BSPL AGM

[HertsRacer]

2 hours ago, lisa-colette said:

Maybe it was a typo! I did google it and only articles I could find about a possible return for Southampton were from 2008 and 2011.

There's a Facebook site called Bring back Southampton Speedway, run by a supporters group who have ambitions of bringing back speedway to Southampton. Not much information about how or where this may happen however.

[BartoszZmarzlikFan]

Does anyone know about team building limits and 2021 signings?

Will the 2020 line-ups remain the same with the exception of a few changes for unavailable riders?

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, stevehone said:

this is what people want to see surely, entertainment. not riders so far ahead of the rest it looks boring

we're constantly told that riders don't have a connection with the club or fans when they ride, well now is the ideal time to have a league with committed riders and build from there

100%...

"Superstars" didn't start out as such and sadly are now out of reach for day to day UK Speedway, so now is the time to set about finding other "Superstars" and that doesn't have to mean global ones but could be a rider who gets a large following at his local track and becomes "a large fish in even a very small pond"...

He would benefit locally through sponsorship, and the club would have a rider who locally gets known and can 'pull a crowd in"...

The more GB riders the better, and the more chance GB will have to try and reach the best team in the world status, which has to be the No1 aim of the BSPL, well above all and any individual team success focus, as this attracts hardly any national attention at all, whereby consistent GB success would..

The promoters have a 'free pass' from supporters to try new innovative and radical things given the pandemic issues they face so let's hope they go for it..

Four (mainly GB) lads per race, all of a similar ability, racing on a well prepared track, on a day/night that provides the best crowd numbers for that track, and in competitions that are ran with credibility amd integrity, and all delivered at an admission price that reflects true value for money...

Can it be done. .?

 

[tyretrax]

6 hours ago, ch958 said:

 

I was at the second ever meeting at Somerset and the home team had a rider nicknamed the undertaker and had a top hat on his helmet, bit of fun and memorable, that sort of thing gets kids asking 'can we go next week?' 

Glasgow machine examiner refused to let him race with the small cardboard hat on his helmet.

Edited January 15, 2021 by tyretrax

[Pinny]

3 hours ago, stevehone said:

this is what people want to see surely, entertainment. not riders so far ahead of the rest it looks boring

we're constantly told that riders don't have a connection with the club or fans when they ride, well now is the ideal time to have a league with committed riders and build from there

Exactly. 

[Spiderman1]

6 hours ago, stevehone said:

this is what people want to see surely, entertainment. not riders so far ahead of the rest it looks boring

we're constantly told that riders don't have a connection with the club or fans when they ride, well now is the ideal time to have a league with committed riders and build from there

Sorry but I always like to see the best riders and with upcoming riders there is no better being in a team with a top class rider at which you can learn from. Still need internationals as a part,either learning or dominating ,don’t fill the teams with uk riders ,keep it for national leagues , close racing doesn’t have to be at the front

Edited January 16, 2021 by Spiderman1

[stevehone]

57 minutes ago, Spiderman1 said:

Sorry but I always like to see the best riders and with upcoming riders there is no better being in a team with a top class rider at which you can learn from. Still need internationals as a part,either learning or dominating ,don’t fill the teams with uk riders ,keep it for national leagues , close racing doesn’t have to be at the front

as a rule of thumb, the tv director will be watching what's out front, no good if it's just one rider on his own, tv was there to try to encourage people to go to a meeting not turn it off. one rider is not what i want to watch.

the old NL in the 80's had it right (before Rye House put a spanner in the works) using British & Commonwealth, something like that with the occasional American's/Europeans if they qualify is ideal as long as they're committed to the British League and live here.

supporters cheering their team because it's THEIR team is what i grew up with (until World Final night), it can only benefit the clubs, track shops, riders, and as mentioned more likely to get sponsors.

fair play to those earning big money elsewhere, get it while it's there, but if they're not riding in GB then it's extra special seeing the GP series, and could boost Cardiff attendance if fans aren't seeing those riders on a regular basis. 

[Mimmo]

13 hours ago, HertsRacer said:

There's a Facebook site called Bring back Southampton Speedway, run by a supporters group who have ambitions of bringing back speedway to Southampton. Not much information about how or where this may happen however.

They're hoping to build the new Southampton Speedway Track between Locks Heath & Fareham.

