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The Inevitable 2022 Pros Switching Sponsors Thread

You who know better correct me, but assuming a manufacturer makes what, 7-10 bucks on each normal production-run disc sold(just guess, subtracting cost of production, wholesale prices, etc., that's 100-150 thousand discs sold to pay a pro a million bucks a year.
 
Monkeypaws said:
You who know better correct me, but assuming a manufacturer makes what, 7-10 bucks on each normal production-run disc sold(just guess, subtracting cost of production, wholesale prices, etc., that's 100-150 thousand discs sold to pay a pro a million bucks a year.
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Speaking from experience with custom tournament orders in the 200-300 disc range in 2019 you're talking wholesale of roughly 9 bucks for champion plastic. Haven't ordered anything custom since late 2019.

No clue what kind of pricing any of the big box retailers get, but I wanna think the next wholesale tier was at 500 per order and that only saved you like a quarter a disc. Yeah it adds up over a huge volume but I can say I know what 200-300 disc shipments look like and I've seen my local PIAS on new order day and they order way less, although way more frequently…probably monthly.

Figuring in all fixed costs I'd guess that they're making 5-7 bucks selling at wholesale? Depending on the company and recent facility upgrades that might be quite a bit thinner and more like 3-6 bucks?

Just to be conservative I'd say double your disc sale estimate figuring in the travel expenses and whatnot Ricky's contract might cover. So 200-300k discs a year, which is a giant gap of difference…553 or 829 discs a day depending on which number you wanna use…and that's just to break even…

Gotta remember…that new sponsorship is intended to drive additional sales ON TOP of whatever your daily business was from the previous year. We're talking about growing the sport right?
 
dehaas said:
Gotta remember…that new sponsorship is intended to drive additional sales ON TOP of whatever your daily business was from the previous year. We're talking about growing the sport right?
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I'm not going to disagree, but I'd say more specifically, sponsors are looking to grow their brand..

If they can increase market share, while the industry is experiencing growth, they probably get the desired return.
 
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BogeyNoMore said:
I'm not going to disagree, but I'd say more specifically, sponsors are looking to grow their brand..

If they can increase market share, while the industry is experiencing growth, they probably get the desired return.
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It's possible to grow sales year over year but lose market share. You're just growing slower than the market. Ain't nobody got time for that.

I worked plenty of retail back in the day, 10% growth is the goal. We've got a rough estimate of what it takes to break even on a million dollar annual salary, if you want 10% growth that needs to be more like 600-900 discs a day…as a contribution of that single player.

Right now if you're a manufacturer only posting a 10% growth in 2021 you're probably getting spanked outright. And everybody is talking trash about why Innova is letting the high dollar contracts go elsewhere…
 
^ pretty much my point, in more detail.
 
Am I crazy thinking these companies should be investing in more machines and employees to produce product instead of players? Most of the companies can't keep up with the demand right now and some of their molds haven't been available for quite long periods of time. If Discraft could get the smaller shops more than 25 discs a month they have allowed them to get, that has to be better for business than signing another pro right? I know one local shop would be wanting 1000+ discs a month from them if they were allowed to. Seems like such a wasted opportunity.
 
rusch_bag said:
Am I crazy thinking these companies should be investing in more machines and employees to produce product instead of players? Most of the companies can't keep up with the demand right now and some of their molds haven't been available for quite long periods of time. If Discraft could get the smaller shops more than 25 discs a month they have allowed them to get, that has to be better for business than signing another pro right? I know one local shop would be wanting 1000+ discs a month from them if they were allowed to. Seems like such a wasted opportunity.
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100% agree. . .

MVP have not been in full stock for years. . .Discraft starting to get back after over a year of total "sold out"
SOOO many young players in our club that starting throwing Discraft after McBeth that have now changed brand, they could not get any Discraft discs. .. so now they buy other brands, maybe for life...HOW is that good for Discraft?!?

You buy what you can get that are in stock and just maybe you love that disc and change your bag to that brand. .

