National Tour folds into DGPT

[txmxer]

Makes sense and seems like the direction things have been headed.

 

[Jimb]

After the Elite Series schedule was released last year (NT and DTPT), the PDGA opened up bids for A-tier events. Looking at the schedule, there was a perfect gap between Green Mountain Championship and Music City Open for Pittsburgh to fit in our A-tier and get a bunch of the travelling pros, so we made that our first choice of dates.

We were excited to get our top pick of date and got to planning the A-tier. Shortly after the announcement in November, Seth Fendley of the DGPT contacted me about having the PFDO be a Silver Series event for the DGPT. I was kind of surprised when I asked what a Silver Series event was, I didn't get much explanation. It just kind of seemed like it was a A-tier with "Silver Series" slapped on it.

I was expecting a bid process similar to the PDGA where specific things were expected from the host club and specific things would be expected from the DGPT. There wasn't any agreement from the DGPT, no documentation about what a Silver Series event was, and nothing that even really seemed professional about it. After some phone calls back and forth with Seth though, the club determined it would be a good thing for the tournament, so I replied to Seth on November 6th, that we were in and then... crickets... absolutely nothing.

After two months, I pinged Seth to see what was going on and he replied that the DGPT was going in another direction and decided not to have our event as a Silver Series event. I thought it was quite unprofessional that the DGPT offered to have a Silver Series event and then after the club said that they were in, just completely disappear and in the end, pull back the offer.

I was even more shocked when the DGPT announced the Match Play Championship in March on the same weekend as our A-tier (as well as Greater Hartford) at a venue less than 250 miles away. While I understand many of the top men are not playing many A-tiers these days, we are really trying to boost the female divisions in the Pittsburgh area and had 5 of the top 8 women signed up for the PFDO last year. Now, with the match play tournament scheduled over top of ours, there was no way that we were getting any of those women and our FPO division definitely suffered. Obviously if we knew the DGPT Match Play Championship was going to be held that weekend, we wouldn't have picked it and it would have been a completely different story.

tldr: DGPT offered us a Silver Series event, but ghosted us when we said we were in, and then scheduled the Match Play Championship over top of our tournament significantly affecting our attendance and visibility.

And those Pittsburgh area courses need to be seen!!!

 

[Moonshine]

After the Elite Series schedule was released last year (NT and DTPT), the PDGA opened up bids for A-tier events. Looking at the schedule, there was a perfect gap between Green Mountain Championship and Music City Open for Pittsburgh to fit in our A-tier and get a bunch of the travelling pros, so we made that our first choice of dates.

We were excited to get our top pick of date and got to planning the A-tier. Shortly after the announcement in November, Seth Fendley of the DGPT contacted me about having the PFDO be a Silver Series event for the DGPT. I was kind of surprised when I asked what a Silver Series event was, I didn't get much explanation. It just kind of seemed like it was a A-tier with "Silver Series" slapped on it.

I was expecting a bid process similar to the PDGA where specific things were expected from the host club and specific things would be expected from the DGPT. There wasn't any agreement from the DGPT, no documentation about what a Silver Series event was, and nothing that even really seemed professional about it. After some phone calls back and forth with Seth though, the club determined it would be a good thing for the tournament, so I replied to Seth on November 6th, that we were in and then... crickets... absolutely nothing.

After two months, I pinged Seth to see what was going on and he replied that the DGPT was going in another direction and decided not to have our event as a Silver Series event. I thought it was quite unprofessional that the DGPT offered to have a Silver Series event and then after the club said that they were in, just completely disappear and in the end, pull back the offer.

I was even more shocked when the DGPT announced the Match Play Championship in March on the same weekend as our A-tier (as well as Greater Hartford) at a venue less than 250 miles away. While I understand many of the top men are not playing many A-tiers these days, we are really trying to boost the female divisions in the Pittsburgh area and had 5 of the top 8 women signed up for the PFDO last year. Now, with the match play tournament scheduled over top of ours, there was no way that we were getting any of those women and our FPO division definitely suffered. Obviously if we knew the DGPT Match Play Championship was going to be held that weekend, we wouldn't have picked it and it would have been a completely different story.

tldr: DGPT offered us a Silver Series event, but ghosted us when we said we were in, and then scheduled the Match Play Championship over top of our tournament significantly affecting our attendance and visibility.

