mikebv Posted Monday at 09:17 AM Report Share Posted Monday at 09:17 AM On 9/11/2024 at 10:36 AM, Speedtiger said: I’m not a big fan of Morris but he must at least be given a chance. However, I’m not convinced he has the power or ability to do the job and his tinkering about with stuff doesn’t really inspire me. There’s no quick fix silver bullet to reverse speedway demise that’s been going on for years. The damage done in recent times by the clowns Chapman and Godfrey has been disastrous and put the sport into terminal decline. The decline set in well before those two.. What the sport has needed for a long, long, time is to be ran like any other team sport, (with integrity and credibility), yet each different leader and leadership team have steadfastly avoided doing it... The reason in my opinion being that change will impact individuals, so, it is better for all individuals to be happy with what takes place, rather than have some pain during the fundamental and radical change required.. Phil Morris may have all the answers and a terrific plan, however.. If it impacts anyone, even slightly negatively, he won't get to use it... There should be two leagues.. One "super" league with a rider distribution of the best talent that provides genuine relative equality. With the 8 teams with the best crowds running in it... And another league for the rest that has the same equality plan, but runs with rider development as being a large part of that team structure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted Monday at 09:26 AM Report Share Posted Monday at 09:26 AM There isn’t enough money in speedway for Britain. What they need is a team like in Poland where it’s your team! Not guests every other week where people feel like it’s not their team anymore. And you can’t do this because there isn’t enough money in the sport. Loyalty goes out the window, it’s every man for himself and as many guests bookings to fund the off season for the riders, and I totally get that as riders are self employed. If they upped the average for team building so you could have 3 big hitters then it would be more interesting. Don’t do what Poland do and scrap it altogether or you’ll get a Lublin effect where they basically buy the league. i believe they should introduce relegation as well so the league has some jeopardy for the teams that don’t make the play offs, and the championship teams then have ambitions. Again, probably not enough money in the sport to do it! shame the local councils don’t input some money into social activity which brings communities together instead of trying to make money buy selling off land to property developers. This country is down the toilet and how speedway is treated is just another example. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Monday at 10:08 AM Report Share Posted Monday at 10:08 AM (edited) 42 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said: There isn’t enough money in speedway for Britain. What they need is a team like in Poland where it’s your team! Not guests every other week where people feel like it’s not their team anymore. And you can’t do this because there isn’t enough money in the sport. Loyalty goes out the window, it’s every man for himself and as many guests bookings to fund the off season for the riders, and I totally get that as riders are self employed. If they upped the average for team building so you could have 3 big hitters then it would be more interesting. Don’t do what Poland do and scrap it altogether or you’ll get a Lublin effect where they basically buy the league. i believe they should introduce relegation as well so the league has some jeopardy for the teams that don’t make the play offs, and the championship teams then have ambitions. Again, probably not enough money in the sport to do it! shame the local councils don’t input some money into social activity which brings communities together instead of trying to make money buy selling off land to property developers. This country is down the toilet and how speedway is treated is just another example. Seven riders teams... 15 heats... Rising Stars.. Rinse and Repeat.. Plenty of options exist... Not enough riders? Then go six, or even five, rider teams in the top league.. Go for 8 rider squads in the 2nd tier? 3 riders to fit 2 places for development? Add in a fit for purpose RR facility and you have a decent base to start from.. The top tier should be the "seller" for the rest of the sport to live off the back of.. At the moment the sport im the UK really is just an opportunity for riders to earn money and promoters to feel good that they run something where some of the worlds best will rub shoulders with them... The winning of any of the team titles is almost irrelevant given the infrastructure that delivers them.. Getting that sorted should be Phil's No 1 priority as, if he can make the titles have some kudos and maybe some proper financial rewards, then growth could happen... Edited Monday at 10:09 AM by mikebv 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted Monday at 10:53 AM Report Share Posted Monday at 10:53 AM 33 minutes ago, mikebv said: Seven riders teams... 