Question About Pro Disc Golf

[McFer]

There's two ways to do it: be young and have little in the way of debt or responsibilities, or be older and have a wife with a great job.

 

[The Birdie Beast]

Been wondering, do any of the guys on tour have side jobs, what are they? Who are the top non-touring pros? (brinster?)

 

[The Birdie Beast]

To add on to my last post, is koling sponsored by puma? (just noticing he's always wearing puma caps)

 

[Understable]

My guess is 75,000 just from winnings/ salary and bonuses. Plus some sort of stipend for gas/entry fees/food etc so lets say 5,000. There's roughly 80,000 there. And disc sales of about 20,000 maybe??? I bet 100,000 before expenses

Before expenses would be accurate. Say McBeth made (for arguement sake) $125,000. Then we think about the miles he put on his car, hotels, food, entertainment, etc. Think about travel...
- he had the McRide. How many times did he criss-cross the USA. Airfares to Sweden and I'm sure more than one.
- how much did he spend on tires and repairs?
- hotels for about 6 months of the year
- food for himself and his brother

Frankly, McBeth probably spent 30,000 while on the road and he probably was quite stingy with his money. I can see why RVs are big. I'm betting with all the cash he laid out the last couple of years is why he got a truck and a 5th wheel.

 

[mark996]

I'm still betting Innova pays a large part, if not all, for his airfare/hotel and that they pitched in on the McRide too.

The RV guys, McCabe and that caliber group, it works for them because I doubt DD is paying for much outside entry fees and gear, but for the likes of Wysocki, McBeth, Doss level, I bet they're getting comp'd a lot more than we think.

 

[filobedo]

I have never seen anyone pose this before but do the sponsors also pay the top full time pros health insurance and allow them to participate in company pension and 401(k) plans? I would think these aspects would definitely be considered by pros looking to the future.

 

[Pwingles]

Do top disgolfers get their air fair and lodging paid for by their sponsors? I saw first place at the Aussie open is $6000 AU and getting $6000 to play disc golf is awesome but after you take out taxes and travel expenses that is not much to live on. any pros on here who can speak to this?

According to Will when he was with innova, they (a top few) get a travel budget, i believe he said something pretty small like $500-$1000, and they cover the rest.

Things may have changed some but in reality, these guys mostly are pretty frugal and try to save money any way possible. Car pooling splitting accomodation costs or crashing for free at a friends (or making new friends to stay with) are really common.


* in terms of over seas stuff, im not 100% sure that was covered in the same conversation, meaning it could be a different allocation of money set aside, but i highly doubt it.
Id wager Paul probably has a solid amount covered but im sure he had expenses he had to come out of pocket for

 

[turbosteve]

The tour series discs that Innova has on their proshop website helps pay for touring expenses. Each player receives a couple dollars for each tour disc sold.

 

[JeremyKShort]

I've heard that some of the overseas tournaments cover some expensive for the top US players to show up. They get more players to show up when the top guys are there, so they want to make sure they can show.

 

[cjman]

Nate sexton said, while on Terry the disc golf guys podcast, that Innova was paying for him to go to the European Open along with McBeth.
Based on that, I'd bet Innova paid for Paul to go win Australia.

 

[Rowick]

Even if you don't get rich you still get to play the top disc golf courses in the world and get paid for it. and when you consider the average NFL Career is 3 1/2 years and those guys are in pain for there entire lives form age 25 on at best. I don't know 40K a year instead of seven figures but you'll be able to play with your grand kids? that sounds all right.

 

[sumo21]

Most sports, the athlete gets more money in endorsements than base salary. Just by what's said in forums and what not, it seems 50/50 in disc golf. What I'm waiting for is Nike to start producing disc golf equipment. Then we'll know the sport has hit it big.

 

[turbosteve]

I think this video will give you an indication to the amount of money Paul McBeth is making.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlKl3Fi8oGs

 

[jeffmonty]

After the Trojan MPO round at worlds last year, I saw McBeth drive off in a pretty pimped-out late model Dodge Charger with quite the gaudy Innova full decal job. He looked like he was doing ok. Then he stopped to pee in some trees on his way out, lol.

 

[DiscFifty]

I'd guess: 50k tourney money, 30k in disc sales, 15k in misc income = 95k gross income. Out of that comes food, gas, hotels, etc, etc, so I'd guess his net is around 70k for 2014. Nothing wrong with that.