Thanks for sharing. It seems scheduling is always a dicey situation, especially when there's no real oversight to prevent these types of situations, but it sounds like that could have been handled much better on their end. That sucks your event suffered, hopefully next year the scheduling works out in your favor.

On a somewhat related sidenote, I just listened to the Roots of Flight episode about local clubs, and cheers to PFDS for being such a great ambassador for the sport.

 

[brutalbrutus]

As part of the deal, the PDGA will gain a minority ownership stake in DGPT, which remains independent, with Todd Rainwater as the majority owner. The agreement will also secure new member benefits including an exclusive new subscription tier on the Disc Golf Network (DGN) just for PDGA members. For the 2022 season, all current PDGA members will receive free, live DGN coverage of select events, including:
•
• The first Pro Tour event of the 2022 season
•
• The Inaugural PDGA Champions Cup
•
• 2022 U.S. Women's Disc Golf Championship
•
• Final two rounds of the 2022 PDGA Pro
• Worlds
•
• The final regular-season Pro Tour event
• of the 2022 season
•
• Select
• video-on-demand access including a library of archival footage from the PDGA.

Does this mean Worlds is going behind a second paywall like USDGC?...


Major mistake if so... Just think if this year's final round had not been free on YT...

 

[Ahildy13]

Does this mean Worlds is going behind a second paywall like USDGC?...


Major mistake if so... Just think if this year's final round had not been free on YT...

I have a feeling watching Disc Golf is going to become a lot more expensive next year.

 

[elmexdela]

95,000 current members and 6,300 tournaments this year say yes.

If you want to just head out and throw some frisbees in the park, no prob, you can do that without the PDGA. Most casual players already do.

that 95000 is pretty small

i bet over 1mil "casual" players

your numbers are representing an insignificant amount that i find my self shrugging my shoulders over

so what

 

[elmexdela]

95,000 current members and 6,300 tournaments this year say yes.

If you want to just head out and throw some frisbees in the park, no prob, you can do that without the PDGA. Most casual players already do.

i dont think my original question was sufficiently answered btw

 

[nothinbuttree]

Does this mean Worlds is going behind a second paywall like USDGC?...


Major mistake if so... Just think if this year's final round had not been free on YT...

From what I read, it looks like the DGN will still be available as a monthly fee (probably higher but who knows). This list is just what PDGA members will get for free.

BTW, I 100% agree huge mistake if they do end up paywalling Worlds. Instead of the shot seen round the world, it would have been the shot seen by a few thousand diehard fans...

 

[ChrisWoj]

My question is - will this lead to a reorienting of the amateur rating breaks? Will 970 soon be 990? Will 935 be 950?

990-950 Advanced
910-950 Intermediate
870-910 Recreational

Maybe the numbers don't support it. I don't know. All I know is - this creates a new separate class of player out of the touring pros, one that has unofficially existed for a minute now.

I'm sure as **** not a "professional" and in my big-fish-small-puddle-by-the-side-of-the-road situation I'd welcome some sort of reorienting....

 

[Steve West]

My question is - will this lead to a reorienting of the amateur rating breaks? Will 970 soon be 990? Will 935 be 950?

990-950 Advanced
910-950 Intermediate
870-910 Recreational

Maybe the numbers don't support it. I don't know. All I know is - this creates a new separate class of player out of the touring pros, one that has unofficially existed for a minute now.

I'm sure as **** not a "professional" and in my big-fish-small-puddle-by-the-side-of-the-road situation I'd welcome some sort of reorienting....

What "this" are you referring to?

 

[ChrisWoj]

What "this" are you referring to?

