The Inevitable 2021 Pros Switching Sponsors Thread

[Casey 1988]

I haven't followed the pros for long. Do I understand correctly that they weren't taken very seriously before the McBeth signing?

Yes it seems after Nate Doss stopped touring as much, the team got less and less with top Pro players still able to compete on the Disc Golf side, with then nearly 40 year old Michael Johansen winning a few tournaments in the Pro Tour/National Tour every now and then but no single dominate player the way Nate Doss was constantly up there or Eric McCabe was in late 2000's. At this same time the others Paige left for a while to Dynamic Disc and Eric McCabe left in 2010 to help set up Dynamic Disc/be a part owner as well as ageless in terms of Disc Golf Johnny McCray playing for Latitude 64 in mid 2010's as well. Then in late 2018 Discraft team gets Paul McBeth for some reason or another , then in 2020 they get Paige back after her handshake agreement with Dynamic Disc, not even a true contract falls though for some reason. Also in late 2018 or early 2019 Paul Uilibari left Prodigy and his bag of only first run discs to go to Discraft.

 

[dehaas]

It's like Discraft had a long term master plan. Save up a crap load of money until the time...is....right. dayamm....

Not necessarily...I see it more of a snowball effect. Pick the first few correct (Paul and Paige) and money starts rolling in...giving you more to spend down the road..

They made some changes a couple years ago, definitely paid off, and are now relevant again.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I haven't followed the pros for long. Do I understand correctly that they weren't taken very seriously before the McBeth signing?

They were taken very seriously back in the late '90s. Discraft sponsored Juliana Korver, Scott Stokely and Ron Russell, arguably the top three names of the era who weren't Ken Climo, and their exploits were a big deal at the time.

These three (plus maybe some I don't remember...the morning coffee hasn't kicked in yet) had a signature series in premium plastic too, Stokely an X2, Korver (her last name was Bower back then) an XL and Ron Russell a Comet. I seem to remember a Cyclone and Stratus as well. The Discs were white with a pattern of dots and their names and autographs on the stamp. Climo, of course, had his K.C. Pro models with Innova that were everywhere starting in about 1997. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think these were perhaps the first signature Disc lines?

 

[biscoe]

Not necessarily...I see it more of a snowball effect. Pick the first few correct (Paul and Paige) and money starts rolling in...giving you more to spend down the road..

They made some changes a couple years ago, definitely paid off, and are now relevant again.

Now if they could just catch up on production... (literally 1 disc on the wholesale sheet this week)

 

[jjmiller]

Not necessarily...I see it more of a snowball effect. Pick the first few correct (Paul and Paige) and money starts rolling in...giving you more to spend down the road..

They made some changes a couple years ago, definitely paid off, and are now relevant again.

I took the post more to mean save up that ultimate money, for more than just a few years, and then use that money to sign McBeth on an unprecedented contract right as DG is surging in popularity.

Discraft had fallen by the wayside by the time I started playing back in ~2013?- it got to the point that Marshall Street was selling off most of the Ledgestone/special run stuff for ~$10/disc, and almost always on their monthly sales for an additional discount, right before McBeth made the switch. Then all of a sudden they can't keep anything in stock anywhere, basically overnight. And it has indeed snowballed from there.

 

[Robbio123]

Now if they could just catch up on production... (literally 1 disc on the wholesale sheet this week)

No Kidding! Lots of molds are not generally available either even on Discraft's site. Makes it tough to replace lost discs - stock run or otherwise. Kind of interesting they would do a custom run on an OOP disc like the Impact when their traditional inventory is so low.

 

[seedlings]

Now if they could just catch up on production... (literally 1 disc on the wholesale sheet this week)

No Kidding! Lots of molds are not generally available either even on Discraft's site. Makes it tough to replace lost discs - stock run or otherwise. Kind of interesting they would do a custom run on an OOP disc like the Impact when their traditional inventory is so low.

In Ezra's video, it looked like there was plenty of stock in the warehouse. Same with every other video of a pro wandering through the warehouse snagging a truckload of discs (Kevin). Are the manufacturers sitting on a hoard of discs waiting for strategic release?

 

[biscoe]

In Ezra's video, it looked like there was plenty of stock in the warehouse. Same with every other video of a pro wandering through the warehouse snagging a truckload of discs (Kevin). Are the manufacturers sitting on a hoard of discs waiting for strategic release?

IMO everything you see "sitting in the warehouse" at this point was just made and is pretty much already sold. The companies have upped production like crazy but demand continues to outstrip their production.

 

[TheOtherBill]

I'd think shipping has something to do with the delay too. As much as discs have ramped up production, I'm sure other industries have as well so there's lots of competition for space on those trucks.

