UK Speedway in Turmoil?

[KevtheRev]

Time to think more radically.

The sport is the UK is running out of clubs. 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.

[W9 Lion]

7 minutes ago, KevtheRev said:

Time to think more radically.

The sport is the UK is running out of clubs. 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.

And who pays the freight of moving machines between Swe & UK?

[KevtheRev]

19 minutes ago, W9 Lion said:

And who pays the freight of moving machines between Swe & UK?

Riders would either travel in their vans with bikes, or have machines located in each country.

As a lot of riders ride in both leagues they continue to do what they do now.

Edited July 24, 2023 by KevtheRev

[bororedlion]

It does not help when the League Competition  we race in  is meaningless  , I will go every week as the racing  at Redcar  is top notch and the club is ran properly and professionally , I will no longer travel to away meetings as i once did  because i find the competition meaningless and must say i don't see as many away fans at Redcar as i once did . I am sure  other tracks must feel the same and  be frustrated with the lack of support from the powers that be.

The people who run British speedway have a lot to answer for running mickey mouse competitions like the  BSN Trophy which no one gives a stuff about ! Will it still be about in 5 years or will we be served up some other meaningless tripe ? Crazy to start a season with a competition most fans don't care about and have little interest in .

The League set up Bonus points etc.... Could you imagine Football doing that  an extra point in the League for who ever wins on aggregate ? I don't think that would  ever happen .

Also the Golden heat ?? Is the match a draw is it a win is it a loss ? No one seems to Know . 

Teams Should be racing each team twice home and away in the League  no stupid bonus points no golden heats.

 and Bring back the 4 Team Tournament which would also be an incentive not to get the wooden spoon the season before.

 

[therefused]

1 hour ago, bororedlion said:

It does not help when the League Competition  we race in  is meaningless  , I will go every week as the racing  at Redcar  is top notch and the club is ran properly and professionally , I will no longer travel to away meetings as i once did  because i find the competition meaningless and must say i don't see as many away fans at Redcar as i once did . I am sure  other tracks must feel the same and  be frustrated with the lack of support from the powers that be.

 The people who run British speedway have a lot to answer for running mickey mouse competitions like the  BSN Trophy which no one gives a stuff about ! Will it still be about in 5 years or will we be served up some other meaningless tripe ? Crazy to start a season with a competition most fans don't care about and have little interest in .

The League set up Bonus points etc.... Could you imagine Football doing that  an extra point in the League for who ever wins on aggregate ? I don't think that would  ever happen .

Also the Golden heat ?? Is the match a draw is it a win is it a loss ? No one seems to Know . 

Teams Should be racing each team twice home and away in the League  no stupid bonus points no golden heats.

 and Bring back the 4 Team Tournament which would also be an incentive not to get the wooden spoon the season before.

 

but some people might claim the 4 team tournament is also a mickey mouse competition? whats different about that?

[IainB]

4 minutes ago, therefused said:

but some people might claim the 4 team tournament is also a mickey mouse competition? whats different about that?

Heritage

[steve roberts]

Just goes to show how much speedway has slipped off the radar the fact that the BBC can justify televising the Woman's Netball World Cup!

[OveFundinFan]

12 hours ago, bororedlion said:

The League set up Bonus points etc.... Could you imagine Football doing that  an extra point in the League for who ever wins on aggregate ? I don't think that would  ever happen .

Pity you can’t see the benefit of the Aggregate Bonus Point. Keeps both teams trying to score race points….that means all riders will be trying their best every race.

Equally I can see why perhaps won’t work in football.

[mikebv]

12 hours ago, therefused said:

but some people might claim the 4 team tournament is also a mickey mouse competition? whats different about that?

No guests...

Four best riders per team so no "make weights"..

Four sets of fans in attendance usially meant a very decent crowd..

Used to be one of the best meetings of the season at Kirky Lane given the level of rider on show..

With a great day out at Peterborough for the final..

Obviously if they ran it now there would be hardly any of the above blueprint applied...

And doing it with seven teams might be a struggle...

Edited August 1, 2023 by mikebv

[mikebv]

11 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Just goes to show how much speedway has slipped off the radar the fact that the BBC can justify televising the Woman's Netball World Cup!

I have never seen so much Speedway coverage as I do now...

However. The major companies wont get involved with it in the UK as it cannot be taken seriously...

And you don't ever want to potentially damage your own brand by association with something that can be open to ridicule...

