AFCB Wildcat Posted 13 hours ago Report Share Posted 13 hours ago On 1/8/2025 at 8:17 AM, mikebv said: Stockport town centre is 15 mins away in a taxi, or 30 mins by Bus, and have lots of hotel rooms, and plenty of bars post meetings... South Manchester eg Didsbury, Chorlton, Stretford all have tram links to Manchester and hotels, with the Curry Mile about a mile from the track... Oldham not too far further, and you can get a tram into Manchester from there..... Plenty of hotel rooms available at places not too far from the NSS, but far enough to not be hiked in price... And, also, plenty of AirBnB's.. I don't think hotel availability & cost are going to be a factor for any GP at the NSS. It's unfortunate for anyone who wanted to stay in the centre of Manchester this year that Park life (whatever that is??) Is on at the same time, but with the limited capacity of the stadium, hotels aren't going to be as in demand by Speedway fans as they were in Cardiff. I don't know what the capacity will be exactly, but Wiki says 6500 with temporary seating. I would have thought that Belle Vue fans alone and northern fans within an hours drive, or train journey of Manchester would take most of that, without the need for hotels. In Cardiff there were probably 5000 hotel rooms for an attendance of 40000 in it's heyday at the Principality. Manchester's hotel capacity far exceeds the stadium capacity. I'm not having a dig, but the GP at the NSS will be no more significant to Manchester than Stockport County playing at home. It's an unfortunate fact, but the number of people who regularly attend Speedway in the UK doesn't come close to filling a large stadium, so Cardiff relied on attracting a larger audience, outside of the hardcore fans, and initially, it did. In Cardiff, Speedway took over the City for the day and the atmosphere and vibe of the day was significant to anyone who was not a regular fan. In Manchester city centre, nobody will even know it's happening. Again, that's not a dig at Manchester, it's the same in Prague, great city but the Speedway is lost in it. I simply don't accept that hotel prices, costs, Covid or any of the other reasons stated in the Star, lamenting the loss of Cardiff were the reason for the declining attendances. Rugby & other major events still prosper there. For me, the significant factor was moving the date into the holiday season & pitching it against the opening day of the Premier League season and a full football league programme. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinny Posted 10 hours ago Report Share Posted 10 hours ago 2 hours ago, AFCB Wildcat said: I don't think hotel availability & cost are going to be a factor for any GP at the NSS. It's unfortunate for anyone who wanted to stay in the centre of Manchester this year that Park life (whatever that is??) Is on at the same time, but with the limited capacity of the stadium, hotels aren't going to be as in demand by Speedway fans as they were in Cardiff. I don't know what the capacity will be exactly, but Wiki says 6500 with temporary seating. I would have thought that Belle Vue fans alone and northern fans within an hours drive, or train journey of Manchester would take most of that, without the need for hotels. In Cardiff there were probably 5000 hotel rooms for an attendance of 40000 in it's heyday at the Principality. Manchester's hotel capacity far exceeds the stadium capacity. I'm not having a dig, but the GP at the NSS will be no more significant to Manchester than Stockport County playing at home. It's an unfortunate fact, but the number of people who regularly attend Speedway in the UK doesn't come close to filling a large stadium, so Cardiff relied on attracting a larger audience, outside of the hardcore fans, and initially, it did. In Cardiff, Speedway took over the City for the day and the atmosphere and vibe of the day was significant to anyone who was not a regular fan. In Manchester city centre, nobody will even know it's happening. Again, that's not a dig at Manchester, it's the same in Prague, great city but the Speedway is lost in it. I simply don't accept that hotel prices, costs, Covid or any of the other reasons stated in the Star, lamenting the loss of Cardiff were the reason for the declining attendances. Rugby & other major events still prosper there. For me, the significant factor was moving the date into the holiday season & pitching it against the opening day of the Premier League season and a full football league programme. One thing you are forgetting - rugby does well there because its a far, far more popular sport than speedway. Both worldwide and more importantly in Wales. Speedway is a dying sport in the UK and the quicker people face up to it, the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 9 hours ago Report Share Posted 9 hours ago 1 hour ago, Pinny said: One thing you are forgetting - rugby does well there because its a far, far more popular sport than speedway. Both worldwide and more importantly in Wales. Speedway is a dying sport in the UK and the quicker people face up to it, the better. To be fair not just in the UK... Sweden, Denmark, Australia, across northern Europe, and the rest of Scandinavia is the same... Hardly any quality young riders emerging from any of those countries to replace the old guard... And, as fhe sport gains less attention, less riders will be found... Similar to the UK.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 4 hours ago Report Share Posted 4 hours ago 12 hours ago, Sotonian said: They also did it with the very first British GP. moving it from Arena Essex to Hackney. Didn't they do something similar in Riga (a couple of days before it was due to happen)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 4 hours ago Report Share Posted 4 hours ago 9 hours ago, AFCB Wildcat said: In Cardiff, Speedway took over the City for the day and the atmosphere and vibe of the day was significant to anyone who was not a regular fan. In Manchester city centre, nobody will even know it's happening. Again, that's not a dig at Manchester, it's the same in Prague, great city but the Speedway is lost in it. I simply don't accept that hotel prices, costs, Covid or any of the other reasons stated in the Star, lamenting the loss of Cardiff were the reason for the declining attendances. Rugby & other major events still prosper there. For me, the significant factor was moving the date into the holiday season & pitching it against the opening day of the Premier League season and a full football league programme. WBD also did little to nothing to promote the event. Instead of throwing the doors open to Qualifying and holding it at Beer O'Clock on a Friday evening for office workers to attend before going home (similar to T20 cricket events) they decided to force punters to buy a programme to get in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFCB Wildcat Posted 2 hours ago Report Share Posted 2 hours ago 7 hours ago, Pinny said: One thing you are forgetting - rugby does well there because its a far, far more popular sport than speedway. Both worldwide and more importantly in Wales. Speedway is a dying sport in the UK and the quicker people face up to it, the better. I'm not forgetting that at all. I said in my post that the number of people who regularly attend Speedway in the UK doesn't come close to filling a large stadium. My point was, that I dont think that hotel prices or availability in Cardiff were the reason for the lower attendance in recent years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago 1 hour ago, AFCB Wildcat said: I'm not forgetting that at all. I said in my post that the number of people who regularly attend Speedway in the UK doesn't come close to filling a large stadium. My point was, that I dont think that hotel prices or availability in Cardiff were the reason for the lower attendance in recent years. What struck me when attending Cardiff was that the demographic attending seemed to be a lot younger to that of a club league match and that was even after discounting the traveling Polish fans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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