It looks like Dicks Sporting Goods is no longer sponsoring the Bassmaster Classic. The new event sponsor will be Academy Sports. Honestly, I'm not too shocked. It's been all over the news for a while that Dicks has been hurting for sales in recent years. 

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/academy-sports-outdoors-title-sponsor-50th-classic

 

 

Is it strictly sales related? Seems like In my area dicks is leaving the hunting/fishing market all together. The selection of gear continues to dwindle except for the clothing (mainly Columbia and under armour) but those can apply to more than just hunting and fishing. 

35 minutes ago, Swbass15 said:

Is it strictly sales related? Seems like In my area dicks is leaving the hunting/fishing market all together. The selection of gear continues to dwindle except for the clothing (mainly Columbia and under armour) but those can apply to more than just hunting and fishing. 

Without getting into politics, from everything I've been reading online, Dicks sales have dropped a significant amount since they took their stand on gun sales. I've noticed a dwindling selection around here too, and DSG has their headquarters right here in Pittsburgh. The first Field and Stream store that they opened is a mile from my house and their selection just keeps dwindling off. When that store first opened, they had an impressive selection of higher end reels and rods (Shimano, Diawa, GLoomis, St. Croix, etc). They've now reduced themselves down to everything in that $50-120 range of everything, and they carry the bare minimum at that. 

Disappointed to read about Dick's pulling out of the Classic.

 

But Academy is a wonderful replacement.

 

Academy's H2O baits are excellent.

2 hours ago, Sam said:

Disappointed to read about Dick's pulling out of the Classic.

There are better ways to avoid an accident though.

One of the DSG's here completely removed the fishing department over a year ago. Since Academy moved in about 5 years ago, they have gotten most of my business except for a local place I try to visit as much as possible.

Their stance on guns and Christianity has had negative effects, especially in the south. Most folks I know won’t even entertain the thought of shopping there. There is an academy next to every dicks and always has 4x the cars in the parking lot. 

The dicks here switched over to a clearance outlet and removed the fishing section.  It's mostly exercise and golf clothing.

Wish we had an Academy store in Richmond, Virginia.

 

With BPS, Cabela's, and Green Top we can cover the fishing world with no problem.

 

But Academy has so many other items you can't find at the three above mentioned retailers.

 

Time will tell.

 

Hope Academy does not expand too fast and incur too much long term debt which is what causes these big box store chains to go under.

I wish there we’re Academy stores in Michigan too! 

No Academy stores around here either. Wish there was though. I hear great things. 

With the prices DSG has it is no wonder they are hurting for sales. I would have to be really desperate to get something from them. Our closest Academy store is about 75 miles away.

After Dick's recent gun stance I'm fine with them being out of the outdoor sports world all together.

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

Lol that made me laugh.

Their fishing section is almost bare here.

DSG and Cabela's are really pricing themselves out of the market.  If I have a coupon or something i will shop there, otherwise I can go to my local shop or buy what I want online for cheaper anyway.

 

The only reason I shop at DSG is because my kids are in athletics and we don't have any other sporting goods retailers in NE Pa.

I rarely go into Dicks now since they cut their fishing dept. into half, wasn't really impressed with it when it was full.

Academy is my go to store, both are 10 minutes from my house.

I havent been to Dicks in a long time.  Cant remember last time I bought something there.  Overpriced!!!  Their fishing selection was nothing but flavor of month crap ie Googan baits and duck topwaters.

 

Also with their merge with field and stream, they appear to have conceeded outdoor merchandise sales to them.

I ordered from DSG last week for 1st time in a couple years during a sale.  $50 order ...FREE SHIPPING....plastics, line, hooks...total about a pound.  Came in six separate shipments, including one package of drop shot worms in a box that can double as a crib for my granddaughter.    I guess they had to quit the classic to divert funds to packaging shipping departments.

45 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

I ordered from DSG last week for 1st time in a couple years during a sale.  $50 order ...FREE SHIPPING....plastics, line, hooks...total about a pound.  Came in six separate shipments, including one package of drop shot worms in a box that can double as a crib for my granddaughter.    I guess they had to quit the classic to divert funds to packaging shipping departments.

I ordered from them about a month ago. They had some Adidas tshirts on sale for dirt cheap, and they had Suffix 832 for 25% off as well. On top of that, they were doing free shipping over $25. I ordered two tshirts and a spool of 832. Wouldn't you know it, I received 3 different packages for my order as well. They had to have lost money on that sale. My total for the 2 shirts and line was $27. So figure they had probably at least $15 in shipping. 

Well good riddance Dicks ruined business when they decided to try and be "politically correct" and stop selling "AR's" I quit going there all together the one here in my town in NC is empty.

I really like Academy,Good store with good prices.

I never really liked Dicks, didn’t have a whole lots of fishing stuff anyway. Academy sports has some stuff but  every sense bass pro shop and Cabela’s merged the Cabela’s fishing stuff doubled in size. So I just prefer to go there.

I go to Academy for nearly all my outdoor stuff now. There’s one around 20 minutes from me. Dicks is about the same distance away. The only thing I need that Academy doesn’t have is 4 inch senkos. They do have the dingers though, which I usually use anyway. I love Academy sports. Hope they don’t change for the worst.