ESPN/B.A.S.S. is springing a new requirement on Tour pros that the pros find surprising: To win the money in the new "Busch B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) Program," the pros will likely have to wear a new Busch/B.A.S.S. patch on their tour shirts and possibly display a similar decal on their personal boats.
This requirement is pending as B.A.S.S. has not yet finalized the program. According to Hunter Cole, B.A.S.S. director of sponsorships and television, the program should be wrapped up and a letter sent out two Tour pros in a few weeks.
Regardless of what happens, many pros feel this is the just latest item in a host of issues surrounding the AOY program. In rough order, from the pros' perspective, the issues go something like this:
- The pros on the B.A.S.S. Athletes Advisory Council say they were told or at least led to believe by ESPN/B.A.S.S. that the AOY payout would be about 5 times higher than the $200,000 it turned out to be. They took that message to the rest of the anglers.
- In exchange for that total AOY purse of roughly $1 million, which the pros also thought would go much deeper than the 10 places it will in 2003, they agreed to give up their "right" (such as it is) to run their personal boats in the final two days of BASSMASTER Tour competition -- meaning the TV days. The logic was that any sponsorship money they would lose would be made up via the AOY purse.
- At this year's BASS Masters Classic, the pros learned that the AOY purse will be a total of $200,000. That's nearly 10 times higher than it has been, but it is not close to $1 million and they feel it's not enough to replace the potential revenue lost from not being able to run personal boats on TV. The pros weren't happy to learn of the purse, and the Professional Anglers Association (PAA) voiced its displeasure to B.A.S.S. (Here's the 2002 AOY purse breakdown: 1st -- $100,000; 2nd -- $20,000; 3rd -- $15,000; 4th -- $11,000; 5th -- $10,000; 6th -- $9,000; 7th -- $8,000; 8th -- $7,000; 9th -- $6,000; 10th -- $5,000.)
- Now the Tour pros are learning that they will likely have to wear the Busch logo to be eligible for the AOY money (many pros still aren't aware of this). That is not in the Tour rules and Cole confirmed that that "contingency program" idea was never mentioned to the pros before.
Pros On the Purse And the Swap
The AOY purse "was not as much money" as the pros thought it would be, said Jay Yelas, a member of the B.A.S.S. Advisory Council and the PAA board. "That was disappointing to the pros. We talked to B.A.S.S. about having an AOY purse, and they had talked preliminarily like it would be 5 times as big as it is.
"I think it's great that there is an AOY prize, but they led us to believe it was going to be a lot bigger than it was."
About the boats-for-AOY-payout swap issue, Yelas said: "The pros want to use their boat every day of competition because the billboard our boat offers is one of the biggest endorsement opportunities we have. But if you can't ever use your own boat on TV, you don't have near the leverage for a good endorsement (deal).
"Next year on the BASSMASTER Tour we can't use our own boat on the last days of competition. That's a loss, or potential big loss, of revenue. The fishermen agreed it was worth giving up that potential endorsement if there was a big AOY purse. It would balance out. But that didn't really happen. The AOY purse is not as big so the pro fishermen are on the losing end of that deal."
"It was my understanding that ESPN said it was going to pay money generated from the sale of the sponsor boats in the final days of competition back to the fishermen," said Paul Elias, also a member of the B.A.S.S. Council and PAA board. "We thought that would be best realized in the AOY (purse). That way a significant amount of money would be realized by more fishermen than spreading it through (tournament) payouts.
"We take ESPN at their word that they're going to channel that money back to the fishermen. No one knows the true amount so it's a matter of trust, I guess. So as long as it's funneled back to the fishermen, as far as I'm concerned, that's fine. Hopefully they'll sell enough sponsorships to build the Tour purse and the AOY purse."
Tim Horton, who is not on the Council or the PAA board, noted that he wasn't in the meetings with ESPN/B.A.S.S., but from what he understood "the numbers thrown around were larger than ($200,000). I don't know if that was anything more than rumor," he added.
"I'm not complaining about it. When I won (AOY) it was $20,000 and now you have a chance to win $100,000. So I like it and hopefully it's something they can grow. The Busch (executive at the Classic, when the Busch sponsorship of B.A.S.S. was announced) made a statement that this is just the beginning."
ESPN/B.A.S.S.'s View
According to Cole, ESPN/B.A.S.S. sees it differently. "I can say without a doubt that the AOY program and the sponsor boats were never related (to the anglers) in any way shape or form," he said.
"The sponsor boats and using the boats on the final two days came down to trying to provide more value for our sponsors. We are trying to attract new sponsors to B.A.S.S. and bass fishing, and provide a forum to show their association with B.A.S.S."
The pros "on the one hand absolutely wanted more money in the payouts, but on the other hand wanted to showcase their own sponsors who weren't paying the bills, So in a move we thought was very fair we decided to have sponsor boats on Saturday and Sunday as a means of solidifying a sponsor's involvement with B.A.S.S. But we still allow anglers to wear their own clothing and hats.
The pros "can't have it both ways," Cole said. "They can't expect payouts to go up and let competitors (of B.A.S.S. sponsors) come in and ambush our sponsors." Plus he said the pros' shirts "get far more exposure on TV" than boats."
He also said that ESPN/B.A.S.S. is increasing the overall Tour payout by 44 percent next year, is paying down more places and is making it all cash. "That's a primary reason for asking the pros to fish out of our sponsor boats the final day."
Regarding the $1 million figure the pros say was floated for the AOY purse, Cole said such a number was never discussed to his knowledge, either before or after Busch's involvement.
He said the $200,000 AOY purse for next year is "year 1. I can't tell you that it will go up for year 2, though it's a great starting point -- $100,000 cash and your entry fees paid (for winning AOY). Our initial discussions were winner take all, but the angler Advisory Council said, 'No let's spread it out.'"
End of part 1 (of 2) -- Part 2 will be up later today!
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