DGN: The Disc Golf Network

[Moonshine]

It benefits the local government in tax dollars, which is typically plenty of reason for the local government to allow events to happen for free on public grounds like parks.

Not all parks receive money from the tax dollars you're referring to, e.g. sales and property taxes.

 

[Moonshine]

Depends on how much money the government/economy is gaining. Governments spend taxpayer money ALL the time so other people can profit (Olympic venues, tax subsidies for all kinds of building projects, etc). This wouldn't even require the government to spend money, just give access that is essentially free for them to give. If you can bring in enough spectators, and they'll spend in the local economy, the government will bend over backwards to give them free access to public places.

It's more nuanced than that. Cities and counties definitely subsidize projects under the guise of benefiting the local economy, but not all public parks are owned and operated by cities and counties. Many are operated by independent park districts that don't necessarily receive money from things like occupancy taxes or sales taxes.

Also, there's an opportunity cost with closing a public park. Sure you might bring in some additional revenue, but now your taxpayers who fund that facility are unable to access it for whatever period of time. This can be a tough sell, especially if the event doesn't align with the organization's mission and vision.

All that to say the idea of closing a public park to generate spectator revenue could happen in theory but it's not necessarily a straightforward process.

 

[ToddL]

There's also a difference between completely closing a park on the edge of town with few amenities versus the most popular park in town in the middle of a residential area that's used by hundreds of walkers/joggers/picnickers/families per day. The city might let you close an otherwise unused park at no charge at all, but would never let you close the popular park no matter how much you offered.

 

[glassila]

There's also a difference between completely closing a park on the edge of town with few amenities versus the most popular park in town in the middle of a residential area that's used by hundreds of walkers/joggers/picnickers/families per day. The city might let you close an otherwise unused park at no charge at all, but would never let you close the popular park no matter how much you offered.

That's why I doubt if they would/could close Fountain Hills (it's very popular with the general public + it would be nearly impossible to physically keep people out).

 

[dmoore1998]

Not all parks receive money from the tax dollars you're referring to, e.g. sales and property taxes.

They dont get their funding that way, but they get their funding from governments that do. And even absent the taxes, politicians who want to stay in office are typically looking for ways to stimulate the local economy because that's what benefits their voters.

Parks restrict access for a lot less than a big economically boosting event.

Hard to imagine many parks so independent they can tell every government agency above them that they're ok with funding cuts because they refuse to close the park for a big event. Those parks would simply be more like private property.

 

[dmoore1998]

There's also a difference between completely closing a park on the edge of town with few amenities versus the most popular park in town in the middle of a residential area that's used by hundreds of walkers/joggers/picnickers/families per day. The city might let you close an otherwise unused park at no charge at all, but would never let you close the popular park no matter how much you offered.

I'm not familiar with lots of other parts of the country, but outside the local general use park in my town which definitely isn't nice enough to host an event...I've never seen picnickers anywhere near the disc golf courses here. Of the 10 or so nice courses on public ground nearby, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a non disc golfer within an area that would need to be closed off if an event occurred.

Are there a lot of nice courses that would/could host events where playing it involves closing popular picnic areas? It's not like you have to close a 100 acre park to have an event on the 40 acre disc golf course.

I recognize maybe courses in other areas might be laid out vastly differently than ones here in the Midwest though (more open spaces here naturally).

 

[ToddL]

I'm not familiar with lots of other parts of the country, but outside the local general use park in my town which definitely isn't nice enough to host an event...I've never seen picnickers anywhere near the disc golf courses here. Of the 10 or so nice courses on public ground nearby, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a non disc golfer within an area that would need to be closed off if an event occurred.

Are there a lot of nice courses that would/could host events where playing it involves closing popular picnic areas? It's not like you have to close a 100 acre park to have an event on the 40 acre disc golf course.

I recognize maybe courses in other areas might be laid out vastly differently than ones here in the Midwest though (more open spaces here naturally).

We are all, of course, dancing around Fountain Hills without actually naming it. Fountain Hills is smack in the middle of town, is used by hundreds of residents every day, and has zero controlled access. It's open to the surrounding streets and neighborhoods on all sides. The city would never close the entire park, and you wouldn't be able to police it even if you tried. This public-access issue is why they're no longer on the NT or PT.

La Mirada would be another course with this type of problem, but it's not on the NT or PT, so we don't have to talk about it as much.

But yea, I think we overall agree with each other. It's really nice when you have a park that's big enough that you can section activities away from each other. Most of the time when you're looking for Pro level courses, this is something you place high on the priority list. If the course is not separated from the rest of the park or the city won't let you close the entire park, then you have a difficult decision to make about whether you should run a large tournament there.

 

[Moonshine]

They dont get their funding that way, but they get their funding from governments that do. And even absent the taxes, politicians who want to stay in office are typically looking for ways to stimulate the local economy because that's what benefits their voters.

Parks restrict access for a lot less than a big economically boosting event.

Hard to imagine many parks so independent they can tell every government agency above them that they're ok with funding cuts because they refuse to close the park for a big event. Those parks would simply be more like private property.

