💣 Will a bombshell contract drop?

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. Another trip around the sun is in the books. Merry Discmas & Happy New Year!

Let’s get into it.

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NEWS
Contracts Watch

It wouldn’t be the last week of 2023 without a contracts wrap-up before the ball drops. This off-season has been relatively uneventful, but 2024 could bring some surprises.

Let’s start with one of the biggest names up for grabs. There’s been no shortage of conspiracies that will soon be proven or busted.

RUMORS

Eagle McMahon

Before the off-season, there was little speculation the Young Bird would leave Discmania’s nest. But like every Hot Stove season, folks get antsy, and bread crumbs turn into a web of rumors.

1. Two weeks ago, Discmania moved a lot of his old signature discs through their latest hypebeast move the “Vault”. Rare Cloud Breakers went for $90 and were quickly snatched up

2. Simon Lizotte’s mysterious easter egg video hasn’t been resolved yet. With MVP’s Streamline discs missing a top pro, fans are convincing themselves he’ll complete the trifecta

It’s hard to imagine McMahon will move to MVP since anyone on their team who wasn’t Lizotte felt “like a sideshow to the main show” this year. There’s no way they could handle both Crush Boys, right?

Now if you look at Innova’s team, it doesn’t seem impossible. The shouts of his potential move there are getting louder and louder.

Either way, something’s bubbling up at Innova where their best MPO pros really only include Calvin Heimburg. Back in September, their GM (Kobyn Dunipace) hinted at potential signings…

AWAITING ANNOUNCEMENT

• Gannon Buhr - There’s still no announcement of him leaving Prodigy, but it seems guaranteed

• Chris Clemons (Left DD) - After nearly a decade with Trilogy, the best lefty on Tour announced his departure. It’s speculated he’ll be joining Discraft as his van was allegedly spotted at their headquarters

• Hanna Huynh (Left Westside)

• Chandler Fry (Left Discraft)

• Tristan Tanner, Jake Hebenheimer (Left Latitude64)

• Candler Kramer (Left Lone Star)

• Lykke Lorentzen (Left Prodigy)

• Ali Smith (Left DGA)

MOVES MADE

• Lauri Lehtinen, Jakub Semerád, Rebecca Cox (Latitude64, 1YR Extensions)

• Andrew Fish, Ben Callaway, Andrew Presnell, Paige Shue, Alexis Mandujano (Discraft, 1YR Extensions)

• Connor O’Reilly (Latitude64 → Lone Star, 1YR)

• Robert Burridge, Leah Tsinajinnie, Deann & AJ Carey (Lone Star, 1YR Extensions)

• Casey White (Discmania, 1YR Extension)

• Matty O (Westside, 4YR Extension)

• Carter Ahrens (DD → Lone Star, 1YR)

• James Proctor (TSA, 1YR Extension)

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NEWS
Random Triples

There was a big news dump just in time for the holiday weekend. It’s probably the first time that Christmas eve eve eve got that much action…

1️⃣ After the celebrated re-rescheduling of Champions Cup to avoid DGPT Europe events, the continent continued riding that wave. The PDGA announced that 2025 Worlds will be held in Nokia & Tampere, Finland.

Aside from 1987 in Ontario, Canada, this will be the only other time Worlds will be held outside the US. This has been a decade-long pursuit spearheaded by Jussi Meresmaa and his team.

Reactions were plentiful and vastly positive among pros.

Adding onto the good news, the PDGA found another country to cover the traditional European Major in 2025. The capital of Estonia will host the 2nd Major that year across the pond.

While questions of travel affordability and readiness popped up, it’s clear that the hosts are eager to show what they’re capable of. We’ll see what happens as this coming season will have 12 events (including Silvers) comprising the Europe Swing.

Will this be the start of Europe’s Golden Era? Could this be the next big wave of our sport’s growth?

2️⃣ To tie a bow and close out the year of lawsuits, it was announced that Natalie Ryan, the PDGA, & the DGPT have reached a settlement. Ryan dropped both lawsuits in California & Minnesota.

In exchange, the policy to restrict transgender women from competition at FPO Majors & DGPT Elite events was altered back to its 2022 state. The pre-puberty transition rule lasted a year and 10 days.

This will remain in effect through 2025, and the PDGA will plan to follow any policy changes by the International Olympic Committee. Legal costs and the best interest of its members were cited as reasons for the change.

As you can imagine (or have already participated in), the fallout has been divisive. Hopefully, there’s one thing we can all agree on… Let’s avoid lawsuits in 2024.

3️⃣ Pros pursuing their dream of owning and designing a championship-level course is trending. Paul McBeth, Cale Leiviska, and now Nikko Locastro are living it.

But only one of them can say they’re hosting back-to-back big events. It’s been revealed that All-Stars will also take place at McBeth’s & Dylan Cease’s FL property: Olympus (formerly known as Gran Canyon).

Typically held at a beautiful AZ resort, 2024 All-Stars will feel a little different on the site of a retired quarry. At this moment, it’s unclear if Olympus will continue to host both this exhibition event and the Chess.com Invitational for years to come.

Either way, McBeth & Cease are already making returns on their investment. I’m sure the DGPT got a nice discount as well.

Meme of the Week

Thanks for reading today and all year. Get out and celebrate 2023 one last time!

- Charlie