Originally Posted by
jcdogfish
I agree with the growing the sport argument, it sure ain't happening around here on a local level. Its gone down in the last couple of decades big time. I follow the tournament trails but its not a big deal if I miss any of it. For some reason when I turn on MLF, I'm sleeping in 15 minutes:laugh:. I can't see it growing to the size needed to support a larger sport, if it can grow at all. I consider myself a fan of the fishing circuits and its no big deal if I miss a show. If fans of fishing don't really care if they see it on TV, it will be very difficult to grow with a new audience. New revenue will be hard to come by in my opinion. One avenue may be a format for you to start competing locally in tournaments with maybe less payout per tournament with the rewards being moving up in class and funnel some of those $$ up the line. There seems to be a good number of fishermen that want to throw money at trying to become "pro's" Federation clubs do something like that but you have to join a club and like you said earlier its full of rules people don't want to hassle with. May be a way to generate more local interest. Problem there is after a couple of years of disappointment, how many guys have the fortitude and dedication to keep at it? I'm sure lots of the smaller chamber of commerce organizations would love to support tournaments that bring in $$ from around the region without having to pay an organization mega $$. Some type of circuit format starting at the local level and progressing all the way up to the elites would be what I'd like to see. Something that is a much better vetting process to let the better anglers rise to the top. I hear all the time that fishing as a sport is just scratching the surface. But is there anything under the surface to uncover. The pros are working for their sponsors. The payouts are structured to look good on paper. Why not have a good vetting system to get to the elites and have no entry fees? Just fish for the sponsor money BASS contrubutes, or have a smaller entry fee. The reason seems to me to be what was said earlier. BASS marketing the dream. Its easier to sell a 100k payday and 10 k placements and hide most of the expenses in the fishermans money contributions than to sell a 10k first place and 1-2k placements. It would be interesting to add up the total boats made for federation, all flw and bass circuits etc. Even throw in some of the larger team tournament circuits. I would bet it is a noteworthy number. The market is just not that big. Like I said earlier, lets just call it what it is. Organized gambling.