15 heats... Rising Stars.. Rinse and Repeat.. Plenty of options exist... Not enough riders? Then go six, or even five, rider teams in the top league.. Go for 8 rider squads in the 2nd tier? 3 riders to fit 2 places for development? Add in a fit for purpose RR facility and you have a decent base to start from.. The top tier should be the "seller" for the rest of the sport to live off the back of.. At the moment the sport im the UK really is just an opportunity for riders to earn money and promoters to feel good that they run something where some of the worlds best will rub shoulders with them... The winning of any of the team titles is almost irrelevant given the infrastructure that delivers them.. Getting that sorted should be Phil's No 1 priority as, if he can make the titles have some kudos and maybe some proper financial rewards, then growth could happen... And something drastic like this could also breed some new life into the sport, bring a younger audience which brings in money. They have got it so wrong for a while now, when was the last time you saw any real promotion of speedway? Even basic stuff like flyers or banners in the neighbouring towns regarding speedway when events are being held would get people thinking about it at least! Call talk sport, see if you could just get some kind of advert or 10 minutes of talking. People are just leaving it die, it’s ’the best kept secret’ because people don’t know where to find it or even what it is… Especially the younger audience ! People on this forum clearly love speedway but some probably aren’t aware of all the BSN live events and Oxford, Leicester and Birmingham having their own live streams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szkocjasid Posted Monday at 12:36 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 12:36 PM 3 hours ago, ShanoXtra said: There isn’t enough money in speedway for Britain. What they need is a team like in Poland where it’s your team! Not guests every other week where people feel like it’s not their team anymore. And you can’t do this because there isn’t enough money in the sport. Loyalty goes out the window, it’s every man for himself and as many guests bookings to fund the off season for the riders, and I totally get that as riders are self employed. If they upped the average for team building so you could have 3 big hitters then it would be more interesting. Don’t do what Poland do and scrap it altogether or you’ll get a Lublin effect where they basically buy the league. i believe they should introduce relegation as well so the league has some jeopardy for the teams that don’t make the play offs, and the championship teams then have ambitions. Again, probably not enough money in the sport to do it! shame the local councils don’t input some money into social activity which brings communities together instead of trying to make money buy selling off land to property developers. This country is down the toilet and how speedway is treated is just another example. Promotion & relegation would only work if the Championship teams want to get promoted. Plus it'll never work when there's restricted race nights. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted Monday at 12:55 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 12:55 PM 17 minutes ago, szkocjasid said: Promotion & relegation would only work if the Championship teams want to get promoted. Plus it'll never work when there's restricted race nights. And when a rider can get his two teams relegated and promoted at the same time.. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szkocjasid Posted Monday at 06:24 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 06:24 PM Information from Leicester The outcome of that semi-final has an effect on the date of the Grand Final at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park. If Sheffield win on aggregate, the Lions will stage the first leg next Monday, September 23 before travelling up to South Yorkshire three nights later. A Belle Vue victory would mean the Lions travelling to Manchester next Monday and then hosting the second leg on Thursday September 26. So how is it acceptable that they have to wait till the Thursday to know where the final will be raced on the following Monday, when this wasn't acceptable for the semi finals? For "commercial reasons" couldn't Leicester just have agreed to host the home leg first to allow Belle Vue or Sheffield 7 days to publicise their leg of the final? There is nothing anyone could ever say to make me believe the "fixing" of the semi finals is acceptable. