Will people be able to afford to go

[bri1966]

With all the rising costs of fuel,  shopping,council tax and national insurance going up . Will there be enough people be able to afford to go to speedway? My disposal income has been squeezed so can't see me going to sppedway evert week .I think all leisure activities are going to suffer

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

I feel all may be OK at the start of the season before (despite the very obvious upcoming scenarios) many start to feel the pinch

We all know most people don't really plan but simply react so there may be a lag before reality bites

Edited February 6, 2022 by dontforgetthefueltapsbruv

[Baldyman]

It's also going to affect the running costs of the clubs drastically. Maybe a few meetings should be arranged to fill those empty nights when the days are the longest. 

[jenga]

6 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

It's also going to affect the running costs of the clubs drastically. Maybe a few meetings should be arranged to fill those empty nights when the days are the longest. 

why start running meetings in the summer , when everyone knows its a winter sport ?

[GiveusaB]

Going to a match will save having to put the heating on 

[FromBendThree]

22 hours ago, bri1966 said:

With all the rising costs of fuel,  shopping,council tax and national insurance going up . Will there be enough people be able to afford to go to speedway? My disposal income has been squeezed so can't see me going to sppedway evert week .I think all leisure activities are going to suffer

Some clubs seem to be working on the basis of every other week for home meetings.

[topaz325]

2 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

Going to a match will save having to put the heating on 

Not after standing around for three and a half hours on a cold October night.

[marko]

It would be interesting to see the average distanced travelled by each clubs home fan base.

My old team Arena Essex/Lakeside probably had quite a big spread of support over Essex/Kent border and pretty much the only way to get their was to drive, it would have certainly affected them.

[Trees]

I bet Lynn have many fans who travel a 80/100 mile round trip

[steve roberts]

I've said it many times but I would expect more than just fifteen heats of racing after paying my admission price and petrol to travel to my local track some 60 plus miles away irrspective of the expected rise in the cost of living.

[uk_martin]

I wonder sometimes why speedway only seems to attract an audience from the lowest social strata. It's hard to grasp why 600-700 people will "struggle" to afford an evening's entertainment where the admission is under £20, when a night at a music concert at a 10,000 capacity venue can easily sell out despite tickets being 5 or 6 times the price.

That tells me that there are plenty of people with money in their pockets. So why can't speedway attract them? 

And to those who say that you get 2 whole hours entertainment for your money for your concert admission compared to 15 minutes for your speedway admission, I'm reminded of the day that 25,000 people paid over £50 each to see Usain Bolt for 10 seconds at Perry Barr's "other" stadium. 

People have money. Speedway just has to find out how to attract the people who have it.

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, uk_martin said:

I wonder sometimes why speedway only seems to attract an audience from the lowest social strata. It's hard to grasp why 600-700 people will "struggle" to afford an evening's entertainment where the admission is under £20, when a night at a music concert at a 10,000 capacity venue can easily sell out despite tickets being 5 or 6 times the price.

That tells me that there are plenty of people with money in their pockets. So why can't speedway attract them? 

And to those who say that you get 2 whole hours entertainment for your money for your concert admission compared to 15 minutes for your speedway admission, I'm reminded of the day that 25,000 people paid over £50 each to see Usain Bolt for 10 seconds at Perry Barr's "other" stadium. 

People have money. Speedway just has to find out how to attract the people who have it.

Unfortunately tonight ladies and gentlemen Elton John and Rod Stewart cannot be with us as they are double booked and doing a concert in Prague...

Instead we have Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls guest singing for them...

To be fair. Speedway can get decent crowds when meetings have some relevance. Eg The SON and domestically the Play Off finals show that there is still a "decent amount" of fans at most tracks who come out of the woodwork to attend certain meetings..

(Bank Holidays too seem to get well above average attendances at those tracks who run on those days)...

Unfortunately, due to its operating model, there are not enough of those meetings that mean something during the season...

Let's hope for a summer of good weather as that can be a real asset in bringing non regulars (who still follow the sport very closely), out to attend....

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by mikebv

[phillipsr]

18 hours ago, uk_martin said:

I wonder sometimes why speedway only seems to attract an audience from the lowest social strata. It's hard to grasp why 600-700 people will "struggle" to afford an evening's entertainment where the admission is under £20, when a night at a music concert at a 10,000 capacity venue can easily sell out despite tickets being 5 or 6 times the price.

