2019 Pros Switching Sponsors Official Thread

[DanJon]

If they don't get people on lead card then Robert or AJ can't really mention trilogy discs as a natural part of the commentary.

I don't know if Nate and Jeremy really don't know what the trilogy guys are throwing or someone is telling them not to talk about it.

Jerm talks about what other sponsored players are throwing when he knows what they throw.

It seems that some players just aren't as likely to share what's in their bag.

 

[DanJon]

I just hope all of them coming to my home state of Texas will not also bring their California mind set. :thmbdown:

I understand you so much better after this post.

 

[rakamkram]

The conversation took a turn at some point from the company's providing the lists to making the players do it, and it was assumed it wouldn't be that hard to do. My point is that it's easy to say "oh, that's not hard to do" (while not actually knowing the actual steps to do it other than "make the player do it"). It's a +1 in terms of what the players have to do on top of what they already do. While his/her job is to uphold his/her contract, that's not a contract on his/her entire life. Granted, the more skill the player has, the more bargaining power they have.

My point about fans supporting ownership is simply to point out that fans want things like the name of the disc being thrown and the easiest way to get that info is to have ownership "make the players do it."

I hope the players don't forget to unionize as the sport grows.

Matt Dollar does this every once in a while. Seems like a pretty worthwhile 2 minutes he spent on it

 

[SD86]

What does this even mean? Have you ever been to California?

I have. Several times. Saw some guy named Donald Trump give a speech in San Jose in 2012, years before he thought of politics. California is a great State, mostly nice people. But the politics, y'all can keep.

 

[pjhayes7]

In many cases in ball golf as well as disc golf, the players do not want the specific contents of their bags to be known. Not accusing them of anything; they just don't want to talk about it. When was the last time Catrina or Nikko had a WITB video?

I don't care what they want, that is literally why they are paid. Prodigy does not pay for Catrina to win with a random disc, they pay for her to play with their product and at the very least make it known what they play. Nikko is not sponsored, so he does not give away what makes him valuable for free. That would be like these Team Trilogy idiots that pretend they are pros because they are on the "team". If the best discs for you are are Trilogy, then good for you, but you are giving away something valuable for free. You might as well put a Yeti sticker on your car.

Sorry to go on a rant, and SD, this is not directed at you (you get enough unwarranted grief on these boards). But until these players start to sell themselves and their products, they will not be paid what they "deserve". There are a number of lower rated players who are more valuable than players that win more often because they sell and I don't just mean they peddle discs with a special stamp on it out of their cars.

 

[JeCroisQue]

The conversation took a turn at some point from the company's providing the lists to making the players do it, and it was assumed it wouldn't be that hard to do. My point is that it's easy to say "oh, that's not hard to do" (while not actually knowing the actual steps to do it other than "make the player do it"). It's a +1 in terms of what the players have to do on top of what they already do. While his/her job is to uphold his/her contract, that's not a contract on his/her entire life. Granted, the more skill the player has, the more bargaining power they have.

My point about fans supporting ownership is simply to point out that fans want things like the name of the disc being thrown and the easiest way to get that info is to have ownership "make the players do it."

I hope the players don't forget to unionize as the sport grows.

This makes much more sense and I can see where you are coming from, however you are ignoring the fact that this type of thing increases the money in the players pocket. They should not be doing it because the "ownership" tells them to. The should be doing it to grow their brand and sell more discs for their own good.

Why would companies be responsible for this? Most of them don't follow the players around to tournaments all over the country. It's much easier for the player to take a quick snapshot of their bag like Matt Dollar did and post it online or give it to film crews. Fans don't care about ownership, they care about sweet sweet plastic.

 

[pjhayes7]

The conversation took a turn at some point from the company's providing the lists to making the players do it, and it was assumed it wouldn't be that hard to do. My point is that it's easy to say "oh, that's not hard to do" (while not actually knowing the actual steps to do it other than "make the player do it"). It's a +1 in terms of what the players have to do on top of what they already do. While his/her job is to uphold his/her contract, that's not a contract on his/her entire life. Granted, the more skill the player has, the more bargaining power they have.

My point about fans supporting ownership is simply to point out that fans want things like the name of the disc being thrown and the easiest way to get that info is to have ownership "make the players do it."

I hope the players don't forget to unionize as the sport grows.

