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Eastbourne Speedway


M.D

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20 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

I don’t understand why the Dugards won’t allow NDL speedway at Arlington. As long as the rent is paid what’s the issue? Unless they just want the stadium to go for a period of non use so that planning permission for houses can be put in as no one wants to use the speedway stadium?

You've been around speedway long enough to know that won't be the case with the Dugards, it may be a final consequence if the stock cars go, but I think it's the unworkable structure and costs of the current leagues, all 3. NL is at such a low level now , where attendance will be so small any return will be minimal, another failure and it's definitely finished,  can you imagine NL at Poole( the Man Utd of speedway who should be Premiership ), would disappear in one season. 

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3 minutes ago, Hackett said:

Unfortunate BUT no surprise. Would be no shock to see a planning permission for housing updated + announced in the next 12 months. 

 

 

Maybe a safe guard if the stocks go I suppose, but assume that rent pays the bill's plus a bit? 

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5 hours ago, Wee Eck said:

The rules for joining the leagues are the same for everyone. Championship requires an entry fee, a bond payment and either riders on the club’s retained list to a certain level or else cash to make up the difference. 
The four supporters trying to relaunch Eastbourne said they needed £150,000 so they must have understood the costs involved. They also said they could raise £50,000 between them so must have tried, and failed, to find the other £100,000.

Better they save their money than going into an underfunded venture that has the potential to go the way of the previous promotions at Eastbourne. Full credit to them for trying but even more credit for admitting defeat before any harm was done. Perhaps promoting speedway is much harder - and more expensive - than us Forumites realise. 
UPDATE - HGould beat me to much of that!

Absolutely agree with this. 

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2 hours ago, gazzac said:

You've been around speedway long enough to know that won't be the case with the Dugards, it may be a final consequence if the stock cars go, but I think it's the unworkable structure and costs of the current leagues, all 3. NL is at such a low level now , where attendance will be so small any return will be minimal, another failure and it's definitely finished,  can you imagine NL at Poole( the Man Utd of speedway who should be Premiership ), would disappear in one season. 

Disagree I don't think there would much difference in attendance between NL and CL. Its been proven loads of times that clubs that have gone up and down the leagues have seen little change in their attendance. Its understandable clubs want to compete at the highest most prestigious level especially if they have had a lot of success in the lower league.

I also doubt that Poole would disappear if they moved to the NL, it would seriously annoy some of their fans and maybe put a few off from attending but I bet more than 90% of the fans would still attend. 

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25 minutes ago, eric i said:

Disagree I don't think there would much difference in attendance between NL and CL. Its been proven loads of times that clubs that have gone up and down the leagues have seen little change in their attendance. Its understandable clubs want to compete at the highest most prestigious level especially if they have had a lot of success in the lower league.

I also doubt that Poole would disappear if they moved to the NL, it would seriously annoy some of their fans and maybe put a few off from attending but I bet more than 90% of the fans would still attend. 

We'll agree to disagree, I'm pro NL as it was a few years ago, today's is such a poor product, as for Poole.....

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All sounds very predictable.  Who would invest circa £100k into a sport which is in clear decline in the UK.

As well as losing their main sponsors - they have by now surely lost a good number of regular supporters. Attendances were never great at Arlington in recent years - and speedway there never seemed to be viable on anything but a Saturday evening.   

Sad  - yet another defunct track to be added to those I have visited :-(

 

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Very sad with what's happening at Arlington. We at Oxford/White City had close promotional connections with Eastbourne and I use to enjoy my visits there. The Arlington Academy was second to none and it must have grieved the late Bob Dugard that more and more British Speedway began to turn to the continent for riders and Eastbourne were no different. Personally I feel that Eastbourne never really excelled with the new found status of affairs (although they did win a few championships) but their ability to unearth English riders was so succesful it lost its way like speedway in this country generally.

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14 hours ago, Mike.Butler said:

what, with such limited water/sewage services in the area?...i  would imagine this will be one of the last places to see any housing development.

I’m told the stadium shows on a map issued by planning authority of sites that could be developed. Emphasis on the could. My friend who told me this also said loads of new houses going in at Hailsham despite drainage concerns 

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13 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Dumb question but is the " bspa" and the speedway control board run by the same people,can understand people not wanting to pay a bond to godfrey and co.

BSPA is the association of speedway promoters with BSPL the umbrella organisation. BSPL has four (or five?) directors. I know that Messrs Godfrey, Bates, Louis and Ford (Dan) are directors. I don’t know who else is if anyone. 
SCB is a sub-committee of the ACU, the governing body for motorcycle sport throughout the British Isles excluding Northern Ireland. It has two members from ACU - Tony Steele and Paul Hurry - and two from BSPA - Rob Godfrey and Chris Van Straaten. It also has an independent non voting chairman, currently Jim Lawrence. 
An easy way to look at the different roles is that SCB is responsible for the rules of the sport whereas BSPL/BSPA are responsible for the business of speedway. 

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Some have picked up on the Landlords reluctance to allow NDL speedway at Arlington. Looking at the headline start up costs listed by MD - other than lower rider sign on fees, don’t see there is much difference ? 

MD posted”Air Fence (£30000) Tractor, Shale,  Possible track equipment (including new starting gate), Rider sign on fees, Upfront money for medical cover insurances. “

The successful NDL team at Arlington run by Dugard consortium, ran on the previously owned track hardware. Starting from scratch is a different challenge

 

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