Could be worse.
I was really into BMX growing up. By the early 90s, the established freestyle contest series had ended and most manufacturers had folded or stopped actively supporting the sport. It was kept alive by a few pros who ran their own diy contest series (and bike companies). The Bicycle Stunt series, run by Mat Hoffman, was the biggest of those. He was the top vert rider, ran the main (only) contest series, and had a bike company that sponsored other riders.
In 92 or 93, there were 4 BS contests in a year and the top pro finisher got like $400 for winning a contest in a particular discipline. Best case scenario, someone sweeps street, vert, mini and flatland at a contest and takes home $1600. I doubt anyone ever took all four even though the pro fields were tiny. Flatland is/was too specialized and not every contest had both street and mini ramp. There was next to no money to be made from contest winnings and I doubt most riders were getting much cash from their sponsers. Compensation largely came in the form of free bikes/parts and a ride to the contests in a van stuffed with the full team.
Once the X games came around, that all changed, but the guys doing it in the early 90s were solely in it for the love of it.
Disc golf is undoubtedly bigger than freestyle BMX was in the early 90s, but it's still a niche sport (especially the non-casual side of the sport). Touring disc golf is probably still more of a hobby than a career for all but a small minority, but it could be (and was in the 90s, per Discette's post) much worse money wise.