FREE Season-long Admission Pass for Children

Innovative Eastbourne Speedway launch trailblazing FREE season ticket offer for ALL children Under 11

Admission prices for the 2020 season also announced

A free Eastbourne Eagles 2020 Season Pass is being offered to ALL children under 11 who are accompanied by a paying adult.

It will be made available for youngsters in the immediate catchment area of the club’s base.

It will also be available to children across the wider South East and to the children of visiting supporters.

The offer will also include extra benefits like discounted merchandise, rider and track visits and free mascot opportunities.

The free pass for children aged under 11 (as at April 4, 2020) will be offered by the club to:

  • Schools;
  • Sports clubs;
  • Adult Clubs and Societies;
  • Businesses; 
  • Community Groups

within a reasonable radius of the club (around 50 miles).

The scheme will be launched officially on Monday, March 2, with a far more detailed explanation and how the application process will work. 

The Club will also announce a major expansion and enhancement of the popular Eaglet Programme which signed up almost 400 young supporters in 2019, and how the newly announced Speedway Hub will improve the already excellent interaction between riders and supporters that the Club has long been renowned for.

Eastbourne Speedway director, Ian Jordan, commented: “If 30,000 to 40,000 children under 11 this summer have a FREE Eastbourne Eagles Speedway Season Pass on their mantelpiece, we would hope that they will kindly use them to bring Mum and Dad along with them, and Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles, as well as friends. 

“If any business wants to use them as a “perk or bonus” to help them sell product or awareness, they will only need to Contact Us  and we will do the rest.”

Eastbourne Speedway will actively encourage local, national and international businesses in the area to join in the scheme.

“We also believe that any sporting club with an active database of 30-40,000 under 11s will become a very interesting Affinity; Marketing and Advertising proposition that can only enhance our own Advertising and Sponsorship income via innovative Customer Loyalty type schemes,” Jordan added.

The club is using the free junior season ticket offer to build on the success in 2019 of the HG Aerospace-sponsored Community Programme, managed by Dave Rollison.

Jordan said: “Our major Supporter Survey at the end of the 2019 showed there was a significant and generation changing increase in youngsters and young families attending in 2019.

“However, it also again emphasised the ageing age dynamic of our core, very loyal and very much appreciated older supporter base. 

“It remains a vital requirement for the Sport as a whole and for Eastbourne Speedway specifically, to nurture and develop not only one new generation of Speedway fans, but actually two generations – the Under 11s AND their parents in the 20-50 age range, which data shows nationally and locally, as largely unaware of, or ambivalent to the Sport.

“This will enable us to bridge the gap to the over 50s who are the core UK Speedway supporter base.

“In many ways I think the middle generation, ‘mid 20s to 50’, are the ones most overlooked; ignored and forgotten by the Sport. 

“We need to enthuse them to give Speedway a go, via their children and indeed their own parents. 

“It would be great see three generations at Speedway.”

Data from last year’s community programme visits shows that more than 20% of the first-time visitors came back and many seem to be “hooked” by the excitement of speedway racing. 

“Whilst that is great news for us and a testimony to all the hard work done by David and The Community Team, it still as a model has in my opinion one critical flaw,” Jordan said.

The only people attracted to the scheme were those who saw it, read about it or heard about it and who would take the time and trouble to investigate, book a visit and turn up on a pre-appointed date which might not be the best option for everyone in the group.

Jordan said: “In short, that’s too many what ifs and maybes and too many possible opt outs for my liking from a business perspective.

“How we take the next quantum leap in terms of The Community Programme, Brand and Sport awareness, therefore, was the $64,000 question.”

He said he hoped Eastbourne Speedway had found an answer which “may or may not be original” in terms of UK Sport.

“Originality is not the point. The future and stable success of Eastbourne Eagles and Speedway in general has to be what we all strive for individually and collectively,” he said. 

“We won’t wait for them to come to us, we will send out the Under 11 Season Passes so that the youngsters can come to us, as and  when they like, bringing paying adults with them.

“Part of the credit for the idea must go to Mark Phillips, Promoter of Plymouth Gladiators, who discussed the concept with me concerning a smaller target segment of the potential target audience at Plymouth in 2020 and we plan to roll it out there too.

“The bottom line is that I want everyone to know that we welcome ALL children 11 and under to sample Speedway at Eastbourne FOR FREE in 2020, if they already have a Pass or if they come for the first time; as all first timers without a Pass will be handed one at the turnstiles on their first visit to keep and use throughout 2020, although we expect the majority to receive their passes in advance via our extensive planned marketing campaigns.”

We haven’t forgotten those aged 12-16 either, or full-time students aged up to 22 as our Match Day Admission structure for 2020 below, will show. 

We also still have the flexibility to fine tune our Marketing and Community Programme to target other specific groups at any time if we detect an opportunity to do so.

*Arrangements for visits by community groups not including children can be booked separately via the Community page here.