If the sport went out to a wider audience not aware of the sport, via the BBC or ITV,, their first impression after watching it for a few weeks would be how coincidentally amazing it was that most teams seemed to have someone called Chris Harris rwpresenting them...

Edited August 1, 2023 by mikebv

[steve roberts]

5 hours ago, mikebv said:

I have never seen so much Speedway coverage as I do now...

However. The major companies wont get involved with it in the UK as it cannot be taken seriously...

And you don't ever want to potentially damage your own brand by association with something that can be open to ridicule...

If the sport went out to a wider audience not aware of the sport, via the BBC or ITV,, their first impression after watching it for a few weeks would be how coincidentally amazing it was that most teams seemed to have someone called Chris Harris rwpresenting them...

Yes I was thinking more the five main terrestrial channels although the BBC was never reallly a great fan of the sport even during its last "Golden Era" when England ruled the world. Thank goodness for cable and/or satellite (although I subscribe to neither) for showing interest but the days of main stream coveage have long gone to be replaced by sports that fit the modern agenda/gender and cultural needs.

[moxey63]

We all know speedway is exciting to watch. But after a while you need someone to support and cheer, turn up at matches to offer vocal support. A fan of a team needs a team to support. There is no such thing as a team to support nowadays, they are merely pegs who fit in holes. I see the loyal-to-British speedway man Tai Woffinden is back to save us. I couldn't cheer someone whose only affection to my club and sport is when it suits their schedule.

Edited August 1, 2023 by moxey63

[truthsayer]

2 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Yes I was thinking more the five main terrestrial channels although the BBC was never reallly a great fan of the sport even during its last "Golden Era" when England ruled the world. Thank goodness for cable and/or satellite (although I subscribe to neither) for showing interest but the days of main stream coveage have long gone to be replaced by sports that fit the modern agenda/gender and cultural needs.

Believe it or not, but terrestrial channels are not the big deal they once were. Younger audiences in particular don't watch 'live' TV, and the way people consume media has changed massively.

Specialist channels like Sky, BT Sport and Eurosport are perfect for delivering sport to enthusiasts, giving an in depth presentation of the sport that's better than being there.

Social media has democratised broadcasting. Streaming live on Facebook and YouTube allows large audiences to be reached. If you want to broadcast free to air, there's no need to work with the BBC, ITV or Channels 4 or 5. If British Speedway wants to broadcast free to air then it can do so through social media, where it can carefully target its audience.

I suspect, however, that wouldn't make commercial success for a business which relies almost solely on spectators coming through the gate.

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'the days of main stream coveage have long gone to be replaced by sports that fit the modern agenda/gender and cultural needs' and I doubt you do either. What's broadcast on general interest channels are popular sports. BBC has an obligation to deliver value for money. Commercial channels have an obligation to deliver programming which attracts enough viewers to attract sponsorship and advertisers. Live sport, especially action sports, are expensive to make for a small audience, but if 100,000 people watched speedway live every week there's a very good chance broadcasters would see value in running it.

It's not about being 'fans' or fitting an 'agenda' it is about numbers. As Kelvin Tatum would say 'there's no question about that'

[steve roberts]

47 minutes ago, truthsayer said:

Believe it or not, but terrestrial channels are not the big deal they once were. Younger audiences in particular don't watch 'live' TV, and the way people consume media has changed massively.

Specialist channels like Sky, BT Sport and Eurosport are perfect for delivering sport to enthusiasts, giving an in depth presentation of the sport that's better than being there.

Social media has democratised broadcasting. Streaming live on Facebook and YouTube allows large audiences to be reached. If you want to broadcast free to air, there's no need to work with the BBC, ITV or Channels 4 or 5. If British Speedway wants to broadcast free to air then it can do so through social media, where it can carefully target its audience.

I suspect, however, that wouldn't make commercial success for a business which relies almost solely on spectators coming through the gate.

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'the days of main stream coveage have long gone to be replaced by sports that fit the modern agenda/gender and cultural needs' and I doubt you do either. What's broadcast on general interest channels are popular sports. BBC has an obligation to deliver value for money. Commercial channels have an obligation to deliver programming which attracts enough viewers to attract sponsorship and advertisers. Live sport, especially action sports, are expensive to make for a small audience, but if 100,000 people watched speedway live every week there's a very good chance broadcasters would see value in running it.

It's not about being 'fans' or fitting an 'agenda' it is about numbers. As Kelvin Tatum would say 'there's no question about that'

I recognise the fact that younger audiences apparently no longer watch "live" TV however I do find it ironic that the main terrestrial channels (can't comment on cable/satellite) broadcast programmes aimed at that same audience ie "reality" type programmes with "celebrities" that those of a certain age would be able to relate to?

