When the new ownership group of Jerry McKinnis, Don Logan and Jim Copeland purchased B.A.S.S., it was expected that the group would eventually relocate B.A.S.S. headquarters. B.A.S.S. had long been housed in Montgomery, Ala., but ESPN moved the company to Celebration, Fla. in 2005 – adjacent to parent company Disney's properties – and the location never seemed a good fit for B.A.S.S.
News broke this week about the relocation, when employees were told that relocation efforts have begun, with a move possible by November of this year.
Jerry McKinnis confirmed the announcement for BassFan, and noted his regret that plans were not yet solid.
"We have got to start making plans," McKinnis told BassFan. "We realize it's not fair to a lot of our people there, and really not fair to anybody, that we have not yet got a few more things in place. So yes, we did talk to our staff about this, but we still have a lot of things up in the air as to exactly when and where and how this is going to happen. As you can imagine, it's a very complicated thing, and we're trying to work with all our folks in Celebration – in most cases individually – to figure out how to get this done the best way possible."
A few other key bits of information from McKinnis:
> A firm move date has not been set, but November was thrown out as the optimal timeframe, because Thanksgiving quickly leads to Christmas, which then leads quickly to the Bassmaster Classic.
> Although McKinnis wouldn't directly confirm, he did say Alabama is "probably" the destination. The company was founded there, Logan and his extended family reside in the Birmingham area, and Birmingham has expressed significant interest in attracting the business. McKinnis all but ruled out Little Rock, Ark. (where JM Associates is headquartered) as a potential destination, and noted that the staffing in Little Rock would remain in place.
> Ray Scott did offer B.A.S.S. a donated parcel of land for its headquarters, but the Hope Hull area outside of Montgomery isn't metropolitan enough for a headquarters.
"We've always felt bad that we didn't walk into B.A.S.S. this past November and say to everybody: 'Here's exactly what we're going to do,'" McKinnis added. "But all along we've been very honest with our folks there. At the time, we said we didn't know what we were going to do (in terms of relocation), and it was the truth. But I imagine when we made the announcement the other day, it wasn't a surprise to our folks, and probably a bit of a relief to where everyone's thinking, 'Okay, now we can start making plans.'"
