National Tour folds into DGPT

[wims]

DGPT just put out a video where they announced that the PDGA National Tour folds into the DGPT for the 2022 season

 

[ThrowBot]

What about the American Disc Golf Tour?

 

[BuiltTooLong]

What about the American Disc Golf Tour?

You would think they were playing the ADGT this past weekend with some of the tweets and complaints I've seen.

 

[Pevio]

I hope the PDGA takes a hands-off approach toward the Pro Tour, or at least Pro Tour events, moving forward. The reason is, TD's shouldn't have to deal with requirements from both the PDGA and the Pro Tour for their tournament. If the PDGA gives some directives to the Pro Tour as a whole, that's fine, but hopefully we won't have TD's bogged down with two separate (and very different) overhead entities.

 

[ru4por]

Here is the press announcement I received today from the PDGA

Appling, GA – The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) is pleased to announce a new partnership agreement with the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) beginning in 2022.

Under the new agreement, all PDGA National Tour and DGPT Elite Series will be merged into a single cohesive tour - The Disc Golf Pro Tour: "The Official Pro Tour of the PDGA." This marks the start of a potent partnership that will further amplify the growth of elite professional disc golf.

Over the past 18 years, the PDGA has allocated resources, staff, and volunteers, developed rules and competition standards, and provided the technical backbone that made a pro tour possible, starting with the National Tour (NT) in 2003. In 2016, the DGPT created a new premier tour, elevating the top tier of the game to a new level. The PDGA has been in discussions with the DGPT for more than five years to ensure that this partnership creates the best possible outcomes for the PDGA and our members as well as the DGPT.

Mike Downes, Director of Operations for the PDGA, notes that this relationship will have profound impacts for disc golf, from top-tier touring professionals to the weekend warriors participating in local sanctioned leagues and regional tournaments.

"DGPT will have the opportunity to continue to grow the prestige and visibility of the elite touring professionals, bringing new pros on the scene and new fans into the sport," said Downes. "Meanwhile, the PDGA is committed to furthering event and tournament director support to enrich the tournament experience for athletes competing in everything from PDGA sanctioned leagues up to premier events like our PDGA World Championships."

"The PDGA's support has allowed the DGPT to grow and thrive, period. Our experience working with Joe Chargualaf, Mike Downes, and the PDGA staff has been entirely supportive," said DGPT CEO & Director Jeff Spring. "Since the very start, the PDGA has encouraged us, worked collaboratively with us, and strived towards this moment as a partner. I'm extremely proud to be taking this monumental step forward with them as meaningful partners to usher in the true new age of professional disc golf."

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.

PDGA members will also get a 50% discount on a Disc Golf Network Subscription – a $60 annual value, adding to a long list of PDGA membership benefits that includes $10-off registration fees at PDGA sanctioned events, a quarterly subscription to DiscGolfer Magazine, and the value of being part of an organization that stewards and grows the game.

Beyond the additional membership benefits, the agreement enables the PDGA to allocate more time and resources into the seven PDGA-owned major events, including the four PDGA World Championships and the Champions Cup, a new PDGA pro major set to debut in April 2022. The PDGA will also increase efforts on core initiatives such as international growth, enhancing league and affiliate club programs, introducing disc golf into school systems, providing oversight of rules and competition standards, and the overall promotion and growth of the sport.

"The PDGA will continue to sanction and support the major tournaments that define the pinnacle of disc golf," said Joe Chargualaf, Executive Director of the PDGA. "The PDGA represents the foundation of the sport and is the caretaker of its history. As the governing body, we are committed to preserving the sport's storied past while continuing to build for the future. This partnership enables both organizations to come together to do just that." Chargualaf continued, "It's been an absolute pleasure working closely with Todd and Jeff over the past few years to finally get to this point, and we are confident now is the time to make this happen. We couldn't ask for better partners in which to entrust this important part of our mission."

A new era for disc golf begins in 2022. Stay tuned to PDGA.com for all the latest news and information as it develops.

 

[ru4por]

I hope the PDGA takes a hands-off approach toward the Pro Tour, or at least Pro Tour events, moving forward. The reason is, TD's shouldn't have to deal with requirements from both the PDGA and the Pro Tour for their tournament. If the PDGA gives some directives to the Pro Tour as a whole, that's fine, but hopefully we won't have TD's bogged down with two separate (and very different) overhead entities.

Yeah, I kind of agree, kp. The PDGA should get out of the pro business altogether. That faction should be run, managed and perhaps owned by the players themselves, IMO.

 

[Ahildy13]

"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:"

Eff this noise. DGN sucks, and now it will never go away...

 

[Cgkdisc]

The timing makes sense because Oct 1 is when the PDGA initiates their membership and renewal plan for 2022. It will be interesting to see what changes are made if any.

 

[joshmo65]

I'm curious as to what other TD's experiences have been with the DGPT. They did us dirty last year and I vowed never to run a DGPT event because of this experience. Now that our bid for an NT isn't going to happen, the PDGA is pushing us toward a silver series event. I'm wondering if I'm just being too harsh on the DGPT or whether this is par for the course with the DGPT.

 

[ThrowBot]

So what happens to the old NT events? Do they just become DGPT events? Does the "NT" designation go away, or are all DGPT events now de facto NTs?

 

[Dcinmd]

So what happens to the old NT events? Do they just become DGPT events? Does the "NT" designation go away, or are all DGPT events now de facto NTs?

Ugh clear as mud.

Beyond the additional membership benefits, the agreement enables the PDGA to allocate more time and resources into the seven PDGA-owned major events, including the four PDGA World Championships and the Champions Cup, a new PDGA pro major set to debut in April 2022.

 

[Moonshine]

I'm curious as to what other TD's experiences have been with the DGPT. They did us dirty last year and I vowed never to run a DGPT event because of this experience. Now that our bid for an NT isn't going to happen, the PDGA is pushing us toward a silver series event. I'm wondering if I'm just being too harsh on the DGPT or whether this is par for the course with the DGPT.

How did they do you dirty?

 

[Cgkdisc]

So what happens to the old NT events? Do they just become DGPT events? Does the "NT" designation go away, or are all DGPT events now de facto NTs?

Maybe the new PDGA Champions Cup could end up rotating to other venues after starting at the IDGC next year. Presumably, previous NT events return to A-tier status if not submitted or selected for a DGPT series.

 

[joshmo65]

So what happens to the old NT events? Do they just become DGPT events? Does the "NT" designation go away, or are all DGPT events now de facto NTs?

They are pushing old NTs to be DGPT Silver Series events.

 

[joshmo65]

How did they do you dirty?

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.

 

[elmexdela]

seriously

do we even need the pdga

or do they need us

 

[_MTL_]

Folds is a terrible word and not at all what happened.

 

[wims]

Folds is a terrible word and not at all what happened.

Mike Downes of PDGA said that the DGPT "consumes the national tour". Sounds a lot like folding into DGPT to me. If a moderator feels like consumes would be better then feel free to change the title lol

 

[ToddL]

seriously

do we even need the pdga

or do they need us

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.

 

[ToddL]

Mike Downes of PDGA said that the DGPT "consumes the national tour". Sounds a lot like folding into DGPT to me. If a moderator feels like consumes would be better then feel free to change the title lol

"Folds" is pretty different from "folds into", but they're really close to each other when you read it quickly and can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.