-
Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)
2015 Pros and Their Manufacturers
- Thread starter dwayne.hoffman
- Start date
dwayne.hoffman
Par Member
I could see the argument for bringing the newlyweds under one umbrella. The larger question becomes, can Discraft afford to lose Nate?
Ah DGCR...never change.
[/thread] :clap:
onemilemore
* Ace Member *
I still think everyone is overstating the impact pros have on a brand's success.
spaceguy87
Par Member
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2010
- Messages
- 130
I think it is hard to know without seeing financials from the companies, which are obviously not public. It would be interesting to see if Gateway sales changed after JohnE McCray started his success on tour this year.
DinosaurThunder
Double Eagle Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2013
- Messages
- 1,395
Discmania has yet to announce their newest team member yet. A teaser of box loaded with team stamps was shared not too long ago.
I suppose it could. JohnE to me is the classic "Gateway guy;" the dudes who showed up with a bag full of max weight Wizards, Demons and Spirits and torqued the living Hell out of everything. For years everything Gateway made was overstable as Hell, and that type of bag really seemed to suit JohnE quite well. He really seemed to be a player that Gateway's limited line-up really didn't hurt at all, because the discs they make really suited his game.
That said, Nikko still to me is the name most associated with Gateway even though JohnE was a Gateway guy long before Nikko was old enough to be a pro. I would think if the loss of a player was going to torpedo Gateway, it would have been Nikko. Yet there they are.
Last edited:
Cgkdisc
.:Hall of Fame Member:.
Gateway never required their players to only throw their discs.
thats why they will never be close to a top competitor in the business
Was it not a personal decision on JMs part?
I think you guys put WAY to much stock in what Pro players bring to the table for these companies.
Other than serious discgolfers and the friends of these guys... No one knows who they are.... Go tell someone you work with there are professional, traveling, & RANKED disc golfers. Bet you get a funny look. Then ask the same person if they know ummm I dunno any random athlete from any other professional sport. I bet they could make a guess... I enjoy that our professionals are cool and friendly but Nike doesn't. Nike wants the $$$ not the guys that complain about payout. Climo would of been sponsored by someone HUGE back in the day if that was going to happen. The only other person that could be an Under Armour or Nike guy would be "the Beast" the guy is a fricking ATHLETE. That being said Im sure a few people make moves away from Prodigy.... Possibly Will to Innova??
Other than serious discgolfers and the friends of these guys... No one knows who they are.... Go tell someone you work with there are professional, traveling, & RANKED disc golfers. Bet you get a funny look. Then ask the same person if they know ummm I dunno any random athlete from any other professional sport. I bet they could make a guess... I enjoy that our professionals are cool and friendly but Nike doesn't. Nike wants the $$$ not the guys that complain about payout. Climo would of been sponsored by someone HUGE back in the day if that was going to happen. The only other person that could be an Under Armour or Nike guy would be "the Beast" the guy is a fricking ATHLETE. That being said Im sure a few people make moves away from Prodigy.... Possibly Will to Innova??
I heard rumors about Will leaving but that was before the USDGC. I've also heard rumors about their being no love between a few of the ladies on Prodigy, but I don't know if it's enough to break up the band.
bschick
Bogey Member
I say Wysocki bails...
I strongly disagree with this statement. There is a reason that having sponsored players on tour is highly sought after from all the new start up manufactures; it puts the company on the map. Where would prodigy right now if they had just rolled out a lineup with no pros advertising for them? Why are all the small start ups (deity, salient, ect) targeting tour players if their isn't significant benefit for them?
I didn't think JohnE threw an all gateway line up. How was that supposed to work when he had a signature disc with salient this year too?
JohnE was the Gateway guy of Florida. He ran a company called Gateway South the distributed Gateway discs around Florida. It was that presence that had players like Garrett Gurthie throwing Gateway when they came up. I'm not sure if they had any sort of formal business relationship (knowing what I know about Gateway I doubt it) but JohnE did way more for Gateway than just throw their discs. A personal decision to throw only Gateway would be in keeping with the commitment he showed to the brand.
dwayne.hoffman
Par Member
I'm wondering if MVP/Axiom will take the plunge and bring on a pro.
Gateway made a big deal when Nikko played well at the 2008 Worlds about allowing players to use a "mixed bag." They always allowed it (at one time I was told they required you to use a Gateway putter) but at that point they promoted it as the way disc golf sponsorship should work. JohnE was basically their only top player with an all-Gateway bag, and he stayed that way for years. I believe the Salient deal was part of an effort this year to keep him on tour and Gateway was fine with a dual sponsorship. Before that he had an all-Gateway bag for a long time when he didn't technically need to.
