DGPT Sold to Todd Rainwater

[araytx]

I personally have mostly stopped trying to defend the live product. Some people will never be happy with it. Some think it should just magically be a multimillion dollar production. I am a member of a few live streaming groups for things like sports and corporate events. And some of those people are actually impressed by the production quality that we can attain on the limited budget. Golf is literally one of the hardest sports to cover because the field is so large. And honestly their opinions mean more to me than random internet dudes these days.

For some the length of time will always be an issue. For some the graphics will always be an issue. For some the commentators will always be an issue. You either enjoy live disc golf and the drama or you don't. We will continue to plug away and improve the product year after year as we have done for the past 5 years.

Honestly, it isn't really a tech barrier at this point. It is more a manpower/financial barrier I feel. We can put static cameras at locations, but then they kinda have to be short holes because no one is there to man the camera (island holes usually).

And if we want to start editing in other cards on the fly, you need an entire additional crew per card. Because you need people to man the cameras, someone to video switch that card, someone to record the highlight shots and to feed those sliced shots into the primary feed... and do it all in coordination. So you immediately double your manpower for each card you want to film that way. We can handle 2 cards with PIP options pretty well, but beyond that, it is tough.

So, for me personally I would like to see the broadcast improve in 2 aspects. Graphics quality & picture quality. Both will require a little bit of cash. To improve the graphics we need to up our bitrate we transmit. And that is basically doubling the cost of our data to notice a significant improvement. And the graphics is working with UDisc and a good graphics designer to work some things out. And I am already headed down that path.

JonnyV:

If I could have SUPERniced these comments, I would have. Expectations people. At some point the consumers of the product are going to have to accept contributing to paying for it. Via commercials marketed to them or some other way, we the consumers are gonna have to put in our piece of the cost.

Agree, and this is where I believe this new ownership/management team can help. There have been many posts on these boards that some things are 'cost prohibitive', and I get that. I don't know the numbers, but Jomez, CCDG, Smashboxx, et. al. have to have cost limits. This new team might can get some things 'over the hump'. And that will lead to more incoming revenue.

One thing I didn't see discussed in this thread, though I may have missed it, and I've seen it in other threads: some comments that the disc makers (Discraft, Innova, et. al.) are getting tired of sponsoring literally everything. Related to my first paragraph, I understand that sometimes these companies are paying for some of the media folks to get to a site to film it, etc. This new team might can help ease the cost burdens of those manufacturing sponsors, who then can advertise more on the media broadcasts/webcasts, bringing in more revenue. Might be six of one, half dozen of the other, but it'll all come out in the wash.

Hmmm. I don't see exactly what you're saying here. Is it putting the cart before the horse? I am not on board or I misunderstand totally with the idea that '...Jomez, CCDG, Smashboxx having limits and the "new team" being the possible solution'. Without the expertise of those who've been doing it thus far and improving it continuously, the product isn't going to get better. Steve tried that and it did not succeed..

 

[Hal9000]

Hopefully Rainwater and Spring are smart enough to refrain from coaching and stay off the 18th green when the tournament champ is about to putt for the win.

I'm drawing a blank on this. Can you provide a little more info?

 

[Hampstead]

I'm drawing a blank on this. Can you provide a little more info?

Dodge and Paige Pierce had an awkward moment.

 

[SD86]

Hmmm. I don't see exactly what you're saying here. Is it putting the cart before the horse? I am not on board or I misunderstand totally with the idea that '...Jomez, CCDG, Smashboxx having limits and the "new team" being the possible solution'. Without the expertise of those who've been doing it thus far and improving it continuously, the product isn't going to get better. Steve tried that and it did not succeed..

What I'm saying was pretty simple: some of those others don't have the financial resources Mr. Rainwater brings to the table, so what was a constraint to them (green dollar bills) will not be a constraint for the new management team.

Jomez, CCDG, et. al. have done a fantastic job with what they had, and I hope they continue to. My comments were not negative towards them in any way.

 

[SD86]

I'm drawing a blank on this. Can you provide a little more info?

I forget what tournament it was, but Paige Pierce was about to putt to win the tournament when someone started yelling at her. It was Steve Dodge, and he was perhaps telling her to lay up so she'd have the last shot to win. PP yelled back very angrily and proceeded to drain the putt (with a couple of others having tap-ins to finish).

After the tournament was over, Dodge was trying to give her the trophy and it was obvious PP was still very angry with him and was trying to get away from him as fast as she could... so fast that she almost blew by Terry, who was going to interview her. She did stop and did the interview (she and Terry are good friends), but she was clearly still very upset with Dodge for his rather rude interruption of her putt.

 

[Hal9000]

Found it 2017 DGPT Championship.

 

[gammaxgoblin]

There is one answer to all these wireless transmission problems......BLIMPS =) (I could swear one of the crazy tech guys like elon musk wants a squadron of blimps delivering internet to areas so yea....blimps.)

 

[teemkey]

There is one answer to all these wireless transmission problems......BLIMPS =) (I could swear one of the crazy tech guys like elon musk wants a squadron of blimps delivering internet to areas so yea....blimps.)

Project Loon

 

[DiscFifty]

Do wonder where he sees Jomez fitting in, as that's the third best DG brand going behind Innova and Discraft.

uh....speechless.... wow...

