Most Fine With Schedule, But Payouts A Big Issue

Bassmaster Elite Series anglers had all heard the rumors: BASS was planning to shorten the 2009 schedule and reduce tournament entry fees as a concession to the floundering economy. There'd naturally be a reduction in payouts, but that was part of the trade-off.

However, when the news broke Friday about just how deep the payout cuts would actually be, nearly all of them – from long-established, heavily-sponsored veterans down to those still chasing a dream – were stunned. Several lesser-known pros said that unless changes are made to the structure BASS divulged late last week, their dreams might be all but dead.

Winning an Elite event (there will be eight of them this year as opposed 11 in each of the past 3 years) will still be worth $100,000. But to earn $10,000, a finish of 10th place or better will be required. That line previously sat at 50th place.

The 26th- through 50th-place finishers this year are scheduled to pocket $5,000 apiece. That means an angler could make a check in every tournament – a rare feat that was accomplished by only Mike McClelland last year – and still not come close to covering his expenses for the season (roughly $32,000 for entry fees, plus a like amount for travel).

Anglers will pay per-event entry fees that are $1,000 less than last year, but $1.4 million has been removed from the total prize pool for the season. The year-end Angler of the Year (AOY) pool remains at $1 million, with $250,000 going to the winner, and some competitors questioned why a substantial portion of that fund couldn't be redistributed into the tournament purses.

What follows is a sampling of the responses BassFan got Friday when it asked a broad spectrum of Elite anglers for their reactions to the news that had just come from BASS headquarters in Celebration, Fla. Several said BASS will allow them some time to request a full refund of their 2009 deposits, and some said they'll consider making such a request.

Denny Brauer

"I don't look at it as anything positive – we're cutting back, and we've been fighting for years to have more, so we're going in the wrong direction. We lost the Majors (after 2007), and now we've lost three more events, and that's a tough deal. And with this economy, just about every angler across the board has taken some major sponsorship hits.

"I guess we'll have to suck it up and make the best of it. If everybody works together, maybe we can get through '09 and weather this storm, and everything will be fine again."

Davy Hite

"When I first heard about lowering the fees and reducing the number of tournaments, and it would be a temporary thing until times change, I thought it was justifiable. But after I saw the payout ... it's a sad day. I can't describe it any other way.

"Out of eight tournaments, if you make six checks, you've had a good year. If all those checks are for $5,000, then you're already $2,000 in the hole before you've paid for one motel room or one tank of gas.

"I've been around for 15 years and, thank the Lord, I've had some success and I've got some sponsors that'll make it worthwhile for me to fish this year. But there's no way I could look at an up-and-coming guy and tell him that he should try to qualify for this tour when I look at these numbers.

"The sport has been good to me, and I'm going to be there to fish. And because it's been so good to me, I like to see young guys who have the ambition to become the next Nixon or Brauer or whoever. But these numbers are sad to look at."

Stephen Browning

"I'm undecided about what I'm going to do – this has thrown a big wrench into it for me. I'll check with (sponsors) Triton and Mercury and do whatever they want me to do, but I don't agree with it. There's going to be a lot of decision-making over the next few weeks.

"I expected to fund a lot of this season out of my own pocket – that was going to be the nature of the beast this year. I budget my money in September and October for the new year, and I was prepared to do it.

"But $5,000 for (26th through 50th) place – I'm having a tough time with that. I if have to invest that kind of money to not make very much, that's bad business."

Matt Herren

"I gave up a slot on the FLW Tour when I qualified for the Elites, and I signed up for 11 events with a stated payback. All I can say right now is that I'm extremely disappointed in what's transpired.

"I know the economy is tough and changes needed to be made, but this is reason for extreme concern."

Mark Davis

"It's a horrible scenario – it's going to make it extremely difficult for anyone to make a living. There were already going to be a lot of guys flying without sponsors this year, or at least at a greatly reduced level, and this is really sad for those guys.

"I think they could've spread some of that (AOY) money around. I don't think any of the tournament organizations get the concept that to keep the group healthy, the group has to be able to survive from 1 year to the next. If only a few guys are healthy, you're not helping the whole group."

Scott Campbell

"I've looked it over and crunched the numbers, and (asking for a refund) is something to think about with the way it's set up. The fees went down, but the payout went down even more, and I still have to rely on some winnings to come out on the positive side.

"I'll have to think long and hard. It'd be easier for a guy (like himself) who's only been doing this 2 years to go out and get a regular job than it would be for a guy who's been doing it for 15 years."

Matt Sphar

"I haven't figured everything out in my head yet, but it's going to be harder to make money, and we're already dealing with less in sponsorships. And the overall expenses are still huge.

"It's the tour I qualified for, so I guess I'll stand by and see what happens. It's a little disappointing because now it's going to take even longer to make any money out of it.

"I had some good tournaments last year, but I flat-out bombed a few. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to avoid making mistakes."

John Crews

"All I can say right now is the concept of reducing the fees and the number of events was great. But what happened to the payouts is the complete opposite of great."

Mike Iaconelli

"To be honest with you, I was pretty disappointed in the announcement. We all kind of knew that something was coming down the pike, and unofficially we'd heard that they planned to cut the number of tournaments. I didn't like it at the beginning because fishing tournaments is what I do, but when I started thinking about the greater good of the sport and keeping people and circuits going, then I thought, Absolutely, do whatever has to be done to make it right.

"Then the whole payout thing caught me by surprise – I was blindsided by it. There's just a lot of disappointment and a lot of confusion right now."