"DG is not a spectator sport..." "DG is boring to watch..." "Nobody want's to watch DG on TV..."
Opinions, to which you can statistically argue that there are an equal number of opposing opinions of varying degrees from your own. Golf is boring to watch and the object ball is impossible to see, does not stop them from successfully televising it and from sponsors getting on board. Bowling anyone? People watch what they are told to watch by the media, and if the media thinks they can market DG they certainly will.
With sports like football, basketball and extreme sports even those that don't play find them fun to watch. With games like disc golf, golf and bowling, it's pretty much only those that play the game that do watch. Even then it's only a fraction of the participants that watch. Considering that there are likely orders of magnitude more people who bowl or golf than there are that disc golf, the viewer base is much larger. People don't watch because they don't play, they don't play for many reasons, one of the biggest being, they don't know the sport exists. It's hard to get the word out to non players when they aren't interesting in watching the sport.
"There is no money in DG..." "There is no money in selling plastics..."
False. Everyone in DG wears at least 2 shoes. Everyone in DG wears pants and a shirt. Everyone in DG has a bag for discs. Everyone in DG has discs. Every course has maintenance vehicles. Every course has X baskets. Every spectator can be manipulated into taking stock in any of the brands associated with the above. It's simple marketing and an individuals personal opinion on the marketability (or lack there of) of DG is simply a drop in the bucket. The fact is that if NBC, ABC, and CBS decided they wanted to market a knitting show, they certainly could. Disc Golf is way more exciting to watch and the shots taken by players and fast, accurate, and the object moves in the air like a remote control. It's like no other sport.
Disc golf is one of the cheapest games to play. There isn't really any doubt about that. Most courses are free, you really only need a couple of discs, and even if you do carry a larger bag, a bag of discs costs about as much as a single golf club. Most people already have the attire needed. You don't need special pants or shirts. Pretty much any pair of athletic shoes works. There's no need for protective gear. Yes, it's true people spend money on disc golf, but it's very low compared to many other sports. I spent more for my 3 year old to play 10 weeks of soccer this spring than I have on disc golf since she was born.
Look at it this way, how many jobs are there out there that are supported solely by disc golf? A few hundred at best. That's a single, medium sized company worth of revenue.
You can't just take each of these arguments and argue why they aren't the single reason disc golf isn't more popular. The reason is because of several of those arguments combined. Nobody wants to watch disc golf and there isn't money in it because not very many people play. The real question is, why aren't people playing. I have a very hard time believing it's because they believe that the pro's smoke weed. As other's have pointed out, that's common in other, very popular sports as well. It's much more believable that they don't even know that the pro's exist.
It's a chicken and the egg scenario right now. There's no money and viewership because there aren't many players. There aren't many players because there's no exposure. With no exposure there's a limited pool of new players. The grassroots nature of the game has done a very good job of expanding and utilizing that limited pool, but it takes time, especially when there isn't a ton of money right away and most consider it boring to watch.
