Birmingham Brummies 2022

[mac101]

17 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Why do hundreds if not thousands ride moto x at weekends for fun yet speedway riders want a fortune to ride? Everyone who puts a leg over a bike deserves as much as possible yes ,but income has to be more than outgoings.go back to basics then maybe bikes will cost less,u dont need a van full,standard carbs and clutch a bit of dirt on the track and lets see racing .

MX Rider pay to ride their bikes where practice days can be around £35 but you get to ride your bike for hours rather than minutes and not a lot of travel if your doing local club meetings ,unless you doing British championships  which is usually 2 days over a weekend where racing is more expensive to enter and everybody works monday to friday to help fund it and race at weekends nothing on weekdays but practice if you want  but it’s much the same in the pits on race days with riders turning up with 2 new tuned bikes every year and £50k motor homes less maintaince on mx bikes 

Edited June 26, 2022 by mac101

[singy13]

18 minutes ago, M.D said:

Good points but Birminghams rent isn't that high

You would deffo hope it is much less rent given the poor following...........what is the the fan capacity at Perry Barr?  The photos I've seen lately seem to show not very much as regards spectator terracing, with a few dozen speccies visible.  Maybe there is plenty of seating inside, behind the glass, where there is a restaurant? My old venue of Derwent Park was a 10,000 limit with plenty of terracing and a decent grandstand.

[Trees]

Just looked on the Brum twitter feed, no tagging of any Birmingham newspapers, Birmingham Live accounts or anything, surely they need to do all this to get the word out?

Is there any young people attending Birmingham speedway? 

The terracing is crap at Brum, you can't see in the pits, a few changes need to be made??

Edited June 26, 2022 by Trees

[wtf]

30 minutes ago, mac101 said:

don’t think the home team pays the away team riders points think it’s only something towards there travel 

No but they pay for their own teams away matches points, so they fund their own team away from home. You have say 20 matches, 10 home 10 away, you have 10 opportunities to create enough income to pay for 20 matches worth of points, all for you own team

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by wtf

[noaksey]

3 hours ago, Trees said:

Just looked on the Brum twitter feed, no tagging of any Birmingham newspapers, Birmingham Live accounts or anything, surely they need to do all this to get the word out?

Is there any young people attending Birmingham speedway? 

The terracing is crap at Brum, you can't see in the pits, a few changes need to be made??

 Changes to the stadium layout would need the agreement of the landlords and are likely to prove expensive even if consent could be obtained 

[Fromafar]

4 hours ago, The Dog said:

I too was absolutely gobsmacked at the amount of money put in, how or why you would invest that much for no return whatsoever is lunacy. The tail wags the dog in speedway. 

History tells you that successful business people like Mr Tolley, Rick Frost, Allen Trump and Mick Horton to name a few, have struggled with our sport over the years so their is a major flaw in the way speedway operates and it needs to change before we lose it altogether. 

Don’t see how the will be viable in 2023,the only investors would be people wanting to throw away money.Sadly.

[The Dog]

3 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Don’t see how the will be viable in 2023,the only investors would be people wanting to throw away money.Sadly.

Certainly won't want to be throwing another 250k+ at a season of racing, though I would still like to see a breakdown of the outgoings to understand how anybody gets to be putting those figures in 

[Fromafar]

1 minute ago, The Dog said:

Certainly won't want to be throwing another 250k+ at a season of racing, though I would still like to see a breakdown of the outgoings to understand how anybody gets to be putting those figures in 

You will never see any costs from Promoters running the Sport.Only post about losing money not why or whose money they are losing.Fans consortiums pumping money in are the only way the sport is still running at a number of tracks.

[S4r4h]

7 hours ago, uk_martin said:

OUCH!  Only 350, and most of those will be paying concessionary admission... As I say, OUCH!

Yet you continie to moan, and 'Joke' about the situation and do not support your team or your friends who have tried so hard to keep Birmingham going. Hope you and others similar to are proud. 

[Hackett]

Those support numbers is pretty pitiful. As it states in the article England's second city - little over 350. Well we all know that is not sustainable and effectively Brummie's situation was up against it from the start of the season. Would be a big ask to see Birmingham speedway in 2023 with those losses. So could be no Newcastle, Birmingham and Peterborough next season - three major cities across the country with no speedway. 

Completely mirrors the success that Oxford Cheetah's seem to be having - support wise.

 

[Trees]

2 hours ago, noaksey said:

 Changes to the stadium layout would need the agreement of the landlords and are likely to prove expensive even if consent could be obtained 

Possibly, maybe a sponsor could be found to do the work if they did get permission?

