Eastbourne chief Bob Dugard has spelt out the hurdles facing his beloved club if they are to run next season.

And it is not just about fears of losing the television deal with Sky Sports.

Elite League clubs would lose an annual payment of about £100,000 if Sky pulls the plug when their current contract runs out at the end of the season.

Throw in falling attendances and a congested fixture list and it is getting harder each year to keep Eagles afloat.

Team manager Trevor Geer and co-promoter Mike Bellerby, who takes care of admin, recently revealed they have worked without pay for several years.

And two key members of the club’s hierarchy have suffered serious health issues.

So, with their league season now complete, Eagles will wait with bated breath to see whether Sky will renew.

Then comes the tough task of making sure the league runs on a solid financial footing next season.

Dugard, the club’s senior co-promoter and joint-owner of Arlington Stadium, tried to take a back seat several years ago.

Now 71, he runs his family business five days a week and underwent heart surgery last winter.

Meanwhile commercial manager Chris Macdonald, who has been a key player behind the scenes in recent years, is on a long road to recovery after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia.

So there are local and national challenges facing Eagles, the only Saturday night track in the Elite League and probably the club with the least densely-populated catchment area.

Dugard said: “I believe there are tracks out there in a serious financial plight.

“We will not lose less than £70,000 this year.

“Our average paying crowd this season is 770. That is the lowest I can ever remember it being.

“We need 1,100 to break even. When you take VAT out of it you are looking at a shortfall of £4,300 per meeting.

“There is one other issue and that is my age and health. I’m not that good physically and I can’t run it the way I used to.

“I can’t see anyone out there about to step up and take on all the work and the financial risk.

“I will know more in between six weeks and two months but it is not looking that good.

“I want to make people aware we are struggling.”

Eastbourne currently opt not to run on Saturdays when is a Grand Prix.

But they are getting harder to avoid, with 12 GPs now on the fixture list and four meetings in the revamped European Championship.

The opening GP of the season is in New Zealand and therefore runs on Saturday morning our time.

But Eagles must decide whether to run against the remaining 15 meetings. At present, they do not.

Dugard is not happy with the grip such international individual meetings, which rely on star riders from clubs across Europe, hold on the sport.

He added: “They live off the back of the British league, the Polish league and the Swedish league. They utilise our assets and take the prime race days.

“There are three or four clubs who would love to race on Saturdays like we do.

“My own thinking would be to break away from GPs or get someone to put them in their place.

“The FIM (international governing body) is not fit for purpose. Their job is to improve the sport but they do nothing but destroy it.

“GPs should be forced to run on different nights. Don’t just occupy Fridays and Saturdays. People might struggle to get to midweek GPs but that would bring home the struggle the rest of us face.”

Dugard has not given up hope of changes being made which can help the sport and would love to get younger people involved at Eagles.

He said: “I’m a traditionalist. I never thought there was that much wrong with the sport other than it seems to have gone out of fashion.

“We are a minority sport and should try to adapt to that. Speedway has lots of good things going for it.”

Deal or no deal, changes are afoot

Not everyone is as worried about the future of Elite League racing as Bob Dugard.

Rumours have spread over recent days that the league is set for a showdown meeting with Sky Sports to discuss the future of their agreement.

A well-placed source has told The Argus such a scenario is unlikely. More probable is that Sky will simply tell speedway “yes” or “no”.

If it is a “no” then the sport will look elsewhere for a deal. But there is school of thought within the sport that speedway offers Sky a good deal.

A source said: “We don’t just ask them to come and film our meetings. We are very flexible and allow them to run meetings in a way that suits them.”

Even if they get a TV deal, the Elite League will be wary about putting too much of the proceeds straight into the riders’ pockets.

The Argus understands a likely scenario would be for clubs to race each other home and away twice, making for 36 league meetings.

Riders would see a reduction in points money but the chance to earn more over the course of a season if they race all the fixtures, albeit with increased overheads.

That could lead to fewer overseas riders appearing in the Elite.