To sanction or not to sanction, that is the question!

[NPCTour]

I have been wondering about this for some time now and wanted to see what your thoughts are! I have been hosting 10-12 events per year for a while now and have moved to sanction nearly all events PDGA in my area *switching from Southern Nationals to PDGA* Some events I keep SN, but have been heading towards the PDGA. However, I have been considering moving a few of the events to NON Sanctioning and test the waters. This will add more money to my event, cost to me will decrease, but turnout might be hurt.
What is your preference?

PDGA - has many benefits for members: ratings, no non member fee, sponsorships, worlds, and much more.

Southern Nationals - play one event to participate in their championship, no non member fee *no memberships in that series*, score points to win your division in a points race *you get a supercolor disc with your name on it* .........

 

[DavidSauls]

The answer is, of course, local.

I'm in South Carolina, where are state points series is somewhat like the Southern Nationals ($2 per player). We've mostly been PDGA-sanctioned and part of the points series, but I've done all the combinations, being part of both, part of one or the other, part of neither.

You mention possibly lower turnout, and lower cost to you or more money for the event. The trick is that one affects the other. If you go non-sanctioned (or non-SN) to eliminate the money going to those organizations, but you have 10 fewer players because of it, you could be worse off than if you had sanctioned.

 

[MrHighlandPark]

My two cents:

I think it's in the sport's best interest if we support the PDGA's growth as an organization with more access to money and influence. All of these regional groups attract dollars that would have otherwise gone to the PDGA, and we currently have no organizations with enough resources to really move the sport.

In the northeast the local membership club is so popular that only half of the tournaments bother to go PDGA sanctioned, and consequently there is a surprisingly large number of players doing 10+ tourneys a year without joining the PDGA. I'd love to see all those players and tournaments moving to the PDGA so that they can get more membership dollars, charge more for advertising on their website, enhance the stats that they track for us members, etc.

Some of the things that I'd love to see in disc golf - like live HD coverage of NT events - just can't happen if the small amount of total disc golf cash is divided up amongst 10 competing organizations.

 

[scarpfish]

My two cents:

I think it's in the sport's best interest if we support the PDGA's growth as an organization with more access to money and influence. All of these regional groups attract dollars that would have otherwise gone to the PDGA, and we currently have no organizations with enough resources to really move the sport.

I'm not sure why you and the OP are looking at this like an either or, and why the Southern Nationals keeps being brought up as a PDGA alternative. To my knowledge, they don't have an alternative disc golf ruleset, they don't make standards for equipment, they don't offer tournament directors insurance coverage, or anything like the PDGA does. They are multi-state organization that runs a points series, nothing more. They do not sanction anything.

As far as furthering the sport, I might point out that in order for tournaments to exist, to a great extent courses have to be planted in the ground first, and over the last 30+ years, that job has been largely done by these local groups and individuals who are supposedly "lacking resources". They've put over 4000 courses in the ground, and continue to do so at almost the rate of one per day, just in the U.S. How many of those do you think the PDGA had a hand in?

 

[Brall]

i prefer only sanctioned tournaments.

even though i didn't play any tournaments this year i made plans to play 5. each one of those days i was taken over with family business. my schedule is just too insane to accommodate weekend events.

but anyway, back to the topic. when i chose which tournaments i wanted to try i updated my pdga membership and then searched for only sanctioned tournaments and planned out my year. i can't say for sure but there might be others like me that have done the same.

 

[AndyJB]

If you advertise correctly, turnout shouldnt be an issue. Around here, there are a lot of PDGA events but even more non-sanctioned. I've good and bad experiences with both. Just keep it fun, and people will show.

 

[Terry C]

Depends on what your interested in,

Unsanctioned events are way more loose, relaxed and more for fun but are basically meaningless if your trying to make a name for yourself as a professional disc golfer.

Sanctioned events are way more serious and competitive if thats what your seeking.
Ive noticed a lot more of the super serious, angry douchbags gravitate to the sanctioned events though.

Ive played around 25 unsanctioned tourneys and around 10 PDGA sanctioned tourneys.

 

[giles]

As I understand it, PDGA gets you insurance for the event when you sanction through them. Many cities/parks departments require insurance for any event with more than x amount of people.

 

[aardvarkious]

As far as furthering the sport, I might point out that in order for tournaments to exist, to a great extent courses have to be planted in the ground first, and over the last 30+ years, that job has been largely done by these local groups and individuals who are supposedly "lacking resources". They've put over 4000 courses in the ground, and continue to do so at almost the rate of one per day, just in the U.S. How many of those do you think the PDGA had a hand in?

I am one of those people that put in a course this year. Before our baskets went in, the closest course was 4.5 hours away. No one had really heard about disc golf, so I had to build the disc community from the ground up.

The PDGA was a great resource. I got info on their website that really helped me design and "sell" the course to the city. When I mentioned there was an association governing disc golf to make it into an actual sport, city councillors, journalists, and local business owners took me a lot more seriously. When I mentioned the possibility of sanctioning a tournament with the PDGA to attract out of towners, the tourism people's ears perked up and they helped me get funds and my council is interested in investing in even more courses so that we can be eligible to host an A-tier someday. And my provincial PDGA coordinator was a great resource too. Oh yeah, I also got some of our core guys interested in disc golf by inviting them over, giving them some beer, and watching a live disc golf tournament featuring the top pros: something that wouldn't be possible without the PDGA.

Not all courses get this, but we also got a $1000 grant from the PDGA. We used this to buy discs and portable baskets. We gave away a butt load of discs, sold some to pay for our insurance, and used the targets and some baskets to teach disc golf in local schools. Getting people playing more than anything was what got our course built. And it would've been a lot more difficult without the PDGA buying equipment for us.

Do you need the PDGA to build a course and get a local club going? Absolutely not. But it sure can be helpful. I've had my membership for two years now. I have only ever played in one sanctioned tournament since I live in the middle of no where. But I am going to keep on renewing it, because I think it helps the sport to grow.

 

[wake911]

i wish more tournaments were sanctioned. I enjoy participating in sanctioned tournaments. I like the feeling of being able to look online later and seeing an official rating of how good my round was. I have my own feelings about it, but it's nice to see how it compares to others. Kind of fun really.

Now, I've never ran a tourney, so i don't know what it takes to run one. I've helped out, and done whatever the TD asked me to help with, but I don't know sponsors, pdga licensing, insurance, etc.

But from a players side, I enjoy the Sanctioned tournaments a bit more.

 

[Royal Hill]

To the original poster, NPCtour,

Is your current plan to offer the same number of events, with the same operating model(s) as before, with the only variable change in the equation the sanctioning variable?

Or are you looking at trying some more creative or alternative event models that may or may not work well with the PDGA sanctioning as you understand it?

If your current event model is being successful and you don't plan on changing that basic model very much, then I'd encourage continuing the PDGA tie in for all the reasons others have advocated.

However, I think there is room for diversity in event models, which can work within PDGA sanctioning or going in selectively alternative directions.