Riders: They made us crying egoists. Here are our costs

Personally, I do not understand this campaign against players and accusations that we are crying for no reason. Each of us is aware of the seriousness of the situation and wants to give something from ourselves, but we can not fully save the budgets of the clubs – notes Szymon Woźniak. – It is hard to comment on the league authorities’ proposals. 30 percent we are able to let go, but no more – adds Patryk Dudek. And Rafał Trojanowski, Wiktor Leopard’s guardian, adds: – Let’s stop charming ourselves. Everyone knows perfectly well that under these conditions it is impossible to leave the season in PGE Ekstralidze.

PGE Ekstraliga is expected to start in June with smooth stands. Because it requires a slag reason of state. To save the competition, clubs and jobs, just discipline, you have to push this merry-go-round. So that money could flow from the other three sources – from the town hall, television rights and from the title sponsor of the games and minor, but no less important patrons. However, the fight on the elbows has been going on for several days, because you have to set the rules of the game again in the new reality. You have to agree on how to cut this more modest than usual cake. And where there is money, there are great passions. Until now, competitors have less frequently spoken out, so today their point of view.

• We don’t want to add oil to the fire, attack anyone directly, or start wars. Fighting is enough for us on the track. As the Methanol Speedway Association, we simply want fans to know through you the actual costs of doing this sport. And how are the new rates proposed by the competition authorities to our earnings – they are communicated to us by the main actors of PGE Ekstraliga in one voice. Let us remind you that this offer is PLN 125,000 for signing the contract and PLN 2,200 for each point earned.

The players point out that they have recently been stacked up about them, putting them in a bad light. As detached from the realities of weeping egoists, living in their world and rarely walking on the earth, which is struggling with the plague. And which in the near future will certainly not produce such fetuses as before.

• They write about us that we have no idea about the situation, that we slow down and beat mechanics, we have no desire to save discipline, and we treat it only as a machine to earn millions of zlotys. They compare us to the players who outdid each other in declarations, which will lower the club’s salary for the time of downtime … Exactly – PENSION. That’s right – during the STOP. We do not have such phenomena as salary or parking. We only point out that the article containing the phrase „speedway will earn” has nothing to do with the amount that will remain in our portfolio. Because there is a huge difference between the income and the income of the speedway rider. It is hard to understand what the author of the article meant when he wondered how the speedway riders take their parts and do not pick up engines, explaining that they have nothing to live for, since PGE Ekstraliga clubs have already spent PLN 7.5 million on signatures for players. Seriously? We divide PLN 7,500,000 into eight clubs, that’s PLN 937,500 per club. By dividing it into a team, PLN 156,000 per player remains … – speedway riders emphasize. In the meantime, twice as much money should often be allocated to season preparations alone. Or bigger.

Recently, the amount of PLN 700,000 has been loudly since Wojciech Stępniewski, president of PGE Ekstraliga, announced that they should earn so much this year, according to the rules proposed by the league authorities, the best. At first, Krzysztof Cegielski, the head of Methanol, did not agree with this calculation, suggesting that the amount would be more than PLN 100,000 smaller and emphasizing not to confuse earnings with income. – Apart from this difference, you would have to score 270 points in 18 matches, an average of 14 per meeting, to transfer that much to your account. Last year, only two players got around 200 points … – the interested parties pay attention.

• For me, Ekstraliga’s offer is unacceptable. Real cuts are a fixed amount unchanged and a reduction of the amount per point by 30 percent – assesses one of the most effective players from last year’s competition. Patryk Dudek puts it similarly. – 30 percent can be forgiven. Or set PLN 4,000 for a point and PLN 300,000 for a signature – he says. To have a reference point, we suggest a look at the following expenses that players incur. Let’s add that these are not our journalistic speculations, but the amounts that the players themselves sign up to.

