American Disc Golf Tour

[AndyJB]

Not too many iron leaves on a golf course,so there goes half the fun.

That would be a pretty awesome team for commentary. It would really give a fun, laid back vibe. I know a lot of people are keen on presenting Disc Golf as a legitimate sport, but I like our niche. I think a tag team of Crump and Barsby would present disc golf as it is, while also being able to emphasize the athletes skill and respect the sport side of disc golf.

I hope some ADGT reps are still reading this...hire Barsby now!

 

[Consult20]

In case anyone is wondering who Barsby is, here's the legendary Iron Leaf video of him impersonating Climo:

 

[Jimb]

In case anyone is wondering who Barsby is, here's the legendary Iron Leaf video of him impersonating Climo:

Who's Climo???

 

[Consult20]

In case anyone is wondering who Barsby is, here's the legendary Iron Leaf video of him impersonating Climo:

Who's Climo???

Hmm, I'm not sure but I seem to keep ending up with his discs -- he keeps signing the front of the discs in the same ink as the stamps. Anybody got his number so I can call him about all these discs?

 

[Star Shark]

Barsby co-commentated 2007 Worlds Finals with Ken Climo for Timmy Gill's old DGTV website... wonder if anyone still has all those videos.

 

[Star Shark]

On a Sunday afternoon in May, millions of people will be browsing ESPN3 looking for some entertainment not available elsewhere. Tens of thousands of them will see "disc golf", decide to click to see what it's about, become enthralled with the action, and demand more.

Overlooking the dozen or so dubious phrases in those two sentences, it's a sure thing.

The real problem we have is that most folks who even know that there's disc golf videos online don't like to watch them. They'd rather play. They don't have 3-4hrs on a weekend to blow doing nothing when they could be either playing themselves or doing stuff with family.

 

[Improbably]

The real problem we have is that most folks who even know that there's disc golf videos online don't like to watch them. They'd rather play. They don't have 3-4hrs on a weekend to blow doing nothing when they could be either playing themselves or doing stuff with family.

Sounds like the real solution not the real problem.

 

[BionicRib]

Let's face it. They need Bob Costas

 

[bradharris]

The real problem we have is that most folks who even know that there's disc golf videos online don't like to watch them. They'd rather play. They don't have 3-4hrs on a weekend to blow doing nothing when they could be either playing themselves or doing stuff with family.

Part of the premise behind this venture is the idea that those people will be more interested in watching if ESPN is in some way involved. Whether or not there is any truth to that is yet to be seen.

 

[JC17393]

Part of the premise behind this venture is the idea that those people will be more interested in watching if ESPN is in some way involved. Whether or not there is any truth to that is yet to be seen.

I think it would definitely be of interest to more people if it was actually ESPN (or ESPN2 or ESPNU) rather than streaming only. If it was something that they could easily turn on their TV to watch at the appropriate time, or set their DVR to record and watch it at the end of the day, the appeal would definitely be much broader than anything else we currently have available.

Granted, you can watch a replay (no DVR necessary) on ESPN3 so having to be available at the right moment isn't 100% necessary but it's still a matter of sitting at the computer or having the tech and know-how to view it on TV (Roku, AppleTV, PS/Xbox, Chromecast, etc). Could be more trouble than it's worth, particularly if we're talking casual "fans" that typically haven't already been watching the existing tourney coverage either live (DGPlanet/Smashboxx) or edited (CCDG, Jomez, etc).

I honestly think we can get to that point someday with continued slow and steady growth of what we've been doing, but we're not there yet and I have little confidence that the ADGT and their "partnership" with ESPN is going to be the thing to make the big break through.

 

[DavidSauls]

.
Granted, you can watch a replay (no DVR necessary) on ESPN3.....

I was wondering about that. If so, I'd guess far more disc golfers will watch it later, than live.

Wonder if that will count towards the 25,000? Wonder if I were to check it out multiple times, if those would count as multiple views?

 

[JC17393]

I was wondering about that. If so, I'd guess far more disc golfers will watch it later, than live.

Wonder if that will count towards the 25,000? Wonder if I were to check it out multiple times, if those would count as multiple views?

From my experience using ESPN3, replays don't stay up for long...maybe a few weeks. The search function only goes back 30 days, so even if it stayed up longer it would be much hard to find. So even if views of the replay count toward the overall numbers, the window is still limited.

I would think that if the replay views count for something, it might be the viability of more disc golf programming in general. I doubt replay views will help anything with regard to putting live disc golf on TV in the future.

 

[brutalbrutus]

The main problem with televised/streamed disc golf, is that its often very hard to see disc in the air off the tee. Whether its an open course and you lose them in the sky or a wooded course on a bright sunny day(patches of sun in the woods are the worst), a lot of the time its just hard to see them. Maybe if they are using actual television cameras, with professional operators, that could improve...

 

[Jenga54]

The main problem with televised/streamed disc golf, is that its often very hard to see disc in the air off the tee. Whether its an open course and you lose them in the sky or a wooded course on a bright sunny day(patches of sun in the woods are the worst), a lot of the time its just hard to see them. Maybe if they are using actual television cameras, with professional operators, that could improve...

never stopped old golf from being televised on a TV screen with the resolution of a nokia phone. it's true, like hockey it takes a bit of a trained eye to follow, but i also think adding a few cameras will help watching approaches come in.
it's also true that we expect much more than we ever did with video coverage

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

The main problem with televised/streamed disc golf, is that its often very hard to see disc in the air off the tee. Whether its an open course and you lose them in the sky or a wooded course on a bright sunny day(patches of sun in the woods are the worst), a lot of the time its just hard to see them. Maybe if they are using actual television cameras, with professional operators, that could improve...

Exponentially easier than watching a tiny white ball fly through the air..

 

[brutalbrutus]

Watching a golf ball fly isn't quite as appealing as watching these pro's manipulate the flight of a disc. That is what draws me in to watch these events.

 

[Jay Dub]

When I watch old episodes of my TV shows, which are on demand, I am able to fast forward thru the commercials. That makes me think the advertisers for those shows won't want to pay extra for those views since the viewer has an option of not watching their commercials.

With that in mind I would guess the people watching it on replay would not count towards the 25,000. I don't really know.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Also, they do show the flights of golf balls. Not on every hole but they usually have one or two holes for each event that has a good sightline, and either use a blimp or a tower cam to track the big drives. Also, they have a real time flight tracker that helps on days when the sky isn't good for tracking the shots.

 

[Anon]

I don't know... I think golf is pretty damn easy to follow. Much of is a result of the insane budgets dedicated to covering it and years upon years of refining technology specifically for challenging conditions.

We're talking cameras and lenses that are (relative) light years beyond what people are using to cover disc golf (The ONE Euro open broadcast aside). Not to mention the people actually running those cameras, etc.

 

[dashiellx]

Not to mention the people actually running those cameras, etc.

Just an FYI, the main camera man for DGPtv is a professional cameraman who works golf tournaments.