Infill land just off the M27 is now in the process of being bought by a former policeman, and planing permission is going in shortly to build the speedway track . Infill land means houses can't be built on it, and noise issues wouldn't be a problem. The initial plan so I'm told would be for use as a training track along with amateur meetings, which are becoming more and more popular.

Edited January 16, 2021 by Mimmo

[Spl77]

12 hours ago, mikebv said:

100%...

"Superstars" didn't start out as such and sadly are now out of reach for day to day UK Speedway, so now is the time to set about finding other "Superstars" and that doesn't have to mean global ones but could be a rider who gets a large following at his local track and becomes "a large fish in even a very small pond"...

He would benefit locally through sponsorship, and the club would have a rider who locally gets known and can 'pull a crowd in"...

The more GB riders the better, and the more chance GB will have to try and reach the best team in the world status, which has to be the No1 aim of the BSPL, well above all and any individual team success focus, as this attracts hardly any national attention at all, whereby consistent GB success would..

The promoters have a 'free pass' from supporters to try new innovative and radical things given the pandemic issues they face so let's hope they go for it..

Four (mainly GB) lads per race, all of a similar ability, racing on a well prepared track, on a day/night that provides the best crowd numbers for that track, and in competitions that are ran with credibility amd integrity, and all delivered at an admission price that reflects true value for money...

Can it be done. .?

 

That's spot on. The thing I struggle to understand is that the so called global superstars are only superstars within tge existing speedway fan base certainly as far as UK speedway is concerned. Those names won't draw in sustained extra bums on seats week in week out. 

What you need is an exciting league with commited riders sensible rules something that can be properly promoted to a wide audience. 

 

[Najjer]

So there is talk of teams needing to have British reserves at Championship level....

... It just shows utter contempt yet again for the fans with all this secrecy and “details to be revealed soon” bull$hit. If it’s been sorted at the AGM why invite speculation instead of just releasing the facts and keeping everybody informed?

[mikebv]

6 hours ago, stevehone said:

as a rule of thumb, the tv director will be watching what's out front, no good if it's just one rider on his own, tv was there to try to encourage people to go to a meeting not turn it off. one rider is not what i want to watch.

the old NL in the 80's had it right (before Rye House put a spanner in the works) using British & Commonwealth, something like that with the occasional American's/Europeans if they qualify is ideal as long as they're committed to the British League and live here.

supporters cheering their team because it's THEIR team is what i grew up with (until World Final night), it can only benefit the clubs, track shops, riders, and as mentioned more likely to get sponsors.

fair play to those earning big money elsewhere, get it while it's there, but if they're not riding in GB then it's extra special seeing the GP series, and could boost Cardiff attendance if fans aren't seeing those riders on a regular basis. 

I remember when I first saw Jason Crump race at the old dog bowl...

He was truly incredible...

He 'howled' into the tight turns at a speed not seen before, and one night smashed the track record by miles...

As a long time fan of the sport, and someone who could therefore really appreciate the level of ability, I was truly in awe of what he could do and felt quite privileged to see him do this time and time again every week..

However..

If I had been there watching the racing as a potential new fan of the sport, Jason winning races by such huge distances wouldn't probably have motivated me to go back and repeat the experience, and as for anything else that happened in the races he won 'by miles' I wouldn't have a clue..

And after watching him do this time and time again it did eventually become 'quite boring' to be honest and you started to hope he would miss the gate and have to pass..

And also, even though one of the true 'all time greats' of the sport was in attendance every meeting, (racing against other top stars of the day), crowds dropped away annually...

An entertainment industry needs to consistently entertain to be successful, and Speedway entertains through close racing where ideally (but not specifically) riders pass each other. 

And to do that is simply down to having all riders of a similar level racing against each other.

As an example the Youth Championships served up great racing from Jordan Palin v The Thompson Twins in particular, easily on a par with anything else served up at any level. With the simple reason being their similar ability levels. 

It really doesn't need to cost promoters a fortune to provide great racing.

It's the similar levels of the riders that's the key to entertaining racing, not the names on their kevlars..

[steve roberts]

7 minutes ago, Spl77 said:

That's spot on. The thing I struggle to understand is that the so called global superstars are only superstars within tge existing speedway fan base certainly as far as UK speedway is concerned. Those names won't draw in sustained extra bums on seats week in week out. 

What you need is an exciting league with commited riders sensible rules something that can be properly promoted to a wide audience. 

