Track attendance

[schumi]

Just wondering (for a reason) if it makes any difference to attendance if a track is out in the middle of no-where. For example, did Berrington Lough attract less fans than Shielfield Park? And would it stop you attending, say, Eastbourne, just because you couldn't hop on the bus to get to Arlington?

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2008 18:44:20 GMT @schumi said:

Just wondering (for a reason) if it makes any difference to attendance if a track is out in the middle of no-where. For example, did Berrington Lough attract less fans than Shielfield Park? And would it stop you attending, say, Eastbourne, just because you couldn't hop on the bus to get to Arlington?

Difficult to answer with any certainty Schumi, but i would have assumed in many cases it would make a difference, i feel sure that the hammers would attract a much bigger crowd if they moved back to east London, whereas for Eastbourne i am not sure it makes too much of a difference. It would be interesting to see what happens at Exeter if it re-opens, as the county ground was only a ten minute walk from the town centre, whereas Haldon is in the middle of knowhere.

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2008 18:59:50 GMT @hatcham said:

Nov 12, 2008 18:44:20 GMT @schumi said:

Just wondering (for a reason) if it makes any difference to attendance if a track is out in the middle of no-where. For example, did Berrington Lough attract less fans than Shielfield Park? And would it stop you attending, say, Eastbourne, just because you couldn't hop on the bus to get to Arlington?

Difficult to answer with any certainty Schumi, but i would have assumed in many cases it would make a difference, i feel sure that the hammers would attract a much bigger crowd if they moved back to east London, whereas for Eastbourne i am not sure it makes too much of a difference. It would be interesting to see what happens at Exeter if it re-opens, as the county ground was only a ten minute walk from the town centre, whereas Haldon is in the middle of knowhere.

Ironically, Trump has stated that he will run buses from The County Ground, and other places around Exeter to Haldon if and when it opens............and I believe this was included in the planning application, so if I'm correct, he'll be duty bound to stick by it too.

[braveheart]

It certainly makes it easier to get to a track if its in the middle of a town with good connections for transport. I was without transport when I was in the RAF, loved speedway so much that I got a taxi to Bingham, train to Nottingham and and a bus to Long Eaton. Bused it back, still made it for the last few dances at the disco.

There is no way I would have been able to go to Berrington Lough by bus, my dad took me and when I lived in Northumberland my first mini took me.

[Deleted]

Nov 13, 2008 1:46:08 GMT @braveheart said:

It certainly makes it easier to get to a track if its in the middle of a town with good connections for transport. I was without transport when I was in the RAF, loved speedway so much that I got a taxi to Bingham, train to Nottingham and and a bus to Long Eaton. Bused it back, still made it for the last few dances at the disco.

There is no way I would have been able to go to Berrington Lough by bus, my dad took me and when I lived in Northumberland my first mini took me.

Then there are other tracks , like Somerset , where you need a bloody helicopter to take you to the track as the M5 likes it's tailbacks .

[Deleted]

Massive part. From the local media coverage to the complications of getting there.

The proposed Leicester spot is ideal - 20 minute walk for me.

[Deleted]

TBH with no transport of our own, even getting to Blunsdon each week is difficult for me. Public transport is a joke - after a certain time the buses run every hour and if you just miss one - then it's a bloomin' long wait. Or youhave to leave the meeting early to be certain. So yes - the location of a track must make a difference to attendances.

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2008 18:44:20 GMT @schumi said:

Just wondering (for a reason) if it makes any difference to attendance if a track is out in the middle of no-where. For example, did Berrington Lough attract less fans than Shielfield Park? And would it stop you attending, say, Eastbourne, just because you couldn't hop on the bus to get to Arlington?

I'd have gone to Buxton more if they ran a bus from the train station to the track. I did go a couple of times by public transport, but with the track being about 3 miles from the train station you have to get a taxi which would cost around £6 each way (I can't remember how much it cost me). I've never seen or heard any mention of Buxton organising travel, but there's no harm in asking Stoke and Belle Vue fans, in addition to the people who live in Derbyshire that don't drive. If there's enough interest, great. If not, it won't have cost anything.

[braveheart]

If I went to Buxton, I would get off the train with my hillwalking gear, and tent and plenty of food to last for a week

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2008 20:12:44 GMT @kevh said:

Ironically, Trump has stated that he will run buses from The County Ground, .

No no nooo- He never said that-The place is locked up and would be a hard job getting a coach in there-never mind the fans having to clamber over the walls and the bracken and be arrested and get the coach out again-

He did say as part of the travel plan he will provide transport from various points in the city-one possible suggestion being Cowick Street shopping centre-closest to the old stadium for those that used to walk there, along with a couple of park and ride sites.--And if we get up and running that still applies.

Christ almighty if he runs coaches from the County Ground no one would want to leave, and would be taking photos until after heat 15 at Haldon finished!!

PS Schumi-not a cream egg or mini egg appeared whatsoever yet -they seem a tad late this year but rest assured you will be the first to know when they do.

[schumi]

Boxing day, I believe, Nevs.

Anyway, the reason I asked is because I was talking to another forum member recently about issues surrounding the British League - training tracks, planning applications, and that sort of thing.

With so many objections from neighbours about noise, curfews on stadia preventing late double headers, and restrictions on this and that, I wondered if there would be less problems for tracks situated well out of town. The counter argument was that less fans would be able to travel, so the crowds would fall.

I'm actually surprised to see how many of you rely on public transport to get to speedway - I naively thought the majority would have their own means of getting there.

In Sweden they have schools for speedway, in Denmark they have different categories of racing so the children can progress. Their riders are in demand, and they're so much better than we are because of those facilities and the chances they've been given. The BSPA won't/can't fund anything like that here and we're always complaining that we need the kids to come through, but no-one's able to offer up any feasible solutions as to how that might work.

I had the rather wild idea that there could one day be a track built by the fans - that's to say, bought with donations from fans. But that's huge, so what about taking an existing track that's owned by an individual, not a company (Buxton?) and getting everyone to chip in to build the facilities for training and spectators?

If every member of the BSF were to invest £5, think of what could be created there. Could the fans create something similar to the schemes in place abroad here? Wild dreams, or could it be workable?

[Deleted]

Workable IMO Schumi. You see the likes of German football teams build their stadiums to keep their club going. If people could agree on a location and work to that. Junior Sports Team have run similar schemes to provide improvements to their current homes.

Look here - www.fc-union-berlin.de/default.php?content=baugalerie