2017 USDGC

[bhadella]

There was a basket in long 18 on Sunday... in fact, all holes with multiples had 2 basked for practice I assume. And of course we played 18 long!

They had only the "A" baskets in place on Sat, presumably to not confuse the US Dubs players. I'm jelly, 18S is really boring as a lefty MA2 player (dumb a hyzer in safe, upshot, tap in) but then 18L gets really interesting.

 

[ScottyLove]

They had only the "A" baskets in place on Sat, presumably to not confuse the US Dubs players. I'm jelly, 18S is really boring as a lefty MA2 player (dumb a hyzer in safe, upshot, tap in) but then 18L gets really interesting.

Would never want to try #18 lefty! We did have one guy in our group whiz his perfect laser beam second shot right into the short basket attempting to go to the long! It was hilarious... especially with Eagle McMahon laughing form the balcony.

 

[SD86]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was stated that once the pdga funds were offered up it didn't leave enough turn around time to make a live broadcast happen.

Aka we'd rather stick to the original plan instead of trying to make too much happen at the last minute..

There was plenty of time, and people willing to do the live broadcast. The DGWT (a.k.a. Jussi) simply REFUSED to allow it, especially after their excuse about not having the money got called out and debunked by the PDGA's monetary offer.

 

[Harold Duvall]

The decision was the USDGC Team's.

Live broadcasting was a big part of past USDGCs, and it would be nice to view live broadcasts at a future USDGC. As the passionate fan base increases and the live broadcasts hone their audience engagement, live broadcast becomes more viable. The live broadcast needs to enhance the experience not only for the passionate disc golf fan at home, but for the USDGC stakeholders including staff, media, competitors, attendees our hosts and our sponsors.

 

[tom12003]

Oh... it is my favorite subject (sarcasm)... why doesn't USDGC have live coverage.
Answer: They don't want it, it isn't in their plan. If you don't like it reach out to Jussi & the PDGA.

Real answer is the high number of volunteers needed on a Monday; many of those available volunteers were still doing course fine-tuning issues. More volunteers are arriving tomorrow and live scoring will be available for the real tournament on Wednesday.

 

[Flick Maniac]

In a few senses, ones that matter, they are doing the same thing. Both are a series, with recognition of the series winner. Both have a promotion element. My comments speak only to the promotion side. There, DGWT is losing imo. Heck they're losing out to some A tiers in terms of coverage and promotion in my view.

Well.. Different foci. DGPT is an US tour, therefore obviously has more draw with fans there. Also it is natural for the US top pros to tour there and thus increase the interest of the fans. Internationally, I dont know what the interest level is with anyone but the die-hard fans. DGWT success should really be measured internationally. Of course, with the majority of DG fans being in the US they will have lots of say whether that is attained or not, but I am trying to stress that the two are shooting for different things and shouldnt really be be compared 1:1.

Disclaimer: 2nd time typing this (stupid phone!) so this may make less sense than the first version. Cest la vie.

 

[1978]

Some results from today's USDGC Doubles for hole 9 (where I spotted)--50% carded a birdie 3, 40% parred, and 10% bogey or more. 29 drives ended OB and 22 approach shots went OB; all but 7 teams were saved by their partner's shot from using the drop zone and penalty (one team had to use the drop zone twice). Bottom line, avoid an OB and its a birdie (3) or die hole. Did have a sweet 210' throw in eagle, the first eagle I've seen after spotting every shot on that hole for 8 years. Predicting the pros next week 70+% will get a birdie 3.

We found if you just sidearm and hit the stadium wall its an easy putter throw to the basket on the inside tunnel. There is no use playing with the OB, just throw it into the wall and take the easy 3. Agree with your 70%

 

[DinosaurThunder]

There was plenty of time, and people willing to do the live broadcast. The DGWT (a.k.a. Jussi) simply REFUSED to allow it, especially after their excuse about not having the money got called out and debunked by the PDGA's monetary offer.