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szkocjasid Posted Monday at 06:25 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 06:25 PM (edited) 5 hours ago, mikebv said: And when a rider can get his two teams relegated and promoted at the same time.. That would mean they could stay with the same two clubs doubling up the following season i.e Brennan & Zach Cook at Birmingham & Poole. But what if the Spires got relegated & the Cheetahs got promoted? Edited Monday at 06:26 PM by szkocjasid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted yesterday at 04:49 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 04:49 PM 22 hours ago, szkocjasid said: That would mean they could stay with the same two clubs doubling up the following season i.e Brennan & Zach Cook at Birmingham & Poole. But what if the Spires got relegated & the Cheetahs got promoted? Oh... That's perfectly OK then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dog Posted yesterday at 05:01 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 05:01 PM On 9/16/2024 at 10:26 AM, ShanoXtra said: There isn’t enough money in speedway for Britain. What they need is a team like in Poland where it’s your team! Not guests every other week where people feel like it’s not their team anymore. And you can’t do this because there isn’t enough money in the sport. Loyalty goes out the window, it’s every man for himself and as many guests bookings to fund the off season for the riders, and I totally get that as riders are self employed. If they upped the average for team building so you could have 3 big hitters then it would be more interesting. Don’t do what Poland do and scrap it altogether or you’ll get a Lublin effect where they basically buy the league. i believe they should introduce relegation as well so the league has some jeopardy for the teams that don’t make the play offs, and the championship teams then have ambitions. Again, probably not enough money in the sport to do it! shame the local councils don’t input some money into social activity which brings communities together instead of trying to make money buy selling off land to property developers. This country is down the toilet and how speedway is treated is just another example. Must be money somewhere when riders are on 150-200 pound a point... And that was a decade ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted yesterday at 05:18 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 05:18 PM 15 minutes ago, The Dog said: Must be money somewhere when riders are on 150-200 pound a point... And that was a decade ago. Yeah but what I’m getting at is that it’s funded purely from gates and the TV rights are small in comparison to Poland. They need to rebuild the promotion of the sport to generate larger amounts, not just to attract riders but to have better infrastructure within the sport and the teams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted yesterday at 05:58 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 05:58 PM It plain fact that Speedway in GB is not attracting NEW and keeping them fans in any significant numbers.How the Financial side of the Sport is doing just remains the business of the Promotions .Fans Fundraising is a significant contribution at a few Clubs . Fans like myself can only speculate riders costs but certainly figures bandied about make interesting conversations. Everything seems rosy though.🤔🤔🤔 what I do know is they can’t keep watering down the product and keep charging rising Admission Prices. Comparing with other activities does not wash with me.Its what I’m paying to Watch Speedway that matters to me and I’m sure a lot of other fans. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted yesterday at 06:08 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 06:08 PM 8 minutes ago, Fromafar said: It plain fact that Speedway in GB is not attracting NEW and keeping them fans in any significant numbers.How the Financial side of the Sport is doing just remains the business of the Promotions .Fans Fundraising is a significant contribution at a few Clubs . Fans like myself can only speculate riders costs but certainly figures bandied about make interesting conversations. Everything seems rosy though.🤔🤔🤔 what I do know is they can’t keep watering down the product and keep charging rising Admission Prices. Comparing with other activities does not wash with me.Its what I’m paying to Watch Speedway that matters to me and I’m sure a lot of other fans. This is 100% not factual so don’t shoot me down but I heard mumbles that this season Doyle got around £85k from witches, But I also know that each of his engines are £6,500 and he bought 10 of them in the last off season (and he unfortunately never used them this season)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon1983 Posted yesterday at 07:23 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 07:23 PM 1 hour ago, ShanoXtra said: This is 100% not factual so don’t shoot me down but I heard mumbles that this season Doyle got around £85k from witches, But I also know that each of his engines are £6,500 and he bought 10 of them in the last off season (and he unfortunately never used them this season)! Can't really use Doyle as an example, as he'll earn a fortune in Poland and doing the UK in a sense, helps to reduce his Polish costs while keeping on a bike regularly Think people need to work out how to make the sport affordable and a worthwhile sport to participate in for the likes of Lawson, Harris, Thompsons, Rowe etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted yesterday at 08:35 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 08:35 PM 1 hour ago, Falcon1983 said: Can't really use Doyle as an example, as he'll earn a fortune in Poland and doing the UK in a sense, helps to reduce his Polish costs while keeping on a bike regularly Think people need to work out how to make the sport affordable and a worthwhile sport to participate in for the likes of Lawson, Harris, Thompsons, Rowe etc. Spot on .. And . No disrespect to Jason, the money spent on him would be better spent on marketing the team... No one outside a tiny bubble will know who Jason is... And the majority of those in the "speedway bubble" will turn up to watch "any speedway" nowadays given the way the sport is ran, whether Jason (or any other riders), are there or not .. It doesn't matter who turns up to ride when no one has heard of you apart from those who were going anyway.