LITTLE ROCK — Every year, FLW Outdoors unrolls some grand new program, but this year's revelation might be the biggest yet.
On Thursday, at the annual FLW Outdoors sponsors meeting at the Embassy Suites in Rogers, Irwin Jacobs, chairman of FLW Outdoors, announced plans for the FLW's Collegiate Bass Tournament Circuit, beginning in 2009.
With the full financial backing of both Wal-Mart and FLW's 42 major corporate sponsors, FLW will help organize bass fishing teams from colleges and universities across the country, along with their own dedicated bass fishing tour. The tour will comprise 20 one-day qualifying events for five two-day regional championships. Fox Sports Network will televise the events.
Weigh-ins will take place at college campuses and probably will follow a College GameDaytype model. Winners of the regionals will compete in a threeday national championship tournament.
Each team will have two anglers, and the national championship team will compete in the Forrest Wood Cup. The winner of that tournament gets $1 million.
Charlie Evans, president and chief executive of FLW Outdoors, said it was no coincidence that this announcement came at the Wal-Mart Open, the homecomingtournament of the FLW Tour.
"We think this is the biggest thing to happen in this sport," Evans said. "It's huge! It's monumental! It's one of those things we'll look back on years from now and marvel at what an amazing concept this is."
Evans said the collegiate tour is FLW's latest idea to attract young people to tournament bass fishing, and by extension, recreational fishing. The National Guard Youth Challenge has been successful in that regard, but the collegiate tour targets an older demographic of people who are on the cusp of choosing a profession. Some will almost certainly choose professional bass fishing as a career.
"This is just a natural extension to have young people involved in our sport," Evans said. "Colleges compete in tournament sports. But here is a sport where young men and young womencan compete together at the collegiate level on a level playing field. The potential for growth is absolutely phenomenal."
There are other college bass fishing outlets for which anglers must supply their own boats and pay for their own travel and lodging. For this tour, FLW will provide teams their own Ranger boats and observers, and every participating team will get a travel allowance. FLW will award college scholarships to the top five teams in each event. Also, FLW will provide the national champion team its own Ranger bass boat and Chevrolet truck, wrapped in their school colors.
The colleges and universities that have representative teams will also receive donations in each team's name. The only hitch is that only one of the team anglers will be able to compete in the Forrest Wood Cup as a pro for the $1 million. The othermember will have to compete as a co-angler.
The cost for all of this? Zero. FLW will foot the bill for any team that participates on the following conditions. Only fulltime students who belong to a fishing club recognized by a four-year college or university. All club members also must belong to FLW Outdoors.
Evans said there are currently 126 fishing clubs with their respective institutions. He said registration requirements vary by school. Some require a club have a faculty advisor, while others only require a team to complete a registration form.
"We don't see that as being burdensome," Evans said.
Last summer, when college bass fishing seemed to be gaining a little momentum, I called the NCAA to see if they foresaw a conflict with college bass tournaments. Fishing is a club sport,I was told, and the NCAA is not interested in it whatsoever.
Even so, the ramifications for college athletics could be huge. For as long as I can remember, college football and basketball players have insisted they should be paid. Now competitors in an unsanctioned sport will get a chance to compete professionally for $1 million, with corporations footing the entire bill. If a college angler actually wins the Forrest Wood Cup, and it will happen eventually, just as a BASS Federation angler eventually won the Bassmaster Classic, football and basketball players might not be too happy about it. Ultimately, the FLW collegiate tour might be the catalyst that brings about some restructuring of college athletics.
For college students who love bass fishing, however, this is a tremendous opportunity. Just when I think tournament fishing can't get any bigger, it does.
Sports, Pages 47 on 05/18/2008