Didn't he also mention live streaming impacts the view counts on post-produced videos? I would be curious to see data supporting that... I would think the ~5k people tuning into the live stream, are also watching the post production vids. I doubt it has a large impact, if any , to the overall "DGWT" package he wants to sell to future investors. Maybe he could save the cash they invest into a lack luster Australia tournament, host another one stateside or in Europe to make more money (spectator/merch sales & more players registering) and invest a portion into marketing the live stream product to increase that view number to 10k. Just think of the advertisement opportunities to those 10k people - offering discount codes etc. so people spend money while watching. Also, I can't imagine bringing the Smashboxx crew to USDGC is that expensive, especially since Jonny V is in Wisco running all of the controls/implementing stats.

 

[Lazerface]

I like the posts and the concept. I would prefer very straight edged narrow bushes that you see in nicely landscaped yards as they accomplish the same thing and don't look so ugly. There is certainly the right bush out there somewhere.

I also am a bit worried about an otherwise very good sidearm approach hitting one and taking a long roll, but it's the players job to avoid that and there is plenty of landing room on the other side of the basket. Overall, I LIKE IT!

 

[jvphobic]

Didn't he also mention live streaming impacts the view counts on post-produced videos? I would be curious to see data supporting that... I would think the ~5k people tuning into the live stream, are also watching the post production vids. I doubt it has a large impact, if any , to the overall "DGWT" package he wants to sell to future investors. Maybe he could save the cash they invest into a lack luster Australia tournament, host another one stateside or in Europe to make more money (spectator/merch sales & more players registering) and invest a portion into marketing the live stream product to increase that view number to 10k. Just think of the advertisement opportunities to those 10k people - offering discount codes etc. so people spend money while watching. Also, I can't imagine bringing the Smashboxx crew to USDGC is that expensive, especially since Jonny V is in Wisco running all of the controls/implementing stats.

Last year, that was one of the reasons that Jussi gave was that it would separate the eyeballs and stats. And remember that the 5K that watch is *concurrent*. That usually breaks down to about 3x the amount for unique viewers. People come in and come out basically. I don't think that watching live hurts the post produced stuff by more than a few hundred viewers. Just the people that keep themselves in the dark and try to keep it a surprise rather than watch live.

But, it isn't cheap to get 3 guys from WI to SC for 4 or 5 days. Flights, lodging, salary, etc.

I hope we do get to work with the USDGC again in the future. It is a fun event with a lot of top talent.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Another factor is freelance video teams not hired by nor under the control of the event underwriters likely need to run ads and promotional pieces for companies not directly contributing to help run the event. Controlling the media helps control the message(s).

 

[jvphobic]

Another factor is freelance video teams not hired by nor under the control of the event underwriters likely need to run ads and promotional pieces for companies not directly contributing to help run the event. Controlling the media helps control the message(s).

Chuck, you are somewhat correct. If we were paid by USDGC, we would abide by whatever they wanted us to show for ads. The same for PDGA.

These are usually all things we try to work out before we finalize any agreement with an event.

 

[lyleoross]

Didn't he also mention live streaming impacts the view counts on post-produced videos? I would be curious to see data supporting that... I would think the ~5k people tuning into the live stream, are also watching the post production vids. I doubt it has a large impact, if any , to the overall "DGWT" package he wants to sell to future investors. Maybe he could save the cash they invest into a lack luster Australia tournament, host another one stateside or in Europe to make more money (spectator/merch sales & more players registering) and invest a portion into marketing the live stream product to increase that view number to 10k. Just think of the advertisement opportunities to those 10k people - offering discount codes etc. so people spend money while watching. Also, I can't imagine bringing the Smashboxx crew to USDGC is that expensive, especially since Jonny V is in Wisco running all of the controls/implementing stats.

15,000 out of one million is a pretty low number. Even out of the 170000 that JV mentioned, it's small.

 

[lyleoross]

Another factor is freelance video teams not hired by nor under the control of the event underwriters likely need to run ads and promotional pieces for companies not directly contributing to help run the event. Controlling the media helps control the message(s).

Ahhhhh, please disregard all other posts. Chuck hammer in hand, meets nail.

