Television Exposure: The Problem
I was watching the Kentucky Derby and I wondered how even the world's fastest competitive professional sporting event was being televised worldwide on a major network. It takes all of about two minutes, although like the Superbowl, it has several hours of pregame hype. During the pre-race show, whenever there was a shot of the field, I noticed all the track crew and race officials were wearing jackets with "Visa" logos on them. Ah ha! It was televised because it's a huge Visa advertisement!
My Solution
Clearly, in order to get any time on ESPN all it takes is money. Casinos that host poker tournaments found out quickly how to get on TV - it's not so much a poker tournament as it is a multi-hour slot of advertising. This is the problem, which is a bit of a double edged sword, of getting PDGA events onto a major network...it will take money that the PDGA doesn't have, so what can we do, short of wearing uniforms made out of corporate logos?
The PDGA needs to focus on getting more large corporate sponsors behind the PDGA tour - a little at a time. I commend the current board for getting Microtel on board, that is certainly a step in the right direction. Other businesses with the most to gain from disc golfers should be targeted (those that provide food/gas/lodging for example). Casinos, because they provide all three of these services and much more, should be an obvious choice. After all, by paying an entry fee to a tournament, aren't we really just gambling on our own skill?
We have the disc equipment manufacturer's kicking in a bunch of cash annually to PDGA events. What if for one year, instead of using this cash for sponsoring individual events, they bought airtime on a national cable network to broadcast one of the PDGA Major Events? I think it would create two potentially great side effects: it would inform and perhaps pique the interest of a whole new mass of potential disc golfers, and it would attract other corporate sponsors to kick in more cash, so that THEY could be seen worldwide, too!
© 2008 Yeti
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