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The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

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Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#21

Post by rohitb91 »

peeters wrote: post #12

> According to 2019 data from the athlete marketing platform Opendorse, only about 70 athletes in the world make at least a million dollars a year in endorsement deals. McBeth’s endorsement income from Discraft alone puts him on par with Bears linebacker Khalil Mack, Jazz guard Mike Conley Jr., and Astros pitcher Justin Verlander. This doesn't pass the smell test at all. Opendorse doesn't give any transparency into h…

It would be mind blowing if Crosby isn’t making at least a million from those crappy Tim Hortons commercials.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#22

Post by kevinmchugh »

There's only so much room for a star in a niche sport. Cael Sanderson is one of the all time greatest collegiate athletes. He got a shoe deal.

None of the wrestlers he beat got a shoe deal, because wrestling isn't that big a market, and who wants to wear the loser's shoe?

A lot of good wrestlers lost to Cael. A guy named Daniel Cormier is one of them. Cormier went on to win championships at two different weightclasses in the UFC. But he never got a shoe deal.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#24

Post by iandinwoodie »

For anyone interested in the sport, UDisc is the “go-to” app for finding courses, viewing course maps, and tracking scores. I’m not affiliated with UDisc, but their dev team has done such a great job listening to feedback from users and actually implementing features requested by the community that I couldn’t help but give them a mention.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#25

Post by state_less »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #20
jtbayly wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots cheaper, too. :)

Depends how many discs you lose, including the ones you threw in a tree to knock another one loose XD

I glued a small buzzer, battery and switch to my disc in the beginning to help track it down.

The Doppler effect was pretty sweet when you let it fly :)

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#26

Post by pcthrowaway »

peeters wrote: post #12

> According to 2019 data from the athlete marketing platform Opendorse, only about 70 athletes in the world make at least a million dollars a year in endorsement deals. McBeth’s endorsement income from Discraft alone puts him on par with Bears linebacker Khalil Mack, Jazz guard Mike Conley Jr., and Astros pitcher Justin Verlander. This doesn't pass the smell test at all. Opendorse doesn't give any transparency into h…

I'm also skeptical. There are no rock climbers on this list.

Climbing is still a relatively niche sport (though depending on where you are, it might be one of the most popular), but I'd wager participants collectively spend as much on climbing equipment as many more popular sports. The gear is quite expensive, and for safety reasons, much of it needs to be replaced with relative regularity. You'd be hard-pressed to find a sport where people who don't compete at any level spend $500-2000 per year on equipment (though skiing might give it a run for its money, especially when other expenses of skiing are taken into consideration)

As a result, 'professional' rock climbers (many of whom counterintuitively don't participate in competitive climbing), court a wide variety of sponsorships.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#27

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #22

There's only so much room for a star in a niche sport. Cael Sanderson is one of the all time greatest collegiate athletes. He got a shoe deal. None of the wrestlers he beat got a shoe deal, because wrestling isn't that big a market, and who wants to wear the loser's shoe? A lot of good wrestlers lost to Cael. A guy named Daniel Cormier is one of them. Cormier went on to win championships at two different weightclasse…

Disc golf has a far far bigger reach than you prob realize. The biggest difference between discgolf and ballgolf is its accessibility. Almost every town has a free to play course, and you can be fully equipped to play for 40 bucks. After a couple months of playing or a trip to play-it-again, you can be as well equipped as some professionals.

The biggest difference between discgolf and other sports is that the popularity structure is inverted. Discgolf is popular as a played sport. Most other sports are popular as a watched sport. Not many people aren't taking off early on Friday to go to compete in beer league wrestling. Good luck on your local course Friday at 3pm.

It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on its watched popularity cure.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#28

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

knownjorbist wrote: post #3

Disc Golf is a great sport for all ages. It has effectively no barrier to entry and is good exercise to boot - it's more or less hiking with a game sprinkled in. Here's hoping it continues to amass what seems to be growing popularity.

Disc golf tourism great as well. Very easy to throw a putter a middie and a drive in a suitcase and try a new course in a new town.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#29

Post by Leyledorp »

I've been getting way into disc golf over the last month ever since I went down a namesake youtube rabbit hole in early May. Bought some discs and have been slugging it out at the local course. It seems less consistent than ball golf, the wind has a huge impact on a throw, which I find takes some of the pressure off. It's great fun, and the price barrier is super low. Would definitely recommend anyone to give it a shot.

A am very excited to watch the first round of the PDGA world championship tomorrow.

Re: The Rise of the $10M Disc Golf Celebrity

#30

Post by megameter »

nickmonad wrote: post #11
paulcole wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can make money doing anything if you're good enough The thesis of the article seems to be that this isn’t enough. It’s the marketing and social media aspect that makes the money possible. McBeth might not be the disc golf GOAT, but he’s close and he’s in the right place at the right time and is learning to market himself. His lifetime on the course earnings (again, from the article) are less than 5% of one year…

It does make me wonder when that will flip though. "Ball" golf (as disc golfers like to say) seems to be at a point where you can make a serious living without much to do on the social media side. Companies dump so much money into the purse because there are enough eyes on the game, and I think disc golf can get to that point. But then again, maybe disc golf is coming of age in a different era, where social media wil…

There's definitely been a move towards social media promoters making sports, versus yesteryear's slower moving partnerships of manufacturers, league bodies, and sponsors. "Esports", though it has various early history, has fallen into being predominantly a construct of this kind of hustle; if you can get some bodies in the same in-game space and on a live feed, you can come up with a way to build events out of it, offer prizes and all the rest. Thus even some relatively obscure stuff like speedruns of modded NES games will boast a small scene.

I think of it not as one type of thing overtaking the other, so much as it is something like an unbundling of the traditional sportsfan experience. The individual athletes will have one set of content, the leagues will have another, and you can participate in either with fewer commitments. Sponsors get a smaller but more focused niche market to tap into.

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