Why Can't Disc Golf Get Big Sponsors? One person's thoughts.

[BillFleming]

Growing the sport and getting larger payouts has come up in several threads...I think I know the answer.

Our sport is unlike any other sport - yes, even ball golf - in one perspective. Lack of sponsorship outside of disc golf.

What do sponsors want? They want their company information to be shown on networks.
How does that happen? The sport needs to be broadcast.
What makes for a good broadcasted sport? The action need to be visible....and there is the issue.

Baseball, football (American), football/soccer, tennis, ball golf, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross, BMX, etc all have one thing in common - every part of the action is easily viewable to the viewer at home.

Disc golf? Not so much....a really good disc golf course happens in the woods. It is difficult to see the entire flight of the disc. How many times have you watched the player's tee shot and then the 'catch' camera wasn't able to catch where the disc landed or ended up at? Does that make for good viewing? No.

Would you watch a baseball game if you couldn't see where the ball was hit to or if the baselines were covered? "And the batter just hit to center field...they are running and -oh, they just made first base." "The next batter is up....WAIT, the runner is now on second....he must have stolen base". How about Olympic skiing...."and the skiier is off...they are winding through those trees somewhere and we should see them come out shortly". How much fun would that be? Would it be watched?

If disc golf is to get the big sponsors, it needs to be 'broadcast-able', which means it has to be viewable. To be viewable, it needs to be open spaces like the Preserve. So we need to find a way to have open playing spaces and yet still be interesting and competitive. I don't know how we get to that point....but the Preserve might be a start - it just needs to find a way to fix the issues that made it kind of boring.

 

[Hampstead]

Is it alright if I don't care if disc golf grows?

 

[zontar]

Is it alright if I don't care if disc golf grows?

yes.

 

[riltim]

It might be time to accept that the viewership just isn't there for sponsors. Jomez Final round of the Preserve has ~245k views after two weeks, a girls Roblox channel, for a single game mode, that my daughter watches has a video posted yesterday and it already has 450k views.

 

[VictorB]

It might be time to accept that the viewership just isn't there for sponsors. Jomez Final round of the Preserve has ~245k views after two weeks, a girls Roblox channel, for a single game mode, that my daughter watches has a video posted yesterday and it already has 450k views.

Plain and simple - video games are widely available and incredibly accessible, the same cannot be said for disc golf.

Once every household has a set of discs and a basket, then you might start seeing those sort of view numbers opcorn:

 

[Jay Dub]

A lot others have tried to claim to have the answer when the answer is simple. Not enough spectators, 10-20k on youtube is nothing.

 

[riltim]

Plain and simple - video games are widely available and incredibly accessible, the same cannot be said for disc golf.

Once every household has a set of discs and a basket, then you might start seeing those sort of view numbers opcorn:

It is a video game channel, but it's for girls that play a specific game mod. I can't imagine that's a huge percentage of the gamer population.

 

[Jugular]

There are other successful sports where it's difficult to see the action on coverage without slow motion replays;
Ice Hockey, Baseball, Cricket, Golf

I don't think DG is anywhere near as difficult as most of them. For one I think players should be required to throw discs that are easily visible on footage. If more courses had platforms to film from and drone footage during shots easily available the DG coverage could be awesome. All of this requires budget though.

I think DG is pretty easy to view on many courses and is currently filmed very well by the best teams. As soon as you drop out of the top few crews though it gets ropey really quickly.

 

[JuanA]

Do big sponsors even know about disc golf? If you didn't play, would you?

I'm not trying to be a smart a**, but how much disc golf do you see on a daily basis in regular life? (outside of your own participation of course).

No sponsor is going to pony up big bucks to endorse a sport the general population knows nothing about.

 

[perklc]

Oh good, a fresh new take that has been brought up a bunch of times already.

I am not against some wide open disc golf, but you are saying you want to take what a lot of people feel is the most boring type of disc golf to watch and create more of it. No thanks.

 

[BillFleming]

Oh good, a fresh new take that has been brought up a bunch of times already.

I am not against some wide open disc golf, but you are saying you want to take what a lot of people feel is the most boring type of disc golf to watch and create more of it. No thanks.

No, I don't want to make more of the boring type. I'm just saying disc golf needs to become something that is more 'watch-able'. I don't want to be bored either. But even when I watch disc golf on YouTube videos....it's not interesting when you can't see the flight of the disc or even where it lands.

 

[BillFleming]

Do big sponsors even know about disc golf? If you didn't play, would you?

