Mad City Open Changes

[ru4por]

I've been saying it for years (since I moved here) but I'll say it again... How Madison handles their disc golf courses is silly. Requiring a permit to play in public parks is beyond me. The thought of having to get permits to play on playgrounds or on basketball courts is ridiculous, yet it's okay for disc golf? People can walk the courses for free, but as soon as you start throwing a Frisbee (God forbid), payment is required. It's nonsense.

I rolled my eyes when I saw that permits would be required for all tournament players. You would think that the tax revenue that out-of-town tournament players bring in through lodging, food, etc... would easily offset this fee. Oh well. Having a Madison City Open without actually playing any of the Madison courses will be a blast, right??

Yeah. Seems pretty silly. Around here, if you bring in 200 people for a basketball tournament, half marathon, triathlon, bike race.....they all need permits and are subjected to some silly guidelines. But, it is across the board for all.

 

[Darkgreen]

Sounds like it is time to go past the Parks Department and starting making some stern and yet polite phone calls and emails to the city council.

 

[ru4por]

Sounds like it is time to go past the Parks Department and starting making some stern and yet polite phone calls and emails to the city council.

Usually parks systems are not disc golf enterprises. They don't run profits off disc golf. It is a pretty large infrastructure investment and larger maintenance investment. In going to them, voicing displeasure in their rules or financial structure, is to do so from a position of weakness.
Before doing so, somebody (ideally a co-op of the local clubs and TD's) needs to put together a business presentation, detailing what disc golf does and can do for the park system. Specifically addressing the opportunities for the parks to maximize profit. Also need to determine the current pain points the resulted in the parks instituting the undesirable policies to begin with.
I fear, in the long run, the parks are using the policies to accomplish some of the above, and there will be little that the disc golf community can to to mitigate the loss of revenue by reversing some of those policies.

 

[Glide]

I have worked with the same parks department for many years. I've run C, B and A Tiers as well as a Major and have found them easy to work with.

This is on squarely on the tournament director not having his act together.

 

[roggenb3]

This is on squarely on the tournament director not having his act together.

That doesn't surprise me either.

I already had 2 out-of-towners at other events this year tell me they weren't going to play MCO due to all the shenanigans last year.

 

[Glide]

That doesn't surprise me either.

I already had 2 out-of-towners at other events this year tell me they weren't going to play MCO due to all the shenanigans last year.

For the record, I dislike disc golf drama very much. I believe people are inherently good including those running the MCO this year. That said, they aren't the right people for the job. This is there third year. By all accounts, the first one went o.k. There were some issues last year and more of the same this year.

In the grand scheme of things, I am confident the Mad City Open will rebound and be back bigger and better than ever.

 

[pappabearlee]

I have worked with the same parks department for many years. I've run C, B and A Tiers as well as a Major and have found them easy to work with.

This is on squarely on the tournament director not having his act together.

Agreed.
The issue with owing money from last year.
Poor planning.
Bad communication with the city, and participants.
Thats 100 percent on the event staff.

My biggest issue is:
How in the world did they open registration without having had any and all negotiations with the city?
Thats crazy.
Changing the event midstream shows a lack of planning in general.
Its pretty bogus that the email sent out makes the city look like the bad guy.

So its the citys fault that they got stiffed on last years bill?
Its the cities fault that the relationship is strained?
Its shady that they tried to shift the blame in their email.

Im super bummed about the event being compromised.
It would be my 7th straight year.
Easily my favorite yearly tourney.

I like the format of saturday 2 rounds of 18.
Sunday 1 round of 18, then head out to watch the final 9 for mpo/fpo.
Playing 27 each day doesnt sound fun to me.


How is a final 9 going to work with everyone playing 27 already that day???

 

[Consult20]

Agreed.
The issue with owing money from last year.
Poor planning.
Bad communication with the city, and participants.
Thats 100 percent on the event staff.

My biggest issue is:
How in the world did they open registration without having had any and all negotiations with the city?
Thats crazy.
Changing the event midstream shows a lack of planning in general.
Its pretty bogus that the email sent out makes the city look like the bad guy.

So its the citys fault that they got stiffed on last years bill?
Its the cities fault that the relationship is strained?
Its shady that they tried to shift the blame in their email.

Im super bummed about the event being compromised.
It would be my 7th straight year.
Easily my favorite yearly tourney.

I like the format of saturday 2 rounds of 18.
Sunday 1 round of 18, then head out to watch the final 9 for mpo/fpo.
Playing 27 each day doesnt sound fun to me.


How is a final 9 going to work with everyone playing 27 already that day???

Per the new schedule, there isn't going to be a final 9 for the top open card this year.

 

[pappabearlee]

Per the new schedule, there isn't going to be a final 9 for the top open card this year.

