Fast-Filling Events

[ToddL]

Our event team this year has a goal this year of hosting an even 50% split of competitors between women and men.

My idea for how to help achieve this is to open up the registration for the women's divisions at least a week (or 2 or 3) earlier than the mixed divisions. This is all kosher to do I assume? Anyone else thinking about this kind of thing?

That is indeed kosher.

Competition Manual 1.02.C.2

Unlimited Permitted Exceptions

These Unlimited Permitted Exceptions are not limited by percentage of event spots, but the specific early registration tiers for the Unlimited Permitted Exception must be first-come, first-served to any player who meets the specific requirements of that registration tier.

• TDs may offer early registration tiers based on PDGA Player Ratings to give higher rated players priority (Examples: NT, DGPT, USADGC.)
• TDs may offer early registration tiers based on qualification through PDGA sanctioned qualifier events that were publicly available to all players. (Example: PDGA Worlds, USDGC, USADGC, or a Points Series Finale.)
• TDs may offer early registration tiers based on specific divisions that are otherwise underserved. These are limited to female-only divisions, junior divisions, or senior (age 50 and older) age-based divisions.

You can open registration early to the women's divisions, and you can also cap the other divisions to save room for the women even after general registration opens.

 

[esdubya]

thanks for checking that Todd!

 

[ToddL]

That's my job! Always happy to help.

 

[BillFleming]

Our event team this year has a goal this year of hosting an even 50% split of competitors between women and men.

My idea for how to help achieve this is to open up the registration for the women's divisions at least a week (or 2 or 3) earlier than the mixed divisions. This is all kosher to do I assume? Anyone else thinking about this kind of thing?

Good luck. I, unfortunately, don't see it working...at least not a 50% split. There just don't seem to be enough women in the sport. In the tourneys I've been in (Arizona), they rarely seem to get more than two cards full of females. 50% split....not happening. I'm a member of a league that has one female player. I don't know how other regions are, but even the Pro Tour doesn't have a 50/50 split of women to men.

What I have seen is tournament registrations where the divisions start off with a set number allowed (for example: MP0 0/25, FPO 0/8). Then if a division doesn't fill up by a certain time, slots are taken from there and added elsewhere. I think that would be a better solution for you...set the women's divisions at a level where you would like it to fill, then if it doesn't reach there, let's say 2 weeks before the tourney, you take unfilled slots and move them to divisions where you have a waitlist.

 

[BillFleming]

Also I can only imagine how annoying it is for TDs to constantly be answering "what's going to be in the pack"...but that's mostly their own fault. If you're running a system where part of what a player is doing with their entry fee is buying something, it's only logical they'll want to know what it is they're buying.

I've talked to a couple of TDs about Player's Pack discs.

One TD'd registration had the ability to choose the disc you wanted to get. But a few weeks before the tourney, he emailed everyone they had to reselect and the options changed....this was due to Covid and production issues. At the initial registration period, there were a couple of choices for putters and midranges. For the 're-do' they were only distance drivers and one midrange option.

Another TD, where you couldn't choose at registration, said they get whatever the sponsor sends them and that's what they hand out. A TD might be able to suggest options to a sponsor, but it's ultimately going to be up to the sponsor as to what is offered.

My opinion....if the sponsor gives the TD $10 off the disc, give me a sponsor's gift card with $5 off instead. I'd be happy....I can pick the disc I want or something else that I would use.

 

[ReinZ_96]

In a discussion on FB about paying TDs and this was posted. Not a bad idea, imo.

Raise the cost of tournaments. If the fill in seconds, the demand has outpaced supply. Higher cost would bring that back in line, and allow TDs to earn some more for their efforts

I think anything that has the possibility of pricing people out of competition and just turning event fields into 'whoever has the most money' is a terrible idea. I'd rather only get into a tiny fraction of events I try to get into than ever turn disc golf into a rich man's game.