 

Couldn't agree more. Easy to understand rules that aren't constantly being tweaked. Me and my brother have often discussed that when the promoters meet up and discuss new rules the question they should be asking themselves is will they bring more people thru' the turnstiles? If not then don't alter things for the sake of change.

[spiegal]

There was an old adage in Speedway years ago...you make your own stars within 2 months....Always listen to what your customer wants..imo people want 1. Entertainment. 2. Value for money 3. racers not riders..4. decent toilets and food. 5. team members who are yours and neither borrowed or racing for another uk team. 6. A Team..not made up of seven people whose name you can't even pronounce. 7. get rid of race times..it impresses nobody and puts nobody on the gate 8. Standardised equipment..Obviously riders wouldn't like it..but if it saves money they will quickly come round...9. Never let the tail wag the donkey..10. The NL concept is the road map.....entertainment again..

[Lefty]

36 minutes ago, spiegal said:

There was an old adage in Speedway years ago...you make your own stars within 2 months....Always listen to what your customer wants..imo people want 1. Entertainment. 2. Value for money 3. racers not riders..4. decent toilets and food. 5. team members who are yours and neither borrowed or racing for another uk team. 6. A Team..not made up of seven people whose name you can't even pronounce. 7. get rid of race times..it impresses nobody and puts nobody on the gate 8. Standardised equipment..Obviously riders wouldn't like it..but if it saves money they will quickly come round...9. Never let the tail wag the donkey..10. The NL concept is the road map.....entertainment again..

Excellent adage: This Top 10 has just moved Moses' ten commandments into second place. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Lefty
Spelling

[screm]

On 1/14/2021 at 7:43 PM, Midland Red said:

Meanwhile.... any news on the biscuit front?

My sources tell me that no decision was taking on the biscuit front. An EGM is being set up as we speak to make final decision  after which they will start on more mundane matters such as points limits, rider availability, rules and regs etc.

[mikebv]

1 minute ago, spiegal said:

There was an old adage in Speedway years ago...you make your own stars within 2 months....Always listen to what your customer wants..imo people want 1. Entertainment. 2. Value for money 3. racers not riders..4. decent toilets and food. 5. team members who are yours and neither borrowed or racing for another uk team. 6. A Team..not made up of seven people whose name you can't even pronounce. 7. get rid of race times..it impresses nobody and puts nobody on the gate 8. Standardised equipment..Obviously riders wouldn't like it..but if it saves money they will quickly come round...9. Never let the tail wag the donkey..10. The NL concept is the road map.....entertainment again..

I do sometimes wonder to myself what it would be like if a couple of BSPL members went on the Dragons Den with their operating model and business plan..

"We only can open our doors when our employees dictate to us when we can do so, because we share them with other similar businesses, some of which pay them much more than we can, so they get first call and our employees prioritise them"

"We are in the entertainment industry but will open mainly during the week rather than at the key times for the entertainment industry. (weekends and bank holidays), to allow our employees to work in their other jobs"..

"Our customers tell us we are too expensive to attend as regularly as they would like, but we need to charge so much because our employees expect us to pay them a certain amount of money to turn up, this results usually in a downturn in customers annually so we cover the cash shortfall by increasing prices to keep paying our employees the money they need"..

"Our opening hours won't be consistent, but will be subject to constant change, and we may even go weeks without opening at all, with the key summer school holiday time in particular seeing several weeks of closure due to not being able to staff the business, as many of the staff are elsewhere"

"We will use many overseas employees whose own personal agendas we constantly work around, rather than use mainly local people, they are admittedly more expensive in the main, and have less flexibility, but overall we think they are of a higher standard (possibly) than the local people who are available"

The Dragons would be fighting over each other to invest wouldn't they?

 

 

[Lefty]

....... and some say our best shale which helps provide better entertainment is unavailable due to previous alleged poor payment practices....etc.

[Chris116]

I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

[RS50]

6 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

And I have not heard of any definate signings yet. Coincidence?

[enotian]

5 minutes ago, Chris116 said:

I note that the important information on the points limits for the leagues has not been mentioned by the BSPL. Surely this information is vital to all teams so they can put together a team. 

The individual promoters know.  They've just not announced it to the public yet. Sounds like there's going to be some kind of staged announcement with Eurosport....  you know to generate some interest.