Advance's Retreat Leaves Pros Looking, Rethinking

Word continues to pour in that sponsorships are dwindling. And it's not just in fishing – it's across all professional sports. In one particularly high-profile case, Tiger Woods was recently let go by cash-strapped Buick.

The news is bad over at NASCAR too, where several reports indicate that General Motors,

Chrysler, Sears and Chevron will cut or drop sponsorships next season. Dario Franchitti, who won the 2007 Indy 500, withdrew from NASCAR due to lack of sponsorship. And there's even wind that NASCAR might have trouble filling its 43-car field next season, with names like Earnhardt, Petty and Waltrip to perhaps field unsponsored rides.

Pro bass fishing, like NASCAR, is heavily dependent on sponsorships. But in pro fishing, there are roughly 250 slots at the top level (vs. the 43 in NASCAR). Sure, the cost to fish is a lot lower than the cost to race, but when it all shakes out, a pro angler risks just as much when he fields himself in the proverbial white shirt and boat.

Probably the highest-profile sponsor drop in fishing thus far this off-season comes via Advance Auto Parts.

Each member of the Advance team – Greg Hackney, Marty Stone and John Crews – confirmed for BassFan that Advance will no longer be their title sponsor. Hackney said his deal is totally done and he's actively seeking another title sponsor. Stone has rethought his approach to title sponsorship, and is traveling a different route with his boat sponsor Bass Cat.

Additionally, both Stone and Crews are still in communication with Advance to perhaps strike a deal for a more diminutive sponsorship.

What does the dissolution of the team mean in terms of BASS sponsorship? Advance is currently a premier sponsor of BASS, but the fact that it'll no longer title-sponsor a pro team seems to indicate its days with BASS, at least as a top-level sponsor, are measured in days, not months.

BassFan asked BASS again whether Advance will continue as a sponsor. A BASS communications official reiterated a previous comment: "We're still in negotiations with a number of sponsors including Advance Auto Parts, but have nothing to announce at this time."

Hackney Disappointed

Hackney's deal with Advance materialized last fall, when he and Gerald Swindle essentially switched places. Swindle went from Advance to Team Toyota (a BASS sponsor), while Hackney moved from Toyota to Advance (another BASS sponsor). At the time, Hackney told BassFans that the Advance company seemed like "a perfect fit."

"I'm really disappointed with the whole deal," Hackney told BassFan this week. "Advance was a very good company to work for, and I have no complaints personally against them, but I'm a little disappointed they waited so long to tell us. Everything looked great for next year, then all of a sudden? – I think a change in management really brought on the whole (change).

"Entry fees are going up, the economy's getting worse – it's really a bad time to be looking for title sponsors," Hackney added. "This was one fall I was looking forward to where I didn't have to worry about that. And the way I understand it, (Advance is) pulling out (of pro fishing) completely. They'll go to the end of the contract, then announce it's over. It really leaves me in a bind."

So Hack's in a situation right now where he's pounding the pavement and phone lines in search of a new top-level sponsor, which is a full-time job. He's not able to take the time away that he feels he needs to recuperate mentally from the prior season, and he's not able to focus on the upcoming Red River Classic.

Actually, that sales work has been going on for a couple of months, because he's "pretty well known for the past 2 months" that the Advance deal would evaporate. And as Hackney noted, the sponsor market is the most difficult it's been in his career – perhaps in the history of the sport.

"It's hard right now and nobody wants to turn loose any money. There are companies out there that would benefit from our industry. Right now, I'll just say a little prayer. I think things will work out like they're supposed to work out."

Hackney also put his predicament into hard numerical terms. He estimated his expenses next year to be roughly $100,000 with entry fees, travel and other expenditures. If he cashes a $10,000 check in each event next year (for a Top 50), he'll win $110,000. "That means I'll make $10,000," he said. "I can make that working at McDonald's."

He did clarify: "I think fishing's better now than it's ever been. Payouts have quadrupled. But at this point, the economy's finally caught up with it. In the past, the two have kind of been separated. But then all of a sudden we're here. NASCAR's the same way. Half the teams are losing their sponsors. Times like this will definitely weed through lots of people. They guy who's just barely holding on – these are the types of times that'll finish him off.

