Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 12:01:15 GMT
Will indeed be interesting, especially with those riders who choose to disregard the EL and now find themselves possibly without a Polish club. They're not just going to be riding for the prestige of being in the GP's for much longer are they! It's all going to go Pete Tong 'innit!  |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 12:13:12 GMT
My respect for Dugard has grown as the season has progressed tbh. At least, he's honest and frank which is something promoters at Reading and Oxford failed to address. He went a bit OTT on the Kennett affair but since then he's been pretty much spot on.
Whilst the clubs are hurting, it's interesting to see the riders bar Nicki P are not having any problems. Maybe the clubs are paying amounts over the top?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 13:26:30 GMT
Will indeed be interesting, especially with those riders who choose to disregard the EL and now find themselves possibly without a Polish club. They're not just going to be riding for the prestige of being in the GP's for much longer are they! A shakeup in the system has been long overdue, with the cart being put before the horse with respect to the SGP, and the priorities of the riders put before those of their employers. At the same time, the tracks have obviously been living beyond their means for too long. I really hope three things come out of this. Firstly that BSI/IMG are put in their place, if not ousted from the sport entirely. Secondly, that the three (or four) main leagues realise they're not in competition with each other, and agree to cooperate in areas such as scheduling of fixtures and wage levels. Thirdly, that the sport starts to be run on a cost effective basis that makes it cheaper for the spectator, but also for the riders as well. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 13:28:21 GMT
At least, he's honest and frank which is something promoters at Reading and Oxford failed to address. The promoters at Reading and Oxford were part of the reason why the sport is the current financial mess! |
|
|
|
Post by admin on Apr 7, 2009 13:39:08 GMT
I really hope three things come out of this. Firstly that BSI/IMG are put in their place, if not ousted from the sport entirely. Given the length of contract they have with the FIM, the continued presence of BSI Speedway in the sport would appear to be in the hands of IMG. It appears that contract heavily favours the company over the sport, but if IMG decide it's not worth the effort they could wind up BSI Speedway, although I think it likely that Bellamy would try and salvage something from the wreckage. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 14:15:00 GMT
At least, he's honest and frank which is something promoters at Reading and Oxford failed to address. The promoters at Reading and Oxford were part of the reason why the sport is the current financial mess! The sport or British Speedway? Far be it from be to defend Horton or Poslethwaite but their cheque book speedway sealed their own fates within the sport. Sure they gave riders at the time ammunition to seek better deals with other clubs but as soon as these 2 promotions who were living far far beyond their means disappeared so did most of the silly money being offered to riders. If that's not the case and other promotions continued to offer second strings the same deals as other clubs no.1's were getting, then in all honesty after seeing the mess it left Reading, Oxford & Peterborough in those promoters deserve anything but sympathy. The sport globally is in the shit. Things are going to go one of 2 ways and at the moment it's still not clear which way that will be. But I agree with the 3 main changes Wibb's would like to see come out of all this. Personally, I think one of the best things that could happen is for the sport to get back to basics a bit. Stuff all this superstar type lifestyle some of the riders are trying to live with their motorhomes, 10 mechanics and 20 odd bikes in each country. Speedway isn't and never will be MotoGP or the like. Cut it back to the bone and hopefully we'll start to see again riders who are successful more on ability & skill rather than because of the equipment & backup support they can afford. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 14:28:55 GMT
Given the length of contract they have with the FIM, the continued presence of BSI Speedway in the sport would appear to be in the hands of IMG. It appears that contract heavily favours the company over the sport, but if IMG decide it's not worth the effort they could wind up BSI Speedway If the major leagues issued an ultimatum to their riders, choose us or the SGP, BSI wouldn't have very much. If the FIM started to get heavy with the leagues withholding riders, then that would be an ideal opportunity to breakaway and run things without them. At the very least, speedway should get more out of the relationship between the FIM and BSI, even if there isn't that much to get. In reality though, I doubt the 18-year contract (or whatever it is) will run its course. BSI's television and particularly sponsorship income seems to have been falling for a while, and doesn't even appear to cover costs. |
|
|
|
Post by admin on Apr 7, 2009 14:34:19 GMT
I expect any change in circumstances to come as a result of internal decisons at IMG over in the States - they must be having a hard time, what with the banks who seem to fund golf in the States all likely to be wearing "hair shirts" soon.
