When will ESPN cover Disc Golf?

[Radiomuted]

Hopefully never.

I enjoy DG being a "fringe" sport. :shrugsmiley:

Oh Juke, you're such a disc golf hipster

Seriously though... I agree with you to an extent.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Oh Juke, you're such a disc golf hipster

Seriously though... I agree with you to an extent.

HA!

Really, though, I think we might be in a sort of "golden age" of disc golf and perhaps the majority of us don't even realize it.

There's enough "exposure" to get plenty of new courses built, tons of new discs constantly released, and a fairly vibrant tourney scene.

The infusion of big money will only serve to destroy the close-knit community aspect of the current scene, bring a multitude of dbs into the sport, make the courses more crowded, and (my worst fear) make everything pay-to-play.

Just my thoughts on the matter. I have nothing to back this up other than intuition. But I think the only people who will gain from a massive influx of money and ESPN coverage to the sport are the top pros (as well as the companies) and not the grassroots foundation.

 

[GangStar]

^^^^yep

 

[coyotepower]

:clap::clap:

HA!

Really, though, I think we might be in a sort of "golden age" of disc golf and perhaps the majority of us don't even realize it.

There's enough "exposure" to get plenty of new courses built, tons of new discs constantly released, and a fairly vibrant tourney scene.

The infusion of big money will only serve to destroy the close-knit community aspect of the current scene, bring a multitude of dbs into the sport, make the courses more crowded, and (my worst fear) make everything pay-to-play.

Just my thoughts on the matter. I have nothing to back this up other than intuition. But I think the only people who will gain from a massive influx of money and ESPN coverage to the sport are the top pros (as well as the companies) and not the grassroots foundation.

:clap: Hit the nail on the head. Hope it doesnt hit the big time until im old time

 

[TwoTechnics]

if anything they could stream it on espn3 through disc golft tv, its already being filmed with annocers,
all they would have to do is pick up the stream.
thats what they do with paintball tourneys, ya espn3 covers paintball!

 

[bhuff]

One of the CEO's probably got hit with a disc in the past. Or their troubled kid plays

 

[JRW III]

Disc golf will be on tv when there are advertisers to foot the bill. Advitisers will foot the bill when the show will reach a large enough target audience to justify their expense. While disc glof has grown in the past few years, we are still very far from that day.

 

[danhyzer]

I remember many moons ago I got ESPN2 to do a segment of Disc Golf in Massillon, Ohio for our Hall of Chains tournament. The one reporter was talking to Brent Hambrick (as I looked on a few feet away). Brent said he was going to throw a Thomahawk, have the disc bounce off the ground and flip up unto a fallen tree. The reported says... OK Michael Jordan lets see what you can do. Brent threw his shot just as he said he would and it did bounce off the ground and flip over and landed safely on the fallen tree (probally the greastest shot I've ever seen, called out). It was on ESPN2. They also interviewed Elaine King.

How did I get ESPN2 to come out and shoot our tournament, I paid for it. So all you talkers who own company's or have connections with people who have $$. We need you to get this on ESPN for all of us broke disc golfers to watch.

 

[bhuff]

I want to see that shot.

 

[DiscGolfCraig]

Instead of focusing on ESPN, disc golf should be reaching out to other sports networks - NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, etc. Those networks have a major shortage of programming and would seem to be more receptive to filling their airwaves with anything new that might appeal to other/more demographics.

 

[Cgkdisc]

My take is DG will never get on conventional TV because conventional TV will have largely been replaced by Internet/cable by the time DG gets big enough for better coverage. I think a social network like Facebook is where you'll see increased coverage in the future and the action will be covered by the actual players and/or their caddies.

We are getting close to HD caliber portable cameras that can transmit via bluetooth to your smartphones and out to the Internet. You're going to start seeing live feeds from players during rounds you'll be able to watch on video web sites perhaps connecting thru FB. Once more players are into this and we have multiple feeds, there will be need for a video aggregator team to create a show from all of these raw player feeds.

This team of perhaps just two people would include an anchor person to both commentate and (Skype) interview players in the field during breaks in play at the tees plus the producer who can view the multiple streams on one laptop (or two or three) and coordinates which of the various video streams we see at home in the "official" tournament show. This team effort with even more team members will be worth doing and fundable when outfits like discgolfplanet.tv get enough online viewership to attract more and bigger sponsors.

 

[bradharris]

disc golf should be reaching out to other sports networks

Who is this disc golf you refer to? This is the other problem, we are still lacking the visionary to make it happen. The PDGA certainly isn't pushing for it.

The other problem is that you have to make it interesting to the non-disc golfer. All the "fringe" sports that get coverage do so in a way that makes it interesting to the non-participant.

 

[1978]

Once CT gets on its horse and puts 10 or so new courses and runs some major events up in the Bristol/Hartford area. This is something the PDGA should be on top of, I think. Getting DG in the North East especially around the offices where the ESPN headquarters are. Think about a major right in ESPN's back yard. They would have to at least go watch a bit even if none of it aired on TV...or they just did a snippit on sports center.

 

[Discwrangler]

Never.

It's not going to happen. How many sports out there have been around for longer and have a bigger following than disc golf? I'm guessing at least 20.

Once we embrace what we are instead of trying to be something we are not, disc golf will be much better off.

 

[discdoh]

I think there is some serious consideration from ESPNU to do some coverage of the National Collegiate Tournament at some point. Once again, though, just heresay.

 

[chris deitzel]

We have been on ESPN

 

[ryankh87]

Forget DG i just want to be able to watch more than one or two hockey games a week

 

[jeffmonty]

Hopefully never.

I enjoy DG being a "fringe" sport. :shrugsmiley:

I agree with this. One of my local courses is almost unplayable on nice days due to overcrowding.I don't think we need a few million more people out on the course the day after ESPN does a story on it. I don't mean to sound selfish, I just think DG is growing fast enough as it is. I do feel bad for those that don't have a local course,though. Those folks need some help.

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

Considering ball golf can't keep ratings up without Tiger playing I would imagine disc golf stands no chance.

 

[scarpfish]

As much as I like poker, it's not a sport and espn covers the heck out of that. I've also seen Darts and Pool on. I think DG isn't on honestly for a few reasons:

1 - People still tend to think of it as a bunch of hippies throwing lids.
2 - It's a slow moving game, much like regular golf, with none of the financial backing of it. People will watch a golf tourney if there's a million dollars to the winner.
3 - Because at least good dg is played in fairly wooded areas, it's alot more difficult to cover. You need multiple cameras even more than regular golf.

4 - Because the spectator base of our sport is still very small compared to other fledgling sports who are also fighting to get on television. This is especially true considering most of us didn't start playing this game to be spectators.