cad614
Oct 14 2009, 06:58 PM
I was curious as to why the PDGA waits so long to schedule Major and NT events. It seems to me that these events, that do not have to worry about conflicts with any others, could be set far in advance of their actual dates. While the current procedure seems to work well for events that take place late in the year, it is a significant hindrance for those that occur in the first quarter.

My complaint stems from an issue I'm dealing with currently. In order to request support from the City, I must submit an application by October 31. This would not be a problem for me as, like most directors, I've been preparing for my tournament well in advance. However, I cannot set a date for my event until after the PDGA finishes setting the major and NT dates, and I can do nothing but wait until those dates are set. Mr Duke has been kind enough to inform me that these dates should be set sometime this month - but I cannot understand why the PDGA would wait this long to set them.

Could someone inform me why we cannot have these Major and NT events set, say, two years in advance?

cgkdisc
Oct 14 2009, 07:09 PM
It's not totally the PDGA but the NT event hosts themselves that many times can't commit earlier. There are also budget considerations and the new Board doesn't see the NT budget until after they come into office in September and then usually vote on it in October or November. If your event is in January or early Feb, you might be able to get that pinned down since I believe Feb 15th is the earliest NT ever scheduled.

bruce_brakel
Oct 14 2009, 11:43 PM
The NT/Ms were set today. You can find them in the PDGA tour schedule now, through August anyway.

cad614
Oct 15 2009, 01:29 AM
Thanks for moving this to the correct forum and for the quick replies. My event will take place in March and have a possible conflict with PDGA Am World Doubles Championship; strangely this event has not been placed on the schedule yet. Also, the October 31 deadline I'm up against would include any event from February through April. I wanted to bring this issue up for everyone else who might be affected by similar guidelines.

To Chuck's first point regarding the delays, that the event hosts themselves are holding things up; change the deadline for sanctioning agreements. C-tiers require 30 days, B-tiers 45, SuperTours need to sanction prior to December 1st - why can't we require the Major and NT events to do the same?

As for budget constraints, I admit I do not understand what is involved. I understand the PDGA provides insurance and advertising for these events but I cannot grasp why this could prevent a date from being set. Could you shed some light upon this issue for me? My understanding was that each of the NT events was individually run in accordance with the PDGA guidelines. Why would these individuals need to know the PDGA budget in order to run their tournament?

gotcha
Oct 15 2009, 09:33 AM
I would like to see NT and A-Tier events scheduled at least one year in advance. Drumming up sponsorship is the main reason. Most corporations establish fiscal year budgets long before we have our event schedule in place.

cgkdisc
Oct 15 2009, 09:47 AM
There are a variety of issues that prevent absolute dates for the big events from being pinned down earlier. Continuity among the hosting team is a key factor. Local clubs have elections where different people from those initiating an event might be involved in an event. Typically, the hosts don't own the courses sites. In many places, you can't reserve park facilities until Jan 1. For example, KC had to replace three courses in their plans this year out of the eleven planned in the original bid to host worlds.

The NT itself isn't automatically happening every year. It's still an "experimental" series subject to reapproval every year by the new Board that comes in after Sep 1 in terms of number of events, the marshal program and how much money the PDGA will contribute to each event. It's not that doing scheduling earlier isn't desireable, it's just challenging to pull it off. The tradeoff is to wait until the big events get scheduled so they don't step on other events if they have to be changed.

davidsauls
Oct 15 2009, 10:18 AM
Scheduling is always going to be a mess....and a bigger mess as more and more events come along. Using public parks, some places require reservations be made early; some won't take reservations until later.

For those of us in the B & C tier world, especially early in the year, it would be helpful to at least see some tentative schedules. The entire Major/NT schedule doesn't have to be posted at once. Something like having dates locked in 6 months in advance, with events 6-12 months away being shown as tentative. There'd be grief when tentative dates end up getting changed, but perhaps less than early-year lower-tier tournaments having to wait to know what dates are available.

bruce_brakel
Oct 15 2009, 10:46 AM
The NT/Ms were set yesterday. You can find them in the PDGA tour schedule now, through August anyway.