 

[aredoubles]

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2021...rnament-demand-has-events-filling-in-minutes/

A few comments here from Mike Downes and Pete Crist of the PDGA.

Amazing that we have 40% more tournaments scheduled than last year, and yet we're still seeing demand completely overwhelming supply.

 

[BillFleming]

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2021...rnament-demand-has-events-filling-in-minutes/

A few comments here from Mike Downes and Pete Crist of the PDGA.

Amazing that we have 40% more tournaments scheduled than last year, and yet we're still seeing demand completely overwhelming supply.

Wow! I'd like to know where the 40% more are happening. Arizona has 16 tournaments on DiscGolfScene, between now and early October, and of those only 6 (I think that was the count) are sanctioned. Majority are all filled, there's a couple that haven't opened the registration yet. ((Sanctioned ones filled quickly, some of the unsanctioned ones haven't filled yet)).

 

[klodkrawler05]

I'd guess we have at least 40% more occurring in MI. I'm still pretty new to the sport so I don't know what the tournament scene looked like in 2019 but in 2020 there was generally at least 1 event per weekend. This year I counted 31 events just in March for us, 16 sanctioned, the rest doubles or unsanctioned, Once we get into April doubles pretty much drops off completely and it's almost all sanctioned singles events.
For 2021 I count 11 A-tiers in MI. it looks like there's 4-5 tournaments per weekend from now until Mid-October when it drops off to about 1 per weekend. And off those tournaments, it looks like every single one in the next month is already filled with a waitlist.
So, I guess I'm thankful I don't live in AZ, even if it was 0 degrees all last week.

 

[biscoe]

Wow! I'd like to know where the 40% more are happening. Arizona has 16 tournaments on DiscGolfScene, between now and early October, and of those only 6 (I think that was the count) are sanctioned. Majority are all filled, there's a couple that haven't opened the registration yet. ((Sanctioned ones filled quickly, some of the unsanctioned ones haven't filled yet)).

I am running more pdga events than that myself this year and more than twice that many events in general.

 

[ru4por]

Wow! I'd like to know where the 40% more are happening. Arizona has 16 tournaments on DiscGolfScene, between now and early October, and of those only 6 (I think that was the count) are sanctioned. Majority are all filled, there's a couple that haven't opened the registration yet. ((Sanctioned ones filled quickly, some of the unsanctioned ones haven't filled yet)).

There were 53 tournaments last year, in Arizona, 17 sanctioned. So far this year there have been 12 Arizona tournaments, 9 of which have been sanctioned. Not including a DGPT event.

I would again suggest that there are many more tournaments yet to be listed later in the year.

You might be able to reach out to your PDGA state coordinator for a tentative schedule for the year.

 

[DiscFifty]

Could a few TDs chime in if this is a worth while idea for DGS?

Have an option for lottery registration.

TDs first input how many players the lottery will hold. They also select how long the lottery lasts. The wait list is not active at this time.

While the lottery is active, any player that registers for the event is added to the lottery.

Once the lottery is filled OR the time duration of the lottery is met, the lottery is automatically generated by DGS and players are added in the divisions they signed up for, in the order of the winning lottery.

Any player from the lottery that did not get into a division is automatically added to the wait list which is turned on once the lottery is complete.

opcorn:

 

[ToddL]

That's a fine idea. Current competition manual doesn't allow for it, but PDGA is discussing options.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

I wasn't referencing it as easier. IMO the cats (Ams) of today are much easier to herd than the cats of the late 90's. Many of them are even receptive to the idea that TD's should be compensated for their efforts. If I could go back in time I would like to kick whoever came up with the concept of huge Amateur payouts squarely in the nads.

I greatly prefer large amateur payouts to large player packs. As someone who profits from merchandise markup I understand how you feel differently.

 

[biscoe]

I greatly prefer large amateur payouts to large player packs. As someone who profits from merchandise markup I understand how you feel differently.

