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The Inevitable 2016 Pros Switching Sponsors Thread

DirtyMeathook said:
First let me say that in my experiences the Prodigy management team are a bunch of jerkoffs. However, you'll have to help me understand how the players were "duped." It seems pretty clear they were paid well for the first year of their contracts. They were the first manufacturer to offer salaries to their entire team. This set a new standard, and raised the bar for all other manufacturers contracts. Professional disc golfers have greatly benefited from Prodigy entering the market. Now, it is also pretty clear that their market share is not what they had hoped it would be, and it is trending in the wrong direction. So, they are unable to compensate their team at the level they did at their outset. That is not duping someone, that is how business works, you don't give people raises while you're losing money.
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In the early videos from the Prodigy team members it sounded like most of them thought as "owners" of the company they would have a long-term income, which would make playing disc golf a sustainable endeavor. Given the Prodigy "hug" at the Memorial and Will's shout of "Best Team Ever", I think they honestly believed this long-term income applied to the entire team. As in, they truly believed a brand-new company could fund that many top pros. This is where they were duped. The business types made them believe they could fund that many top pros for a long period, when it never would be possible. They couldn't even afford to hold on to the #2 player, at the time he left, current #1. The same year Prodigy lost Ricky they sent zero of those original top pros to the Aussie Open.

I don't know what was promised behind closed doors, but I never thought Prodigy had a sustainable business model funding that many top pros. The original team was only formed to build the brand; it wasn't formed to help those top pros have long-term careers as they appeared to believe.
 
frasnow said:
In the early videos from the Prodigy team members it sounded like most of them thought as "owners" of the company they would have a long-term income, which would make playing disc golf a sustainable endeavor. Given the Prodigy "hug" at the Memorial and Will's shout of "Best Team Ever", I think they honestly believed this long-term income applied to the entire team. As in, they truly believed a brand-new company could fund that many top pros. This is where they were duped. The business types made them believe they could fund that many top pros for a long period, when it never would be possible. They couldn't even afford to hold on to the #2 player, at the time he left, current #1. The same year Prodigy lost Ricky they sent zero of those original top pros to the Aussie Open.

I don't know what was promised behind closed doors, but I never thought Prodigy had a sustainable business model funding that many top pros. The original team was only formed to build the brand; it wasn't formed to help those top pros have long-term careers as they appeared to believe.
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I don't think I'd be quite so harsh on management. I've seen top level owners convince themselves of impossible things many times, often ignoring very basic yet solid realities that counter their beliefs. That was the mortgage bubble writ large. Even more, there were experts saying it wasn't sustainable and leaders in the finance world laughed at those experts.

I'd guess Prodigy convinced themselves they were gonna take Innova down a notch.
 
Prodigy did take Innova down a notch. As frasnow said, Prodigy brought all the talent in by increasing the sponsorship package vs Innova. The bar has been raised, now other companies have caught up and surpassed Prodigy.
 
Now Lat64 and DD are poaching all the old Prodigy guys. Circle of life.

Now the Lion King soundtrack is stuck in my head.
 
frasnow said:
In the early videos from the Prodigy team members it sounded like most of them thought as "owners" of the company they would have a long-term income, which would make playing disc golf a sustainable endeavor. Given the Prodigy "hug" at the Memorial and Will's shout of "Best Team Ever", I think they honestly believed this long-term income applied to the entire team. As in, they truly believed a brand-new company could fund that many top pros. This is where they were duped. The business types made them believe they could fund that many top pros for a long period, when it never would be possible. They couldn't even afford to hold on to the #2 player, at the time he left, current #1. The same year Prodigy lost Ricky they sent zero of those original top pros to the Aussie Open.

I don't know what was promised behind closed doors, but I never thought Prodigy had a sustainable business model funding that many top pros. The original team was only formed to build the brand; it wasn't formed to help those top pros have long-term careers as they appeared to believe.
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I'd buy that assessment. It's pure speculation though.
 
Nah man, were talking Trillogy. Total Eclupse of the Harp.
 
Prodigy forgot rule 1:

You make money in this sport off ams, not pros.

There's a reason Innova and Discraft have stepped up with signing ambassadors and Juniors.
 
cjdiscgolf said:
Prodigy forgot rule 1:

You make money in this sport off ams, not pros.

There's a reason Innova and Discraft have stepped up with signing ambassadors and Juniors.
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Prodigy is signing ambassadors as well. They sure don't have me on the team to be good at disc golf.
 
cjdiscgolf said:
Prodigy forgot rule 1:
You make money in this sport off ams, not pros.
There's a reason Innova and Discraft have stepped up with signing ambassadors and Juniors.
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True, and let me extend this before it goes on a tangent: they make money selling discs and equpment to ams. Signing ambassadors and Juniors is just fine, but it's disc sales that count... and IMHO that is one place Prodigy continues to be behind Innova, Discraft and (the rising stars of) Trilogy.
 
SD86 said:
True, and let me extend this before it goes on a tangent: they make money selling discs and equpment to ams. Signing ambassadors and Juniors is just fine, but it's disc sales that count... and IMHO that is one place Prodigy continues to be behind Innova, Discraft and (the rising stars of) Trilogy.
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One other point i meant to make about this is that Prodigy should be selling discs to the ams, but they have a huge gap between Speed 10 to Speed 13; and to be honest, the H-series isn't 'all that', so it's really a gap between Speed 7 or so and Speed 13 discs. The Prodigy pros may be okay with that, but it's an issue for casual players.
 
SD86 said:
They (Prodigy) have a huge gap between Speed 10 to Speed 13; and to be honest, the H-series isn't 'all that', so it's really a gap between Speed 7 or so and Speed 13 discs. The Prodigy pros may be okay with that, but it's an issue for casual players.
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Ugh! SO MUCH THIS!!! I love Prodigy. I used to bag nearly all Prodigy. But the H-Series is just flat out inferior. Yes, their drivers have consistency issues, but their mids and putters are phenomenal and dat A-Series! Love it. But, the H's? Oh, com'n! I tried hard to like them, but they just don't measure up to the competition in any way.
 
Looks like Henrik Johansen is moving on from Prodiscus. I saw he posted a Kastaplast disc for a charity auction, think he is going to them? or maybe going to a larger company?
 
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