With the progress of DGPT and DGN and signing a contract, for letting someone borrow his family farm for a weekend.
I dare say he might be the one laughing?
I dare say he might be the one laughing?
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I never laughed at Dodge. Shook my head sometimes. But he was the "man in the arena", willing to dream big and make the effort to make it happen. Even before the DGPT, which was launched at the same time as 2 other ambitious tours, now forgotten*.
* - Well, a few of us haven't forgotten one of them, and we do laugh when we think of it.
* - Well, a few of us haven't forgotten one of them, and we do laugh when we think of it.
Not the one with a first place payout of folded up cash in a sandwich ziplock or the Hooters score board girls right?
Not the one with a first place payout of folded up cash in a sandwich ziplock or the Hooters score board girls right?
...in the end, we have a pro tour now on the Ascent.
DGPT vs DGWT…to be fair they were both attempts to legitimize pro disc golf, just had different approaches. I think this is probably what the thread is hinting at, but on paper consider the differences: DGWT ran by Jussi, backed a lot by Innova also. Said pretty much right away no live coverage, would have post production footage available, and had daily recap shows highlighting any major topics. ....... DGPT initially was pitched more of a traveling grassroots festival.
It seemed to me that DGWT was just trying to elevate the then-existing formula, while Steve diverged from that by really pursuing the spectator side, particularly live spectators. Not just with the sideshows, but trying formulas like match play to generate more drama. He was willing to try a lot of new things. I was skeptical that it would ever work, but in his wake it looks like online coverage and viewership is succeeding.
Vibram was definitely unique for its time, some of the molds were great, others not so much. Personally I thought the medium blend was some of the best material for winter time play. Discraft has been doing the Ace Race forever, but the Birdie Bash allowed you to pick the two molds you played with and was an actual full round of golf. It led the way for the Trilogy Challenge and some of the other "promotional" events. It'll be interesting to see what kind of traction Vibram gets if they come back…newer players see random dg memes making fun of them and probably assume their discs are junk. All the putters were legit, the ibex/obex combo was solid, and I liked the trak and ascent also. Dabbled a bit with the lace, it'd go far but like any warp speed disc it varied in stability. Can't say I threw any of the newer molds after that, but let's not forget their "experimental 420" driver lol.
DGPT vs DGWT…to be fair they were both attempts to legitimize pro disc golf, just had different approaches. I think this is probably what the thread is hinting at, but on paper consider the differences: DGWT ran by Jussi, backed a lot by Innova also. Said pretty much right away no live coverage, would have post production footage available, and had daily recap shows highlighting any major topics. Majority of events were in the US but did have a couple international events. Had branded clothing offered from DUDE (out of business now?), bag offered by Grip, and plastic offered by DM and Innova. DGPT initially was pitched more of a traveling grassroots festival. First year or two they had some random spectator games to play, no idea if they still do? I believe Dodge also talked about having a big block party vibe after the tournament rounds in the evenings, might have mentioned live music and entertainment on hand. He heavily promoted the anticipation and emotion of watching live. There definitely is some energy of watching a crazy finish live, but this was several years ago. This was several years ago, and I don't think anybody expected live coverage to hold a candle to Jomez or Central Coast. On paper DGPT seemed a lot more let's wing it and see how things go, and DGWT seemed more like a polished product.
DGWT caught a lot of flack for not offering an FPO division. I don't think that's what did them in though. My own take: DGWT was a lot more exclusive, meaning it was basically a handful of events funded by Innova and Discmania. DGPT was partnering with pretty much any manufacturer for sponsorship. I always felt like DM/Innova budgeted a set amount of time and money towards DGWT and it just hadn't grown enough for them to keep dumping more money into it. I think a situation like that helped Dodge with the DGPT…keep going and just trust that things will come around. No clue if he had always planned on selling it off and walking away after a few years, or if it was a necessity to keep DGPT afloat.
The players all seem to speak very highly of Steve though. I think he's just not afraid to let his personality show. All in all a great deal for MVP and Maple Hill both. It's a good thing knowing there is funding available to help cover course improvements, payouts, or whatever will help the tournament grow. It also speaks well for MVP if they're kicking in 200k a year, they wouldn't be doing it if they weren't seeing a return on the investment. Deals like this and the DGPT/Jomez one hopefully encourage others to lock into similar commitments. I'd imagine it makes things easier to plan if you know you have x amount of sponsorship dollars already committed.