 

[ru4por]

For the whole enchilada to be sustainable eventually someone outside of disc golf has to decide there is monetary value in watching disc golf. Is an influx of donor money enough for that to occur? Time will tell.

Little to none.

It's not "dumping in millions" necessarily, more like making the right business adjustments, making some capital investments in some equipment and staff, and creating some new partnerships with media outlets.

Also it's influence. Monied interests are simply taken more seriously, and are more likely to garner new and exciting business relationships. As a business manager that took a failing business from bush league to the big time, they are perfectly poised to smash a home run IMO. They've got it all and a killer team. Shoot, I wish I was in a position to send Jeff a resume, that's how excited I am for what these guys WILL accomplish.

The simple bolded portion above is why I totally disagree. There are tons of niche, unheard of games, like disc golf, that are far more suited for viewership and far more interesting to watch.

 

[Jouni]

How much does the big gallery affect the smashboxx signal?

 

[Jouni]

My likely unrealistic wish is to one day see accurate hole map overlays on the feed with all landings marked. One of the post production teams have something like this I think, but it is obviously much harder to do live. UDisc+GPS personnel for each player could get something done I guess...

 

[brutalbrutus]

There is a graphic they use for golf that would be pretty cool but also probably unrealistic for DG. The spray chart overlay for every teeshot on a hole for the entire field and then they're color coded by score.

 

[krupicka]

My likely unrealistic wish is to one day see accurate hole map overlays on the feed with all landings marked. One of the post production teams have something like this I think, but it is obviously much harder to do live. UDisc+GPS personnel for each player could get something done I guess...

Bring back the dots. (for those not familiar the USDGC used to do this before there were video cameras everywhere)

 

[DoWork]

Little to none.



The simple bolded portion above is why I totally disagree. There are tons of niche, unheard of games, like disc golf, that are far more suited for viewership and far more interesting to watch.

So in that case just sit back and watch. It's obvious DG has taken MASSIVE leaps forward in the past few years, and in the right hands that can be parlayed into -oh gee I don't know- maybe the same coverage freakin cornhole gets now? Lol... I don't know how much you're entrenched into the outdoor sports industry but it's pretty much my entire life and my career.

It's not a stretch or a reach. It's more like a fall forward. Rainwater was already part owner and essentially dissatisfied with Dodge's creation of conflict where an opportunity existed for a more apt business mind and KNOWS he can do better. I'd be inclined to agree. Even with small changes and minimal investment there is room for huge improvement overall. Don't think of this as him trying to reinvent the wheel, he's simply going from wooden wagon wheels to a modern tire, and the DGPT needs that badly IMO.

 

[DoWork]

There is a graphic they use for golf that would be pretty cool but also probably unrealistic for DG. The spray chart overlay for every teeshot on a hole for the entire field and then they're color coded by score.

That isn't unrealistic, that's likely adding one more person to a production staff. The technology already exists elsewhere and it's an expansion on follow flight which is already in use so why that would be a huge stretch is a mystery to me. Not like they'd have to invent and develop the tech from scratch. I mean it's basically follow flight + UDisc = kick ass data outlay.

These are the types of expansion I'd expect to see in the next year simply *because* it's data rich (nerds like me love it) and not far outside what people are already doing. If Jomez can streamline the follow flight technology to be less time consuming this could be a no brainer, as the majority of that data is already on UDisc.

 

[kiwichiwi]

That isn't unrealistic, that's likely adding one more person to a production staff. The technology already exists elsewhere and it's an expansion on follow flight which is already in use so why that would be a huge stretch is a mystery to me. Not like they'd have to invent and develop the tech from scratch. I mean it's basically follow flight + UDisc = kick ass data outlay.

These are the types of expansion I'd expect to see in the next year simply *because* it's data rich (nerds like me love it) and not far outside what people are already doing. If Jomez can streamline the follow flight technology to be less time consuming this could be a no brainer, as the majority of that data is already on UDisc.

Follow flight is a very hard process that is only done in post production for disc golf.

 

[Nova P]

There is one answer to all these wireless transmission problems......BLIMPS =) (I could swear one of the crazy tech guys like elon musk wants a squadron of blimps delivering internet to areas so yea....blimps.)

I would run back to school and add an airship rating to my license in a heartbeat if this was a thing.

 

[BlueMonk]

News of Todd Rainwater buying the DGPT hit me like a cold shower. I would love to know what all was included in the sale under the DGPT umbrella. Take some dedicated ownership, drizzle a little extra capital on top and the dark cloud of uncertainty will pass. It seems the disc golf community is meeting this news with thunderous applause. I'm not sure what precipitated this sale, but I think there's going to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for our sport. Opportunities like this are as rare as getting hit by lightning. This is just the calm before the storm, it's going to get exciting!

 

[Ryan P.]

Follow flight is a very hard process that is only done in post production for disc golf.

Yes, because they do it manually. There are programs that can automatically create these follow flights (see here for an example).

In other words, it's hard because they aren't doing it the "smart" way. Now, these programs may cost a lot of money or have licensing issues, idk. I'd imagine Jomez has looked into it and decided against it for a reason.