Levi Morgan announced he has left Mathews and signed on with Elite Archery. Be interesting to see how this plays out over next couple years

ok

That might leave a mark...

Any links to the story?

Can't say my life will change at all

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2120573

Won't change my life, but like any industry change, it may affect what I do for fun in it.

Won't affect me in the least nor change what kind of bow I shoot.

YAWN.

If Elite listens and takes full advantage it is a great move for all involved. If not well it will be business as usual.

Ok I'll bite, who is Levi Morgan? Can't say I've ever heard of him.

Think Elite did bite. Although we will have to wait to next year to see what happens. If Levi continues to dominate the tourneys, not much will be said. However if he doesnt continue to win with Elite, all the Mathews fanboys will be out in full force.

As a side note, Dan Christenberry also made the move from Mathews to Elite.

Ha, I thought you were referring to Victory arrows being bought out

Naw. As the signature line states, I tune bows in my shop. While Mathews makes a quality bow, Im not anywhere near a fanboy of the company. While its "where the money is right now", Mathews lost probably their most recognizeable face to Elite. Have yet to hear if his wife Samantha followed suit, but one could only assume she did. To most it wont matter who Levi is much less whos bow he shoots. But to some in the archery business, it could mean some pretty good changes are coming

Guess there was enough $$$ involved to switch over!!

All the Pros can shoot what-ever bow is in their hands - the bow they choose depends on which company forks over the most money to them, case closed!!

Just because a guy is a "pro" doesnt mean he can pick up anyones bow and go win tourneys. And regardless of contingency money, if a guy cant shoot a particular companies bow well enough to be confident he can win with it, they will look else where.

Nobody gives more in contingency money then Hoyt so if that were true they would all be shooting Hoyt's to win the most money.

I am sure Elite is giving them a nice salery, nice enough to pull them away from former sponsor. But as 280Ackleyrized said, if they can't shoot the new bow well they won't be winning any contingency money. So in my opinion they believe in Elite's bows enough to make the switch.

This is the archery equivalent of "Oh my god you guys, did you see Paris Hilton is now carrying a Coach handbag instead of Versace?"

In other words, WGAF.

Not really. What it says is that a small company is making a big move to try to be a top dog with Hoyt and Mathews. I hope it works for them, we need 4 or 5 companies at the top. I would like to see New Breed make a big move as well.

This. LMAO.

+1

280, reading your post got me to thinking about a question....

You are a knowledgeable bow tuner, can you take any bow and tune it equally well? Not asking about certain brands, just with a great knowledge of tuning do you think any bow can be precision tuned to shoot equally?

Why any of the top shooters would go with a bow or bow company that does not pay big Contingencies is foolish IMO. Companies like Hoyt pay more than the shoot payouts for some of the big shoots like Vegas or Redding. Maybe Elite has stepped up in that area but I have not seen it. Much like most sports it's not the equipment once you get to that level.

Just for the record, I was shooting Elite before this happening. Don't want to be a follower, ya know!

Yes. Have had no problems with single cams, dual cams, binaries, cam 1/2s, or hybrids. I do find some bows such as the Diamond Infinite and Razor Edge, and the Mission Craze to be more challenging at the lower end of their weight adjustment range. Im not a fan of factory strings. And prefer not to work with them. Issues with stretch and serving seperation are common. And have found that a bow tuned with them is more likely to come out of tune sooner than one with quality custom strings. Its all in materials used and the attn to detail with which the strings are made. Also the tensioning process and at what tension the serving is applied makes a world of difference. But as to your original question, the results are the same but some bows/cam systems are easier to work with.

Equipment does matter. I guarantee you Levi would not have parted ways with Mathews if he wasnt absolutely confident he could continue his tournament dominance with Elite. And im quite sure Elite kicked up the contingency money.

I bet they made a deal more like Cousins had with Hoyt. Rather then raise the contingency money.

Could be. Do know Mathews was rumored to have reduced their contingency payouts. Levi going to Elite, which is part of the same company that owns his other sponsors (scott and cbe) makes sense. Regardless of the deal, he likes the bows. He has to. Cant see him jumping ship for a company he doesnt feel he can win with right away

Equipment does matter. I guarantee you Levi would not have parted ways with Mathews if he wasnt absolutely confident he could continue his tournament dominance with Elite. And im quite sure Elite kicked up the contingency money. [/quote]

Minimal when your talking about every manufacturer's best equipment. Levi is not going to get their bottom end hunting bow. It's about $, not brand loyalty. There are a handful of guys that can win any weekend, just takes a couple of good days back to back and when it happens may as well get paid........after all they are professional archers. Hope it works out for him. It would be nice so see someone give Hoyt a run.

McPherson wouldn't let Levi out of his contract a cpl years ago to go to PSE, so he waited and left the first opportunity he could. Derek Philips likes to tell their shooters what they can do on their own time and a few have left because of that. Contingency money was cut a cpl years ago but their Factory Pro shooters are paid a fixed amount dependent on their contract and have a set number of shoots they need to attend. They also can win that contingency. Contracts are 3 years and that's why Levi couldn't leave till Nov 1.
Levi has had an Elite for some time and he knows full well what it will do.

Wake me if this becomes an issue.

I've bought probably 30 bows in the last 20 years and untold amount of archery equipment. I coulnd't name one person who is sponsored by an archery company. i guess I am not the target audience.