One of the world’s top players puts the matter quite concretely: – Unfortunately, when the epidemic broke out, it turned out again who I can count on and how I am treated by the club. I was left alone and the club has no idea how to solve the problem. Nothing consults me and other players. He doesn’t talk to us about this situation at all. Of course, I am aware of what is happening, I am ready to make concessions, but I also have the conviction that unfortunately some people want this situation

For me, speedway is also a business, and since I do not have a plus at the end of the year, it is pointless to go further and create debts so that someone else drinks cream and can warm up in the glow of medals, and we the most important moment not to help. I am also curious how much salaries in clubs, boards, board of directors of EŻ, supervisory board of EŻ will decrease, because I have not heard anything about cuts in these places. Nobody enumerated anything there.

Rafał Trojanowski, the caretaker of Wiktor Leopart, presents such an operation on numbers: – Let’s stop charming ourselves. Everyone knows perfectly well that under these conditions it is impossible to leave the season in the extraleague. We spent PLN 264,000 for the 2020 season, as of March 12. Let’s play Mr. Ostafiński, which is the calculation of this proposal. On average, you have to pay the team for the match, with bonuses, 50 points. At 18 matches this gives 900 points. 900 x 2,200 is PLN 1,980,000. Plus contracts of seven players for PLN 125,000. So a total of 875,000 PLN. Points plus contract are PLN 2,855,000. With VAT 3 511 650 PLN. Apparently, the clubs have budgets of around PLN 5 million.

• I can add that I do not understand this campaign against players – says Szymon Woźniak. – You can’t compare us to players because of the diametrically different costs incurred throughout the year, not only in the preparatory period, as if it would seem to many people. In such a difficult situation in which we all find ourselves, I believe that saving the world is best to start with ourselves, only then can you account for this from others … – he adds.

So many players. And what’s next? If the competition authorities announced a few weeks ago that due to the prevailing situation they were cutting off their monthly salary until the competition was restored, they would knock out a strong argument from the other side. If PGE Ekstraliga really starts in June, this gesture would have a de facto symbolic value in terms of money. It would probably be about two months. However, a very positive message would go into the world. And an example that everyone must take a step back. Or two.

There are many problems today. Some players have received a larger proportion of the amount for signing from clubs, others only symbolic, around 10 percent. It’s not presumptions, it’s facts. The execution of the so-called sponsorship agreements, i.e. money received outside the protocol, which from the beginning seemed threatening. For the sake of clarity – someone can say that the players’ calculations below largely apply not only to their extraliga activity, but to all-season activity. So, such points as team maintenance, travel costs and also the purchase and preparation of equipment also apply to driving in other leagues or individual championship events (GP, SEC). And it is not the role of PGE Ekstraliga to maintain the entire speedway business. Well, the following calculations, as players assure, apply only to their starts in the Polish league.

We found ourselves in the situation that some will lose less, while others will lose everything. Someone can say – since you spend a lot on the team, now you need to reduce this team. And he will probably be right. Only someone else has to tell the mechanics. And they to their families. Someone may say – since you paint your helmets, now you won’t just paint them, because you don’t have to. And he will probably be right too. The problem is that the virus caught us at the moment when most of the costs associated with the preparation for the season has already been incurred by the players. It reached us in the worst period, when everyone was waiting in the blocks armed to the ears. Someone can finally say – hey, after all the players did not mention a word about the fact that they also earn in other leagues and that they have private sponsors, some even an entire army. And he will be right too. Although the question arises whether these other leagues will even move. And in truth we mean one – Swedish. And another question, how will these sponsors pay this year? One honestly, another less.

Or maybe it is worth coming back to the roots and thinking about how you can make this sport cheaper. Look for these savings in equipment and restrictions. Restrictions on tires, motorcycles. Have people tried to find solutions?

 
The situation became difficult and … that’s what we expected. And it can only help, though it sounds trivial, conversation and an attempt to listen to the other party’s arguments. Going to mutual concessions. Those who do not drive, but rule, are probably aware that slag costs, and the specific earning system makes the discipline difficult and stressful (once one of the mechanics asked us, quite seriously – and volleyballers and basketball players how much do they get for the point?). However, those who drive should remember that club costs are not only the costs of maintaining players. And that the speedway of capitalist times is also a history of bankruptcies and falls (not to look far – Częstochowa, Lublin, Rzeszów), and the list is certainly open.

and the list is certainly open. Although looking for those responsible for these falls is a completely different story.

