Ipswich Witches owner Chris Louis has told Sky Sports about the financial demands of running a speedway team. Regular funding is the lifeblood of any speedway team, whether it is the paying fans or a much-needed sponsorship deal, and the Witches boss is fully aware of the need to balance the books. Louis has admitted the financial pressures he faces are tougher and tougher as he attempts to prepare Ipswich for a new season. Its a motorsport so obviously its expensive and the numbers increasingly do not add up from the clubs side, the riders side and the fans side, he told Sky Sports.At the end of the day everyone has a budget, whether its the family budget and what you are going to spend it on, the riders budget; whether to buy clutch plates or an engine, it does not matter. Its all relative to the business and it is tougher and tougher. Riders view: Speedway life Danny King gives Sky Sports an insight into the life of a Speedway rider The role of sponsorship is important in all sports but increasingly so in speedway. All British teams have a title sponsor in their team name. For Ipswich, it has been the Ipswich Sackers Witches over the past few seasons, after a local recycling company sponsored the side, and Louis was keen to emphasise the role of sponsorship in speedway.Sponsorship in speedway is more important than it has ever been, as Im sure it is in other sports, said the former British champion. For my club at Ipswich, I can say that probably 10 years ago the club could just about survive without any sponsorship but the numbers dont add up now and without sponsorship - certainly in the six or seven years previous - the club would not have survived.The main income by far is still the terraces and it is now of a proportion of the total income that you cant do without. Sponsorship plays a vital role in the sport With most meetings running at a loss, Louis is keen to find a way to arrest this trend in the future, as the sponsorship money acts more as a safety net rather than a source of investment for improvement at the moment.He said: Basically your sponsorship budget nowadays is unfortunately set aside to offset the money you lose each meeting because very few meetings run at a profit. So you are calculating what you have lost each meeting and calculating that as a percentage of your sponsorship money hoping that you have enough budget to get to the end of the year.Weve got to improve that situation. No business can go on like that and we are looking all the time at improving that.But how do you entice a company to sponsor your team? Why would a sponsor want to advertise with a speedway club? Louis explains how a club sets about gaining sponsors for a season and admits its an aspect his own club is currently working hard on.You go out, you come up with proposals of what you want to give to a sponsor for their money, make it attractive as you can and the important thing is you deliver, said Louis. Chris Louis (l) is trying to boost the profile of Ipswich Witches We are going to up our game in that respect because those sponsors deserve a return for their money. They dont do it for the fun of it, people do have different agendas on why they are sponsoring a club. They might prefer to have an involvement in something rather than purely advertise on TV or in a magazine and put their budget to putting their name on a shirt or race suit.A lot of the time in any sport, particularly speedway, theyre a fan of the sport and enjoy the involvement on a race day and come up on the night and get involved and watch, so it is hugely important.Sky Sports have been involved in the sport having been title sponsors of the Elite League and broadcasting meetings for over 20 years now, but how do clubs source sponsorship?You always start with connections who then make a personal introduction to people. Our long-term sponsors have come from being brought to speedway from another sponsor and wanted to be involved. Saying they had a great night and enjoyed how close they can get to the team which does not happen in other sports and theyve just enjoyed themselves and want to be part of it.As Louis has touched on earlier, although sponsors provide a vital income to any speedway club, the main source of income still remains the general public.Without fans coming through the door, the club would struggle to survive and so promoting the club to current and potential new fans is just as important. Weve got to look at more successful clubs like Poole and look at what they do and improve what we do. Chris Louis We havent promoted ourselves very well to date, but thats another thing we are hoping to change for the better this year. We have a good relationship with the local newspaper which helps and are improving our presence online with a new website coming up in the new year.We are looking to get more involvement with the community and children at local schools in particular. Weve got to look at more successful clubs like Poole and look at what they do and improve what we do. Income from the terraces remains the clubs main income From the business side of speedway to a more touching side of the sport. Having discussed the financial struggles that live within the sport, it will be of no surprise to hear that clubs do not have an array of backroom staff with designated roles on a club salary. Instead clubs are made up from an army of volunteers who dedicate their time to the club purely out of their love for their club.Its all voluntary at Ipswich, said Louis. Clubs differ, the business model is different but at Ipswich we are all voluntary and without that, as important as the sponsors, the club would not survive without the people that readily give up their time to be part of it.There are roughly 40 people from press officers, website managers, track maintenance, track staff, officials, hospitality, turnstiles, programme editing and production, its probably around 50 actually. Also See: Inside Speedway: The Team Inside Speedway: Ownership NCAA Jerseys From China .