Odsal hopes

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

On 6/13/2020 at 3:52 PM, teaboy279 said:

Steve Rees runs Startrax, thier tracks 3 years ago were Belle Vue,Coventry (for national bangers, the stocks were run in house by Coventry stox ltd),Sheffield,Stoke.

By the time the racing starts up again he will only have Sheffield. 

Think he is quite open his time at promoting speedway wasnt the greatest sucsess story it could of been, but for those anti Steve, I believe all the drainage and track works at Stoke in 17 or 18 came out of his pocket. 

I did post back in the winter when people where being negative, that Steve Rees could well re open the track if he found someone to take on speedway thier, and I was mocked. But looks like it may well come to fruition...

I was one of the riders that mr Rees left without money during his flirt with speedway promoting and along with the other 6 had to be bailed out by the bspa, I can still remember Richard Juul storming down the ramp at stoke to literally rip the blokes head from his shoulders cause of his bouncing cheques, IMO he should be let nowhere near speedway again but that won’t be the case as the sport has a history of forgiving “less than honourable” people back in the sport 

[Midland Red]

11 hours ago, Midland Red said:

It’s time they did - like most teams used to

Saturday night is speedway night

I should have added...

Live at the track, not in front of a tv screen 

[steve roberts]

24 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

I should have added...

Live at the track, not in front of a tv screen 

I couldn't agree more. I questioned the fact that live televised meetings would impact upon the sport at the time but was shouted down on numerous occasions and was 'informed' that live meetings would raise the profile of the sport and attract major sponsorship...neither of which has materialised down the years. I was never sure who the target audience was?

[greyhoundp]

12 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I was one of the riders that mr Rees left without money during his flirt with speedway promoting and along with the other 6 had to be bailed out by the bspa, I can still remember Richard Juul storming down the ramp at stoke to literally rip the blokes head from his shoulders cause of his bouncing cheques, IMO he should be let nowhere near speedway again but that won’t be the case as the sport has a history of forgiving “less than honourable” people back in the sport 

I agree the BSPL should not be letting people who have previous debts from Speedway back into the sport, but their have been instances where its been allowed and no doubts they will continue in future, either officialy or unofficially, however it appears that Rees wants a Speedway promoter to come on board rather than promoting it himself. If they could get the Rugby Team back at Odsal or even Bradford Park Avenue AFC however the football club have just signed a 35 year lease with the Council for an alternative venue https://bpafc.com/bradford-park-avenue-afc-cic-completes-35-year-lease-for-the-horsfall-community-stadium-development-in-south-bradford/ .

Edited June 15, 2020 by greyhoundp

[Piotr Pyszny]

23 minutes ago, greyhoundp said:

I agree the BSPL should not be letting people who have previous debts from Speedway back into the sport, but their have been instances where its been allowed and no doubts they will continue in future, either officialy or unofficially, however it appears that Rees wants a Speedway promoter to come on board rather than promoting it himself. If they could get the Rugby Team back at Odsal or even Bradford Park Avenue AFC however the football club have just signed a 35 year lease with the Council for an alternative venue https://bpafc.com/bradford-park-avenue-afc-cic-completes-35-year-lease-for-the-horsfall-community-stadium-development-in-south-bradford/ .

There's probably a far greater chance of the rugby league club sharing a revamped Horsfall with Park Avenue than returning to Odsal. I gather there are plans to strip out Horsfall's little-used athletics track and do a proper job of building a stadium. Without the rugby league club on board, I can't see the Odsal money pit being viable.

Speedway was never as well supported at Bradford as it was at Halifax, where anything over 3,000 felt like a big attendance. Being in a crowd of a thousand scattered about Odsal's vast acreage really wasn't much fun. Perhaps many posters only ever went to Odsal on a 'big event' day. 

Having read The Dean Machine's remarks: does speedway not have a 'fit and proper person' test (not that it works in football!) for would-be promoters?

Edited June 15, 2020 by Piotr Pyszny

[Piotr Pyszny]

41 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

I couldn't agree more. I questioned the fact that live televised meetings would impact upon the sport at the time but was shouted down on numerous occasions and was 'informed' that live meetings would raise the profile of the sport and attract major sponsorship...neither of which has materialised down the years. I was never sure who the target audience was?

Blimey, Steve, most sports had the 'will live TV coverage damage our attendances' argument back in the mid-1960s! And decided TV was the way to go.

