BillFleming
* Ace Member *
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.
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.