Not to argue, just to give another point of view...I worked for 15 years in parks & recreation. I ran a lot of events. Softball tournaments, tennis tournaments, 5-10K runs...you name it, I've run it. For each of these events, there was an entry fee. For the individual sports like disc golf is, every player got a t-shirt or something for entering, the same as a players pack. The players pack would be worth far less than the price of entering. The payout would be trophies. Top three or four places no matter how many people signed up. The more players I attract, the more money the event made. People showed up and participated for the fun and experience of playing. No one seemed to mind that the event host made money. The money went back into the park general fund. It could be used for anything the parks department deemed necessary.
Now take disc golf. Players expect to pay a fee and get a players pack. Then they want a payout for their division worth 100% or more of their combined entry fee. There are other fees like sanctioning fees, park pavilion rentals, TD expenses, etc. but the players don't care. If the value of the tournament to the players is not 120-150% of their entry fees, they think they got ripped off. So the TD has to find sponsorship to cover all the expenses AND add value to the payout to keep people happy. If any money does happen to be generated, disc golfers expect that the money goes right back into the sport.
I just don't see this. I can't figure out why we have to have added value and prizes heaped upon us in order to play. People in other sports are willing to pay for the experience of a good event that provides good competition and don't expect to profit for their recreation. For some reason, disc golfers expect to get paid for having fun.
Under our system, a TD really gains nothing for running a good event. The more players you have, the more work you have BUT the payout gets bigger so you don't make any more money. As a TD, I'd rather run a little 35 player event than put in the work to attract 150 players, run my butt off all weekend and end up with nothing to show or it.
We depend on sponsorship to make this system work. Here is a question...Why would you sponsor a disc golf event when we deliver zero spectators and media coverage. Why would a business sponsor an event that will not be seen by anyone other than 100 or so participants and will not be covered in the local media? You can get better advertising value buying shirts for a little league baseball team.
So based on my experience running other sports tournaments, I feel that disc golfers have a very inflated sense of entitlement when it comes to tournament payouts. I think the payouts are way too high and the entire system is unrealistic.