Boycott the USDGC?

[Three Putt]

Am's were brought in as a way to shuffle more cash toward the pros. Basically an am would win a disc prized at $8 (retail cost) but the disc only cost the promoter $5 (wholesale cost) and the extra $3 was siphoned into the pro purse (cash added.) The wholesale/retail differential has kept many a traveling pro disc golfer on the road.

 

[smyith]

^^^^haha. the a-wads around here sell dx discs at tourns for $9-11. but boast about 120% payout to ams, but they mark the discs up 40% over retail....haha they think were stupid and/or know that we dont have a choice if we want to play a tourn.
this is just another reason to support ams separately from pros.

*side question*
is it against the law to payout to ams in cash? even if its unsanctioned? just always wondered why ams cant recieve cash....

 

[DSmith]

Am's were brought in as a way to shuffle more cash toward the pros. Basically an am would win a disc prized at $8 (retail cost) but the disc only cost the promoter $5 (wholesale cost) and the extra $3 was siphoned into the pro purse (cash added.) The wholesale/retail differential has kept many a traveling pro disc golfer on the road.

AKA the AM Scam.

Not sure how widespread this practice still is but I personally don't do this. Should I as a TD? It would help out the pros but the flip side is that alot of ams know of this practice and its hard to pull it off with out them noticing. I personally use the wholesale /retail difference to pay for players packs and expenses. Any left over cash goes toward the next tournament with the idea of growing our tournaments.

This last year we tried a little experiment. We offered the idea of "Sponsored Player". If a player goes out and gets a business to sponsor them for $200 they gain a paid entry. Of course you could guess what happened.
"Pros" acquired zero sponsorship cash and a several "ams" acquired several $200 merch sponsors. Which I guess was good for us cause we didn't lose any money paying for pro entry fees.
Anyway the point is that I hate having to struggle to meet the minimum added cash for the pros every year because A) the ams don't see the justification in doing so and B) the Pros don't bother raising added cash for themselves.

 

[Jay Dub]

*side question*
is it against the law to payout to ams in cash? even if its unsanctioned? just always wondered why ams cant recieve cash....

Ams can't receive cash by definition. If a person is paid for doing something they are considered a pro. If an Am wants cash they have to play pro.

 

[DSmith]

*side question*
is it against the law to payout to ams in cash? even if its unsanctioned? just always wondered why ams cant recieve cash....

They can. You can do whatever you want if its non sanctioned.
The legit term though for Pro is someone who obtains cash payout and yes even prizes in value to payout is considered cashing. Ams technically should get trophies but if you did that your attendance would drop unless most of the entry went back to the every player in a player pack. The point of the payout structure the PDGA sets up is to legitimize the payout as to avoid trouble legally (gambling).

So yea you can payout ams in cash but the local powers that be would eventually frown on it and it may do more harm than good for us as a whole.

 

[DSmith]

Oh and MSRP for DX is now $9.99 sadly enough. Wholesale cost went up this year across the board.
But yeah you can sell a disc for whatever price you want as long as you arn't totally undermining other businesses.

 

[atl scott]

you can sell a disc for whatever price you want even if you are totally undermining other businesses.

FTFY

 

[Three Putt]

MSRP for DX is now $9.99 sadly enough.

Yeah, I really didn't mean it as a real-world example. Those were 1998 prices that I used. One of the reasons disc sellers push Candy plastics is that the mark-up over wholesale is greater. I talked to a guy recently who was making almost $8/disc selling Star plastic. When I started selling plastic, DX was all that there was and I made $2.15/disc. That extra $6/disc changes things significantly.

Wholesale pricing used to be pretty easy to find. Now you can still find it, but you have to look around a little. I don't think people want you to know how much they make selling us discs anymore. Back when we were only making $2, nobody really cared who knew.

 

[sillybizz]

Yeah, I really didn't mean it as a real-world example. Those were 1998 prices that I used. One of the reasons disc sellers push Candy plastics is that the mark-up over wholesale is greater. I talked to a guy recently who was making almost $8/disc selling Star plastic. When I started selling plastic, DX was all that there was and I made $2.15/disc. That extra $6/disc changes things significantly.

Wholesale pricing used to be pretty easy to find. Now you can still find it, but you have to look around a little. I don't think people want you to know how much they make selling us discs anymore. Back when we were only making $2, nobody really cared who knew.

I work in an exclusive Disc Golf shop. I think you can make tons of money off of star and champion if you raise your prices super high. Your PIAS type of places are making a ton off of premium plastic. Discs that cost more money are easier to raise prices on; a DX disc going to $10 is almost crazy talk but a Star disc for $17 isn't too uncommon but both are raising the price by $2. My shop sells DX at $8, Pro at $10, Champ at $12 and Star at $15. Our mark-up (which is more important than straight dollar amounts) is about the same on all the plastics and I frequently recommend DX discs.

 

[Three Putt]

My shop sells DX at $8, Pro at $10, Champ at $12 and Star at $15.

Our local sporting goods store has Pro-D marked at $12. :doh: I'd like to support them, but their horrible Gateway-heavy selection and atrocious prices makes it a no-go.

$8 Rocs, folks. Get them, sell them. People will come back for them. How complicated is that?

 

[sillybizz]

Our local sporting goods store has Pro-D marked at $12.

That's ridiculous.

 

[Tpro]

Disc Golf isn't taken seriously and I think most everyone knows why, people just don't want to talk about it.... Its not about who promotes us... Its how we promote ourselves...

 

[sillybizz]

Disc Golf isn't taken seriously and I think most everyone knows why, people just don't want to talk about it.... Its not about who promotes us... Its how we promote ourselves...

:thmbup: Agreed sir.

 

[mashnut]

Disc Golf isn't taken seriously and I think most everyone knows why, people just don't want to talk about it.... Its not about who promotes us... Its how we promote ourselves...

Do we all know why? I don't. There are a lot of reasons that could explain why disc golf isn't "taken seriously", most of which have nothing to do with how casual disc golfers present themselves.

 

[Tpro]

Their are many reasons.... Never said otherwise.. Also didn't say Everyone knows why. opcorn:

 

[Stan McDaniel]

I couldn't agree more. There are just as many amateur players out there bashing TD's, courses, player packs, & payouts.

Disagree.

 

[Stan McDaniel]

i have played at all levels of competition over the years including with a lot of top pros and the worst behavior by far was in the advanced division...

Not in my experience, I have to disagree.

 

[Stan McDaniel]

Disc Golf isn't taken seriously and I think most everyone knows why, people just don't want to talk about it.... Its not about who promotes us... Its how we promote ourselves...

B.S. When we have the numbers to entice sponsorship the money will talk and they won't care what we look like or how we act. Money talks and many 100's of thousands of disc golfers equal money.

 

[Tpro]

I'll go along with that Stan. The way you guys have it going on in the QC, 100's of thousands will end up being in CDGC alone!

 

[roadtripstuff]

B.S. When we have the numbers to entice sponsorship the money will talk and they won't care what we look like or how we act. Money talks and many 100's of thousands of disc golfers equal money.

Exactly. I will say EVERYONE. EVERYONE knows why disc golf isn't taken seriously and that's the fact that there isn't a whole lot of money to be made, period. The only people that want to watch disc golf are people that play disc golf, and while our numbers are growing they are no where near what it takes to make major bucks on advertisements and sponsorship. Why would espn want to air something that's going to attract 60,000 viewers, and that's if every disc golfer watches, when they could play reruns of the world cup and still get a million viewers? Seriously stop the why isn't disc golf taken serious conversations already, sheesh.