2020 Admission & Season Ticket Prices

2020 Match Day Admission:

ADULTS – £17.00

CONCESSIONS* – £15.00

Defined as: 

  • Men aged over 65
  • Women aged over 60
  • Registered disabled and carer(s) with 1st Carer who is admitted Free
  • Students aged over 16 but under 22 with relevant Photo ID

FAMILY – £32.00**

  • Defined as 2 Adults and between 1-4 Children aged between 11 and 16 and any number of Children Under 11 who will qualify under the FREE PASS Scheme)

FREE

  • Children aged UNDER 11 will be FREE (definition any child born on or after 4 April, 2009 – proof of age may be sought on occasion). A child without a free season pass will be given one to keep for future use.
  • Current Members of Armed Forces (Army and TA / Navy / RAF) Front-line Emergency Services Police / Ambulance / Paramedic / Fire Brigade / Prison Service on production of Valid ID*)

*Clarification of specific Front-line service roles and acceptable ID will be available on club website by March 1, 2020, and available at turnstiles prior to entry.

Programme £3.00 (the programme specification will increase from 24 to 32 pages in 2020)

We will make a Voucher Card available in the first programme of 2020 for those with 5 or 6 Vouchers from 2019 Scheme to enjoy a £10 Gift Voucher for 5 programme Vouchers or a £15 Gift Voucher for all 6 Programme Vouchers in The New Track Shop situated in The Speedway Hub in 2020″

If those who collected similar Vouchers in 2019 would like to bring them to their first Meeting in 2020 we will offer a Card to which they can be attached for an immediate Gift Voucher (as above).

Standard Season Ticket Prices:

Prices for 2020 Season Tickets 

  • ADULT: based on £17 per match = 20 Matches (£340) available for £310.00 
  • CONCESSION: based on £15 per match = 20 Matches (£300) available for £275.00 
  • FAMILY: based on £32 per match = 20 Matches (£640) available for £590.00 
  • CHILDREN: under 11 – FREE (see Notes in Match Day section re Family Ticket covering 12-16 year olds)

*(Concessions are outlined in Match Day Admission Prices)

10 Match Ticket Deals

(These cover ANY 10 Matches of your choice)

In addition 10-Match Ticket deals (same criteria as above will be):

Adult – £ 157.50

Concession – £ 137.50

Family – £ 300.00

(20 Matches to include 16 announced Championship Matches and 1 announced KOC Match and for progression to Play Offs and KOC and any Challenge / Individual Matches – the Season Tickets will not cover any Shared BSPA or Team GB Events)

* Some Clubs will be offering Admission to AWAY Supporters for a reduction of £5.00 on their advertised prices. These are currently POOLE; SOMERSET and SWINDON so your Full / 10 Match Season Ticket will give you a £5 Discount when visiting any of those Tracks for any Official Team Fixture in 2020 (again excluding BSPA / Team GB / Shared and Testimonial Events) 

Payment Options – Bank Transfer / Cheque / Debit + Credit Card (using Paypal)

Please e-mail admin@eastbourne-speedway.com for FULL Details of how/where to pay quoting your Surname and Full Address in the e-mail and the type/number of Tickets required. 

We will be announcing our 2020 Title and Partner Sponsors and new Racesuit Design by 15th February 2020. Once this is done ALL Early Bird Season Tickets and Standard Season Tickets will be printed and posted out. We anticipate this will be before end of February 2020 (depending on Printing and Postal timescales). 

Admission prices Commentary:

Club director Ian Jordan said the decision to increase the standard adult and concession rates had not been taken lightly.

It was, however, in line with increased costs across the board including those for use of Arlington Stadium and the probable BSPA fees and a small increase to the BSPA bond.

Without some excellent sponsorship, our Match Day receipts would not cover all of our expenses but we have kept increases to the bare minimum and if our Community and other initiatives help attendances increase by just 10% on average, we would be able to sustain this pricing for the next few years without further increase.

“We remain one of the least expensive in terms of admission in The Championship and have made significant further reductions for specific parts of the supporter base,” Jordan pointed out.

The £2 admission charge for children aged 5-11 has been abolished meaning that the Family Ticket option is still valid for Children between 11 and 16.

** A nominal £2 charge will be levied for any child aged 11-16 seeking entrance without parental supervision, although we would strongly recommend only those aged 14 and above would be suitable to enter unsupervised and our turnstile staff and turnstile stewards will always be vigilant in this regard. 

All current Armed Forces personnel will be admitted FREE with valid ID and Front Line “Emergency Service Staff” have been added to the growing list of those supporters who can enjoy Concessionary Rates while again supporting WASPI-affected women over 60 years of age. 

To simplify all calculations any Age based initiatives for the season will be based on April 4, 2020 the scheduled opening match of the 2020 season.

Image Credits: Tiffani Graveling Photography, Mike Hinves & Jon Gall Photography

To learn more about our Community Partner HG Aerospace, click here