Survival of The Premiership?

[KevtheRev]

10 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

As fans the last thing needed is "my clubs better than yours". 

From top to bottom, league by league, the whole sport is on the brink of collapse. 

As many as 5 clubs could be gone come the winter. If these clubs do fold we could see a complete collapse of the sport. 

There's never going to be full agreement between promoters & sponsors on structure. We're in a position that there has to be 1 league. Some will want the big guns, some won't. Fixed race nights, some just can't etc.  

Should we link up with Poland? Hear me out. 

Each of our clubs are feeder clubs to the Ekstraliga. Over there they pay salaries so instead of us negotiating individual contract, our clubs pay a monthly rate to use their squad. Effectively their squads of 14 / 18 riders also become ours. We have to include 2 homegrown rider's in our 7 at all times. British teams can only include 1 of the the Ekstraliga rider's that featured in the Ekstraliga weekend fixture, other 4 from the squad. 

Example:

Wroclaw squad;

Laguta, Bewley, Woffinden, Janowski, Pawlicki, Kowalski, Chugunov, Fienhage, Panicz, Andrzejewski, Curzytek, Wiatroski, Rybak, Lopuski. 

King's Lynn;

Worrall & Nicholls full time

This shouldn't be mandatory for British clubs to assign a Polish club. If a club wants to run their own 7 they can.

We just need to find a solution to becoming more efficient, eradicate guests, doubling up etc. 

Just an idea. 

 

Similar idea, how about this:

Seeing as a lot of riders race in Sweden, let's create a European league.

5 teams for the UK and 5 from Sweden to complete in the Anglo-Nordic league. Maybe even include 5 from Denmark to create a 10 / 15 strong league.

To make it more attractive with regard to traveling, have the riders also compete in individual meetings at Championship tracks on off-race nights whilst they are in the relevant countries. 

[truthsayer]

3 minutes ago, KevtheRev said:

 

Similar idea, how about this:

Seeing as a lot of riders race in Sweden, let's create a European league.

5 teams for the UK and 5 from Sweden to complete in the Anglo-Nordic league. Maybe even include 5 from Denmark to create a 10 / 15 strong league.

To make it more attractive with regard to traveling, have the riders also compete in individual meetings at Championship tracks on off-race nights whilst they are in the relevant countries. 

The idea has a lot of validity, but it doesn't address the core problems, which are a lack of venues and a lack of facilities for new riders to come through (and the resulting lack of locally based riders).

Long term, it doesn't really strengthen the sport. It just takes three struggling leagues and makes one big one that's a bit more viable.

FWIW I think it's a good idea, but without a grassroots/amateur structure below it all you are doing is dragging things on for a few years, when that structure will face the same issues.

[kevin bass]

Speedway in the UK has been living beyond its means for yrs and simply can't compete or compare to how the sport is run in say Poland, paying out mega bucks to get the GP boys over here ain't the answer coz it don't generally pay for itself as in putting enough extra bums on seats to cover the cost so it's needs a decent club to sponsor to cover the cost, im just as happy to see lower grade riders race then the top boys race if it means the sport over here continues in some shape or form, i started watching the sport as a teenager back in the mid 70's and more often then not the riders turned up with a bike strapped to the back of a car and not have all these fancy vans like 2day and they also held down a job outside of the sport, these days the riders want/expect to much but the clubs still find a way to shell out for them which generally they can't afford without like mentioned big sponsors.

[truthsayer]

Just now, kevin bass said:

Speedway in the UK has been living beyond its means for yrs and simply can't compete or compare to how the sport is run in say Poland, paying out mega bucks to get the GP boys over here ain't the answer coz it don't generally pay for itself as in putting enough extra bums on seats to cover the cost so it's needs a decent club to sponsor to cover the cost, im just as happy to see lower grade riders race then the top boys race if it means the sport over here continues in some shape or form, i started watching the sport as a teenager back in the mid 70's and more often then not the riders turned up with a bike strapped to the back of a car and not have all these fancy vans like 2day and they also held down a job outside of the sport, these days the riders want/expect to much but the clubs still find a way to shell out for them which generally they can't afford without like mentioned big sponsors.

That's exactly where the sport needs to be if it is to be viable as a spectator product.

The biggest issue we have just now is that there are just not enough local riders of a suitable level to fill a league with teams, which is why there is this current dependancy on riders commuting from mainland Europe.

