Welcome to the first instalment of Asked & Answered, addressing a selection of your questions about all things speedway.
First up is Christine Lloyd:
How are riders paid and do they get bonus incentives for maximum scores, winning titles, etc?
It would be fair to say that the contract of a professional speedway rider is very much bespoke and differs from club to club.
Often many elements come together to make up an individual rider’s package. Signing-on fees are part of the picture but most earning potential comes from points scored. This means that – unlike many other team sports nowadays – if the individual rider doesn’t score, he doesn’t earn!
Clubs may also offer other incentives to tempt their man, such as a bonus for increasing his starting average by a certain percentage over the course of a season or for winning titles. Clubs may also shell out for accommodation, vehicles or support in the form of mechanics.
In addition, as all riders are essentially self-employed, a mileage allowance is usually paid from their home to the track for every meeting in which they compete. The minimum per BSPA regulations is only 10p per mile but 15p to 20p is more common nowadays.
Professional speedway is a truly international sport, with riders often racing in three different countries in a week. Therefore other travel costs, including flights, can often form a significant part of the agreement for top stars in the sport.
Can you imagine Man Utd having to pay to fly Wayne Rooney back from Spain after he’s turned out for Real Madrid? We can’t either!
Next up is Daveoo, from Glasgow:
What was thought of the track lighting by riders and supporters and since I thought lighting was poor. Is there to be any improvement?
2015 saw the Tigers race a home match under floodlights for the first time since 1998 and wasn’t it a memorable occasion?
The encounter against Sheffield in May was even shown live on Sky Sports with commentators Pearson and Tatum, along with a huge crowd, thoroughly enjoying an action packed evening of speedway. An even bigger audience crammed in to the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium last month for the Friday night Championship Final, first-leg.
The spectacle of night racing certainly brings another dimension to our thrilling sport and yes, you’re right – the track lighting could be better, especially at bend three. We understand the club is keen to host more evening meetings in future and improved floodlighting is very much part of the plan.
Ian Richardson, from East Kilbride, asks:
The playoff system doesn’t seem fair, surely the team that finishes top of the league should be the champions?
Since playoffs were introduced to determine the Elite League champions in 2002 they’ve been the subject of intense debate among speedway fans.
Who can forget 2006 when the Peterborough Panthers clinched the league title against Reading in the final heat of a thrilling final? Sky Sports still show this match as part of their Speedway Gold series and it will always be remembered as one of the all time classics – huge crowd, great racing and the most dramatic of finishes.
So are the playoffs a good thing? Based on the above, you’d have to say yes and judging by the crowds at both Elite League and more recently Premier League level the clubs involved certainly stand to benefit commercially. Only last month the Glasgow Tigers competed in the Premier League Championship Final for the first time against Edinburgh. While we didn’t have the dramatic ending both matches attracted huge attendances.
Traditionalists, however, argue that the team which finishes top at the end of the season deserves to be crowned champions as just reward for being the best in the league from March to September, as opposed to turning it on over a few matches in October.
In 2010 Coventry were crowned Elite League Champions after finishing fourth in the ‘regular season’ and 26 points behind top club Poole. They undoubtedly did well well to beat the Pirates over two legs in the Grand Final but it’s not difficult to see why the Dorset club felt hard done by!
One option would be to follow the American model whereby teams are part of smaller divisions over the course of the season and these determine the qualifiers for playoffs. For example if the Elite League and Premier League were to amalgamate we could have a northern conference of 10 teams along with the same in the south.
This seems a bit fairer than the current format and more in keeping with the likes of what we see in American Football. When it comes to creating sporting spectacles our friends across the pond have a pretty successful track record and a speedway ‘Superbowl’ could be a great draw for the sport.
A few fans are curious about the workings of the various leagues in Speedway GB. Rab Dalziel, from Bridge of Allan, wanted to know:
How does a club get to join the Elite League?
Since British speedway has no promotion and relegation system a club can only become part of the Elite League by making a formal application to the BSPA. You could say that the system of league organisation is similar to that used in American sports, where the existing ‘franchises’ determine who else can join, or not, as the case may be.
Change does happen though. The last club to join the Elite League was Leicester Lions, who successfully applied to move up from the Premier League prior to the 2014 season. The Birmingham Brummies and King’s Lynn Stars also made the step up prior to the 2011 season. The Brummies, however, now compete in the third tier of British speedway (National League) having hit financial difficulties midway through 2014. We’ve also seen other clubs move ‘down’ a league, with the Ipswich Witches and Peterborough Panthers joining the Premier League in recent years.
The most northern club in the Elite League is the Belle Vue Aces, from Manchester, with the others primarily based in the midlands and south of England. The Premier League’s participants stretch from Glasgow and Edinburgh all the way to Plymouth in Devon.
Whether the Tigers might one day wish to compete in the Elite League is an interesting point of debate. Yes, there’s more exposure and income from Sky TV. On the other hand, running costs – particularly payments to riders – are much higher too. Some argue that the racing is more exciting to watch in the Premier League and certainly we have some great inter-club rivalries, like our clashes with Sheffield, Newcastle and of course Edinburgh.
From Glasgow’s perspective then, there’s a lot to be said for staying with the Premier League. Then again times change and, as the saying goes, never say never!
Keep the questions coming folks – we’ll select the best for our Team Tiger panel to answer on the Tigers app and at glasgowtigers.org