It feels like the recognition of DGPT by the PDGA as the de facto arbiter of all things pro tour will create separation between the highest level of players who only compete in open at PDGA events versus actual professionals. This sort of clear separation between "professionals" and mere "open" division players seems like something that would drive a re-evaluation of the rating breaks (in addition to maybe a re-evaluation of the event tier system, and maybe other aspects of the tournament side of the organization that I am not seeing).

 

[jsc430]

I wonder how this effects Jomez and if DGN will just be monopolizing the coverage of major events.

 

[txmxer]

It feels like the recognition of DGPT by the PDGA as the de facto arbiter of all things pro tour will create separation between the highest level of players who only compete in open at PDGA events versus actual professionals. This sort of clear separation between "professionals" and mere "open" division players seems like something that would drive a re-evaluation of the rating breaks (in addition to maybe a re-evaluation of the event tier system, and maybe other aspects of the tournament side of the organization that I am not seeing).

Differentiating open players from pro tour players?

 

[seedlings]

At least now everyone can complain about the wat it is and the way it was. Instead of just the way it is.

Also, Paige was the loudest proponent. Wonder what her comments will contain/reveal?

 

[ThrowBot]

I wonder how this effects Jomez and if DGN will just be monopolizing the coverage of major events.

It's not necessarily an issue. DGN is all-in on live coverage, but serious post production crews don't have any trouble getting access to the tournaments.

If anything, Jomez benefits, because DGPT calls the shots in terms of which crews get which cards for each tournament. Jomez has had MPO lead card at any DGPT event they choose to cover. Those are surely the most lucrative rounds to have on film (on average).

DGPT certainly has the power to limit post-pro access, and handle it more in house. But that hypothetical puts a lot more work on DGPT's plate. I don't see that happening in 2022, because the Pro Tour is intending to expand to include a lot of the [formerly] NT events.

The DGPT has the option to get greedy with coverage rights, but not the motivation. Right now the high-quality post produced coverage gets more eyes on the DGPT events. No reason to mess up that arrangement.

 

[dehaas]

Gonna need plenty of outside sponsorship money if we're talking about shifting the ratings tiers and chasing off the donor entry fees.

 

[Rastnav]

At some point, assuming things continue to grow, I have to think DGPT will want to enforce ownership of the media rights to the events they put on. Pro sports generally guard this zealously.

ISTM that if they think they can get enough consistent eyeballs watching live coverage so that they could actually sell non-disc golf related advertisement slots for things like beer, cars, shoes, etc., then they will start to squeeze 3rd party post-production out. Live coverage is where the advertising money is at.

I hate it, but I think that's the path we are heading down.

 

[txmxer]

Don't rock the boat.

If you consider all DGPT has on their plate, it's obvious they are running full tilt to keep up.

They could screw it up by being greedy and messing with post pro, but that would be EXTREMELY short sited. They aren't close to ready to take over that market.

There is a lot of love for those that provide that coverage and they could absolutely ruin any support they have today.

The PDGA gets knocked as "big brother " of DG, and DGPT risks being seen as BB2.

This is a sport where people do stuff (volunteer). because they love it. All entities seeking to monetize it should tread lightly.

Look at the post pros. Patreon support but volunteer giving while still delivering significant content. I'm sure it's been tough for those folks, but damn they are doing a great job on a shoestring budget.

I personally think DGN is delivering solid content as well. Live coverage if disc golf? I guess I'm old because 20-30 years ago live coverage was 3-4 channels if high dollar network tv.

When someone says the coverage sucks, I know they are a millennial or younger.

Watch a grainy one angle vhs tape from some tournament 6 months ago and get back to me.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Watch a grainy one angle vhs tape from some tournament 6 months ago and get back to me.

You meant six years ago, not six months, right?

 

[txmxer]

You meant six years ago, not six months, right?

I was referring to the time when VHS was relevant. 6 months, 6 years, it was all old news when people were able to watch it.

Yet, still excited to see it.

It's all about perspective. Some have it. Some don't.