Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2020/02/11/introducing-manufacturers-cup/
A couple of episodes ago on the Upshot podcast, a discussion started around disc manufacturers sponsoring professional players and how to properly judge the overall results of said sponsored players as it relates to “team success.”
Ideas were tossed around, including a matchplay or Presidents Cup-style event made up of sponsor teams duking it out for a brand crown, if you will. While the potential for a new, unsanctioned battle royale sounded fun, we thought instead we could judge the companies using results already at our disposal.
That’s why we’ve developed our Manufacturers’ Cup, an unbiased look at “team” performance during the season by assigning points to quality finishes at elite events.
A couple things to get out ahead of, we are only judging Open and Open Women fields at PDGA Major and National Tour, and Disc Golf Pro Tour events. Adding in A-tiers and European tour results may give us a larger picture and more data of the overall sponsored player landscape, but we were focused on the deepest talent pools and marquee tournaments.
Same goes for the choice to not award points for every player finishing in an arbitrary place, such as in “cash” or over a cut line, only top 10. Again, all players getting points doesn’t talk about “quality” of the manufacturer, just how many people they sponsor.
For the Manufacturers’ Cup, we had to look outside the current point systems available on different elite tours. We settled on a variation of the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship points system: winner of event receives 25 points, the second-place finisher 18 points, with 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 1 points for positions 3 through 10.
Ties in positions 1-9 split total points (points only split if at least one full point can be distributed, round down decimals in all occasions). Ties in positions 10 and lower do not receive points.
Additionally, the highest round rating of the event gets 1 point added, and the hot round point can be awarded to more than one player, with each getting a full point.
Here is what the 2019 season looked like:
[table id=153 /]
[table id=155 /]
This is where we run into a problem. Do you award the Manufacturers’ Cup to the company with the most overall points, or the highest points per player? Or does it have to be a combination of both?
Because we’ve already narrowed down the fields at the elite events of the season, the quality issue has already been accounted for, so overall points should decide the winner. We will give an efficiency prize,1 however, to the sponsor with the highest points per player finish.
So a belated congratulations to Dynamic Discs for winning the 2019 Women’s Manufacturers’ Cup and Innova Discs for its 2019 Men’s Manufacturers’ Cup. Prodigy Disc and Discmania Discs take home women’s and men’s efficiency titles for the highest points per player averages.
We will track 2020 results using the same format all season. Check back for periodic updates.
Here are the individual 2019 player results:
[table id=154 /]
[table id=156 /]
Player Notes: Nikko Locastro was graded as “unsponsored” for 2019. Callie McMoran changed sponsors midseason from Dynamic Discs to Innova, but only received points at DD-sponsored events. Heather Young was not sponsored by Prodigy Disc until the Hall of Fame Classic, thus did not add any points to Prodigy’s total.
better name forthcoming ↩