Disc Golf Demonstrates The Value of Long Tail In Sports

BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Professional disc golfer Paul McBeth signed a 10-year, $10 million endorsement contract with Discraft last week. The top-ranked Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) partnership with one of the largest global disc makers once again demonstrates the value of the long tail concept in sports.

This partnership is arguably a clear demonstration of the long tail concept. In his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More published in 2006, Chris Anderson demonstrates how, “the future of commerce and culture isn't in hits, the high-volume head of a traditional demand curve, but in what used to be regarded as misses--the endlessly long tail of that same curve.”

One of the best examples of this approach is the rise of FloSports. Launched in 2014, FloSports has “rapidly grown its content line-up to more than 10,000 live events annually by catering to underserved sports and audiences” through its OTT platforms. FloSports has grown rapidly and secured $47 million in funding to continue to implement this long tail strategy in 2019.

FloSports’ success has likely played a role in ESPN’s decision to transform ESPN2 into The Ocho for one day every August since 2016 (and also to launch its OTT platform ESPN+). The Ocho was a fictional satire of an ESPN network that solely broadcast obscure sports in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

The company had featured “traditional favorites” such as “The Amazing Games, Premier League Darts, World Sumo Challenge, Burger Eating and Spikeball.” In 2019, however, ESPN for the first time broadcast a live event with the 2019 World Cornhole Championship, a tournament that had both a US bracket and an International bracket.

While the similarities of the real and parody Ocho are very funny (or eerie depending on your point of view), the long tail is something to be taken seriously in the sports industry. More specifically, the success of FloSports and other OTT platforms like DAZN demonstrates the increasing importance of fit and engagement when it comes to sports media content. 

However, the long tail strategy is not just limited to sports media. The long tail is one reason why the value of finding fit and engagement when it comes to sponsorship is at the heart of the B6A Corporate Asset Valuation Model (CAV).

There are two applications of the long tail concept when it comes to corporate partnerships. First, the success of FloSports shows how smaller properties can articulate sponsorship value. While audience sizes are smaller, smaller sports properties’ fans are so passionate that they are willing to buy a FloSports subscription to view the content. This effect of customers voting with their dollars is a demonstrable level of engagement that larger sports cannot always achieve or prove in this way.

Second, an increasing number of companies are looking for opportunities where they can focus on a small audience that will value a specific activation. While reaching large audiences is still desirable for many corporate partners, having unique experiences that are the partnership equivalent to The Ocho for a small number of a company’s best customers or employees can have an even greater impact on top or bottom line revenue growth.   

This approach has been proven out again with the McBeth / Discraft deal. Even though McBeth has “only” made $510,680 in career earnings while competing in the PDGA, Discraft team manager Bob Julio stated that McBeth’s impact far exceeded the company’s projections. According to Julio, McBeth “Blew away my expectations in three months. We outgrew the first deal – the four years – we outgrew that in a year, and we started discussing that we need to restructure things and make it long term, more so than four years.”

 The potential power of the small audience should not be lost on those working in the sports sponsorship industry. McBeth and Discraft show the benefit of pursuing a long tail strategy with sports and partnerships.