I grew up watching the National League of the 1980s. It was a decent semi-professional level and although times have changed, if 'team' speedway is to be viable that's the kind of level you need to be looking at.

[W9 Lion]

5 minutes ago, kevin bass said:

Speedway in the UK has been living beyond its means for yrs and simply can't compete or compare to how the sport is run in say Poland, paying out mega bucks to get the GP boys over here ain't the answer coz it don't generally pay for itself as in putting enough extra bums on seats to cover the cost so it's needs a decent club to sponsor to cover the cost, im just as happy to see lower grade riders race then the top boys race if it means the sport over here continues in some shape or form, i started watching the sport as a teenager back in the mid 70's and more often then not the riders turned up with a bike strapped to the back of a car and not have all these fancy vans like 2day and they also held down a job outside of the sport, these days the riders want/expect to much but the clubs still find a way to shell out for them which generally they can't afford without like mentioned big sponsors.

And big sponsors will not come without big crowds. Now if the sport tried to rebrand as the original extreme sport it would maybe start to appeal more to younger people.  One issue is that Speedway bikes are not the same as road machines so lets positively promote this - I wonder what percentage of the general public know that a speedway bike does not have brakes?

[hasta la vista]

46 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

It's purely my opinion, an idea & with regards to the Ekstraliga rider's wages, not the British League.  

 

It's an idea. To many ideas are the same year in year out. Quite a few ideas revolving around the kids, the next generation. Problem with that thinking is the product has to worthwhile for the accompanying adult too to be sustainable. 

We need to find a way to resource more rider's, with injuries currently, the league starts to quickly become farcical. 

The Ekstraliga being interested is very slim, almost zero, but €1000s coming back their way for something they don't actually own or use mid-week could be tempting & help build up our product for future years. 

British Speedway is just doing the same old same old year in year out. No improvement even attempted to save this sport. Just a consistent 'dumbing down' every season. 

I'm talking Extraliga, I live in Poland. Riders are not salaried.

[truthsayer]

18 minutes ago, W9 Lion said:

I wonder what percentage of the general public know that a speedway bike does not have brakes?

I wonder what percentage of the general public know what speedway is!

[Baldyman]

20 minutes ago, W9 Lion said:

And big sponsors will not come without big crowds. Now if the sport tried to rebrand as the original extreme sport it would maybe start to appeal more to younger people.  One issue is that Speedway bikes are not the same as road machines so lets positively promote this - I wonder what percentage of the general public know that a speedway bike does not have brakes?

But they don't need brakes,, others sports selling points woundnt be what they don't need. Welcome to football,, did you realise our players dont have engines

[W9 Lion]

14 minutes ago, Baldyman said:

But they don't need brakes,, others sports selling points woundnt be what they don't need. Welcome to football,, did you realise our players dont have engines

You misundestand the point. I am aware they dont need brakes. It's not selling what is not needed. It's turning a feature into a benefit, into "you appeal", which is stage one selling theory.

Edited July 25, 2023 by W9 Lion

[Baldyman]

Then you would have thought downhill skiing would be all over the no brakes thing 

[Baldyman]

More broken bones than any other sport,, 

[mikebv]

Make the top league the flagship, and make it worth being in, and winning. Redirect some of the tens of hundreds of thousands of pounds currently paid to riders into prize money, which you can then use to market the sport via advertising hype..

If every top league team (seven of them), has an average wage bill of circa £200k then advertise the lesgue as having £1.4M prize money..

Make the teams genuinely competitive with team numbers reflecting the talent pool numbers. Six or Five man teams, and even Four Team tournaments, if it delivers quality, integrity and credibility. Development opportunities should be tier 2 and 3, not tier 1..

Collectively advertise the sport generically rather than all having their own local plan as the only plan. The TV money was tangible additional money so this should be used to market the sport. The Sky money just got used to pay top riders who rode in front of ever dwindling crowd numbers and many cleared off as soon as the money stopoed. They shouldn't let the same thing happen again..

In short. You can never hope to succeed with such a contrived, nonsense operating model being allowed to happen, time and time and time again, ultimately, ludicrously, destroying their very own competitions by their very own hands..

Edited July 25, 2023 by mikebv

[Ben91]

This is the issue with democracy in sport. It can be manipulated. 

