Is anyone losing interest

[cityrebel]

10 minutes ago, Trees said:

The promoters are in charge lol  The promoters make up the BSPL, they are all struggling to keep their clubs going ...... thank christ there's more enthusiasm from the fans attending than from many people posting on here.  I hope NO potential fans come across this forum either, JEEEEEEZ!  How I wish speedway fans were like football fans, fans for life, who pay out what is it £500+ every year for a season ticket for fear of never being able to go again if they don't ...... however good or bad their team is performing!

 

 

 

 

So fans should accept an expensive sub standard product and be grateful for it. This is 2021, people generally expect and demand value for money. Unless speedway promoters look outside their tiny little bubble, it hasn't got a chance.

[Trees]

8 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

So fans should accept an expensive sub standard product and be grateful for it. This is 2021, people generally expect and demand value for money. Unless speedway promoters look outside their tiny little bubble, it hasn't got a chance.

What do you suggest then?  What product do you want?   You've obviously fell out of love with the sport, promoters are struggling, if we want our sport to survive we need to support it, riders are still giving their best, it's still 4 riders racing in each race, 15 heats ........... no different to over the years.  It's you who have changed ......you don't want to support your club, you're not interested any more, so be it, rubbish happens, my husband is the same ........

[Sings4Speedway]

34 minutes ago, Trees said:

The promoters are in charge lol  The promoters make up the BSPL, they are all struggling to keep their clubs going ...... thank christ there's more enthusiasm from the fans attending than from many people posting on here.  I hope NO potential fans come across this forum either, JEEEEEEZ!  How I wish speedway fans were like football fans, fans for life, who pay out what is it £500+ every year for a season ticket for fear of never being able to go again if they don't ...... however good or bad their team is performing!

 

 

 

 

Some promotions are in charge, others don't have a voice or vote on the product that they are trying to sell to the public whilst others are pulling the strings and forcing changes onto others. I wish that Speedway was a bloodline sport, that it appealed to the masses and people attended however their team was performing (although lets not cloud facts that football fans are just happy to turn up, they too are looking for a certain standard and complain royally if that is not achieved). 

The problem is that many of those 'on here'  were regular attending fans but have been driven away for a number of reasons and there is almost nothing done to entice them back. Calls of use it or lose it don't matter to those who already think its over priced, strung out, mixed quality racing. They have already made up their minds that they can live without. There is no one size fits all and until the powers that be realise that the sport will keep sinking

[Halifaxtiger]

17 minutes ago, Trees said:

What do you suggest then?  What product do you want?   You've obviously fell out of love with the sport, promoters are struggling, if we want our sport to survive we need to support it, riders are still giving their best, it's still 4 riders racing in each race, 15 heats ........... no different to over the years.  It's you who have changed ......you don't want to support your club, you're not interested any more, so be it, rubbish happens, my husband is the same ........

One thing's certain here.

If Cityrebel has indeed fallen out of love with speedway,  its in deep trouble. I'm not quite sure how many meetings he attended every season, but it was a lot. 

 

[cityrebel]

29 minutes ago, Trees said:

What do you suggest then?  What product do you want?   You've obviously fell out of love with the sport, promoters are struggling, if we want our sport to survive we need to support it, riders are still giving their best, it's still 4 riders racing in each race, 15 heats ........... no different to over the years.  It's you who have changed ......you don't want to support your club, you're not interested any more, so be it, rubbish happens, my husband is the same ........

I've been to ten meetings already in this stop start season. I've paid my money, so I'm allowed an opinion. 

[Bagpuss]

35 minutes ago, Trees said:

What do you suggest then?  What product do you want?   You've obviously fell out of love with the sport, promoters are struggling, if we want our sport to survive we need to support it, riders are still giving their best, it's still 4 riders racing in each race, 15 heats ........... no different to over the years.  It's you who have changed ......you don't want to support your club, you're not interested any more, so be it, rubbish happens, my husband is the same ........

My argument would be that it's  more likely to be the product that has changed rather than all the people who no longer go because they don't love it any more. It's a shame because when speedway is spot on there is arguably nothing better but it's so rarely like that any more unfortunately. 

[old bob at herne bay]

FORGET race nights

FORGET crappy little or large stadiums

FORGET admission charges.

 

What can be changed .......

STOP gardening at the tapes

STOP practice starts all over the track prior to every race.

STOP riders jumping every other heat causing a restart

STOP delaying every heat until the ref puts on the 2 minute warning

STOP delaying meetings waiting for riders having 2 races in a row

STOP delaying meetings for endless grading of the track.

Tell the riders they are paid for by the spectators , tell them they are there to ENTERTAIN, not piddle about re adjusting chains back wheel nuts, cooling clutches, and refuelling the bike after every false start. IT'S BORING TO WATCH. 