"I'll just say a little prayer, fish hard, and see if I can get through it."

Stone Switches Gears

It'd be hard to find a more-sponsored angler than Marty Stone over the past 5 or so years. In terms of top-level sponsors, he's had Land O' Lakes, Timex, Citgo, Purolator and most recently Advance, along with a host of associate-level sponsors.

He said he's still talking with Advance about keeping the company involved with his career in some way, but the whole fallout has him rethinking how, or even whether to consider another title deal in the future.

At the same time, he veered from the traditional pro track and became involved with his boat sponsor at an employee level. After a 2-year, dogged pitch, he convinced Bass Cat president Rick Pierce to hire him as a sales rep. So Stone now reps Bass Cat Boats in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.

He's tasked with building a dealer network where little to none existed before. And he's learning the boat industry from the bottom up. The goal is two-fold. One, he wants to diversify himself to help ride out hard times like this, while at the same time bring value to a major sponsor (Bass Cat). Two, he wants something solid a decade or more from now should he decide to hang up his rod.

First, about losing Advance as a title sponsor, Stone said: "Right now, I'm in a holding pattern with Advance. They're not going to have the financial commitment they had with me last year, but we're still looking at some possible opportunities to have me work with them on some small level on the commercial side.

"Their reduction in their commitment to us had nothing to do with the performance of the team or their association with BASS. They're a publicly traded company, and their numbers were way down in the third quarter. They're a great company. They have an awesome amount of stores and system and it's just the economy – the times. When we go through downtimes, one of the first budgets that takes a pretty big hit is the marketing side."

Stone said it's his belief that even the best non-endemic deals "have a shelf life of 3 to 4 years," and since it can take so long for one to come together, anglers are invariably left in-between when one disintegrates. That's caused him to rethink his pursuit of a replacement title sponsor.

He would entertain a top-level sponsor again, of course. But in the quest for stability, he doesn't think he'd sign for less than 4 years, and he'd want more control over the specifics of the deal – particularly the representation of his boat company Bass Cat.

Again, though, he might be one of the few to have that luxury, because of his role as sales rep for Bass Cat. And even though the boat market is dismal, and dealers are failing across the country, he's been able to generate a lot of interest in Bass Cat because of the tough economy, he said.

Bass Cat's a family owned business, he noted, and thus much more flexible with its dealer network. Whereas a floorplan with a larger manufacturer might require a dealer to carry 15 or 20 boats as inventory, Bass Cat only asks its dealers to carry a fraction of that. So Stone's busy visiting the dealers in his four-state area in the effort to have them carry Bass Cat.

"I've been afforded an opportunity with Bass Cat that most other guys don't have," Stone said. "Instead of looking for another title sponsor, I'm building a dealer network in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia with Bass Cat. We already have a foundation with three dealers in North Carolina, and I'm traveling in Georgia today.

"Instead of it going away, like all non-endemic sponsorships do, this will continue to get stronger and stronger. Bass Cat benefits. Mercury benefits. I benefit. Hopefully I'll introduce more people to the sport of fishing in these areas and benefit the whole industry. Then the fruits of my labor won't go away. My destiny is really in my own hands with this opportunity."

And to those who would say the boat business is about the worst place to be right now (other than investment banking or secondary lending), Stone would say: "Right now, I can't think of a better company to be with. Bass Cat is still family owned. They've never been bought and sold. And we don't require a huge floorplan, so we can relieve a lot of financial stress for dealers. If you carry one of the other big boat companies, you've got a minimum order of 12, 15 or 20 boats sitting on the floorplan, and the interest you have to pay on that.

"Our dealers, for the most part, are sitting on very little inventory. They're not strapped with interest payments they can't handle. So in these difficult economic times I've got to see some things I normally wouldn't have. I take that as a positive."

In summary, Stone looked back on his years of non-endemic sponsorship and said: "Through all this I've learned that the companies that never leave our sport are the endemics. They have nowhere to go. So for them to stand behind us in the downtimes, we have to stand by them in the good times. I've changed my philosophy a little. Bass Cat will be Marty Stone's title sponsor in 2009."

Notable

> John Crews chose to withhold comment until his negotiations with Advance conclude.