These are not team sports, which I absolutely support unionizing. It is super hard for unions to form outside of team sports. There is not much incentive for the best players to unionize and take a potential hit while they sit out. Unionizing is for the lower rated players. But people will still watch a tournament with the 10 best in the world. But you could not have football, basketball, etc games with only the 10 best players in each sport. That is why punters and right guards have power when negotiating with ownership that at even a 1020 rated player would never have.

My argument is that if a player wants to earn a living wage and provide for their family, they should be doing all they can to make their sponsor money. And the sponsor should likewise make it worth their time to do these little extras. Both the companies and players are not doing enough to sell product. Until players start selling tickets, this is literally how they pay their bills. I would rather be staying home to play with my kid, watch Netflix, or whatever than go to work, but I haven't found someone who will pay be to lay around all day.

 

[JC AceHole]

Pretty sure I know who Ian is referring to here. Followed him a few rounds now, most recently at Ledgestone. On the last hole I'll bet he put eight F bombs in one sentence. And of course, took anywhere from 35 to 50 seconds to pull the trigger on a putt.

Ha, I followed this card as well. He's talking about Nikko...

If I remember correctly, on the 18th hole, Nikko threw OB (twice I believe) and had a typical Nikko style meltdown. He said, and I quote, "F this game, F this sport, F disc golf" and F a few more times. Then got on the ground and double fist punched the ground multiple times. All in front of a dad with his 8ish year old daughter right by him. It was funny and disturbing all at the same time...

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

This makes much more sense and I can see where you are coming from, however you are ignoring the fact that this type of thing increases the money in the players pocket. They should not be doing it because the "ownership" tells them to. The should be doing it to grow their brand and sell more discs for their own good.

Why would companies be responsible for this? Most of them don't follow the players around to tournaments all over the country. It's much easier for the player to take a quick snapshot of their bag like Matt Dollar did and post it online or give it to film crews. Fans don't care about ownership, they care about sweet sweet plastic.

I buy the logic of the "grow your brand" argument, but do we know that they see profit from such videos? They have touring discs and some have sig discs. Are they getting bonuses on the company exceeding sales goals? Are they getting paid for page views? Does a sponsorship fully credit a player for both marketing and sales or is "grow your band" just a nice phrase to use to really say "do the company's work without adequate compensation"?

As they point out on The Upshot, disc golf contracts are pretty secretive affairs.

 

[JTacoma03]

I have. Several times. Saw some guy named Donald Trump give a speech in San Jose in 2012, years before he thought of politics. California is a great State, mostly nice people. But the politics, y'all can keep.

Ignoring the fact that Trump said he'd run for President "if he got bored" back in 1988 . My point (to DiscFifty) and now you as well is that if you think California has one speed for ANYTHING you probably shouldn't claim you know much about the place.

Fun fact, California has not had back-to-back (D) Governors since 1887, and I'm keeping this simple and not applying the polar shifts that have happened to the parties over the years.

I'm really trying to keep this post out of the political waters, but man y'all gotta quit coming with the ignorance. California is an incredibly diverse place, in almost every way you can apply that term.

In fact, based on the midterms, I don't think Texas is quite as one-speed as DiscFifty imagines it to be. It's just a really outdated and tired piece of rhetoric to try to paint these massive states with one brush.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

These are not team sports, which I absolutely support unionizing. It is super hard for unions to form outside of team sports. There is not much incentive for the best players to unionize and take a potential hit while they sit out. Unionizing is for the lower rated players. But people will still watch a tournament with the 10 best in the world. But you could not have football, basketball, etc games with only the 10 best players in each sport. That is why punters and right guards have power when negotiating with ownership that at even a 1020 rated player would never have.

My argument is that if a player wants to earn a living wage and provide for their family, they should be doing all they can to make their sponsor money. And the sponsor should likewise make it worth their time to do these little extras. Both the companies and players are not doing enough to sell product. Until players start selling tickets, this is literally how they pay their bills. I would rather be staying home to play with my kid, watch Netflix, or whatever than go to work, but I haven't found someone who will pay be to lay around all day.

Unionizing is for the good of the collective of players to protect their interests in terms of playing rules, policy (such as illegal substances and testing), the direction of the sport, etc. If players want a seat at the decision making table, they form a collective and be professionals for one another. It's that easy. Earnings is definitely a part of it, but protecting the ability to earn, access to earn, and the conditions under which earning happens is most important in the big picture. And sure, there have always been superstar company men who could stand on their own and negotiate favorly with ownership, but that's the outlier. I don't disagree that unionizing is harder in individual sports because of the independent-contractor arrangement.

