The Inevitable 2017 Pros Switching Sponsors Thread

[AndyJB]

And on top of all that, compared to other sports, disc golfers switching teams is fairly rare. Im kind of glad to see it, because the players need to absolutley do what'a best for them personally and financially.

 

[Buchajs1]

Melton to DD

 

[Three Putt]

It was kind of an unsustainable model to begin with, no? Launching the company and a massive sponsored team at the same time is counting on everything to take off like a rocket, and I think no matter what they did, it was going to be impossible to maintain it all for long.

Even if by any measure the company was a success right off (profitable in year one), that doesn't necessarily mean they'd be making enough to support a large team of players right away. Generally speaking, you'd expect a fledgling company to invest any profits into growth of the company. That would usually mean things like buying more molding machines, create a larger/more efficient distribution system, hiring more employees on the manufacturing side, etc. Might be tough to do that sort of stuff if they are paying an overly large sales team (which is essentially what a sponsor team is, a group of salespeople).

So while losing high profile players from their original team might look bad from the outside, it very well could be the best thing for the company (and their team) overall. They bit off more than they could chew initially, and now we're seeing a natural correction. Better this than trying to maintain the huge team and the facade of booming success and having the whole thing implode and close up shop "out of nowhere".

Random observation: Prodigy had this weird "the new CE" thing when it came out. People were buying stacks of it expecting it to be the new big thing. They were going to sit on the protos and wait for the price to skyrocket. So they got a big sales boost early from those guys buying in bulk for resale.

Then the discs really didn't take off like that. The discs you see now that are current discs selling for stupid money like they are the new CE is Legacy's stuff. The stupid mark-up resale market for Prodigy dried up.

Why did that initial excitement die off? The answer to that is probably the key to any problem Legacy faces keeping its players.

 

[jedeye]

Here is Paige Pierce's new DD bag:
http://dynamicdiscs.com/Disc-Golf-Team/Paige-Pierce/

 

[Stable]

What's going on at Prodigy that they can't keep their players?

It's always about people leaving Prodigy. You never hear about a big name player joining.

So, they still have Cale, Will, Uli and Cat? That's it from the original super team?

 

[jedeye]

Melton to DD

And here is Zach Melton's:
http://dynamicdiscs.com/Disc-Golf-Team/Zach-Melton/

Gotta say, I did not see this one coming (but I think it's cool).

 

[frasnow]

Here is Paige Pierce's new DD bag:
http://dynamicdiscs.com/Disc-Golf-Team/Paige-Pierce/

That was fast! Some disc companies take forever to update their websites. For example, she is still on the Prodigy site.

 

[Stable]

That was fast! Some disc companies take forever to update their websites. For example, she is still on the Prodigy site.

I don't think it was an impulse decision. Seemed to have been decided way in advance.

 

[Halcón]

It's always about people leaving Prodigy. You never hear about a big name player joining.

So, they still have Cale, Will, Uli and Cat? That's it from the original super team?

Yea, and Seppo Paju, who I assume does much to boost and push their sales in Finland (Europe). I'm not sure if he's an original though, but he joined early.

 

[Stable]

I think I prefer Prodigy as more of a humble company with their backs against the wall. More appealing than the Avengers/Justice League image they started out as.

 

[Big Nasty]

Look s like the Convict will be PP's signature disc. That didn't take long.

 

[phrumphkin]

Look s like the Convict will be PP's signature disc. That didn't take long.

Interesting.. Kind of like her Stalker replacement from her discraft days maybe?

 

[SD86]

Paige wasted no time in her announcement at 12:05 to Dynamic. https://instagram.com/p/BOtgnh9APxz/

Love it! Congratulations Paige and Dynamic!

 

[SD86]

Smashboxx announced Koling to Innova.

Awesome! Congrats Big Jerm and Innova!

 

[DanJon]

Look s like the Convict will be PP's signature disc. That didn't take long.

A Sig Disc was probably part of the deal.

Means more potential money for her.

 

[phrumphkin]

A Sig Disc was probably part of the deal.

Means more potential money for her.

Absolutely. But who can spill the dirt (or guess) what exactly happened at prodigy to make her leave the way she did? She didn't just leave politely after her contract was up, she was T.O.'d enough to stick it to them as much as possible... Started using swedish discs, stopped wearing their logo, stopped plugging prodigy in interviews/soundbites, etc. So, WTF was the start of it all???

 

[@iDiscGolf]

Absolutely. But who can spill the dirt (or guess) what exactly happened at prodigy to make her leave the way she did? She didn't just leave politely after her contract was up, she was T.O.'d enough to stick it to them as much as possible... Started using swedish discs, stopped wearing their logo, stopped plugging prodigy in interviews/soundbites, etc. So, WTF was the start of it all???

We all know there's a story and a falling out. But she has always seemed like a good person and prodigy has seemed suspect.

So all in all I'd say pretty much everyone is happy for her and excited she went to DD, cept prodigy... lol

 

[DiscJunkie]

So, WTF was the start of it all???

Most of the speculation surrounds 2015 Worlds and her win over Sara Hokum.
I forget what thread the speculation was in, but thinkin' it was the 2015 and 2016 "Pros Switching Sponsors" thread.

 

[discguy42]

Absolutely. But who can spill the dirt (or guess) what exactly happened at prodigy to make her leave the way she did? She didn't just leave politely after her contract was up, she was T.O.'d enough to stick it to them as much as possible... Started using swedish discs, stopped wearing their logo, stopped plugging prodigy in interviews/soundbites, etc. So, WTF was the start of it all???

I would like to know more about the problem and the contract terms.

The whole ordeal or her acting like a baby in this has made me not like/care about her.

You never heard Prodigy had mouthiing her or removing her from their advertising.

The way I see it is she signed a contract and failed on her end of it for the whole year, she signed it and should own up to her obligations of said deal.

I would not touch her with a 10 foot pole for any endorsement/sponsorship deals based on her previous actions of the year. Especially after she had bad mouthed Prodigy while drinking on a live Smashboxx tv episode.

She should have gotten legal help and got out of the contract if it was so bad/horrible at Prodigy and her DD deal could have started earlier since she was not hiding the fact she was throwing some DD already.

So in a nutshell...IMHO...PP is something that goes in the toilet.:thmbdown:.

Also Terry can spill the beans on this now, since he has had privileged info on this for almost a year now. Come on DG internet jouranalism!

 

[phrumphkin]

Also Terry can spill the beans on this now, since he has had privileged info on this for almost a year now. Come on DG internet jouranalism!

Now we're getting somewhere. :thmbup:
I think the smashboxxers and the dg answer-ish crews are too close to the athletes around them to do much actual journalism.. Terry wants to be on friendly terms with the pro's so he can grow the live coverage operation and have good access to the athletes... Kind of understandable. Ultiworld doesn't have a horse in the race, so they seem to report things more thouroghly.. But I don't think they get the gossip and rumors straight from the sources d/t not having the friendships with people like Paige?...