 

 

[mikebv]

4 hours ago, Trees said:

The promoters are in charge lol  The promoters make up the BSPL, they are all struggling to keep their clubs going ...... thank christ there's more enthusiasm from the fans attending than from many people posting on here.  I hope NO potential fans come across this forum either, JEEEEEEZ!  How I wish speedway fans were like football fans, fans for life, who pay out what is it £500+ every year for a season ticket for fear of never being able to go again if they don't ...... however good or bad their team is performing!

 

 

 

 

I think you would find that if football ran itself using the UK Speedway operating model it too would be struggling very badly to attract fans..

In fact, a better analogy might be if Poland ran its Speedway the way the UK ran theirs, it would also be on its backside.. 

It would have..

No tribal following of hundreds of thousands of fans..

No one club riders who are synonymous with certain tracks to help build that fundamentally vital loyal emotional attachment to the club and individual...

No major individual and team sponsorship from national companies to fund the paying out of 'Superstar wages' to 'Superstar riders". 

And. No TV companies having to tender (willingly given the size of prize on offer), for the rights to broadcast a 'ratings winner' into millions of Polish homes every weekend.. 

"I say Gregorz, old bean, could I borrow Tai on Friday because Bartosz is riding in the GP Challenge Saturday night?"..

"Sorry Marek, Tai is already racing for Leszno agsinst you that night because Emil is in the same meeting as Bartosz. I do believe Patryk may be available though if you call FZG"..

"Be quick though, I believe Lublin are after him to replace Michelsen on Sunday"...

Can't see the Polish fans, sponsors, or TV broadcasters going for that somehow..

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by mikebv

[Star Lady]

2 hours ago, Trees said:

 if we want our sport to survive we need to support it, riders are still giving their best, it's still 4 riders racing in each race, 15 heats ........... no different to over the years.  ...

15 heats....says it all really. In my days, not that long ago, it was 13/15 heats and a second half of at least 8 more heats. Sometimes a Rider of the Night comp, sometimes a junior match , sometimes .... heavens above....both. If you were lucky you even got 3 Golden Helmet races thrown in as well.

[chunky]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Tell the riders they are paid for by the spectators , tell them they are there to ENTERTAIN, not piddle about re adjusting chains back wheel nuts, cooling clutches, and refuelling the bike after every false start. IT'S BORING TO WATCH. 

1) They are NOT paid for by the spectators; it hasn't been that way in years. They are paid for by the promoters, who bankrupt themselves in doing so. If they truly were paid for by the spectators, they'd be riding for 7 quid a night...

2) They USED to go out to entertain. Unfortunately, speedway has gone the way of many other sports, and the only thing that's important to most riders is making money. Oh, and pretending they are some international sporting superstar.

3) Readjusting chains is NOT boring. In fact, it can compare quite favourably to some of the racing I see...

[OveFundinFan]

15 races taking 2 hours or more is not on. It’s ridiculous, certainly not entertaining, bores people stiff, how on earth are promotors going to attract younger ones (or anyone) on that basis. They are not, but they don’t seem to understand.

[Crump99]

On 6/27/2021 at 1:05 PM, ruckerroo said:

The fact i attend bath, lingfield, brighton, kempton and salisbury races without the need for a mask is good enough reason to swerve speedway til these ridiculous restrictions are binned. If things arent back to normality by july 19 esp after upwards of 140, 000 are piled into the gp at silverstone there will be stadia shutting at an alarming rate

Horse racing does seem to be one on the few non woke places of Covid sanity these days.

[iris123]

11 minutes ago, Crump99 said:

Horse racing does seem to be one on the few non woke places of Covid sanity these days.

It's not really about woke or non woke though is it. Horse racing don't make up the rules. But they might have better connections in high places, just like tennis

[Crump99]

11 minutes ago, iris123 said:

It's not really about woke or non woke though is it. Horse racing don't make up the rules. But they might have better connections in high places, just like tennis

It certainly is if your a football fan or Sky subscriber. I think that common sense and focus is the phrase that you're looking for.

[iris123]

1 minute ago, Crump99 said:

It certainly is if your a football fan or Sky subscriber. I think that common sense and focus is the phrase that you're looking for.

Not sure I am

I would say, what I posted was spot on, apart from maybe taking into account local councils/government. As the rules seem to vary from area to area as well

[fatface]

11 hours ago, Halifaxtiger said:

On the face of it, what you say is undoubtedly correct - run meetings when you are more likely to attract paying customers. Unfortunately, its not as simple as that.

