Quote:
Originally Posted by cgkdisc
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make?
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Very simple; prior to Kevin making the radical change of PDGA league fees, SOMEONE thought it was a good idea to charge each individual $10 a round, per week, to do the same task. According to your reply, 0 leagues and 0 people outside the PDGA thought that was a good idea.
Lower the price to $1, give half of that to the local club....boom, 175+ new PDGA leagues formed (three in my little city alone last year). Why? People saw the value, amongst other things.
Parallel that to today's AM structure. You want to build the AM base right? Organize the AM divisions in such a way that their value exceeds their expectations. That's where my softball analogy comes into play; you pay $100+ for a softball league, and compete for a trophy, and you will always have fun because of the competition, the atmosphere, and all of that is only done for bragging rights and a trophy [unless you are a "pro"].
Move that mentality of to disc golf. Standardize the AM fees. Make it $30 (just putting a number out there), $5 of that goes directly into your local club (like the leagues do). They get a "$40" players pack, and everyone gets the same value. The winner, or top 3, get a trophy. Heck you could even throw in a paid entry into another sanctioned tournament for the winner. I would be really surprised if AMs left in droves, or at all. AMs want VALUE when they go to big events; why do you think the mentality of a lot of these players are "I want to go play here because the players pack is HUGE"? You can still give them that, and more, with just a little restructuring. The left over funds can be used for PDGA payments, or whatever.
Secondly, why not follow the golf's initiative and give players more value for the PDGA membership? In Virginia, there is a club called the VSGA; I'll let you look at that if you want, it's a fantastic service/product. The long story short is this, why not team up with vendors that want to support the PDGA and see if some of them will give additional discounts for active PDGA members? I'm not saying to have collusion, or be a business partner, more like be AAA and reap the benefits. Doesn't have to be a disc golf company at all, places like Papa Johns or Jiffy Lube.
Increased value = better reception = happier AM base = growth. Whether this methodology is correct is purely speculation, I'll be the first to admit that. But I have a hard time accepting that nothing has to change to get things to improve. The PDGA leagues is a fine example: 0 one year, to 175+ the next year. THAT'S growth.