Adidas sponsors Paul McBeth

[corin_brown]

That totally defeats the purpose of being sponsored. If Adidas wanted Paul to wear their polos and slacks then they would have given them to him and put it in the contract, it doesn't cost the company that much. It's a pretty weak sponsorship, so can't really blame Paul for so called "weak" representation and likely has no contractual obligation. He is sponsored by Innova, but not wearing their polos or slacks.

Exactly correct. If PM does anything more than what is in his contract w/Adidas, he's wrecking his own leverage as a professional. I'm actually surprised that he doesn't cover up the Nike & Puma logos. As long as you already give a company free advertising, why should they feel compelled to pay for it? If and when he gets an agent, that's all over.

And all the other pros who wear logos of companies who don't pay them a cent, they're just giving away their value as a professional athlete for free. It's not professional. It's amateur hour.

 

[sidewinder22]

Exactly correct. If PM does anything more than what is in his contract w/Adidas, he's wrecking his own leverage as a professional. I'm actually surprised that he doesn't cover up the Nike & Puma logos. As long as you already give a company free advertising, why should they feel compelled to pay for it? If and when he gets an agent, that's all over.

And all the other pros who wear logos of companies who don't pay them a cent, they're just giving away their value as a professional athlete for free. It's not professional. It's amateur hour.

Imagine if the PDGA was sponsored like other sports organizations. The NFL has strict rules about player sponsorship, fining players for wearing other logos, or players even using the NFL name or their own uniform for certain things.

 

[corin_brown]

Imagine if the PDGA was sponsored like other sports organizations. The NFL has strict rules about player sponsorship, fining players for wearing other logos, or players even using the NFL name or their own uniform for certain things.

Yup. No free rides.

 

[Halcón]

Yea, I guess you guys are right. I wasn't thinking about it from a contractual point of view.

 

[mark996]

Kind of surprised to see no one has mentioned Hanna Leatherman and Chris Brophy being "picked up" by Adidas Outdoor as well.

 

[dontBLAMEtheDISC]

Kind of surprised to see no one has mentioned Hanna Leatherman and Chris Brophy being "picked up" by Adidas Outdoor as well.

I found this interesting as well. How many more players getting "picked up" before Nike etc gets interested also?

 

[corin_brown]

Kind of surprised to see no one has mentioned Hanna Leatherman and Chris Brophy being "picked up" by Adidas Outdoor as well.

I caught that too. But I think the novelty of an Adidas deal has worn off pretty fast, especially after so many lofty dollar amounts ($50k/yr!) for McBeth's deal have been conclusively shot down.

There's no chance that these new Adidas deals are any sweeter than McBeth's deal and now that we know McBeth's deal is on the modest side, there's not much point in getting too excited over the new ones, I guess. Of course, any sponsorship is still a good thing.

Maybe when Adidas pays McBeth enough to make him stop wearing Nike & Puma gear too while he plays on TV, then an Adidas deal will generate some more buzz.

 

[heartman]

opcorn:

 

[filobedo]

Has anyone confirmed that Adidas is sponsoring the disc golfers or if an Adidas rep is sponsoring disc golfers? Growing up surfing many of my friends appeared to be sponsored by several companies (Reef, Shark watches, Bolle sunglasses, clothing manufacturers, etc.) but they were sponsored by a sales rep that representate several different surf companies to generate sales locally.

 

[corin_brown]

Nice piece on Adidas & disc golf.

http://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016/04/11/inside-deal-brought-adidas-disc-golf/

 

[Didn'tSeeThatTree]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting and well written article. Grassroots sponsorships hmmm, kind of a field test for Adidas in the disc golf market. From the sales numbers mentioned in the article it sounds very favorable!

 

[allinpflop]

It's funny when it was announced that Paul was sponsored by Adidas and I suggested he might just get a couple pairs of shoes everyone attacked my obvious stupidity on this thread.....

 

[tbird888]

It's funny when it was announced that Paul was sponsored by Adidas and I suggested he might just get a couple pairs of shoes everyone attacked my obvious stupidity on this thread.....

Nobody likes a sore winner*...

...and they were too busy coming up with his Jordan-level salary.





*You've only posted twice in this thread. Once above and the first time you said it was bad form for anyone to expect Paul to reveal the details of his sponsorship. Not sure who attacked you where, but it wasn't in this thread.

 

[allinpflop]

You are correct....it was a different thread....

 

[armiller]

So... anyone else notice McBeth rockin' the swoosh these days?

 

[Atvizory2000]

So... anyone else notice McBeth rockin' the swoosh these days?

Yeah Ive noticed that this year. I guess Adidas doesnt sponsor him anymore.

 

[dehaas]

Pure speculation on my behalf, but I'm guessing he was looking for more money than last year. The year before it was just free merch, last year he "held out" until he landed a cash deal.

The smart play would be to point out how many more trail shoes they've sold in the last 2 years as leverage for more money. I'm sure that is a tiny slice of their business though, and ultimately it's about return on investment.

 

[eric40817]

I may be making this up but I could have sworn I saw something about him leaving Adidas

 

[mmblink86]

I'm sure that is a tiny slice of their business though, and ultimately it's about return on investment.

Yup.

Everyone who thinks Paul (including himself) moves the ROI needle (outside of the disc golf industry) needs to readjust their view of his brand power.

 

[Geer_Boggles]

The smart play would have been to simply keep the sponsorship, grow the sport's presence and allow Adidas to see the rewards themselves. They have people employed for this purpose, Paul (or any athlete for that matter) won't be able to convince them otherwise.

With Adidas out of the DG picture, the sport lost one of its main avenues for reaching audiences outside of DG.