Citing scheduling challenges, the PAA board of directors Thursday afternoon announced the cancellation of the 2014 PAA Tournament Series.
The season opener was originally scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Douglas Lake in Tennessee, but was postponed when the Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year Championship didn't conclude until Sept. 22 in northern Michigan. The second event at Kentucky Lake was due to start Thursday. A third tournament was slated for November at Toledo Bend Reservoir.
"Every year, the PAA must work hard to avoid schedule conflicts with the other professional tours including the Bassmaster Elites, FLW Tour, Bassmaster Opens, and Rayovac FLW Series as well as Major League Fishing, ICAST and other industry and sponsor events that PAA pros cannot miss throughout the year," said Elite Series pro Matt Reed, the PAA president. "Unfortunately, we were not able to work out 2014 PAA Tournament Series dates until late in the fall. In the final analysis, the PAA Board decided that the math just didn’t work out this year for the benefit of our gracious host municipalities, valued sponsors, busy pro anglers and loyal fans.”
Added Brian Snowden, Elite Series angler and PAA vice president, “The PAA Board has always aimed to give the pros another opportunity to fish a tournament circuit which has a great payback potential and a path to qualify for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic while keeping it (whenever possible) within driving distance and the limited dates we have in between other touring pro events and commitments. Doing that has always been difficult and in the end, just wasn’t realistic this year.”
Todd Auten, PAA treasurer and veteran touring pro, said the PAA membership has to "regroup" in order to ensure the circuit has a bright future.
“There are more tournament options for pros now than ever before between Bassmaster, FLW majors, regional Opens and Rayovac events," he said. "All the dates between January and September are just about taken and some pros are trying to do them all, practically going non-stop.
“The PAA Tournament Series is designed to give pros like me great press. I get more publicity on television (the FishPAA TV show), on websites and on social sites from the PAA than from other tours I fish. For pros like me, fishing derbies to win prize money is good, but in addition I need to promote my sponsors and in that regard, the publicity I get from the PAA Tournament Series has been good for me and great for my sponsors.
“The PAA membership has to look toward 2015 now, regroup and rethink our approach for next season. I know pros like me would like to see the PAA Tournament Series take off again, better than ever in 2015."