 

[DiscFifty]

In Ezra's video, it looked like there was plenty of stock in the warehouse. Same with every other video of a pro wandering through the warehouse snagging a truckload of discs (Kevin). Are the manufacturers sitting on a hoard of discs waiting for strategic release?

Limited releases of media generated popular products is a way to keep the frenzy going. It's the pigeon feeding analogy applied in the retail world.

Throw out your entire supply of food to the pigeons and they will be gone quickly.
Throw your food out in small amounts, over time, and you can keep the pigeons around much...much...longer.

Spoiler

Works when chumming for fish too.

 

[Norvelljeff]

These companies have increased production by something like 10x and they still cannot keep up. I've been told "there are no words to accurately describe the increase in demand over the last year" not only are they challenged with keeping up with old stock but expanding to meet current demands. These companies are literally trying to build a house and live it in at the same time. Cut them some slack, some of them are on the brink of being back to normal. I have no idea about discraft though, they sell ALOT of plastic.

 

[Superbford]

It is a good problem for them to have...

 

[Jolt]

Limited releases of media generated popular products is a way to keep the frenzy going. It's the pigeon feeding analogy applied in the retail world.

Throw out your entire supply of food to the pigeons and they will be gone quickly.
Throw your food out in small amounts, over time, and you can keep the pigeons around much...much...longer.

Spoiler

Works when chumming for fish too.

Probably a smart strategy...the biggest store here in Sweden are dropping Discraft disc in small batches that sells out in a few minutes.
If thes would drop 500 at once then people would not be so fast to buy.
Strange how difficult it is to find disc and bags in stock....just look at Pound bags, they are only on stock a few minutes after each drop.
Grip bags have been sold out for a year over here.

I've seen how fast lat64 machines can make discs...so the low stock make no sense other than marketing

 

[Countchunkula]

Low volume runs cost more to manufacture than high volume. You have machine downtime whenever you change a mold or plastic, but have to pay someone to do the changeover and during that time you aren't producing any discs. Raw plastic is also wasted during changeovers. You would spread the changeover cost over all of the discs in the run. More discs in a run equals less setup costs per unit.

I don't know how significant these costs are for a disc manufacturer, but they are real. I would expect raw plastic is the bulk of their cost, but the setups do have some impact.

 

[Casey 1988]

Not necessarily...I see it more of a snowball effect. Pick the first few correct (Paul and Paige) and money starts rolling in...giving you more to spend down the road..

They made some changes a couple years ago, definitely paid off, and are now relevant again.

Even before Changes with Pro Sponsored team there were some, I agree with what you said. They got actual Innova style flight numbers on the discs, still having the older less accurate system on them but oh well there, then changed up the ESP and made new style Titanium a full on production run disc. New Titanium is more like old Stiff ESP pre 2007 ace race when ESP changed at least in how it looks and feels. Also another change was stopping unpopular molds and plastics for discs like the Impact, unfortunately the XL being stopped in Z though, was not one of the unpopular discs. Then the company in the same time introduced the Archer as a way to boost the Stratus sales with some players using a Stratus/Archer combo Not me and then a replacement for the Avenger due to the Avenger becoming a power player disc. This all lead up to being able to attract newer players to the team. Pagie Pierce was on Team Discraft before the mess that Dynamic Disc did with the purging of the huge pro team they had and went A little to far so I do not count her as a new addtition to the team, rather they could get top Pro players, Last Pro they got was Innova player in mid 2010's who was almost or just turned master female player Valery Jenkins.

Sorry this gets wordy.

 

[Tomphoolery]

These companies have increased production by something like 10x and they still cannot keep up. I've been told "there are no words to accurately describe the increase in demand over the last year" not only are they challenged with keeping up with old stock but expanding to meet current demands. These companies are literally trying to build a house and live it in at the same time. Cut them some slack, some of them are on the brink of being back to normal. I have no idea about discraft though, they sell ALOT of plastic.

Brian Earhart just did a Reddit AMA and said that Discraft is so behind on production that he's worried about getting his allotment for the year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/discgolf/c...m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Check out the whole thread. There's some really good stuff in there.

 

[seedlings]

Hey all you non-pros, there's a new formula for getting sponsored. Get millions of views on YouTube through gaming, and then start a disc golf channel!

Molt is now sponsored by Dynamic Discs. And he doesn't tour. He plays casual rounds by himself (mostly) and throws trilogy plastic.

 

[elmexdela]

id rather be unsponsored than be sponsored by trilogy

 

[Hampstead]

I'm so not interested in this generation of "Look at me" kids.

 

[ru4por]

I'm so not interested in this generation of "Look at me" kids.

We are a quickly dwindling minority.

I now even have a social media site used at work. Yammer. It is half organization announcements and half personal, look at me, crap. A total waste, reading it just makes me uncomfortable and irritable. Plus, now it is yet ANOTHER place to have to go look for information I might need.