I'm not trying to be a smart a**, but how much disc golf do you see on a daily basis in regular life? (outside of your own participation of course).

No sponsor is going to pony up big bucks to endorse a sport the general population knows nothing about.

I'm not taking you as a smart a**. It's actually a good question.

Yes. I knew about disc golf a long time before I started playing it. I lived near a park with a disc golf course (Vista del Camino where the Memorial is held each year). I had never seen the tournament played there until 2019 and that is what got me interested and playing. Before that, I had seen a mostly empty course every time my wife and I walked the park. I knew what disc golf was, but thought that very few people played it. I'm also old enough that I remember it when Frisbee's were used and there were no baskets - didn't play then either, but I knew about it.

Hopefully the general public will get to know more about it when the DDO is shown on CBS Sports Network.....may not be a lot of folks, but there are some who will watch sports regardless of what it is.

I just really want to live to see a time that disc golf touring pros can actually make a living at the sport and that it reaches a wider audience.

 

[elmexdela]

A lot others have tried to claim to have the answer when the answer is simple. Not enough spectators, 10-20k on youtube is nothing.

no actually the answer is simple

its disc golfers

 

[DavidSauls]

Our sport is unlike any other sport - yes, even ball golf - in one perspective. Lack of sponsorship outside of disc golf.

Actually, we're like most sports. An astounding number of sports have no major sponsors or national broadcasts. Can't think of any? Of course not---they're participation sports, not spectator sports.

I'd hazard a guess that every one of them has an online presence where people speculate how they can make the "big time".

 

[wolfmandragon]

There are other successful sports where it's difficult to see the action on coverage without slow motion replays;
Ice Hockey, Baseball, Cricket, Golf

I don't think DG is anywhere near as difficult as most of them. For one I think players should be required to throw discs that are easily visible on footage. If more courses had platforms to film from and drone footage during shots easily available the DG coverage could be awesome. All of this requires budget though.

I think DG is pretty easy to view on many courses and is currently filmed very well by the best teams. As soon as you drop out of the top few crews though it gets ropey really quickly.

If it takes drones to make disc golf popular, then I hope it stays unpopular. I liked it when the slingshot channel made an anti-drone slingshot.... we need more of those.

no actually the answer is simple

its disc golfers

Nailed it on the head. Our demographic is made up of those who complain about spending 10 bucks to go to a private course. That's all the market research I would need ever do to know that it would be a waste of time and money to advertise.

 

[DanJon]

We don't have any "big" sponsors because they probably don't feel that they will get an appropriate return on their investment.

 

[scooby snack]

The solution is simple, night disc golf with really bright glowing discs.

(Insert popcorn emoticon here)

 

[Putt for D'oh]

Actually, we're like most sports. An astounding number of sports have no major sponsors or national broadcasts. Can't think of any? Of course not---they're participation sports, not spectator sports.

I'd hazard a guess that every one of them has an online presence where people speculate how they can make the "big time".

I just want to have this repeated because a simple like is not enough.

OP says Disc Golf different than ALL other sports then names the few handful of big name sports popular in the U.S.

By and large most sports struggle for major sponsors. Getting outside of one's particular sport manufacturers is very difficult. Its where disc golf lives along with almost all other sports we don't see broadcast regularly on a major network.

 

[eegor]

The best thing that could happen to disc golf (in this regard) is a weekly half hour special on the "Best of the Week". All film condensed into a 20 minute broadcast (allowing for commercials and channel promotions) to showcase the best 20 minutes of disc golf video recorded each week. In the off season, 20 minute showcase of the top players in the sport. We could get Paul for Christmas! Until there's "someone" that wants to produce this... and (it's a big and) cooperation of all that do the grunt work and video record the events... it is a long shot at best.

 

[Karl]

DanJon has it right in post #16. Seven to fifteen years ago I was a member of a management team (large Rx co.) which, amongst other things, decided where to "put our sponsorship money toward". It always came down to "return (r) on (o) investment (i). Let me repeat that. roi. Roi. ROI. NOTHING else counts - unless it's a one-in-a-million shot and you'vyou've found a totally altruistic bazillionaire who's fond of colorful plastic plates! Any "large" entity willing to 'temporarily part with a boat load of money' WILL be looking for ways to recoup it - and then some - in some future time. If you think otherwise you're wrong.
Bill F., you're not incorrect in your OP, you just 'narrowed' your scope (of 'solutions' to this issue) by immediately jumping into the 'media' aspects of it (IMO). Let's take it a step or two back...and start with "Investors want ROI". What form(s) ROI take is an earlier / different discussion.