and don’t and won’t do change even if it’s for the better

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Just now, lynnboy said:

But the promoters only want to look after themselves and not the sport can’t see them wanting to give up assets. I think it sounds a good idea though but a lot of the old promoters are old school as you well know and don’t and won’t do change even if it’s for the better

Then they will fail as it can not carry on as it is, the world post CV19 will simply not faciltate it.

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25 minutes ago, jchapman said:

The top two leagues of British speedway has for many years relied on cheap airlines to enable riders to race in multiple leagues around Europe, however with the aviation industry collapsing the knock on effect for British Speedway is simple….. it will not have access to riders who wish to race in more than just the British league as the logistics will just not allow it.

No star riders will mean a significant drop in crowds (I am guessing levels of 50% pre CV19) which will lead to lower revenues from ticket sales along with a significant drop in sponsorship/advertising revenue as well. If clubs have less money to spend then riders will also be paid less and some will probably turn their back on the sport as they cannot afford to ride, thus reducing the pool of available riders down even further.

In my opinion British Speedway needs to give up on the idea of their rider assets holding any financial value and press the reset button to create a new blueprint to survive post CV19 ready to be launched in March 2021 (subject to government restrictions).

I believe now is a great opportunity for supporters to share their thoughts and ideas on what British Speedway ‘reborn’ should look like and which clubs should be part of it so I can send them on to the current guardians of each club.

I look forward to reading the thoughts you may share on this.

I said a similar thing recently re cheap air flights being a thing of the past.

This would be the obvious time to think maybe about 1 league with UK based riders, where teams are more balanced in terms of the difference between the best in the league and the worse are much closer. Hell, go the whole hog where 6 & 7 have to be under 21. This in turn should bring closer racing, which could help bring in new people to the sport as the drama of a race increases.

If mass gatherings were allowed this year (I suspect they wont) I fear that many of the premiership teams will struggle for riders this season as they will be unable to commute between countries/leagues. Even some Championship teams will have problems. Two of Leicesters heat leaders are in Australia who are thinking about introducing a total international travel ban. 

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33 minutes ago, jchapman said:

 

No star riders will mean a significant drop in crowds (I am guessing levels of 50% pre CV19) which will lead to lower revenues from ticket sales along with a significant drop in sponsorship/advertising revenue as well. If clubs have less money to spend then riders will also be paid less and some will probably turn their back on the sport as they cannot afford to ride, thus reducing the pool of available riders down even further.

 

I don't see this. In my team, when we went into the Elite League, two 'star riders' made themselves cordially disliked; and they didn't cause any increase in attendances. Then, when the team dropped into the third division, there wasn't any drop in the crowds. More often, IMO, what causes the crowd to diminish is perpetually losing teams, like another team in the Midlands.

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I certainly don’t know all the answers but a scenario where it’s much cheaper to get in, meetings are more regular and riders are always present save for injury would only be a good thing. If speedway was reincarnated in this way and somebody who knows what they are doing could rebrand and market the whole thing properly and professionally it might grow again, you never know. 

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39 minutes ago, jchapman said:

The top two leagues of British speedway has for many years relied on cheap airlines to enable riders to race in multiple leagues around Europe, however with the aviation industry collapsing the knock on effect for British Speedway is simple….. it will not have access to riders who wish to race in more than just the British league as the logistics will just not allow it.

No star riders will mean a significant drop in crowds (I am guessing levels of 50% pre CV19) which will lead to lower revenues from ticket sales along with a significant drop in sponsorship/advertising revenue as well. If clubs have less money to spend then riders will also be paid less and some will probably turn their back on the sport as they cannot afford to ride, thus reducing the pool of available riders down even further.

In my opinion British Speedway needs to give up on the idea of their rider assets holding any financial value and press the reset button to create a new blueprint to survive post CV19 ready to be launched in March 2021 (subject to government restrictions).

I believe now is a great opportunity for supporters to share their thoughts and ideas on what British Speedway ‘reborn’ should look like and which clubs should be part of it so I can send them on to the current guardians of each club.

I look forward to reading the thoughts you may share on this.

I made this point precisely during the winter when teams were announced and at which point there was only 1 team in the 19 Clubs in the PL / CL with 7 British riders and a couple with 6 British riders and a smattering with 5.

The issue though for Promoters is that the richest Clubs will sweep up the British riders, especially Clubs like Wolverhampton (2020 team not a single British born rider), who will suddenly seek to do something they have rarely done and be interested in British riders.

