JCovas

It is no scare tactic. They are GONE!

You got to consider the dilemma here. BASS just lost at least 70 or 75 of the top pros in the industry. According to qualifications for the Elite Series rules must change in order to refill the slots. They can't just say Hey! to the top guys over at FLW, we need you to come down here so we can have a true Elite Trail now that our top guys have left. Basically they're going to have pull from a lot of lower ranked anglers from the Opens that are not proven Elite anglers. What are the possibilities that you send out 70 invitations to the Opens guys to compete in the Elite Series and every one of these guys can afford to compete at that level? Obviously there must be some change in the format or cost of entry to fill this void of anglers because most fishing the Opens could probably not pay the entry that the Elites pay. Also there will be less sponsorship funds coming in next year because of the formation of the new League. Think about this! If you were in FLW top level Pro or let's say mid level pro that was earning your entry fee back on tournament earnings. Just living off sponsorship dollars which means you're probably scraping by. Wouldn't you want to go over to bass now and Cherry pick the Elite Series? Consider there you probably won't be competing against 175 of the top sticks in the country only a little more than a diluted field of open anglers. Obviously BASS will have to offer better concessions to top-tier guys wanting to fish their Trail to lure them in. Without top-tier guys it's hard to consider them a true Elite Series.