 

[JeCroisQue]

I buy the logic of the "grow your brand" argument, but do we know that they see profit from such videos? They have touring discs and some have sig discs. Are they getting bonuses on the company exceeding sales goals? Are they getting paid for page views? Does a sponsorship fully credit a player for both marketing and sales or is "grow your band" just a nice phrase to use to really say "do the company's work without adequate compensation"?

As they point out on The Upshot, disc golf contracts are pretty secretive affairs.

Players get money for each disc sold for sig and tour discs. That is relatively common knowledge. Why would you not try to sell as many as possible by any means necessary? Seems like a no-brainer for literally 2 minutes of work.

Your added value of marketing is a benefit to the company you work for and they may take notice when you go through negotiations for new contracts. There is no downside to spending 2 minutes making a list of your discs for media when you are on a lead card coverage.

Outside of the top 10 players, who would benefit most from doing it, players are on coverage maybe a handful of times all year. It's not even like they have to do it every round for every weekend.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

Players get money for each disc sold for sig and tour discs. That is relatively common knowledge. Why would you not try to sell as many as possible by any means necessary? Seems like a no-brainer for literally 2 minutes of work.

Your added value of marketing is a benefit to the company you work for and they may take notice when you go through negotiations for new contracts. There is no downside to spending 2 minutes making a list of your discs for media when you are on a lead card coverage.

Outside of the top 10 players, who would benefit most from doing it, players are on coverage maybe a handful of times all year. It's not even like they have to do it every round for every weekend.

So, say you sell all your tour discs. Are they running another batch for you? Upping your tour disc allotment the following year?

If I get X tour discs and get Y amount from each disc sold, does it really matter what I do to sell out of them? If posting round disc lists/ITBs was the extra profit ticket, don't you think someone would have cashed it by now?

 

[DiscFifty]

Ignoring the fact that Trump said he'd run for President "if he got bored" back in 1988 . My point (to DiscFifty) and now you as well is that if you think California has one speed for ANYTHING you probably shouldn't claim you know much about the place.

Like I said, I have no problem with anyone from anywhere in the world coming to my home state of Texas. Hell..I encourage it...it's a great state. Just remember why you're leaving "your place" in the first place...

 

[DanJon]

I have. Several times. Saw some guy named Donald Trump give a speech in San Jose in 2012, years before he thought of politics. California is a great State, mostly nice people. But the politics, y'all can keep.

Ummm, he was going to run in 2000.

So yeah.

 

[JeCroisQue]

So, say you sell all your tour discs. Are they running another batch for you? Upping your tour disc allotment the following year?

If I get X tour discs and get Y amount from each disc sold, does it really matter what I do to sell out of them? If posting round disc lists/ITBs was the extra profit ticket, don't you think someone would have cashed it by now?

If you sell out your tour disc you can bet they will make more... Just look at what happened with Sexton. The dude made a killing off those Firebirds and he mentions them every chance he gets. Like seriously... what company would be like, "nah we don't want to produce more of this product that we have a mold for and just sold out of."

It would be next to impossible to sell out sig discs. That would be like if Innova sold out of star destroyers with Pauls name on it.

I think some players are either lazy and don't feel like doing it or maybe have not thought about it. Players like Lisa Fajkus or Jessica Weese mention their tour discs every time they do coverage. Paige Pierce makes sure you know she is throwing a Deputy and Paige B make sure you know she is throwing the Judge. Smart players who "get it" make sure the right people know what they are throwing.

I'm not sure how you can argue marketing and selling more discs helps the player. It's literally 2 minutes of work every few weeks. It's pretty laughable that you are arguing this.

 

[Jimb]

And now it's a California dong wagging thread. Sigh.... :\:\:\

Sorry folks, that's just how I see it.

So where did MJ say that he was going?

 

[BrotherDave]

California is a garbage state full of taco bending, cheez-its loving ass-hats like Zenbot. It deserves every natural disaster it gets. :|:|:|

(you guys stay safe)

 

[ThunderEagle]

Well, not a player, but the DGPT has ended it's relationship with Smashboxx.

 

[Nova P]

Well, not a player, but the DGPT has ended it's relationship with Smashboxx.

Well, poop. RIP me commenting Smashboxx videos of DGPT events. =\