As regards "modern agenda/gender and cultural needs" we now have a greater influx of main stream sports that now cover both male and female participants (football, rugby and cricket being the high profile ones) which is no bad thing but which ultimately squeezes out any hope of other "minority" sports getting much of a look in as there is only so much air time available. As regards "popular" sports that's very much open to question and speedway in the past when "popular" never got much in the way of a look in other than the sadly missed "World of Sport" and regional channels (ATV and Anglia were particularly good) but it never got the recognition it deserved from the BBC who obviously viewed it with suspicion and not worthy of much attention despite many thousands following the sport during that period. The BBC in particular has always been very selective in its sports coverage whereas commercial TV tended to be more adventurous in its policy making especially when Channel 4 came into being.

Edited August 1, 2023 by steve roberts

[truthsayer]

3 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

As regards "modern agenda/gender and cultural needs" we now have a greater influx of main stream sports that now cover both male and female participants (football, rugby and cricket being the high profile ones) which is no bad thing but which ultimately squeezes out any hope of other "minority" sports getting much of a look in as there is only so much air time available. As regards "popular" sports that's very much open to question and speedway in the past when "popular" never got much in the way of a look in other than the sadly missed "World of Sport" and regional channels (ATV and Anglia were particularly good) but it never got the recognition it deserved from the BBC who obviously viewed it with suspicion and not worthy of much attention.

Sports magazine programmes are not really an option any more.

The rise in specialist sport channels mean that sports organisers have commercialised their sports and given exclusive rights to broadcasters, something that was barely a thing until the 1990s.

Any sport has to adapt or die. Broadcasting is not the biggest of British speedway's problems, as the current business model relies on people coming through the gate (which is an outdated strategy anyway). If the product was good, broadcasting through Eurosport would be a good platform.

There's no reason why speedway cannot do things that are more 'inclusive': it's a sport which should work perfectly with electric powertrains, for example, to create e-speedway. Indoor/winter speedway could be viable, as could a women's championship. Issue is that it's just not popular enough and the investment needed would represent a massive gamble for anyone.

[moxey63]

10 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

Pity you can’t see the benefit of the Aggregate Bonus Point. Keeps both teams trying to score race points….that means all riders will be trying their best every race.

Equally I can see why perhaps won’t work in football.

The bonus point rarely impacts on how the table finishes though. A strong home track advantage probably benefits a team. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by moxey63

[steve roberts]

4 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

The bonus point rarely impacts on how the table finishes though. A strong home track advantage probably benefits a team. Who remembers what the first leg score was months before when the second leg come around? 

Am I right to think that Exeter once gained the most with the aggregare bonus point when added together gave them the championship despite not achieving much on their travels in that particular year (which I can't remember)?

[moxey63]

6 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Am I right to think that Exeter once gained the most with the aggregare bonus point when added together gave them the championship despite not achieving much on their travels in that particular year (which I can't remember)?

Exeter in 2000

1	Exeter	26	15	1	10	1335	1003	31	13	44
2	Swindon	26	18	0	8	1249	1094	36	8	44
3	Hull	26	16	2	8	1201	1142	33	9	42
4	Sheffield	26	16	4	9	1226	1102	32	10	42
5	Workington	26	15	2	9	1261	1114	32	10	42

[moxey63]

28 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Exeter in 2000

1	Exeter	26	15	1	10	1335	1003	31	13	44
2	Swindon	26	18	0	8	1249	1094	36	8	44
3	Hull	26	16	2	8	1201	1142	33	9	42
4	Sheffield	26	16	4	9	1226	1102	32	10	42
5	Workington	26	15	2	9	1261	1114	32	10	42

Grown up sports don't need to attract fans with quick fix gimmicks that eventually makes it seem daft.

Edited August 1, 2023 by moxey63

[Ben91]

The bonus point system is far better than the convoluted system of points given depending on how many points you won the meeting by, if you were home or away, which way the wind was blowing etc. 

The main reason for this being that it is simple. It also keeps some meetings alive until the end as there is still something to race for. Granted, the above system does the same but in a much more complicated manner. 

We should be looking to keep things simple. Easily explainable to newcomers. We could easily follow football’s lead and make it three points for a win and one for a draw. That would work too but may result in more tonkings and average manipulation once meetings are sewn up.