There is exactly no difference in TD profit from a disc in payout and the same disc in a player's pack. Unsure how you would think there is.

You are making a somewhat erroneous assumption on how I profit from merchandise markup. My vast preference is to have neither or at least to have neither mandated. The majority of PDGA events I run have neither and cost the Ams $15 with the majority of that being greens fees at one place or another.

 

[oldmandiscer]

Wow! I'd like to know where the 40% more are happening. Arizona has 16 tournaments on DiscGolfScene, between now and early October, and of those only 6 (I think that was the count) are sanctioned. Majority are all filled, there's a couple that haven't opened the registration yet. ((Sanctioned ones filled quickly, some of the unsanctioned ones haven't filled yet)).

Like I said 10 pages ago, the PDGA has a serious problem. More players then tournaments so exactly why would someone from AZ become a PDGA member this year when he or she has zero tournaments to play in? Or player signed up recently only to find out every tournament is already filled. That new member is not renewing.

Yes I know if you live in Michigan or North Carolina this isn't an issue, but it certainly is in much of the Country.

You can raise the price of entries (not ideal) or pay TD's more in some way to create more events. You could also institute the lottery idea, which doesn't really address the problem, but may help so members at get a chance to play in a few events.

 

[Timthenchant3r]

Like I said 10 pages ago, the PDGA has a serious problem. More players then tournaments so exactly why would someone from AZ become a PDGA member this year when he or she has zero tournaments to play in? Or player signed up recently only to find out every tournament is already filled. That new member is not renewing.

Yes I know if you live in Michigan or North Carolina this isn't an issue, but it certainly is in much of the Country.

You can raise the price of entries (not ideal) or pay TD's more in some way to create more events. You could also institute the lottery idea, which doesn't really address the problem, but may help so members at get a chance to play in a few events.

In NC, there are a lot of tournaments, but many are still filling up within minutes of opening. But I have heard from a TD that this year lots more people are signing up and later dropping out, so if you are on the waitlist you have a really good shot at getting in.

 

[VictorB]

Something I've been thinking about for a bit - PDGA tournaments no longer open to anyone who wants to sign up. Must be a current member. Don't want to be a member? Then play non-sanctioned events, there are still plenty of those. Since so many events fill up so quickly, there is no reason that a non-member/non-current should be getting in before someone who has paid current fees. Or, they can only register to the waiting list first.

Maybe that will piss off some people, but it surely will alleviate a lot of the issues that B/C tier events are having. If people are serious enough to play in a tournament, then pony up the cash and be a member, and be current. After all, that's what most of us have already done

 

[foxdawg10]

Something I've been thinking about for a bit - PDGA tournaments no longer open to anyone who wants to sign up. Must be a current member. Don't want to be a member? Then play non-sanctioned events, there are still plenty of those. Since so many events fill up so quickly, there is no reason that a non-member/non-current should be getting in before someone who has paid current fees. Or, they can only register to the waiting list first.

Maybe that will piss off some people, but it surely will alleviate a lot of the issues that B/C tier events are having. If people are serious enough to play in a tournament, then pony up the cash and be a member, and be current. After all, that's what most of us have already done

This is addressed by charging $10 per tournament to non members. Why would someone pay $75 if they are only going to play in one tournament a year?

 

[biscoe]

Something I've been thinking about for a bit - PDGA tournaments no longer open to anyone who wants to sign up. Must be a current member. Don't want to be a member? Then play non-sanctioned events, there are still plenty of those. Since so many events fill up so quickly, there is no reason that a non-member/non-current should be getting in before someone who has paid current fees. Or, they can only register to the waiting list first.

Maybe that will piss off some people, but it surely will alleviate a lot of the issues that B/C tier events are having. If people are serious enough to play in a tournament, then pony up the cash and be a member, and be current. After all, that's what most of us have already done

I would like to see it move to members only for B tier and above at this point with the potential for it to move to C Tiers down the line.