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted yesterday at 10:13 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 10:13 PM 1 hour ago, mikebv said: Spot on .. And . No disrespect to Jason, the money spent on him would be better spent on marketing the team... No one outside a tiny bubble will know who Jason is... And the majority of those in the "speedway bubble" will turn up to watch "any speedway" nowadays given the way the sport is ran, whether Jason (or any other riders), are there or not .. It doesn't matter who turns up to ride when no one has heard of you apart from those who were going anyway.. I’d beg to differ. The gate almost doubled when Doyle and Emil started together. If you say that people will turn up no matter what riders then explain why Ipswich gates dropped when both the top two were out? When I said Doyle’s costs it’s to state how much it takes out of the pot for Ipswich. And I’m not saying how to make it profitable for other lower ranked riders. The bigger picture is to make it sustainable as a sport? And infrastructure needs improving. The problem is speedway as a sport is in a bubble. Half the youngsters around our towns / cities wouldn’t even know what speedway is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted yesterday at 10:23 PM Report Share Posted yesterday at 10:23 PM 4 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said: I’d beg to differ. The gate almost doubled when Doyle and Emil started together. If you say that people will turn up no matter what riders then explain why Ipswich gates dropped when both the top two were out? When I said Doyle’s costs it’s to state how much it takes out of the pot for Ipswich. And I’m not saying how to make it profitable for other lower ranked riders. The bigger picture is to make it sustainable as a sport? And infrastructure needs improving. The problem is speedway as a sport is in a bubble. Half the youngsters around our towns / cities wouldn’t even know what speedway is. Which explains why it makes zero sense paying out ten and tens of thousands to riders that no one has even heard of... And Jack Sh. on marketing that might actually get some to recognise that the club and sport exists... "Jasno Doyle is riding tonight v Belle Vue".. "Great. Who are Belle Vue?"_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShanoXtra Posted 16 hours ago Report Share Posted 16 hours ago 8 hours ago, mikebv said: Which explains why it makes zero sense paying out ten and tens of thousands to riders that no one has even heard of... And Jack Sh. on marketing that might actually get some to recognise that the club and sport exists... "Jasno Doyle is riding tonight v Belle Vue".. "Great. Who are Belle Vue?"_ I totally get that, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying at all. Its almost as if British speedway needs a reset. If we didn’t have the ‘superstars’ it would feel to start with slightly less attractive although you would be able to mould it into whatever race night you wanted, therefore having real teams without constant guests, promotion and relegation would then work as one rider wouldn’t ride for two different British teams. It would take a lot of work but to future proof the sport and bring in a new audience maybe it’s needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon1983 Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 9 hours ago, ShanoXtra said: I totally get that, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying at all. Its almost as if British speedway needs a reset. If we didn’t have the ‘superstars’ it would feel to start with slightly less attractive although you would be able to mould it into whatever race night you wanted, therefore having real teams without constant guests, promotion and relegation would then work as one rider wouldn’t ride for two different British teams. It would take a lot of work but to future proof the sport and bring in a new audience maybe it’s needed? No replying to your points specifically but for Speedway to have a major reset without the star names, you would need to lose some teams as not enough riders to go around to make the sport actually credible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bob at herne bay Posted 4 hours ago Report Share Posted 4 hours ago Like the Titanic, UK speedway hit the iceberg a while ago, and is slowly sinking, with multiple holes below the waterline. The band keeps playing, but one by one the lifeboats with clubs aboard, leave the sinking ship with just a hard core of clubs clinging to the wreckage. The present bunch of promoters are trying to keep it afloat anfpd it might make it to its centenary in 2028. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.