Prodigy vs Buhr

February 21, 2023

Good afternoon. You’re In The Circle, the newsletter that delivers disc golf news right to your inbox.

📝 On today’s card:

All-Star Recap
Prodigy vs Buhr
Disc golf trivia

🧠 Tuesday Trivia: Which country has the highest population percentage living within two miles of disc golf courses?

See the end of the newsletter for the answer…

Read time: 5 minutes

ALL-STAR RECAP

The 2023 All-Star Weekend concluded this past Sunday after a series of skills competitions, doubles, and singles matches. Ricky Wysocki announced the morning of the skills event that he would not be participating due to a wrist injury. Corey Ellis took his spot on the team.

Team Ricky (minus the Ricky) took down Team Paul 7-5 to be named the 2023 MPO winners.

Team Catrina defeated Team Ohn 7.5 to 4.5. Team Catrina showed up in the skills competition, claiming all three points to be won in the category.

Here is a full recap of the event with scores.

Ricky Wysocki also made a statement that the wrist injury keeping him out of All-Star Weekend will also postpone his 2023 DGPT debut until Waco on March 10th.

PRODIGY VS BUHR

Prodigy Disc filed a lawsuit against Gannon Buhr last Wednesday for early termination of his endorsement agreement that was set to extend through 2023. Buhr claims the termination is valid due to Material Breaches of the agreement on the part of Prodigy.

USDGC

In November 2022, Michelle Nesheim, Buhr’s mother, and co-signer of the endorsement agreement reached out to Prodigy about releasing Gannon from his contract. Nesheim is involved since Buhr, being a minor, needed a legal guardian to co-sign the agreement.

Prodigy, not keen on terminating the agreement, expressed interest in renegotiating the contract and a potential extension. After a couple of months, negotiations were off the table and on January 13th Buhr notified Prodigy it had 30 days to “cure” the alleged breaches otherwise he would terminate the agreement.

Buhr had five alleged Material Breaches committed by Prodigy.

Not receiving a 2021 PDGA Rookie of the Year disc in early 2022 to celebrate this award. Isaac Robinson received his commemorative disc less than a month after receiving the same award.
Buhr nor Nesheim was provided regular sales reports of disc sales in order to reconcile the commission he was receiving.
Buhr “did not get the opportunity” to choose his signature disc in 2022. He was also promised two signature discs but only received one.
The Prodigy disc molds are inconsistent and continue to have problems with quality control and flashing. He also added that he has “no confidence in these discs”.
Prodigy failed to pay Buhr $500 for PDGA points and player rating standings.

Prodigy refuted these alleged Material Breaches stating:

They did in fact release two 2021 PDGA ROY discs which are still available for purchase to this day.
They were not legally obligated to provide regular sales reports to Buhr or Nesheim.
They repeatedly requested input from Buhr regarding his input on his signature disc and also received nothing but praise from Buhr about the disc. They are also not legally obligated to consult with Buhr on the matter.
Through six years of sponsorship, Buhr never complained about product quality until the request for agreement termination in November.
The $500 bonus is not a breach and even if it was, it was remedied on January 30, 2023.

According to Prodigy’s filing, they went to considerable lengths to make accommodations to the requests even including a compensation package that would nearly quadruple Buhr’s compensation. Ultimately, Buhr and Nesheim provided Prodigy with a statement on February 13th that Buhr will be terminating the agreement effective immediately. Buhr followed it up with a public statement on his Instagram that he will not be with Team Prodigy for the 2023 season.

Win or lose, both Prodigy and Gannon are suffering. Prodigy is worried about public opinion regarding their brand and product quality given the allegations stating “the prospect of irreparable, incalculable, and irreversible harm”. Gannon should also worry about the fallout his reputation may have for any disc manufacturer looking to work with him in the future.

What happens now?

Time will tell how this plays out, whether in court or an agreement between Gannon and Prodigy outside of court. Gannon has not announced a contract with another sponsor. Signing another contract would further complicate an already difficult position Buhr and Prodigy find themselves in.

Though not uncommon in the world of professional sports, Prodigy’s lawsuit against Buhr does mark the first of its kind in disc golf.

“I do not want to have to be distracted by these issues during the season. I hope that I will soon be able to focus on disc golf instead of having to constantly ask for things I am entitled to under our sponsorship agreement.”

Unfortunately for Gannon, these “distractions” don’t seem to be going away any time soon. As the 2023 season is upon us and the Las Vegas Challenge kicks off on Thursday, the distractions for Gannon are as great as ever.