[singy13]

18 minutes ago, Hackett said:

Those support numbers is pretty pitiful. As it states in the article England's second city - little over 350. Well we all know that is not sustainable and effectively Brummie's situation was up against it from the start of the season. Would be a big ask to see Birmingham speedway in 2023 with those losses. So could be no Newcastle, Birmingham and Peterborough next season - three major cities across the country with no speedway. 

Completely mirrors the success that Oxford Cheetah's seem to be having - support wise.

 

Birmingham speedway is more like a mirror of Newcastle Diamonds.............. these outfits have had many ups and downs over the years. So many closures between the two it comes as no surprise to see the critical finances of both aired in public while looking for sympathy. But that's all they'll accrue. Because I'm afraid the fans with long memories know how delicate it is supporting such fragile outfits that they'll not come out in big numbers any more.....sadly it seems only speedway suffers this sporting dilemma.

[Deano]

8 hours ago, Trees said:

 

Is there any young people attending Birmingham speedway? 

The terracing is crap at Brum, you can't see in the pits, a few changes need to be made??

Yes there are some young people, not that many though.

viewing is awful, to make it worse the stadium owner put a bus shelter right in the line of sight of the track….. idiots! 
 

I’m not sure where all the sponsors have gone Joe McLaughlin seemed to get some biggies. The new commercial manager has yet to get successful. Most heats now are sponsored by supporters.

 

very few people in Birmingham know of speedway, let alone heard of the Brummies 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Deano

[Trees]

7 minutes ago, Deano said:

Yes there are some young people, not that many though.

viewing is awful, to make it worse the stadium owner put a bus shelter right in the line of sight of the track….. idiots! 
 

I’m not sure where all the sponsors have gone Joe McLaughlin seemed to get some biggies. The new commercial manager has yet to get successful. Most heats now are sponsored by supporters.

 

very few people in Birmingham know of speedway, let alone heard of the Brummies 

You need the council on your side, a hoarding in a prominent place would be great or take a bike into the city centre

[Deano]

3 hours ago, singy13 said:So many closures between the two it comes as no surprise to see the critical finances of both aired in public while looking for sympathy. But that's all they'll accrue. Because I'm afraid the fans with long memories know how delicate it is supporting such fragile outfits that they'll not come out in big numbers any more.....sadly it seems only speedway suffers this sporting dilemma.

That’s one of speedway great failings, club inconsistency. Clubs closing reduces your overall fan base. If Birmingham were to close again I’ll have no interest going to any other speedway club. speedway will lose me again.

[Deano]

1 minute ago, Trees said:

You need the council on your side, a hoarding in a prominent place would be great or take a bike into the city centre

I understand it’s all been done. Everytime I’ve suggested something it costs money to set up.

[Trees]

Just now, Deano said:

I understand it’s all been done. Everytime I’ve suggested something it costs money to set up.

Surely having a presence in the city centre wouldn't cost anything? They will have public liability insurance anyway?  Printing off fixture lists and/or giving a few free tix out won't cost much?

[mikebv]

Wasn't their break even number 1000 fans a week?

To have even considered it achievable in Birmingham was a staggering thought...

Some clubs are just NDL or nothing...

And they are the clubs who want to ride "full time pro speedway" but cannot afford to fill their teams with Div 1 HL's and Second Strings...

Unfortunately for these clubs who struggle at Div 2 level, a successfully ran NDL got changed to help the 2nd Division....

When Speedway becomes a well paid "other job" or hobby again (like it used to for the majority of riders), then it will have a chance...

Paying riders enough for them to not work six months of the year, and to also pay them enough to fund their own personal individual ambitions, can never, ever be workable or cost affective in a sport followed by so few...

[kitten2502]

11 hours ago, M.D said:

......... but Birminghams rent isn't that high

I don't know how you actually KNOW that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if it were, as the landlords quite obviously don't want speedway tenants. 

[wtf]

The final nail in the coffin for speedway in many ways is "the digital age". Speedway since it began was a "Cash" business. Lots of cash swilling around and very little auditing of payments and attendance figures etc etc. For decades large amounts of cash were "washed" through speedway, enabling things like large signing on fees of the 60's 70's 80's and 90's. Over recent times with more auditing, and waning crowd numbers, there have been fewer hiding places and it's become less attractive to all, as it shrinks in size. Everything these days can be scrutinised much more easily. Things have to stand up on their own two feet. Is it really any wonder that many of the businesses that are surviving also run hugely attended cash based Stock car meetings? If speedway has to stand on it's own two feet and pay it's own bills without help and subsidies, it doesn't fare well as the state we are in today shows only too well.