Speedway will never get its act together in such a way as to provoke a crisis, even if it could be the salvation of the sport, although the Poles do seem to be moving into a position of potential conflict with BSI Speedway. If we recall, there was some talk of the Polish clubs "sharing" GPs in the future - the PZM would allocate the Polish GPs to clubs on something of a "rota" system, which would mean less cash for BSI Speedway, since they couldn't "play" the Polish clubs off against one another.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 14:37:50 GMT
At least, he's honest and frank which is something promoters at Reading and Oxford failed to address. The promoters at Reading and Oxford were part of the reason why the sport is the current financial mess! My comment did not convey correctly it's intention. Promoters at Reading and Oxford hid their money problems when it got tough for them. Rather than allow the fans (or other speedway officials) get behind them and come around to a solution to keep the club running. They announced their demise too late and the clubs fell apart because there was no-one there to it take over. At least Dugard is making people aware of his situation thus allowing the governing body to make an allowance etc. and the sport aware of the issues. |
|
|
|
Post by admin on Apr 7, 2009 14:45:47 GMT
Promoters at Reading and Oxford hid their money problems when it got tough for them. Rather than allow the fans (or other speedway officials) get behind them and come around to a solution to keep the club running. They announced their demise too late and the clubs fell apart because there was no-one there to it take over. I don't think the disdain directed at the former Oxford and Reading promoters is that they "hid" their money problems, but that they created money problems for everyone else with their insane wage inflation for riders. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 14:52:15 GMT
At least Dugard is making people aware of his situation thus allowing the governing body to make an allowance etc. and the sport aware of the issues. There's a somewhat fine line between raising the flag and calling wolf. However, I doubt any BEL track is making money at the moment, so clearly there are issues that need to be resolved. The problem is what to be done? It's all very well wanting to cut the number of fixtures in half if you own the stadium and are therefore only losing money on the wages. However, it's quite another thing if you're done a deal to rent a stadium for 20 meetings. And then what about the riders who're suddenly on the equivalent of a 1-day week? Are they doing to continue ride for you? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 14:54:46 GMT
Speedway will never get its act together in such a way as to provoke a crisis, even if it could be the salvation of the sport A breakaway apparently nearly happened in (I think) the 1970s, but the driving force behind the idea died suddenly just before the crucial meeting (at one of the World Finals), and the whole thing fell apart. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 19:43:07 GMT
Speedway will never get its act together in such a way as to provoke a crisis, even if it could be the salvation of the sport A breakaway apparently nearly happened in (I think) the 1970s, but the driving force behind the idea died suddenly just before the crucial meeting (at one of the World Finals), and the whole thing fell apart. There was also talk of a breakaway in 1993 just prior to the introduction of the GP's. Apparently there was an agreement between the BSPA/SCB and SVEMCO to introduce an 'alternative' World Championship, but this failed to get any backing from Poland and fizzled out. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2009 17:24:20 GMT
At least Dugard is making people aware of his situation thus allowing the governing body to make an allowance etc. and the sport aware of the issues. Does he really deserve any credit, though? He got himself into the mess, and then decided to start shouting and complaining right on the eve of the season, when he could quite easily have raised his concerns at the end of last season or just moved his team out to the Premier League. I had to laugh when I saw the suggestion that Tuesday's meeting was about arranging a new TV deal. What a great way to set out your negotiating position...Declare you desperately need more money because no-one is coming to watch your sport!! Yes, that sort of announcement should get the TV companies waving huge cheques in your face  |
|
|
|
Post by schumi on Aug 16, 2009 16:26:39 GMT
I really hope three things come out of this. Firstly that BSI/IMG are put in their place, if not ousted from the sport entirely. Given the length of contract they have with the FIM, the continued presence of BSI Speedway in the sport would appear to be in the hands of IMG. It appears that contract heavily favours the company over the sport, but if IMG decide it's not worth the effort they could wind up BSI Speedway, although I think it likely that Bellamy would try and salvage something from the wreckage. IMG is expanding, and as a result BSI hope to be running GPs in Australia and New Zealand within 5-6 years, with preliminary plans to add a race in the USA or Asia, according to an article in a Swedish paper. Whilst Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Britain are struggling, the GP series is getting stronger. www.expressen.se/sport/motorsport |
|
