(Part II)
Today we’ll continue our thoughts on the state of professional bass fishing and where it’s headed. Like the old saying goes, “Nothing lasts forever,” and I worry that the sponsorship or business side of fishing is getting tougher and more complicated as companies are now looking hard at how they spend their advertising dollars.
Today’s anglers are fighting among themselves for a much smaller piece of the pie while the amount of sponsorship dollars has dwindled. It’s becoming more difficult for anglers to land sponsors who have now decided to tighten their belts with regards to advertisement.
It’s Business 101, all about ROI (return on investment) as sponsors are no longer passing out money like candy. Companies have gotten more conservative on how much money they are willing to pay an angler to represent them. They’re also no longer hiring as many anglers to be a part of their marketing teams as they have in the past.
Company marketing plans have changed and this all started when the old FLW Tour went under in 2019, followed in 2021 when FLW was absorbed by MLF (Major League Fishing). This has changed the landscape of professional bass fishing as anglers try to make a living.
Recently with a smaller market of sponsors for anglers to choose from, along with a tight economy, professional anglers are having to look at other ways to raise money in order to support their families, pay for entry fees and travel expenses. It has slowly become the land of the haves and the have nots.
By that I mean, if you have money or come from money, you stand a better chance of making it as a professional angler than someone who is strapped for dollars, sleeping in their truck, and fishing for pay checks.
The older generation of anglers who have helped make the sport what it is today are now being phased out by a younger generation that requires less money to sponsor.
Let me explain. For years companies would hire professional anglers to do commercials and promote different products they offer. But as social media began to take hold, companies started turning to the younger generation due to their social media skills and their ability to navigate the web.
The difference between the older generation of anglers and the younger ones is that companies were having to pay a substantial amount of money to the older guys. The younger anglers, who are very social media savvy, are less demanding and will do promotions for pennies on the dollar or maybe a product exchange.
This has changed the landscape for how professional anglers can make a living. Companies today want anglers who understand the dynamics of social media, can sell a product, and have good communication skills. Just winning tournaments is not enough any longer.
So where is all of this headed? Is the future dream of being a professional bass fisherman still a reality? Major League Fishing has recently cut the number of anglers in its circuit down from 65 to 51, eliminating 15 anglers!
This of course helps with distribution of the so-called pie as there are now less anglers trying to lock down sponsors. I personally believe that anglers are going to have to reach out to sponsors that are not related to the fishing world like the FLW Tour did back in the early 2000s.
FLW did an excellent job of bringing in companies like Tide, Snickers, Land of Lakes, Castrol Oil, Kellogg’s and Walmart. They basically followed the same marketing plan as NASCAR by reaching out to non-endemic sponsors.
Being a professional bass angler is a great way to make a living and a dream for so many! Currently, there are a lot of questions as to what direction professional bass fishing is headed.
But there’s one thing that has remained constant in this profession. Young anglers today face the same challenges that the older generation faced — how to make money and provide for their families!