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Behind closed doors?


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12 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

The majority of speedway crowds are elderly. They are the most vulnerable and should not be expected to attend any event whilst the threat of Covid is still around. They are also the least likely to have access to watch ' streamed ' speedway meetings or pay to watch such an event.

 

They are indeed mostly in one of the very vulnerable groups but I ( as one of them ) know that a huge proportion of them could and likely will take and pay for streaming match services. I have been urging for it for three years at least. Bring it on - but please BSPA in an effective reasonable quality manner. And not just as a way out of Covid 19 problems. I would happily take a seaon from the NSS ( at a reasonable cost ). But I am never going to travel there now.

Edited by waytogo28
correction
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14 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

We are supposed to be avoiding putting any excess pressure on our NHS. Most tracks medical cover are usually NHS employees ( Doctors and paramedics ) doing a second job for extra money. They should not be asked to cover ANY form of Motorsport events whilst we are in the current pandemic situation. Sports injuries are classed as ' self inflicted ' by the NHS for a reason, let's not add to their stress.

 

 

 

I think that crisis is well over now... in fact the way things look at the moment the NHS will be taking the summer off (along with the teachers). There's only 10% of critical care beds in use and A&E's are like ghost towns. The death rate at the end of April was actually below the 5 year average

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37 minutes ago, iainb said:

I think that crisis is well over now... in fact the way things look at the moment the NHS will be taking the summer off (along with the teachers). There's only 10% of critical care beds in use and A&E's are like ghost towns. The death rate at the end of April was actually below the 5 year average

The crisis is nowhere near over. R date is rising again in most parts of the Country.

A + E is quiet as many are avoiding due to fear and many who use it because of day to day accidents are not getting hurt as locked down. Don't even start on the drinks and druggies

 

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10 minutes ago, HGould said:

The crisis is nowhere near over. R date is rising again in most parts of the Country.

A + E is quiet as many are avoiding due to fear and many who use it because of day to day accidents are not getting hurt as locked down. Don't even start on the drinks and druggies

 

I thought the R level went up because of care homes which don’t really affect the general public. Most hospitals are quite quiet at the moment.

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16 minutes ago, iainb said:

I think that crisis is well over now... in fact the way things look at the moment the NHS will be taking the summer off (along with the teachers). There's only 10% of critical care beds in use and A&E's are like ghost towns. The death rate at the end of April was actually below the 5 year average

Whilst the demand on the NHS has been avoided (largely thanks to people who don't actually need it not turning up and, sadly, likewise people who do need it not turning up) the virus is still an unknown quantity. However, I don't think running speedway would place any significant pressure on the NHS. Indeed I suspect many of the Medics might welcome the escape?

But given the hysteria surrounding and lack of verified information on the virus it's hard to see how sporting events can go ahead with spectators present. I agree that most speedway crowds could social distance but you have to ask would you want to? Any night out is supposed to be enjoyable, not a test of your health and safety risk assessment skills or standard of your PPE. Socially distanced events just don't sound like any fun at all to me. The point about the age profile of speedway fans is important as many may still be required to stay indoors for a longer period.  Could any promotion afford to run with even lower crowds?

Then factor in the lack of riders? There's probably only about 20 Championship standard heat leaders available plus another 40 youngsters so running credible leagues looks impossible.

This and the fact that standard of streaming service individual promotions could offer would probably be sub standard and the revenues less than gate receipts, kind of leads you to a less is more scenario.  Pool the resources together get a weekly pay per view event with a decent standard of coverage for streaming. Spread the riders across teams and maybe run pairs, 4TT, individual championships (even a mini league) over the shorter season. Hopefully you get subscriptions from across the country. If say the average normal attendance at the 22 tracks is 800 and you attract 50% of them (factoring in families would only need one subscription) to the weekly pay per view for a standard £15 per event that's a decent income stream and should make it sustainable for the promoters and riders and affordable for the public. 

It should be relatively easy to set up although I'm not sure what the Eurosport position would be. Maybe they'd even fund it for some much needed live content for their channel?

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I do think that there needs to be some kind of grip on reality...

Go to the vast majority of supermarkets and you will see no social distancing whatsoever....

My store has had over 200000 visits over the past seven weeks, all within a confined space of less that 15,000 Sq ft..

We let a max 70 in at a time and I can guarantee within one aisle, social distancing goes out of the window..

Some customers do the 'social distancing dance' where they go left, then right, then left again as two people try to avoid each other, but many just walk past others almost touching..

Going to a sporting event in the outdoors, with controls as to who can come in, and when and how many, and only standing or sitting where clearly shown, would be infinitely less risky than going doing your shopping..

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On 5/16/2020 at 12:15 PM, mikebv said:

I do think that there needs to be some kind of grip on reality...