EXPENDITURE OF PGE EKSTRALIGA RIDERS

Patryk Dudek:

• Three complete, new motorbikes: PLN 150,000.
• Three engines, pre-season service: PLN 18,000.
• Spare parts for the season: PLN 39,000.
• Tires, 120 pieces: 30,000 PLN.
• Helmets, 4 pieces plus painting: 15,000 PLN.
• Kevlar, shoes, hems, protectors: 10,000 PLN.
• Services, 8 times: PLN 50,000.
• Insurance: PLN 40,000.
• ZUS (Social Security Office) and annual salary: PLN 276,000.
• Workshop, rent: PLN 30,000.
• Fuel, bus leasing: PLN 130,000.
• Total: PLN 788,000.
• Not counted: two motorbikes and two additional engines in the season, services, 4 kevlars and covers, 100 tires, fuel, planes, ferries, hotels, consumption – also related to the GP cycle and the Swedish league and many other small but important things .
• In the 2019 season, I won 139 points with bonuses. According to the proposed rates (points x PLN 2,200), this gives: PLN 305 800 + PLN 125 000 = PLN 430 800.

Martin Vaculik

• Expenses before the season: engines, motorbikes, parts, Kevlar, protectors, helmets, shoes, goggles, tools – minimum PLN 300,000.
• During the season: service of engines, tires, parts: minimum PLN 70,000.
• Team maintenance: minimum PLN 200,000.
• Additional costs: insurance, bus leasing, workshop, hotels, fuel, food – minimum PLN 200,000.
• Total: PLN 770,000.

Janusz Kołodziej:
PLN 1,021,587 – expenses for the 2019 season (together with the Grand Prix)
PLN 729 495 – expenses for the 2018 season
PLN 720,985 – expenses for the 2017 season

Emil Sajfutdinow:

• Pre-season shopping: PLN 130,000.
• Shopping with services in progress: 180,000 PLN.
• Team costs: 220,000 PLN.
• Other: PLN 105,000.
• Total: PLN 635,000.
• With the Speedway Extraleague proposal, this year’s revenue, based on the results of the 2019 season, may amount to PLN 540,000.

Szymon Woźniak:

• 3 complete new motorbikes: PLN 150,000.
• 3 engines – pre-season service: 18,000 PLN.
• Spare parts for the season: PLN 30,000.
• Tires, 120 pieces: 30,000 PLN.
• Helmets and painting, four pieces: PLN 15,000.
• Kevlar, shoes, hems, protectors: 10,000 PLN.
• Services, 8 times: PLN 50,000.
• Player insurance: PLN 15,000.
• ZUS and salary per year: PLN 150,000.
• Workshop, rent + utilities: PLN 30,000.
• Fuel, leasing and bus insurance: PLN 60,000.
• Physical preparation: PLN 10,000.
• Total: PLN 568,000.
• At this year’s rates for 121 points obtained a year ago, I would receive PLN 391,200 (121 x 2,200 + 125,000).

Wiktor Lampart

• Purchase of equipment and engines before the season: PLN 148,000 net
• Equipment costs during the season, tires, oil: 162,000 PLN
• Team maintenance costs: 120,000
• Additional costs (car, workshop, insurance, fuel, hotels): 62,000.
• ZUS, accounting, 6 months: PLN 3,672.
• Total: PLN 495 672.
• In 2020 I would earn PLN 318 600.

Tai Woffinden
In the 2019 season, I spent about 850,000 PLN. At the rates proposed for the 2020 season, I’d earn about PLN 474,800 in the Polish league a year ago.

Bartosz Smektała

• Equipment purchases before the season: PLN 215 278
• Cost of equipment during the season: PLN 98,000.
• Team maintenance cost: PLN 212,160.
• Additional costs (workshop, leasing, travel fuel, insurance): 112,300.
• Total: PLN 637 738.
• Simulation for the 2020 season: 125,000 plus 134 points times 2,200 PLN gives 419 800 PLN.