Independent park districts with their own boards of directors are absolutely a thing.

Large disc golf tournaments likely provide some amount of economic stimulus, and spectator/entrance fees should definitely be a thing, but I would contend that private courses are the future of our sport.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Are there a lot of nice courses that would/could host events where playing it involves closing popular picnic areas? It's not like you have to close a 100 acre park to have an event on the 40 acre disc golf course.

.

The courses at Ledgestone and Wintertime Open are the ones that came to my mind first.

 

[dmoore1998]

Independent park districts with their own boards of directors are absolutely a thing.

Large disc golf tournaments likely provide some amount of economic stimulus, and spectator/entrance fees should definitely be a thing, but I would contend that private courses are the future of our sport.

I won't disagree that I think private courses are likely going to take a bigger chunk in the future. As demand for nice courses increases, the most likely place to turn for those nice courses is something private which doesn't have the red tape involved of developing something.

Also just as more people get involved, it's more and more likely that people with pockets capable of funding a private course will get involved with the sport and may take on a losing/break-even project just because they enjoy it (or because they've found creative ways to use it to their advantage for taxes).

 

[dehaas]

As far as the public parks are concerned, yes some of them would be very difficult to fully close but that aspect of it wasn't I was seeing as the biggest problem.

More along the lines of park space is reserved for X dollars, and then admission tickets are being sold which generates way more than X dollars.

Things start to get a bit more tricky then. You're using public space as a business opportunity, pretty sure you're going to need a business license with that local entity to do that. Couid be wrong though, if they're selling merch on site at events they may already be doing this.

Private property just makes a lot of the logistics easier.

 

[@CD-]

https://www.pdga.com/news/eurotour-live
7 PDGA Eurotour events + DGPT/Eurotour PCS Sula Open + European Open Major will be live broadcast through DGN. Some overlap with certain events and U.S. DGPT events so there will be concurrent streams at points of the year.

To ease time-zone-induced stress on live production and to allow for simultaneous broadcasts on Disc Golf Network when there is a U.S. event taking place at the same time, the Disc Golf Network is partnering with Pulsea, a European live production company, to establish a live production studio in the central European time zone. Pulsea brings 15 years of live broadcasting experience and a strong understanding of Disc Golf.

Curious who will be commentating for the European side of things and if any additional language broadcasts/simulcasts will be added.

DGN is not combining efforts with the separate European Pro Tour live broadcast provider Disc Golf Stream so 2 subscriptions would be needed to watch both sets of tournaments :\

 

[DannyS]

The DGN event is less than two weeks away. Have they announced which players will be competing in the 2023 All-Star Weekend?

 

[TheOtherBill]

I was about to re-up with DGN and realized math is my friend:

First tourney starts Feb 17th, the last event ends Oct 15th so an interval of 9 months. A 12-month subscription costs 129.99, but if you only pay for 9 months in advance it's $116.

Why would anyone pay for more months with no tournaments in them?

 

[TheOtherBill]

No free final round on YT either - https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2023...fpo-lead-no-more-final-round-live-on-youtube/

 

[BuiltTooLong]

I was about to re-up with DGN and realized math is my friend:

First tourney starts Feb 17th, the last event ends Oct 15th so an interval of 9 months. A 12-month subscription costs 129.99, but if you only pay for 9 months in advance it's $116.

Why would anyone pay for more months with no tournaments in them?

I always pause my subscription for 3 months during the off-season.

 

[ru4por]

I was about to re-up with DGN and realized math is my friend:

First tourney starts Feb 17th, the last event ends Oct 15th so an interval of 9 months. A 12-month subscription costs 129.99, but if you only pay for 9 months in advance it's $116.

Why would anyone pay for more months with no tournaments in them?

I might suggest the better question is............why would ANYONE pay $116 to watch live disc golf? PER YEAR! Sorry.......

 

[TheOtherBill]

Because I am stuck in front of a desk and live disc golf makes the day go faster. Plus I'm not giving the PDGA/Nate H any of my money this year and not playing any tournaments. I support disc golf and this is one way to do so that directly benefits me.

Isn't there a "Why pay for videos" thread somewhere else?

 

[ru4por]

Because I am stuck in front of a desk and live disc golf makes the day go faster. Plus I'm not giving the PDGA/Nate H any of my money this year and not playing any tournaments. I support disc golf and this is one way to do so that directly benefits me.

Isn't there a "Why pay for videos" thread somewhere else?

I am not trying to pick on you Bill. You just happen to be the one that brought up the savings.

BUT.....Heinold runs at least two DGPT events. Seems DGPT subscriptions support him more than a PDGA membership does. Throw in his Ledgestone enterprise, via the DGPT, and it is likely a lot more support.

 

[dehaas]

Not surprised by this at all.

Get rid of the free final round on YouTube during the final year of the Jomez agreement. If people want live dg they're forced to pay for DGN. Of course they're expecting to see an increase in subscriptions. Worst case people don't subscribe and watch post produced on Jomez, which just drives up the price for the next Jomez contract.

We'll see soon enough if the dg bubble has started to burst.