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/ . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. 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LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Josh Allen eluded three would-be tacklers on a wild touchdown scramble from 7 yards out in the third overtime to lift Wyoming to a 40-34 win over Northern Illinois in a game that began nearly two hours late Saturday night due to thunderstorms and ended early Sunday morning.Christian Hagan missed a 38-yard field goal wide left at the start of the third overtime for Northern Illinois (0-1).Brian Hill finished with 125 yards rushing and two touchdowns, including a 5-yarder in the second overtime for Wyoming (1-0). The junior, who was the 8th-leading rusher in the FBS last year, went over 100 yards for the 12th time in his career. Drew Hares 1-yard scoring run for Northern Illinois forced a third overtime.At the start of the first overtime, Hare fumbled the snap on 3rd and goal from the 2 and Wyomings Logan Wilson recovered.Allens 2-yard scoring toss to Jacob Hollister snapped a 20-all tie late in the third quarter, but Hare led the Huskies on a 77-yard drive, converting a fourth-and-10 before hitting wide-open Shane Wimann for a 19-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the regulation.Wyoming freshman Cooper Rothe missed a 48-yard field goal at the end of regulation and 37-yarder at the end of the first overtime.It was a phenomenal win, Cowboys coach Craig Bohl said. We have steps to go, but were starting to see the stamp of the program we want to have.Allen, a sophomore who took only 13 snaps last season before suffering a broken clavicle, made his second career start. His winning run came on a third-down, play-action bootleg right, but Ladell Fleming forced him back to the left and Allen spun away from Jawuan Johnson and Sean Folliard, then cut straight up and ended a game that lasted four hours and 14 minutes.Coach told me to be smart about it and I probably should have thrown it away, Allen said. I looked back and our guys were there (to block), cut it back and made a guy miss and found a hole and dived in. Felt great.Allen finished 19 of 29 for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Hare was 24 of 39 for 329 yards -- the fourth-best output of his career -- with three touchdowns, and Kenny Golladay had 10 receptions for 144 yards and two TD catches. He also rushed for 82 yards and another score.The game was delayed one hour, 50 minutes by a series of thunderstorms. Kickoff didnt occur until 10:20 p.m. and the contest ended at 2:34 a.m.The late start and three-OT affair was an unusual experience, Golladay said.It was new for mee, he said.ddddddddddddIm sure just like everybody else, probably. Ive never done that. I dont know who has. It was a fun game. It just didnt come out in our favor.Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey said his team made too many mistakes. The kids played hard, but weve got a lot to correct, he said. I think theres enough blame to go around with all the sloppiness there was. Give Wyoming credit. We knew they were going to be improved, and they were everything we thought they were.Andrew Wingard, who led Wyoming with 12 tackles, twice stopped Golladay at the 2 in the first overtime when it appeared the fleet receiver would score. Mycial Allen led Northern Illinois with 13 stops.THE TAKEAWAYNORTHERN ILLINOIS:Northern Illinois is the winningest team of the Mid-American Conference over the last decade, so last years 8-6, injury-plagued campaign, capped by a fourth-straight bowl game loss, left the team hungry for a strong start to 2016 and return to form. The Huskies struggled against an inspired Cowboys team that was among the worst in the FBS last year, at least statistically. Hare appears to be fully recovered from a torn Achilles tendon that sidelined him for the final five games of last season, but his fumble at the end of the first overtime was costly.WYOMING: The Cowboys won only six games in coach Craig Bohls first two seasons, but this victory was a major step up for the beleaguered program. Bohl has vowed to restore the program the right way which might not be the fastest way, but his team made significant strides in the opener, being competitive throughout the whole game, which didnt occur very often last year. The defense looked much quicker and rose to the occasion at several key points, including shutting out the Huskies in two of the three overtimes and stopped seven of eight drives after giving up two first-quarter touchdowns.UP NEXTNORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies visit South Florida, the fourth meeting between the schools. The Bulls won the last encounter 27-3 in the final International Bowl, played in Toronto following the 2009 campaign to lead the series 2-1.WYOMING: The Cowboys travel to Nebraska, which leads the all-time series 7-0, including a 37-34 win in 2013s season opener in Lincoln. Wyoming racked up 602 yards against the No. 18 Cornhuskers and nearly overcame a late 16-point deficit. ' ' '