Maybe thats why DD waited to sign a big name, no point in doing so in 2020-2021 they had to few discs to sell
 
ru4por said:
Chris Dickerson and Nikko Locastro signed with Wham-O? How do they have the disc golf money to sign these type pros. I did not even think they were a major player of any kind in our game.
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Don't underestimate Wham-O!!! Their annual revenue is nearly $60 million dollars and the CEO Todd Richards has recently been overheard mumbling in his sleep that he "wants Nikko" or something to that effect. Also, my friend's brother lives by the guy who walks Todd's dog and he told me that the dog is named Dickerson so really it was only a matter of time.

Also, there's a chance the guy was joking about Wham-O.
 
rusch_bag said:
Am I crazy thinking these companies should be investing in more machines and employees to produce product instead of players? Most of the companies can't keep up with the demand right now and some of their molds haven't been available for quite long periods of time. If Discraft could get the smaller shops more than 25 discs a month they have allowed them to get, that has to be better for business than signing another pro right? I know one local shop would be wanting 1000+ discs a month from them if they were allowed to. Seems like such a wasted opportunity.
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This 100%. Always be in-stock online and at the shops, when other companies are out of stock.

I would also be investing in supply chain, digital marketing, SEO, targeted ADs, setting aside vendor income to run promotions at the shop level, buying up smaller companies who make a product you don't manufacture and providing more money for grass roots marketing (b and c tiers). I would also hire 1-2 insights analysts that could focus on product trend analysis, guest sentiment and regional sales trends.
 
rusch_bag said:
Am I crazy thinking these companies should be investing in more machines and employees to produce product instead of players? Most of the companies can't keep up with the demand right now and some of their molds haven't been available for quite long periods of time. If Discraft could get the smaller shops more than 25 discs a month they have allowed them to get, that has to be better for business than signing another pro right? I know one local shop would be wanting 1000+ discs a month from them if they were allowed to. Seems like such a wasted opportunity.
Click to expand...

Not crazy, but I think it's harder than anticipated in the current climate. Just buying the machine itself runs in the low 6 figures - then you have install costs, setup times, etc. And you're not getting that machine for at least 6 months if not longer. Probably turns into close to a half a million dollar project, so similar to a top player deal. And you have to hire & train labor to run it, increasing your OPEX by a good deal.

The hardest part though is probably raw material issues - I can't speak directly on plastics themselves, but I've heard that supply isn't fantastic right now (and I know that to be true for the chemical company I work at). If manufacturers A) can't guarantee these sales numbers will stay so elevated and B) might not even be able to keep a machine running fully due to supply issues, there's definitely a lot of thought to be had on it. For a player contract yes it's a significant investment, but you can now just change the stamp (no change in operational costs AFAIK) and upcharge ~$5 a disc. Probably adds $2-$3 of margin on every disc if I had to guess. My gut tells me that the player contract is probably safer for the time being. More expensive in the short term, but avoids the risk of buying a machine & not being able to utilize it.
 
Luckj said:
Don't underestimate Wham-O!!! Their annual revenue is nearly $60 million dollars and the CEO Todd Richards has recently been overheard mumbling in his sleep that he "wants Nikko" or something to that effect. Also, my friend's brother lives by the guy who walks Todd's dog and he told me that the dog is named Dickerson so really it was only a matter of time.

Also, there's a chance the guy was joking about Wham-O.
Click to expand...

Oooooh, you guys and your razor sharp wit. I guess I must be too old, to catch that sort of cutting edge waggishness. It honestly went right over my head. :doh:
 
Whichever company first finds a way to monetize online bickering about disc golf companies will win the fountain of gold. In other words, us players don't engage in philosophy of manufacturer for it's own sake - we first like to throw discs. If there are no discs we want to buy, then the philosophy is so less entertaining.

ETA: my first disc set was whamo three pack from the wal mart. The Paradox is nearly a clone of that wham o mid's flight.
 
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