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The inevitable 2020 Pros switching sponsor/DD hate thread

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Can a company stop a mix bag pro player from using their discs? Like can Innova say you can't throw out plastic since you aren't sponsored by us?

Answer your own question by answering this...how would a manufacturer go about stopping a player from throwing their product?

Never mind why would they want to? If a mixed bag player is competing prominently while throwing their product, and they don't have to pay him in any way, isn't that a win for them? It's like when Prodigy first formed with their super team of pros but no product...they were all still throwing other brands (with the stamps wiped, of course). Schusterick won the Memorial in a playoff over McBeth by parking the first playoff hole with a Firebird. Ricky was putting (and winning tournaments) with KC Pro Aviars well into his Prodigy contract. Innova didn't send out cease and desist letters. They made sure people knew it was their product in those Prodigy player's hands (or at least, McBeth made sure to mention it whenever he could).
 
Taking bets on these two:

Pierce back to Discraft.

Barsby back to Discraft or to MVP.

I'd be totally shocked if Pierce left DD for anyone else. She seems happy at DD.

Barsby to Discraft is plausible (though maybe after the Innova contract expires?). Not as likely to MVP.
 
I'd be totally shocked if Pierce left DD for anyone else. She seems happy at DD.

Barsby to Discraft is plausible (though maybe after the Innova contract expires?). Not as likely to MVP.

Greg Barsby seems happy at Innova, didn't he win the World Disc Golf Championships with Innova in 2018?
 
Answer your own question by answering this...how would a manufacturer go about stopping a player from throwing their product?

Never mind why would they want to? If a mixed bag player is competing prominently while throwing their product, and they don't have to pay him in any way, isn't that a win for them? It's like when Prodigy first formed with their super team of pros but no product...they were all still throwing other brands (with the stamps wiped, of course). Schusterick won the Memorial in a playoff over McBeth by parking the first playoff hole with a Firebird. Ricky was putting (and winning tournaments) with KC Pro Aviars well into his Prodigy contract. Innova didn't send out cease and desist letters. They made sure people knew it was their product in those Prodigy player's hands (or at least, McBeth made sure to mention it whenever he could).

That is the same way in mid to late 2000's when Dynamic Discs was just a disc golf apparel and bag company before they made discs just stamps for discs, they had a team of a few players but then numbers left to places like Prodigy with that apparently big super team so they could keep the mixed bag when Dynamic Discs started making discs in early 2010's.

Now It seems that Infinite disc is doing a mixed bag team, though they do not have much for players that are in the top level of pro players that the company needs to pay $$ so the model might be a bit more sustainable then what Dynamic Discs and Prodigy did tying to acquire lower level touring pro players who used a mixed set of brands. It seems Infinite is going the route of using mostly lower level pro players who are too good to stay Amateur but are not ready to be on the Pro Tour/National Tour or touring around the USA to top A tier events.
 
So what?

Paul won 4 with Innova
Ricky won 2 with Lat 64
PP won 1 with Discraft, 2 with Prodigy

and they all left.

Yes but Ricky went back to Innova so that was not that big a change.

Paul was unhappy with how they were not letting him in on the process of making molds the way he wanted like a mold that was more a Zone style of disc and Innova was not making the mold for Paul. Paul always wants more, I bet he leaves Discraft to start up his own company because Discraft does not let him have his own side company for Discraft.

Page Pierce was not happy with Prodigy plastic. Didn't the molds need remaking at one point as I think the discs were coming out garbage? That was when she left Prodigy.

However if Barsby does leave it would like SD86 said, back to Discraft as the logical choice.
 
It's trilogy, but the the sponsorship is never provided in thirds. Odd combinations like 3/8 Dynamic Disc, 1/2 Westside, and 1/8 Latitude 64. But, it's even more complicated than that. Lat64 and DD are co-owners of Westside, and I don't know those percentages — it might be 50/50 — so the Westside percentage is actually part DD and part Lat64. It's all very confusing.

All I can confirm is that the players are supposed to wear team merchandise flair, minimum 15 pieces, in alignment with the percentages of their sponsorship. It's in their contracts. Rumor is Robert McCall really tracked people's flair. Created lots of friction. Main reason he was moved out of the Team Manager position to Marketing team. People grew tired of his flair reports.

This is pure gold. No emoji strong enough to represent the value of this commentary.
 
So it looks like Discraft's Elite team will have twelve members. I would have kept it at nine. Anyway, it isn't my money or my decision. It will be interesting to see the five players they promote or recruit. Predict that they promote Adams Hammes and Hailey King.
 
If you hover over where it says TBD, there are 2 players they are still negotiating with. So it will be at least 10 players with the potential to expand to 12.
 
I'd like to see Jordan Castro stay with trilogy plastic, maybe get signed by latitude 64. But the one person I'm really curious about is Calvin Heimburg. Could see DD picking him up or maybe even Discraft.
 
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