Go to the vast majority of supermarkets and you will see no social distancing whatsoever....

My store has had over 200000 visits over the past seven weeks, all within a confined space of less that 15,000 Sq ft..

We let a max 70 in at a time and I can guarantee within one aisle, social distancing goes out of the window..

Some customers do the 'social distancing dance' where they go left, then right, then left again as two people try to avoid each other, but many just walk past others almost touching..

Going to a sporting event in the outdoors, with controls as to who can come in, and when and how many, and only standing or sitting where clearly shown, would be infinitely less risky than going doing your shopping..

 

What a load of gibberish (again). 

If crowds could be allowed to attend events with limited numbers the EPL could restrict attendances and allow fans in, they aren't - talking about shopping and sport side by side at the moment is moronic. 

Edited by Hacksaw Jim Duggan
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On 5/16/2020 at 12:15 PM, mikebv said:

Going to a sporting event in the outdoors, with controls as to who can come in, and when and how many, and only standing or sitting where clearly shown, would be infinitely less risky than going doing your shopping..

 

Agreed.

If everyone stands two metres apart inside the stadium and queuing to get in, there should be no problem.

Just as there’s no problem doing the same in a park.

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  • 2 weeks later...
34 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

Could start behind closed doors on Monday.

i think donald trump mentioned something like that. but then again, he is a clown . covid 19 will re emerge bigger and more deadly . lockdown could be on again until christmas !

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Monday April 27, 2020

BRITISH Speedway is unlikely to resume behind closed doors.

Rob Godfrey, chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Ltd, has stated the financial impact of no fans makes meetings unviable.
Poland’s top league look set to start their season on June 12 with no spectators – but they have record levels of revenue from TV and sponsorship deals.
Godfrey said: “As a sport in the UK under the current financial structure it’s not possible for us to run behind closed doors.
“The only way it could happen is if revenue came in to underpin it, but right now we cannot see it happening so all talk of this is irrelevant.”

https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38043

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Its been reported that polish fans will be allowed in but at 25% capicity. 

Not for the first round  of matches  thats still behind closed doors but for the second round think its around 19th June

Edited by DBP
Correcting date
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3 hours ago, iainb said:

Monday April 27, 2020

BRITISH Speedway is unlikely to resume behind closed doors.

Rob Godfrey, chairman of the British Speedway Promoters Ltd, has stated the financial impact of no fans makes meetings unviable.
Poland’s top league look set to start their season on June 12 with no spectators – but they have record levels of revenue from TV and sponsorship deals.
Godfrey said: “As a sport in the UK under the current financial structure it’s not possible for us to run behind closed doors.
“The only way it could happen is if revenue came in to underpin it, but right now we cannot see it happening so all talk of this is irrelevant.”

https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.38043

Total missed opportunity for speedway in this country. They've correctly identified that the sport can't run, as intended, behind closed doors.....  and then done nothing about it.  So now they wait until a potential further relaxation to allow x number of spectators, which at this point has to be as likely as a return of tighter restrictions.  They seem to be planning for an August to November season by which time most other sports will be under way in some form or another.

Speedway could have returned from Monday if the promoters had given some consideration as to what format would have allowed the sport to have returned behind closed doors.

Clearly due to no supporters and a lack of riders there's no way of holding fixtures, as intended, across the country. But if you could arrange one event per week featuring each of the clubs (say pairs or fours) and make it available pay per view then you might have had a viable product.  If you got 10,000 subscriptions around the UK (or globally) at £10 that should provide enough revenue to cover costs. Supporters who are normally paying £15+ per week are literally a captive audience so if the product was good enough the events could be weekly.  You could even offer season tickets for a series of events. 

You never know a broadcaster might have even paid for the content and made it free to their subscribers, given how desperate the sports channels are for content.

Driest May on record and not any shale shifted in anger.....  lets hope that November is just as dry.

Edited by enotian
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It could be due to Government/Health restrictions.

My personal view is that they are easing restrictions too early as it is still not under control. I am expecting a spike & the "R" number to go above 1 because of the publics stupidity to enjoy the sunshine not locally, thus, not being able to keep the pandemic local as people have travelled too far. There are plenty of parks/grassland areas in towns & cities without travelling to the seaside putting undue pressure on seaside locals.

 If the weather had not been so good, we would still be "housed up."

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12 minutes ago, Happy Hunter said:

According to the BBC ( Guernsey cricket stages first game of summer in British Isles - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/52861230 ) a live stream of a cricket match in Guernsey attracted over 80,000 YouTube viewers.

Massive difference between You Tube viewers (free) and paying for streaming. (far from free).

Excellent initiative though from Guernsey Cricket

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