The simple answer has always been to stop letting the promoters write the hymn sheet. That means a real overarching governing body with a “these are the rules. Get on with it or get lost,” attitude. The problem is that promoters won’t cede power for the greater good. If their track is alright for the next season then to hell with the rest.

[ouch]

16 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

This is the issue with democracy in sport. It can be manipulated. 

The simple answer has always been to stop letting the promoters write the hymn sheet. That means a real overarching governing body with a “these are the rules. Get on with it or get lost,” attitude. The problem is that promoters won’t cede power for the greater good. If their track is alright for the next season then to hell with the rest.

Don’t forget, fans do not like an outsider coming in and telling clubs to ride by the rules, so you’ve no chance with financing promoters. This, as with every year it’s been rife again with rules changed or just disregarded to suit certain teams. There is no way the Cartel backed by BSF will release their death grip on the sport. 

I enjoy the Colts and I’d be more than happy to watch that standard of racing (and I mean racing) every week with local lads who have jobs as well. If they move on to become stars like Dan then good luck to them. 

[ch958]

42 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Make the top league the flagship, and make it worth being in, and winning. Redirect some of the tens of hundreds of thousands of pounds currently paid to riders into prize money, which you can then use to market the sport via advertising hype..

If every top league team (seven of them), has an average wage bill of circa £200k then advertise the lesgue as having £1.4M prize money..

Make the teams genuinely competitive with team numbers reflecting the talent pool numbers. Six or Five man teams, and even Four Team tournaments, if it delivers quality, integrity and credibility. Development opportunities should be tier 2 and 3, not tier 1..

Collectively advertise the sport generically rather than all having their own local plan as the only plan. The TV money was tangible additional money so this should be used to market the sport. The Sky money just got used to pay top riders who rode in front of ever dwindling crowd numbers and many cleared off as soon as the money stopoed. They shouldn't let the same thing happen again..

In short. You can never hope to succeed with such a contrived, nonsense operating model being allowed to happen, time and time and time again, ultimately, ludicrously, destroying their very own competitions by their very own hands..

nice ideas but there's a lot of holes there.

Redirecting money from riders? Good luck with that

They tried to make it a flagship. league but they still don't turn up and cutting their money will see the end of Sayfudinov, Laguta, Doyle, etc.

What you do here is illustrate the massive chasm amongst fans: A - chuck money at it and get the names in or B- live within our means and watch semi pro riders.

both have their virtues and both could be the final nail

for the record I'm a B. 

 

[Haza]

The leading question  for me is would it be better to put Premier - ship speedway out of its undoubted misery ? And start again maybe two seasons with one big league then see were we are at after that if enough interest split and have league 1 and league 2 - speedway had a chance to re invent its self after Covid but came back with the same old .

[Baldyman]

There is a sport in Poland called Zuzel,,, maybe try model a new sport on that. 

[mikebv]

27 minutes ago, ch958 said:

nice ideas but there's a lot of holes there.

Redirecting money from riders? Good luck with that

They tried to make it a flagship. league but they still don't turn up and cutting their money will see the end of Sayfudinov, Laguta, Doyle, etc.

What you do here is illustrate the massive chasm amongst fans: A - chuck money at it and get the names in or B- live within our means and watch semi pro riders.

both have their virtues and both could be the final nail

for the record I'm a B. 

 

You could easily redistribute the money without any impact to the riders..

If £10k a night is the "going rate" then just divide it up between the riders at their going rate..

The message for the public is "can't you earn a lot of money riding Speedway, it must be more popular than I thought"...

A bit of FOMO never went amiss....

[Baldyman]

Maybe they actually need to make it faster,, more dangerous and more extreme 

[Wardey]

Bring Speedway back on Terrestrial TV would help - never gonna happen though.

NORA IOW speedway will be the future. 

Speedway in its purest form is predominantly boring to the non converted. Anyone watch the BSN coverage when the GB lads were in the US? How refreshing was it to have the unique races throughout the main event.

BSPL ( or whoever is in charge these days) need to cough up the dough and step in.

Ownership of own stadium is critical, as is that club getting revenue from food & drink sold at stadium. (Nothing wrong with giving away free tickets if the people were never coming in the first place)

Riders personalities/characters and fan engagement are key drivers to the success of the sport (no pun intended)

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