Did speedway simply fail to capitalise on the shop window the most recent examples of live TV coverage provided? 

[steve roberts]

3 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

Blimey, Steve, most sports had the 'will live TV coverage damage our attendances' argument back in the mid-1960s! And decided TV was the way to go.

Did speedway simply fail to capitalise on the shop window the most recent examples of live TV coverage provided? 

I remember a friend of mine who would stay at home and watch a match that was televised live at Cowley rather than walk the half mile to the track as was his normal want.

Highlights I saw no problem with but live? Speedway's fan base was never going to be sustainable as attendances were already on the slide when live matches were introduced during the late (?) nineties. Whether speedway failed to capitalise is obviously a very good point and it seems that the sport missed an opportunity hence the current predicament that the sport apparently now finds itself in.

Edited June 15, 2020 by steve roberts

[Spl77]

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

I remember a friend of mine who would stay at home and watch a match that was televised live at Cowley rather than walk the half mile to the track as was his normal want.

Highlights I saw no problem with but live? Speedway's fan base was never going to be sustainable as attendances were already on the slide when live matches were introduced during the late (?) nineties. Whether speedway failed to capitalise is obviously a very good point and it seems that the sport missed an opportunity hence the current predicament that the sport apparently now finds itself in.

The issue is some promoters didn't want and still don't want speedway live on tv so will happily see it fail. 

When sky got involved in 99 that was the golden opportunity to rebuild speedway sadly the BSPA as a collective totally messed up and miss that opportunity. 

TV can work look what's its done for Football and yes I know its not all been positive however football is completely reborn off the back of tv 

Late 80s top flight football playing in old stadiums with dropping attendance figures. 

The FA and the clubs knew they had to change to survive at the level they had been acustommed too. 

Along comes sky with the money and before you know it money is flowing in tatty old stada rebuilt or brand new stada constructed and money at a level that could only be dreamt about flowing in. 

Yes speedway is much smaller in scale however 99 was the golden egg and instead of the BSPA sitting on it and nurturing it they dropped and ever since have been trying to put the egg back in the broken shell. 

 

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, Spl77 said:

The issue is some promoters didn't want and still don't want speedway live on tv so will happily see it fail. 

When sky got involved in 99 that was the golden opportunity to rebuild speedway sadly the BSPA as a collective totally messed up and miss that opportunity. 

TV can work look what's its done for Football and yes I know its not all been positive however football is completely reborn off the back of tv 

Late 80s top flight football playing in old stadiums with dropping attendance figures. 

The FA and the clubs knew they had to change to survive at the level they had been acustommed too. 

Along comes sky with the money and before you know it money is flowing in tatty old stada rebuilt or brand new stada constructed and money at a level that could only be dreamt about flowing in. 

Yes speedway is much smaller in scale however 99 was the golden egg and instead of the BSPA sitting on it and nurturing it they dropped and ever since have been trying to put the egg back in the broken shell. 

 

Trouble with speedway stadia is that many were owned by other consortiums which made any investment difficult whereas, correct me if I'm wrong, football stadiums after the Bradford & Hillsborough disasters received generous grants and/or funding from central Government as well as a healthy input of SKY money...well those in the top leagues. However reports relatively recently suggest struggling clubs further down the hierarchy are suffering with financial difficulties...plus football's continual support at both local and national level thru' mass media hysteria which keeps it at the forefront of public awareness.

Edited June 15, 2020 by steve roberts

[Piotr Pyszny]

27 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Trouble with speedway stadia is that many were owned by other consortiums... 

This has always been speedway's Achilles heel. Too many clubs have been/are subject to the whim of the landlord, for whom speedway often hasn't been/isn't a priority.

Seems a shame one of the very few purpose built speedway venues, owned and run by speedway enthusiasts - Buxton - is now used only for practice and experience days.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Piotr Pyszny

[foamfence]

9 minutes ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

This has always been speedway's Achilles heel. Too many clubs have been/are subject to the whim of the landlord, for whom speedway often hasn't been/isn't a priority.

Seems a shame one of the very few purpose built speedway venues, owned and run by speedway enthusiasts - Buxton - is now used only for practice and experience days.

It wasn't exactly easy to get to.

