(Note: This is the final part of a 2-part article on Monday's (3/4/02) meeting between ESPN Outdoors and B.A.S.S. officials, and representatives from the five B.A.S.S. Federation divisions.)

Following are the Federation reps' feelings about some of the major issues they wanted to air at the meeting:

Communication and Al Smith's Status

> Fitchett -- "We talked about poor communication for a while. Michael Rooney understood what the problem was -- it takes so long to get an answer or to get anything done: Al (Smith) had to go through Diehl Unger, Dean Kessel and then Rooney to get anything done or approved. They said they will check their organizational chart to see if they can't do something about that. The biggest problem was that they didn't understand who we were and what our problems were. Everyone (at ESPN) was so busy that they never took the time to do it."

> Bradford -- "The communication gap appears to be gone. Most of the problems we've been having between us and B.A.S.S., and all the rumors, were mostly a matter of them not knowing what the Federation was about and not talking to the Federation. When (the Federation presentations at the meeting) were done, Rooney and his staff seemed to be quite surprised at what the Federation does."

Re: Al Smith, Bradford said: "From their end, what they thought they did was to relieve Al of some responsibilities that had burdened him. They felt like they had given him a promotion. It's all a matter of perception. But they said they'd look to see if they could fine-tune it to make us feel better about the way (the reporting structure is) set up."

Divisionals and Classic

> Bradford -- "Our biggest concerns were sponsor issues, Federation spots in the Classic and the way the Divisional tournaments would be run. There was a lot of talk about changing all of that early on, a lot of rumors. (ESPN) basically said they would not change a thing about the way the Divisionals will be run, and the Classic spots will be there."

> Fitchett -- "Right now we're keeping the Divisionals and the slots in the Classic. They didn't say 'right now,' but after this year's (Federation) championship is over, they may want to make a few changes for next year, though we don't know that yet. We tried to stress to them that making any changes without consulting us and letting us know what the plans were could devastate all the state Federations because they all qualify differently. There's so much diversity there that it's important for us to work with them."

Promotion of the Federation

> Fitchett -- "They said they'd promote the Federations more than (B.A.S.S.) has been. It was kind of a promise."

> Bradford -- "They committed to doing more to promote the Federation." (Bradford mentioned the larger Federation section in the recently reformatted B.A.S.S. Times.) "Also they're talking about doing some Federation vignettes as part of their TV coverage, to help us get the word out."

Going Forward

"To sum it up, we just agreed to help each other," Fitchett said. "We would help ESPN further understand, and they would do the same thing with us."

"We came out feeling much better than we thought we would," said Bradford. "I think we opened their eyes a little bit as to what the Federation is all about and how it affects bass fishing, including the professional ranks.

"They committed to meeting with the reps up to four times a year. They committed to have continual meetings with us to make sure everything's good, and to exchange ideas."

"Everyone believes what (Rooney) said," added Fitchett. "We think they're going to do what they say."

Sevier Note

In addition to the status of the Federation program, one item not mentioned in ESPN/B.A.S.S.'s January announcement on its management changes was the status of former B.A.S.S. CEO, chairman and co-owner Helen Sevier. Sevier is no longer with B.A.S.S., and did not return repeated phone calls asking for comment.

B.A.S.S. now states about Sevier: "After recognizing the need for a media partner to grow the company and the sport, and after working closely with ESPN to bring that vision to reality, it was time for the next chapter in her life. Over the last 30 years Helen has made many contributions, first in her role as one of B.A.S.S.’s early leaders, then as the CEO who would sell her company last April."

- End of part 2 (of 2) -