The British Speedway Promoters Association has retained the existing three-division format for 1999. They also appeared to spend a lot of time discussing gimmicky measures such as six lap final heats and changing the race numbering. Hopefully most of these hare brained schemes will be quietly dropped after they have been thought-through properly.

As things stood at the Elite League was to consist of 10 tracks. Eight of these tracks were in the Elite League last year including Wolverhampton, Coventry, Swindon, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Poole, Eastbourne, and Oxford. Belle Vue were reported to be applying for the Premier League while Hull and Peterborough were to step up to the Elite League.

This leaves a Premier League consisting of 13 clubs. Eleven of the 1998 tracks will remain Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick, Newcastle, Sheffield, Stoke, Reading, Arena Essex, Isle of Wight, Exeter, and Newport. They were expected to be joined by Belle Vue and newcomers Workington. The points limit for the Premier League was 41 points. This meant that most teams apart from Arena Essex and Stoke would have to lose riders. Even second bottom Berwick would have to be weakened.

The season was due to start with the regionalized qualifiers for a new competition in place of the Premier League Cup. The Cup will revert back to a pure knockout format. The Premier League and the Young Shield will continue as before except that it was possible to use the pre-season competition as qualifiers rather than the Premier League itself. This is intended to avoid the problems of late completion of fixtures preventing the Young Shield first round matches from starting.

The whole structure of the Premier League competitions was put in jeopardy by potential changes in membership.

The first hint of change was that Kings Lynn, having struggled in the Elite League in 1998 were reported to be considering whether to drop down into the Premier League for financial reasons.

Simultaneous, Belle Vue were reconsidering their previous decision to leave the Elite League. This appeared to be on the basis of team building. Belle Vue were unable to use many of their current assets including Jason Lyons, Nikolas Klingberg, and Frede Schott in the Premier League because their averages were too high. In addition others of their riders who would have been eligible including Chris Manchester and Charlie Venegas were ruled out by a Department of Employment ruling that riders requiring work permits could not ride in the Premier League. It was felt that Belle Vue might be forced to remain in the Elite League.

Since then other Elite League clubs have intimated that they may have to drop down. Swindon appeared to have difficulties in recruiting a team for the Elite League at the pay rates they have budgeted for. A drop to the Premier League seems likely. Peterborough also appear to be staying in the Premier League following the decision of Kings Lynn. This was because of the potential for derby matches between Peterborough and Kings Lynn. There were even rumours that Ipswich were considering going Premier. Ipswich were having problems with team building in the Elite League because of the very tight 40 point limit.