[greyhoundp]

Football is almost a worldwide sport so therefore has a global audience, whereas Speedway is limited to the UK, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, , and to a lesser extent, Slovakia, USA, Russia, New Zealand, and a few others, Norway, France, Italy.. etc etc. If Speedway is to have a succesful Tv audience then it needs to broaden its foundation throughout the world but thats almost impossible, proven by the fact that we are struggling here in the UK just to survive.. If only Japan, China, and other Asian countries could become in the Sport then we may have half a chance.. indeed i think of my wifes home country the Philippines they are motorcycle crazy but mostly lack the income to buy expensive Speedway gear.. which brings us back to something the BSPL refuse to do anything about costs!.

[greyhoundp]

7 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

There's probably a far greater chance of the rugby league club sharing a revamped Horsfall with Park Avenue than returning to Odsal. I gather there are plans to strip out Horsfall's little-used athletics track and do a proper job of building a stadium. Without the rugby league club on board, I can't see the Odsal money pit being viable.

Speedway was never as well supported at Bradford as it was at Halifax, where anything over 3,000 felt like a big attendance. Being in a crowd of a thousand scattered about Odsal's vast acreage really wasn't much fun. Perhaps many posters only ever went to Odsal on a 'big event' day. 

Having read The Dean Machine's remarks: does speedway not have a 'fit and proper person' test (not that it works in football!) for would-be promoters?

I agree and i suggested Bradford PA as an example, i think i read somewhere that the Rugby League Club had to pay around £72/75k per annum rental, I may be wrong but Im sure Iv read that figure somewhere. If thats the figure then a 3 way split between Stocks, Speedway and An other it certainly becomes viable, i mentioned a Football Club because there are lots of Grants available out there for that particular Sport..but it could be any Sport thats able to pay around a third of the rental costs.. it actually doesnt even have to be a Sport it could be anything or anyone that could make use of the Stadium facilities, its a large infield that they have there Ideal Storage for when not being used for meetings, Storage space is at a premium around the country, and perfectly located for the motorway network.. 

[tyke]

7 hours ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

There's probably a far greater chance of the rugby league club sharing a revamped Horsfall with Park Avenue than returning to Odsal. I gather there are plans to strip out Horsfall's little-used athletics track and do a proper job of building a stadium. Without the rugby league club on board, I can't see the Odsal money pit being viable.

Speedway was never as well supported at Bradford as it was at Halifax, where anything over 3,000 felt like a big attendance. Being in a crowd of a thousand scattered about Odsal's vast acreage really wasn't much fun. Perhaps many posters only ever went to Odsal on a 'big event' day. 

Having read The Dean Machine's remarks: does speedway not have a 'fit and proper person' test (not that it works in football!) for would-be promoters?

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18514939.avenue-agree-35-year-horsfall-lease-bradford-council/

This is from our local Rag.

New lease is with the local athletics club, so you would assume the track would stay in situe , but most probably be updated with a new synthetic  surface

[steve roberts]

39 minutes ago, foamfence said:

It wasn't exactly easy to get to.

One track I didn't get to unfortunately.

[ancient mariner]

55 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

One track I didn't get to unfortunately.

Worth it if only for the view!

[Piotr Pyszny]

3 hours ago, foamfence said:

It wasn't exactly easy to get to.

I went several times, mostly from West Yorkshire. Lovely scenic drive over Holme Moss and through Longdendale and Glossop. Much easier to get to than St Austell, Sittingbourne and any of Glasgow's tracks were!

Edited June 15, 2020 by Piotr Pyszny

[Piotr Pyszny]

3 hours ago, tyke said:

New lease is with the local athletics club, so you would assume the track would stay in situe , but most probably be updated with a new synthetic  surface

That's the exact opposite of what a couple of Park Avenue supporters told me six months ago! Means Horsfall will always be a 'meh' venue for watching football.

[foamfence]

3 minutes ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

I went several times, mostly from West Yorkshire. Lovely scenic drive over Holme Moss and through Longdendale and Glossop. Much easier to get to than St Austell, Sittingbourne and any of Glasgow's tracks were!

When I was younger I could go to Belle Vue, Bradford, Doncaster, Sheffield and Halifax, all on public transport.

[foamfence]

3 minutes ago, Piotr Pyszny said:

That's the exact opposite of what a couple of Park Avenue supporters told me six months ago! Means Horsfall will always be a 'meh' venue for watching football.

Well it's all sorted, whether those two like it or don't.