American Disc Golf Tour

[lyleoross]

*cough* Highbridge Hills *cough*


Too bad they burned their bridges...

Cough, cough, heard of it, but don't know much. I know it is a mecca, but that's it. Now you have me curious. Quick searches show lots o disc golf, but I can't even find the largest town, not that I've looked hard. Make your case!

 

[lyleoross]

BTW - it's business, burned bridges can be rebuilt by adults.

 

[Jenga54]

Ashland WI is about 20 mins north.

They hosted 2007 worlds. Incredible courses when maintained. Could use a revamp of signage and landscaping to be back to world class.

 

[JTacoma03]

Fair question.

I'm saying "mainstream spectator sport", because we're much closer to being a mainstream participation sport.

I'm not sure where the line is. A sport with enough spectators that it's profitable to put in on for the revenue you get from spectators---either at the venue, or watching on national TV. I'd extend the "Major" sports to a lot of collegiate sports---even women's sports, in some places.

A threshold at this point in time might be something that the major networks or ESPN would show during regular viewing times (not middle of the night), because they expect to get enough revenue from advertisers.

I'm also assuming, from their statements, that this is more or less what the ADGT means by making disc golf a mainstream sport.

Good points. I do think the smarter future for disc golf is to follow eSports footsteps and stick to the internet as a distribution model, but run it like a TV broadcast. For example, if you watch League of Legends pro play, I've seen 60k spectators live on YouTube (and they're simultaneously streaming to Twitch.tv as well).

This is sort of a change in my thinking from years past. I do believe it can still be monetized properly, because internet distro has become a legit option in the last few years.

I still stand by my points that SpinTV, Smashboxx, DGP.tv still aren't there executionally - but we're making the necessary baby steps.

I think Jamie raises a great point, our biggest events have as many spectators as any softball event. However, what is the online market? Can we deliver the eyes that a university audience does? I've always argued that we won't have the big dollars to drive the marketing needed to get air time. That has changed significantly over the past years. Take GBO. 1200 players, say 800 rooms. Times $50 to make it easy. It's more I know. But hotels alone are $120,000 for three days. If you're in two hotels say both Best Western, you have their attention. Then there's all the other amenities. Basically, we're getting closer to the kind of money that drives ESPN3.

These are the necessary baby steps. Proving that events generate local revenue with a solid and consistent product. Props to Rusco for what he's done there in Emporia.

Not to turn this thread into a discussion of other tours, but DGWT has chosen not to live stream their European events because they don't have the experienced streaming team to partner with like they do in the States (there could also be signal-related issues depending on where these courses are). They partnered with Emerging Sports (a.k.a. Disc Golf Planet) to broadcast the La Mirada event, and I'd bet they'll do something similar with them or Smashboxx for the USDGC in October. In the meantime, it makes sense that they put their media budget into turning around edited videos in short order rather than streaming live to a more limited (in the US) audience due to the time difference.

As for DGPT, they've committed to the Youtube streaming we've been getting for the last 4-5 years that has steadily become better with experience and advancing technology. They're taking a proven concept with experienced broadcasters and doing it all for a fraction of what it probably cost to put the American Open on ESPN. In fact, I'd wager a guess that the DGPT could fund the live coverage of all of their events this year with the money spent on the 90 minute ESPN thing and maybe have some cash left over.

I personally think the Youtube style streaming is the future for our game's live coverage (we don't need ESPN to be successful with it). But it's not going to get to traditional broadcast quality levels overnight. The combination of slowly increasing budgets and decreasing costs is going to help make it better as we move forward. It isn't always going to be one grainy, bouncy camera showing every painstaking moment of one group's round forever.

I agree, tentatively, based on the understanding that YouTube is only the distribution channel. I do not agree that stylistically the "YT" coverage is good...watching all the shots is boring.

The style will evolve - referencing eSports again - they've proven you can do a full broadcast model with YouTube distribution. League of Legends is a free game after all (well "freemium"). The evolution of that game in 7 years is really interesting.

Problem is that many of these events (at least the final 9) only have a gallery because the AM's are held hostage to wait for their payout.

Not at the USDGC's, GBO's, Worlds, European Opens - those events have legit spectator galleries. European Open is still the biggest, but the US events are catching up.

 

[JTacoma03]

Cheers for the positive tangent in this thread btw everyone.

 

[BionicRib]

Maybe adgt should contact Abby from highbridge.

Now that would be a thread for the ages.....

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

I want to get Charlie his $299 back, plus $7 so he can buy a good beer and leave a good tip for his trouble.

Where are you going to get a good beer and have enough left over for a tip for $7?

 

[lyleoross]

I don't think people recognize the power of YouTube. My 13 year old is making money there. Not much, but more than I made on my paper route at his age.

