Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2024/12/23/reflections-on-the-state-of-disc-sports-2024/
Outside of my work at Ultiworld, I have found myself increasing drawn to the world of finance and investing. Perhaps that shouldn’t be much of a surprise — I studied economics in college, have been running businesses of some type since I was in middle school, and have always enjoyed reporting on business topics, even back in college.
One of the features of the finance universe is annual investor or shareholder letters, sharing thoughts on the state of the markets, the global geopolitical landscape, and other matters pertinent to the industry. I thought it might be helpful for both myself (writing helps you think) and readers if I wrote down my thoughts on the disc sports industry as it stands at the end of 2024. I spend time discussing these topics on my podcasts and with colleagues, but it’s been a while since I put my thoughts on paper. Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) or comment below with any thoughts.
A Time of Transition
I will mostly treat ultimate and disc golf separately below but it’s worth considering how the two sports with common roots have reached similar inflection points. The COVID-19 pandemic has now receded mostly into the history books — as has the primary impact of the lockdowns on the two sports.
For ultimate, COVID was crippling — layoffs swept across ultimate businesses as sport participation cratered for well over a year. League participation took a hit and is still recovering. Youth ultimate got stopped in its tracks — smaller programs disappeared, especially on the girls side, and many have not come back. At the more dedicated end of the sport, elite club play was unaffected really for the first time this year. But, finally, there are green shoots. Participation at the club level is climbing again. College ultimate is nearing a return to normalcy as the extended eligibility rules sunset after this season. Top-level youth competition has never been better, and the Youth Club Championships are full once again.
Meanwhile, in disc golf, lockdowns sent the sport soaring, as thousands of players with nothing else to do but go outside and socially distance discovered the joy of disc golf. The industry exploded in size as companies couldn’t make discs fast enough. But now, disc golf is facing a hard landing as many of the new converts return to their past lives, playing less — or not at all. The expanded supply of discs and events is suddenly facing a noticeable drop in demand. Many insiders expect even worse in 2025.
New leadership at USA Ultimate (Kevin Erlenbach, who started in November) and the PDGA (Doug Bjerkaas, who started in January) marks the start of organizational shifts to mirror what’s going on in the sport more broadly. They face a similar question: what will drive the next leg of growth? Disc golf has become much bigger than ultimate, but it’s demographically narrow. Ultimate needs to find ways to make participation easier.
Disc Golf: Don’t Panic
Disc golf is in a favorable position relative to ultimate because getting started is so much simpler. Grab a disc, go play. It’s easy to bring a friend. Young and old can participate solo or in groups. It’s easier than ever to find a course nearby (NYC even got its first course this year!):
Data courtesy of the 2024 UDisc Growth Report.
Even as many in the industry have had to pare back and layoff staff, the base fundamentals for disc golf are still really strong. The most recent PDGA board minutes (September 2024) paint a nuanced picture:
While overall PDGA membership is down over 6% this year, note that the number of new players joining the organization this year is still double the number from pre-COVID. That sets the stage for long-term success.
Still, the short-term has to be a concern. Why is disc golf growth pulling back into a recession while another boom sport — pickleball — continues to go gangbusters? I think one reason could be that pickleball is much more social than disc golf. Post COVID, people are looking to opportunities to be in person with others; having the opportunity to play a game that encourages getting to know each other by mixing up doubles pairings (at least in my local pickup) is a great hook for getting involved in 2024.
Disc golf, of course, has leagues and tournaments, just like pickleball, but there’s not an obvious way for new players to jump into a more social setting. Perhaps there are opportunities for local organizers to organize beginner clinics and other group activities, and special consideration should be given to women’s-only and youth events, two demographics that are significantly underrepresented. And there are plenty of efforts underway to build more short par 3 courses that appeal to families and newer players.
The PDGA will need to work to key in on growth priorities and spend money influencing them — right now, there’s too much energy going into elite events relative to their importance to the long-term health of the sport.
European Disc Golf Growth
It’s hard to not be optimistic about disc golf’s long-term trajectory when you see the energy and money going into the sport in Europe. With the Disc Golf Pro Tour putting resources into bringing the top level events onto the highest profile tour and Estonia’s government pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the European Disc Golf Festival, there’s already a lot of good momentum. And then, last week, FrisbeeGolfMedia, a Finnish disc golf news site, reported that VIP ticket sales for next year’s World Championships in Finland — the first time the sport’s biggest tournament will be held overseas — have already exceeded €150,000 (~$156,000).