For a start, three quarters of British Speedway clubs do not own their own stadiums and are therefore at the directions of landlords (Peterborough, for example, would have absolutely no hope of getting a regular weekend race night). Consequently, they take what they can get. Even those that do either own or have substantial control over stadiums (such as Belle Vue) may decide that other uses - such as stock car racing or greyhounds - are more likely to be profitable (BAGS contracts for greyhounds are extremely lucrative). Others - such as Kent - may have planning issues, while Isle of Wight could not possibly run on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays due to the situation with the ferries. 

Secondly, experience suggests that switching to weekends isn't always the solution. When Sheffield switched from Thursdays to Sundays it was so disastrous the club almost folded and  I haven't noticed a significant change to Redcar's crowds since they changed from Thursday to Friday. When Ashley Taylor was considering opening a track in Cornwall, he told me that the days he would not run were Friday or Saturday as people were coming or going from holidays (possibly as many as half of our clubs might take this into account) and Adrian Smith advised at a Belle Vue fans forum some years ago that aside from school holidays attendances at Belle Vue were higher on Mondays than Fridays. Football's attendances certainly do not seem to be affected by playing midweek. 

When Plymouth switched from Friday to Tuesday they gave a statement why : Plymouth Gladiators Club Statement - Plymouth Gladiators Speedway (plymouth-speedway.com). As can be seen, it wasn't all about the number of Championship clubs that ride on that night (although that is clearly another factor as to why clubs do not run at weekends). 

 Mike BV has made the point that the sport seems to be run for the benefit of riders (up to a point at least) and I agree. However, what they require cannot simply be completely ignored. Some consideration has to be given to what they need because we can't have speedway without them. 

I am not saying you are wrong so much as pointing out that putting your solution into practice is anything but easy or guaranteed to be successful. 

Thanks. Certainly some valid points here and some fair insight on the plight of modern day promoters. My point over moving to a weekend model could admittedly been described as simplistic...and - taken in isolation - it is. There is a whole load of things that need to change for British speedway to ever get back towards being both a viable and credible proposition. Scheduling is just one. As others have highlighted the biggest issue of the product itself not being strong enough. It's unpalatable for a lot us, but people outside the sport see speedway as a Mickey Mouse sport.

The whole sport needs a proper strategy starting with a blank piece of paper....finding out what the British public want from a regular motorsport outing and delivering that. And no, that doesn't mean pandering to the shrinking, ageing die-hards, much as they might whinge. Carrying on as it is will do nothing more than guarantee the sport's slow, inevitable death. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by falcace

[chunky]

54 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

15 races taking 2 hours or more is not on.

So, let me ask you...

You would be much happier doing a 600 mile round trip to see a meeting, and have it be over and done with within 45 minutes?

[old bob at herne bay]

Whoa  Chunky ... steady on ...... 

How about  running 15 heats of speedway in around 75 minutes  .... then an interval of say 15 minutes , and then say 4 or 5 heats in around 30 minutes for   junior racing, novice racing or even some invitation races to allwo the tteam to test machinery  ? that looks like 120 minutes for a race meeting with up to 20 races.

Don't believe any club consider that is even possible with the current bunch of promoters, track staff riders and referees.

 

[Ovalman]

With local track Swindon not running, next nearest Zummerzet not running, and no Cardiff GP, no speedway for me this year, therefore no interest.

[Harry The Goat]

On 6/27/2021 at 12:54 PM, waytogo28 said:

Pretty much the same for me I am sad ( in some ways ) to say. Is there a central place I can locate what streams are available, as I am eager to see and pay reasonably for matches? I have always believed that streaming may be a sport saver for speedway, but other than one try at Berwick I have not seen any. I must add I am not very technical or computer savvy ( much as in the same way I can drive a car! ).

I'm with you, waytogo28. I too believe streaming could be a lifesaver, but there seems to be disappointingly little of it happening at present and it doesn't seem very well publicised. I'm amazed that more clubs are not trying it, and that the ones that are are not shouting louder about it. Do they want to get people watching or not?

If there *is* a central place to locate available livestreams, I've yet to find it. I had to dig up all the info below myself by laboriously looking through the websites of each club in the Premiership, Championship and NDL. There appear to be just three regular livestreams right now:

Glasgow - https://tv.glasgowtigers.co.uk/ (£11.95, next meeting on Friday 2nd July)

Edinburgh - https://www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk/live-stream (£11.99, not sure of next meeting)

Poole - https://www.poole-speedway.com/pirates-tv (£9.95, next meeting on Wednesday 30th June)

Berwick have used streaming but only for occasional one-off meetings, I think. Don't know why they don't do regular meetings.

This week I am planning to visit Poole on Wednesday and Glasgow on Friday while simultaneously remaining in the West Country without leaving my armchair :-)