For many of the Australians in the CL though Poland/Sweden are NOT an option so there would have to be some non UK born riders allowed to race here as they would base themselves for 6-7 months in the UK.

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Becoming at least short term semi pro one league and long term second feeder league something like the late 60's early 70's ( Gulf league and NL)  with fixed costs  for points  /start money.Riders can boost their income through their own sponsorship deals but some form of engine/ mod control ,maybe club engines with their own running gear .

Edited by FAST GATER
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It’s pretty obvious that if there is any  meaningful Team speedway this season(doubtful IMO)there won’t be many foreign riders or Aussies that have gone home available.Most Aussies that went home will have used their return ticket, so who will pay for them to return in present climate and if they do return they will be heading for a Poland IMO. Riders wanting to be full time riders in GB might have to rethink.Writing this season off would be the best option for many Promotions.IMO.

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What if this said rider is part of a squad system & doesn't get many rides/meetings, similar to Cook a few years ago. That can be the problem with Poland, big wages does not guarantee rides.

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Any rider on a British licence will have to ride just in Britain then surely....

If said rider wanted to be based in Poland and ditch the British Leagues then I would expect his licence to be revoked......

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2 hours ago, *JJ said:

I don't see this. In my team, when we went into the Elite League, two 'star riders' made themselves cordially disliked; and they didn't cause any increase in attendances. Then, when the team dropped into the third division, there wasn't any drop in the crowds. More often, IMO, what causes the crowd to diminish is perpetually losing teams, like another team in the Midlands.

Interesting that the old 15 year survey on another thread had only 30% of fans attending in the main to 'support their team', and only 10% went based on the quality of riders on show..

And that was when more 'top names' rode over here..

Therefore, presuming the %'s are still similar, (and I would think they are not a million miles away), what an opportunity to put on 'entertaining Speedway' in whatever guise it can.. 

When 70% go and watch and are not unduly bothered which team wins, then they are a real target market for each track to have them go away thinking "that night was great, I'll be back next time"..

The promoters should spend this down time working out how to deliver 'a great night out' when the sport returns, rather than spending time getting slide rules out to determine whether 'Rider A' can guest for 'Rider B' in a meeting that only 3 in 10 fans in attendance are bothered who wins...

A huge opportunity for fundamental radical change.. 

Will it be taken? :rolleyes:

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2 hours ago, FAST GATER said:

Becoming at least short term semi pro one league and long term second feeder league something like the late 60's early 70's ( Gulf league and NL)  with fixed costs  for points  /start money.Riders can boost their income through their own sponsorship deals but some form of engine/ mod control ,maybe club engines with their own running gear .

I think this a great idea

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1 hour ago, Fromafar said:

It’s pretty obvious that if there is any  meaningful Team speedway this season(doubtful IMO)there won’t be many foreign riders or Aussies that have gone home available.Most Aussies that went home will have used their return ticket, so who will pay for them to return in present climate and if they do return they will be heading for a Poland IMO. Riders wanting to be full time riders in GB might have to rethink.Writing this season off would be the best option for many Promotions.IMO.

I agree that team meetings should be written off, however if the government restrictions allow it I would hope a few open meetings could be held before end of October

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20 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Interesting that the old 15 year survey on another thread had only 30% of fans attending in the main to 'support their team', and only 10% went based on the quality of riders on show..

And that was when more 'top names' rode over here..

Therefore, presuming the %'s are still similar, (and I would think they are not a million miles away), what an opportunity to put on 'entertaining Speedway' in whatever guise it can.. 

When 70% go and watch and are not unduly bothered which team wins, then they are a real target market for each track to have them go away thinking "that night was great, I'll be back next time"..

The promoters should spend this down time working out how to deliver 'a great night out' when the sport returns, rather than spending time getting slide rules out to determine whether 'Rider A' can guest for 'Rider B' in a meeting that only 3 in 10 fans in attendance are bothered who wins...

A huge opportunity for fundamental radical change.. 

Will it be taken? :rolleyes:

Like you say, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to totally rebrand the sport. Will those in power have the balls and the knowhow to pull this off, lets hope so.

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7 minutes ago, Hacksaw Jim Duggan said:

I appreciate the wishful thinking but I doubt it. I don’t really think the narrative around the sport can be changed and it will most likely fade away after all of this.

It won't simply because someone will always have the idea "Hey, what about four guys racing on a stadium track that all spectators can see, and have a team to support"

It might fade away temporarily at the top but at grass roots there will always be speedway, it's a simple sport. The trick is not to mess it up by making it complicated. As long as there are bikes, tracks and guys mad enough to use both it'll survive. 

 

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