Although the disc golf industry is still driven by the North American market, the per capita penetration is much higher in the Nordic European countries; one of Finland’s biggest television broadcasters is paying the Disc Golf Pro Tour for distribution rights for the World Championships in Finland. The growth potential remains high, and major corporate sponsors are already getting involved.
USAU Needs to Learn from Local Orgs — And Vice Versa
How can ultimate grow when its top leaders are constantly rowing in different directions? The answer sure feels like, “It can’t,” when you examine the story of the last five years of ultimate, in which the national governing body has been in relatively public spats with the largest local orgs and the semi-pro leagues.
While USAU does a great job organizing elite national tournaments for the most dedicated teams and players, it has not found a winning strategy at creating a well-aligned national infrastructure. The most recent attempt — creating state-based organizations and creating a carrot/stick system for affiliating with them — essentially failed. The biggest and best state organizations simply did not find value in joining the system — and even some of those that did, like Minnesota, dropped out.
Finally, USAU has begun addressing this issue in its latest strategic plan, but I am still hearing complaints from local organizers that USAU is not listening to their feedback and implementing a better system. That needs to change.
One thing USAU has done, though, is develop a membership system that works. They have a functioning business with 18 employees and have started growing again post-COVID. The annual recurring revenue from players and coaches who compete in their events makes for a sustainable model.
Meanwhile, too many local orgs are hyper-focused on affordability to the point that they aren’t able to grow — or, in some cases, even have a single full-time employee. The uncomfortable truth is that charging higher prices is actually the best way to make ultimate more accessible. Having enough money to pay staff to grow local leagues, camps, and tournaments creates far more access to the sport because so many more players will be served. And you can still offer free or discounted options to those in need.
That’s not to say that local organizations need to have a membership model — though it’s certainly worth considering — but they do need to develop a business model to match the values-driven approach that many take now.
One major missing puzzle piece in ultimate’s offerings to the world is simply having enough playing opportunities for those who want to get involved. Adults have plenty, to be fair — there are leagues and club teams in most metros. But for the kids? Too often there simply aren’t places to play. If your school doesn’t have a team, where do you go? There’s no little league or anything that even comes close. We need 6-week, once-a-week camps. We need leagues where kids are playing 4-on-4. It should be focused on fun and learning about how a frisbee flies, not trying to miniaturize adult ultimate.
Local orgs can start to fill these gaps, but they have to have money to have the capacity to do so.
A Big Opportunity in China
Earlier this year, I was talking to Brian Gisel, the Chair of the Ultimate Committee at the World Flying Disc Federation, after he made a trip to Chengdu, China, the capital of the Sichuan province. Chengdu will play host to the 2025 World Games, the biggest international multi-sport event in which disc sports participate.
He said you can download an app and sign up for dozens of ultimate pickup games — every single night of the week. Scroll through the options, find one near you, pay a few yuan to lock in your spot, show up, and play.
The growth of ultimate in China in the last few years has been staggering, though mostly invisible outside of the country. That could change next year. Ultimate will be one of the hottest sports at their upcoming World Games, and disc golf is back in the tournament for the first time since 2001, perfect timing considering how much the sport has grown in recent years.
While China is not going to be competitive to win a medal in disc sports anytime soon, it is a major international influence and potentially enormous growth market if the momentum keeps up.
***
It’s an exciting time to be involved in emerging sports. With the decline of cable television and growth of streaming, live sports offer a compelling sense of “must-watch” that can’t really be replicated with movies and TV much anymore. Just this week, FIFA announced that they’d made a landmark deal with Netflix to stream the next Women’s World Cup.
While disc sports rights holders aren’t going to get hit up by Netflix anytime soon, there are exciting developments inside the industry with Ultiworld providing more and more ultimate streaming and Disc Golf Network / DGPT offering disc golf fans live disc golf.
The next few years should be really compelling as professional sports properties like the DGPT and UFA fight for profitability and long-term staying power.
I wish everyone a very happy holiday season — see you in 2025!