 

[lyleoross]

Chuck, you are somewhat correct. If we were paid by USDGC, we would abide by whatever they wanted us to show for ads. The same for PDGA.

These are usually all things we try to work out before we finalize any agreement with an event.

Yes, but that's the point. In one case the costs can be spread, in the other Innova, in order to control the message gets the whole bill.

 

[lyleoross]

Well.. Different foci. DGPT is an US tour, therefore obviously has more draw with fans there. Also it is natural for the US top pros to tour there and thus increase the interest of the fans. Internationally, I dont know what the interest level is with anyone but the die-hard fans. DGWT success should really be measured internationally. Of course, with the majority of DG fans being in the US they will have lots of say whether that is attained or not, but I am trying to stress that the two are shooting for different things and shouldnt really be be compared 1:1.

Disclaimer: 2nd time typing this (stupid phone!) so this may make less sense than the first version. Cest la vie.

I'm going to argue that the two audience are less diverse than one might think. The EO engenders as much conversation in the US as any major.

 

[JC17393]

Another factor is freelance video teams not hired by nor under the control of the event underwriters likely need to run ads and promotional pieces for companies not directly contributing to help run the event. Controlling the media helps control the message(s).

Who's talking about freelance, though? Has there been a suggestion that if Smashboxx were brought in to handle a live broadcast, that they wouldn't comply with whatever overall media plan/message that DGWT/USDGC/SpinTV wants? I would imagine that the live stream could and probably would be done through the SpinTV channel, no differently than when CCDG or Jomez doing the post-produced videos that get released through Spin rather than on their own individual channels.

I mean, Smashboxx's broadcasts of DGPT events (streamed on DGPT's channel) look and feel different than their broadcasts of NT events. Yes, Terry (and Jonny behind the scenes) is a constant, but the graphics are different, the scoring apparatus is different, and generally speaking the ads are different. I would think if Steve were more concerned about branding and consistency like Jussi, any mention of Smashboxx (including the concurrent stream on the Smashboxx channel) could be easily suppressed.

Just my observation about how things went down last year, I can kinda see why Jussi bristled at the somewhat last minute effort to get the USDGC covered live (even if his public reasons were sketchy at best). There may have been time for Smashboxx to get there and pull the broadcast off with PDGA financing, but certainly not enough time for DGWT to put together what Jonny calls "assets" for that broadcast. They may not have had enough ads or ads of the proper length to use for a live broadcast. All their Metrix information was geared for post-production rather than live, so scoring graphics would be lacking. Basically, they wouldn't have been able to brand the broadcast the way they wanted, which is understandable given how they've operated.

Thing is, all of that could have been corrected and accounted for by planning to do live coverage this year. But clearly Jussi and company want nothing to do with live broadcasts unless they're TV broadcast quality like they have had in Finland. Which is truly disappointing as someone who has no real interest in watching post-produced videos.

I do wish the PDGA would be stronger in putting their foot down with regard to media rights at Major events. By putting the sanction on the event, they have ownership of it as much as the hosts do. If they want to bring in a crew to do live broadcasts, and finance it themselves, they should be able to do so even if the host doesn't want it.

 

[Flick Maniac]

Dude check out some Jomez. I mean, live has the "going on right now, wow" feeling and the chat is a big thing, but seriously when I know I can get the Jomez package soon after, I wont stay up watching skippy live unless I have to. Time difference of course plays a big part but I feel like it might be the same even if it was during more opportune hours.

 

[lyleoross]

Dude check out some Jomez. I mean, live has the "going on right now, wow" feeling and the chat is a big thing, but seriously when I know I can get the Jomez package soon after, I wont stay up watching skippy live unless I have to. Time difference of course plays a big part but I feel like it might be the same even if it was during more opportune hours.

Yes, different people like different things. I love Jomez and support them. I also love live and support Smash.

 

[PoorPutter]

I like the posts and the concept. I would prefer very straight edged narrow bushes that you see in nicely landscaped yards as they accomplish the same thing and don't look so ugly. There is certainly the right bush out there somewhere.

Pencil holly, perhaps? Or something like it.