They historically are super slow at totalling things up on sunday after rounds.

The final 9 gave us all something fun to do while they calculated scores and got ready for awards.

Now we will all just sit there?
Super dumb.

 

[ru4por]

They historically are super slow at totalling things up on sunday after rounds.

The final 9 gave us all something fun to do while they calculated scores and got ready for awards.

Now we will all just sit there?
Super dumb.

Around here, this is some of our favorite time. Get out your most comfy lawn chair, drag your cooler to the shade, crack a couple cold ones and enjoy the opportunity to sit with some friends and solve most of the world's problems. :doh:

 

[brutalbrutus]

Around here, this is some of our favorite time. Get out your most comfy lawn chair, drag your cooler to the shade, crack a couple cold ones and enjoy the opportunity to sit with some friends and solve most of the world's problems. :doh:

Don't forget the obligatory "big fish" stories about the rounds that day.

"Man you wont believe the bad roll I got on such and such."

"Man you wont believe the awesome shot I threw on such and such."

"Did you see that WTF Richard that Fred threw?"

 

[BuiltTooLong]

Don't forget the obligatory "big fish" stories about the rounds that day.

"Man you wont believe the bad roll I got on such and such."

"Man you wont believe the awesome shot I threw on such and such."

"Did you see that WTF Richard that Brock threw?"

FTFY

 

[harr0140]

A possible concept that may or may not have already been offered to the City/County would be to always have 1 city course and 1 county course open for non tournament players. This would take more coordination of the TD to setup pools appropriately but they might be open to the idea that appeases both tourney players and casual players. Now making sure that also fits in line with what is required the the A Tier is another question.

As for the fees being required . . . I dont agree with paying for something that isnt being used but I do agree that it is reasonable to expect every tourney player to pay for the daily pass (unless they want or already have an annual pass).

 

[Glide]

You are only hearing one side of the story with some glaring omissions. This isn't about appeasing the casual players. This is about the people running the event not paying the money they owed Madison Parks for over a year. Not returning calls or emails and then wanting to move forward 2-3 months before this year's event like nothing happened. For them to try to put this on the parks department is bush league.

A possible concept that may or may not have already been offered to the City/County would be to always have 1 city course and 1 county course open for non tournament players. This would take more coordination of the TD to setup pools appropriately but they might be open to the idea that appeases both tourney players and casual players. Now making sure that also fits in line with what is required the the A Tier is another question.

As for the fees being required . . . I dont agree with paying for something that isnt being used but I do agree that it is reasonable to expect every tourney player to pay for the daily pass (unless they want or already have an annual pass).

 

[harr0140]

You are only hearing one side of the story with some glaring omissions. This isn't about appeasing the casual players. This is about the people running the event not paying the money they owed Madison Parks for over a year. Not returning calls or emails and then wanting to move forward 2-3 months before this year's event like nothing happened. For them to try to put this on the parks department is bush league.

Ahhh . . . got it . . . I did not know that. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[pappabearlee]

You are only hearing one side of the story with some glaring omissions. This isn't about appeasing the casual players. This is about the people running the event not paying the money they owed Madison Parks for over a year. Not returning calls or emails and then wanting to move forward 2-3 months before this year's event like nothing happened. For them to try to put this on the parks department is bush league.

I appreciate you being frank about the situation.
For some reason the facts have been difficult to find.
What little came out was deleted on the fb page.
And since then I havent seen any really info.

 

[JTacoma03]

Thanks for showing restraint in your public announcement.
Your frustration is totally understandable.
Hopefully the city will back off of these policies.

My advice would be to continue to keep open the lines of communication with the city and try to find out what precipitated this change.
City parks depts tend to be reactionary, and it would be nice to know what is behind it.
In other words, ask questions instead of making accusations or self-entitled objections.
Based on your announcement, it seems like this is your plan.

:clap::clap: Sage advice for all of us to keep in mind. Later in the thread we obviously learned that their reaction is seemingly justified, but the point stands.

Whoah, settle down there buddy. Everything in the first 2 posts is just copy/paste from an email from the TD to all registered players. I'm sure people will be talking about it on FB - not like I am breaking news here.

:wall::wall::wall: Dude really? DiscJunkie clearly thought you were the TD sharing info on a public forum. An easy mistake to make, your reply is plain immature. He clearly isn't talking to you as the hopeful competitor in the event, and he gave great advice that everyone should heed.

 

[swed]

I will be playing the tourney, just for the free pizza and beer. Heard it's free entry this year. jk

 

[roggenb3]

:wall::wall::wall: Dude really?

Yes, JT. We are all very impressed with how mature you are.

 

[Consult20]

Anybody know why online registration is closing a month before the tournament?