That tells me that there are plenty of people with money in their pockets. So why can't speedway attract them? 

And to those who say that you get 2 whole hours entertainment for your money for your concert admission compared to 15 minutes for your speedway admission, I'm reminded of the day that 25,000 people paid over £50 each to see Usain Bolt for 10 seconds at Perry Barr's "other" stadium. 

People have money. Speedway just has to find out how to attract the people who have it.

Theres loads of reasons like the state of stadiums, state of some tracks,how speedway is marketed 

Id say how often Speedway has shot itself in the-foot with dodgy rain offs etc also affects people’s spending habits!! I also think 15mins of entertainment is pushing it most weeks 

[1 valve]

“Will people be able to afford to go”

in short “yes” if they regard going to speedway meetings as something they want to do. 
Those promoters who do the right things to make people want to go have nothing to worry about. 
As for those who don’t do “the right thing” history shows they will find someone else to blame. 

[Wembleyfan]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:15 PM, uk_martin said:

I wonder sometimes why speedway only seems to attract an audience from the lowest social strata. It's hard to grasp why 600-700 people will "struggle" to afford an evening's entertainment where the admission is under £20, when a night at a music concert at a 10,000 capacity venue can easily sell out despite tickets being 5 or 6 times the price.

That tells me that there are plenty of people with money in their pockets. So why can't speedway attract them? 

And to those who say that you get 2 whole hours entertainment for your money for your concert admission compared to 15 minutes for your speedway admission, I'm reminded of the day that 25,000 people paid over £50 each to see Usain Bolt for 10 seconds at Perry Barr's "other" stadium. 

People have money. Speedway just has to find out how to attract the people who have it.

The big difference relates to the fact that most concerts are one-off events for the punter and there are headline acts. Cardiff GP attracts good crowds, a one-off event with headliners. You would be better comparing it to a residency for the local folk group in the local pub. The same people will turn up each week (or month) to hear the same songs in the same format. The odd newcomer will come in, maybe enjoy it but probably won't be back.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 hour ago, Wembleyfan said:

The big difference relates to the fact that most concerts are one-off events for the punter and there are headline acts. Cardiff GP attracts good crowds, a one-off event with headliners. You would be better comparing it to a residency for the local folk group in the local pub. The same people will turn up each week (or month) to hear the same songs in the same format. The odd newcomer will come in, maybe enjoy it but probably won't be back.

I can see an accept this point but offer an example closer in comparison

Ipswich Town yesterday took 7000 fans to Milton Keynes - at least 4 times the number that attend Foxhalls best supported meetings perhaps 6 times the normal.

Yes a one off although the travelling support for games  , even midweek and many hours away , is often at least the same as those normal Foxhall events

In all cases ticket prices are higher than Foxhall plus the cost of travel and food etc would at least double , probably treble , the total outlay

The money is there for regular events too - certainly in the numbers that would make a huge difference to speedway from its current support base level

[Wembleyfan]

6 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

I can see an accept this point but offer an example closer in comparison

Ipswich Town yesterday took 7000 fans to Milton Keynes - at least 4 times the number that attend Foxhalls best supported meetings perhaps 6 times the normal.

Yes a one off although the travelling support for games  , even midweek and many hours away , is often at least the same as those normal Foxhall events

In all cases ticket prices are higher than Foxhall plus the cost of travel and food etc would at least double , probably treble , the total outlay

The money is there for regular events too - certainly in the numbers that would make a huge difference to speedway from its current support base level

I agree, but the finances of the people attending the Ipswich game will, I suspect, be similar to those attending the Speedway not those with larger disposable incomes as you were suggesting in your initial example. It has always been a working class sport, similar to football, but football has retained its loyal following while attracting new supporters to fill the gaps, Speedway hasn't. It's probably this that needs to be looked at for it to survive. I don't have any answers by the way, I certainly don't enjoy Speedway like I used to and don't go regularly anymore.

[Bavarian]

Are there still any supporters clubs in speedway in the UK, like there used to be in the past?

[Fromafar]

On 2/13/2022 at 7:54 PM, Bavarian said:

Are there still any supporters clubs in speedway in the UK, like there used to be in the past?

There is still a few but certainly not as many as in the past,in the 60’s-90’s it was common for some Clubs to even have different Branches within the Club.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

I can & will still be able to attend it's just I choose not too.

I went to my first football match for 15 years the other week & will certainly attend another before my next speedway match.