I agree with your logic, but wish they'd, that is, you'd, as in Spin would consider a stab at pay per view. I posted earlier on WRC doing this to great success.

Good points. I do think the smarter future for disc golf is to follow eSports footsteps and stick to the internet as a distribution model, but run it like a TV broadcast. For example, if you watch League of Legends pro play, I've seen 60k spectators live on YouTube (and they're simultaneously streaming to Twitch.tv as well).

This is sort of a change in my thinking from years past. I do believe it can still be monetized properly, because internet distro has become a legit option in the last few years.

I still stand by my points that SpinTV, Smashboxx, DGP.tv still aren't there executionally - but we're making the necessary baby steps.



These are the necessary baby steps. Proving that events generate local revenue with a solid and consistent product. Props to Rusco for what he's done there in Emporia.



I agree, tentatively, based on the understanding that YouTube is only the distribution channel. I do not agree that stylistically the "YT" coverage is good...watching all the shots is boring.

The style will evolve - referencing eSports again - they've proven you can do a full broadcast model with YouTube distribution. League of Legends is a free game after all (well "freemium"). The evolution of that game in 7 years is really interesting.



Not at the USDGC's, GBO's, Worlds, European Opens - those events have legit spectator galleries. European Open is still the biggest, but the US events are catching up.

 

[Jenga54]

Maybe adgt should contact Abby from highbridge.

Now that would be a thread for the ages.....

opcorn:

 

[Anon]

Good points. I do think the smarter future for disc golf is to follow eSports footsteps and stick to the internet as a distribution model, but run it like a TV broadcast. For example, if you watch League of Legends pro play, I've seen 60k spectators live on YouTube (and they're simultaneously streaming to Twitch.tv as well).

This is sort of a change in my thinking from years past. I do believe it can still be monetized properly, because internet distro has become a legit option in the last few years.

Welcome to the future. Although LoL is a bit on the decline these days.

CS:GO is seeing spectator counts over a MILLION for premiere events (Twitch + YouTube Live + In-Client viewing). Its absolutely insane and puts the viewership of almost every professional sporting event to shame (NFL aside of course).

 

[Chiefstang]

Where are you going to get a good beer and have enough left over for a tip for $7?

Tasting rooms bro!

 

[Consult20]

Where are you going to get a good beer and have enough left over for a tip for $7?

The ADGT can hook you up with a few for free (of course there's a $300 cover charge).

 

[DavidSauls]

Cheers for the positive tangent in this thread btw everyone.

The conversation turned to how we could do things better. That brings out the cheerful in all of us.

 

[Consult20]

Ok just a few questions related to this 1st annual event:

What was the $ amount of the Dick's gift cards?

Did anyone use a disc with a hole in the middle?

Did the one Hooter's girl ever smile?

Did Ricky actually smash that basket into the ground? (The one he held over his head in his victory pic)

Does McBeth regret not playing?

How were the massages?

Did the players packs for the ams include Preparation H, or did they have to buy their own?


opcorn:

 

[JedV]

Where are you going to get a good beer and have enough left over for a tip for $7?

No clue buddy. I was quoting from the gofundme page.

 

[brutalbrutus]

(mostly just to get this thread count closer to 5000 ): origin: Walt Whitman, 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass, first printed in 1855...

...ps: I like Rush, too :clap:

Hey Nuke, you got fungus on your shower shoes...

 

[jeffmonty]

Did they ever use any of the drone shots? If so, I must not have noticed but wasn't paying too close attention since the program was so boring.

I think someone mentioned a ways back that it was too windy for the drone that day.

 

[bikinjack]

Hey Nuke, you got fungus on your shower shoes...

And that just makes you a slob.

 

[Moose33]

Okay, so my wife and I just watched the replay.

Pros; the course and camera quality was great.

Some of the info about disc golf for people who don't know about it was kind of cool.

The gallery was bigger and more involved than I thought it would be.

Cons; Solo Billy isn't the best way to present disc golf. The lady doesn't watch DG coverage much and her first thought was that he sounded less than professional.

The camera angles were a little off.
I'm sure part of this was because they were hard wired, but even she said that the angles were often misleading as to where the basket was.

Too bad more pros couldn't be there. I would have loved to see some more big names splashing up the scorecards. Understand why they weren't though.

Hooters girls? Really? They added nothing and could hurt female perception of our little sport.

 

[dreadlock86]

i've always liked how the GBO did 1-day C-tiers during the week but it didn't occur to me until now that it's one way you could increase the number of spectators at our big events.

if i were on the fence about going to watch a relatively close Major or NT, the opportunity to play a tournament round during the event would be a huge draw.