Evening all,
Whilst sitting on the PC reading about the success of relatively new/rejuvinated (and fairly basic) set-ups in Scunthorpe and Plymouth, it got me thinking.....what exactly would draw more spectators to view this fantastic sport? Of course, there are a plethora of reasons...chief amongst them being the poor marketing, promotion and understanding of the sport, coupled with stereotyping of the sport and its supporters from the 'outside' World; but, in terms of the facility housing the sport, what do you feel is the key driver in our small crowds in this country? What makes 45,000 spectators pay a minimum of £30 a ticket to watch the British GP which converseley often attracts less than 1,000 on a weeknight to pay half that amount to watch Elite (and National/Premier) League speedway?
Have your say and take part in my inaugural blog poll!
Thursday 17 September 2009
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I noticed that the best attended meetings at Eastbourne this year were when there were star riders present. The Elite League Pairs meeting was extremely successful and may be something on those lines with the scoring 4 for first place, 3 for 2nd and 2 for 3rd as this encourages team riding.
ReplyDeleteDavid Cox Eastbourne
That would figure, as it does appear that bigger/more prestigious meetings do tend to draw far greater crowds. Still, it is what brings those potential new fans back to the bread and butter of (i.e. league racing) that matters for the longevity of the sport. I would suggest that most newcomers to the sport are not instantly enamoured by the quality of the spectator offering at most tracks?
ReplyDeleteSky do a fantastic job promoting Speedway and no one can doubt it can be a spectacular and exciting sport, but so many televised matches are watched by a handful of diehards. Unfortunately Football is King and speedway lost its fantastic fan base of the fifties many years ago - speedway became (and to a lot still is!) a bit naff!
ReplyDeleteI'l try and get my head round it over the next few days!
A good point well made, but I suppose it is a catch 22, because like Premier League football in particular, it is oh so easy to pay your £30 a month and take your choice of live televised games in the comfort of your lounge...and this is in a league where the spectator facilities are far and away superior to most of its European counterparts, and of course, anything Speedway has to offer. Does the Sky coverage of the Elite League then actually promote the same armchair viewing culture as we now have in football, but Speedway feels it more, as crowds are already low, and the facilities shown on Sky each week actually do more to detract newcomers?
ReplyDeleteMany spectator facilities are way out of date and, quite frankly digusting,ie toilets, lack of seating, lack of cover, poor PA systems. I've been going to Foxhall on and off since the early 60's and very little has changed, an odd piece of concrete terracing, a bit of paint here and there, before any Witches supporters jump on me I appreciate that we don't own the stadium.
ReplyDeleteAdmission prices compared to other sports are reasonable £15 for a night out is ok, would'nt want to pay much more though.
A very fair and honest assessment! You have however hit the nail on the proverbial head...the key issue currently holding the sport back (even if there was a concerted effort to change it by the authorities and promoters!) is the lack of ownership of every sports club's main asset...their home. Without ownership comes uncertainty, and with uncertainty, there is no possibility of genuine long-term planning.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Foxhall, yes it isn't great, but importantly, and rather worringly, it is by no means the worst!
There are so many reasons as to why the sport cant attract new or old fans to the tracks ranging from ticket prices to entertainment.
ReplyDeleteTICKETS; Paying £15 to watch an Elite League match seems ok when you compare it to Premier League football, but in EL, you get to see riders like Lindgren, Adams, Holder, Andersen etc. However in the Premier League you also have to pay around £15 and there the top riders are of the standard of a reserve or second string in the EL.
So with such lower overheads, why are PL tracks charging the same prices for their product ?
Most Elite League teams are in the Midlands or South of the country, so tracks like Glasgow, Edinburgh or even Newcastle have a captive audience and have little choice of watching the big names.
For me, PL tracks should be restricted to charging £10 entrance, this may well help promote the club a bit more, get a few more in each week and may even result in them developing young British riders more than paying air fares for second rate foreigners.
ENTERTAINMENT; For a speedway fan, a meeting alone can be enough entertainment, but for new fans is fifteen lots of 60 seconds of racing really enough ?
There is nothing going on between races or at the interval apart from music from a CD player blasting out and spectators are just left to wait for the racing to restart.
Even if it was to get a few local bands to perform on the centre green. Offer them the chance to promote themselves with a 10 minute set during the interval, maybe even offer them a 30 minute set before the meeting. Its certainly better than what we have a the moment and maybe attract a few people to come more regular.
There are Comedians, Singers, Dancers, Groups etc etc all available in the local community that given the chance to play in front of 1,000 would be a privelage to them and a way of promoting their name.
ADVERTISING; The sport is let down big time in this. If you didn't know the sport, drive through most towns that have a track and see if you can see anything that says where the track is let alone advertising the next meeting.
Take the recent Nicholls/Sayfutdinov clash at Cardiff for example. Speedway missed a big trick there. Just imagine the media interest the sport would have got had they bombarded the major papers with the photo's and story within a few minutes of it happening.
Make Scott either a bad boy or British Bulldog, but make it into a National article, not a one inch report stuck in the corner next to an advert for Giant Slippers or 3 XXXX DVD's for £10.
Take Nicholls again. Here we had a British rider that had a steady relationship with the daughter of his boss. Next thing you know, he is off with a Sky reporter who is a former Page 3 pin up. While you have to feel sorry for the injured party, here we have two incidents that should have been passed on to the big newspapers and maybe now we would have general folk who dont attend speedway knowing who Scott Nicholls is which only helps the fight in trying to get new customers in.
Remember the saying "There is no thing as bad publicity".
ADMIN; Sadly this is a very big area but in many peoples minds, the sport will never really lift off unless it is handled by an independant organisation like the FA in football. Speedway is rare that it has the track promoters deciding what the rules are and how they can build a team. When they bring in these changes, 85% of the time its for their own benefit, not for the good of the sport in general.
Its a thing that may never ever happen until BIG changes are made.
A fantastic and thought provoking set of comments there...I shall get my head around that once I have returned from my weekly fix of lower league football and post some responses! This is undoubtedly the kind of feedback the BSPA and promoters should be heeding!
ReplyDeleteSome good comments here. By the way, a poll might be useful, but you are getting way ahead of yourself... lots of pople in the UK don't even know what speedway is! I was wondering where new fans come from, and the only thing I can come up with is children of families who already go to watch it.
ReplyDeleteDavid...you have hit another key point there...I accept the poll is probably aimed at those who already attend speedway, but if the sport is to survive and flourish long-term, then many many more new fans need to be found and retained. This will, trust me, form the basis of our next poll, and you can be sure I have some blogs following shortly about how the sport can be better promoted.
ReplyDelete