ESPN Elite Series

In September 2004 Don Rucks was named General Manager of BASS. Prior to taking the position, he had overseen sports marketing at CITGO for the last 14 years, including the BASS events title sponsorship since 2001 and all of CITGO's interests in NASCAR over the past decade.

Rucks was tapped for the post in part because of his leadership with CITGO's retail outlet customer relationship, through which he was instrumental in driving significant growth for its business.

An avid angler, Rucks has fished BASS Federation events and even won a six-man championship in 1984.

Since taking over as GM last year, Rucks and his team have shaken things up within professional bass fishing. Bassmaster.com sat down with Rucks to talk about the future of the sport and, more specifically, the Tour changes slated for 2006 and beyond. What follows is the first part in a two-part series.

You talk about growing the sport of bass fishing. What exactly is ESPN/BASS doing to grow the sport?

Rucks: One of the biggest things we're doing is to increase the number of Tour events from six to 11. This not only brings more money into the sport, but creates greater opportunities for anglers to have a viable career. More tournaments mean more exposure and more interest. The total payout available to anglers has increased in 2006 by over $4.5 million.

At BASS, we've really worked hard to announce a number of groundbreaking changes to our Tour that will revolutionize the sport. Our business model has always been to aggressively, but responsibly, grow the sport of bass fishing, and that's exactly what we're doing.

Recently, we announced increased payouts for our Tour events, Majors and the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. The 2006 Classic will have a $1-million purse and a huge first-place payout of $500,000 — plus all of the prestige and opportunity that comes with winning bass fishing's most prestigious tournament.

In 2006, our Elite 50 Series will be replaced by "Majors" — three, no-entry-fee tournaments with a top prize of $250,000 for each of the winners. "Majors" is not just a name change, the Bassmaster Memorial, Bassmaster American and Bassmaster Legends will be major events that will draw nationwide attention. This is a key ingredient to growing the sport.

When you turn on ESPN2 on Saturday morning, you have a four-and-a-half hour block of programming that is changing the way people think of bass fishing. Programs like "BassCenter," "Loudmouth Bass" and "The CITGO Bassmasters" are timely, exciting and just what we fans want. Stop and think about the resources we're committing to the sport! That's every Saturday, 52 weeks a year. I don't think that's sunk in for a lot of folks, but it's huge. Nothing can build the sport or an angler's career faster than this.

In addition to all of the Saturday morning programming, all three days of the CITGO Bassmaster Classic and the final day of each major will be carried live on ESPN or ESPN2. In 2005, ESPN will carry five hours of Classic programming and ESPN2 will have 11 hours.

Why is it necessary to make all the changes you have announced for 2006?

Rucks: Each of the changes we're making is designed to improve upon and grow the sport. We're constantly working toward creating the very best events, the very best systems and the very best organization for our members, our sponsors, our anglers and our fans. When we see an opportunity to make an improvement, we do it.

Sometimes, it's a relatively small change, like tweaking our points system for the Tour next year.

Sometimes the changes are large and sweeping, like moving the Classic to earlier in the year and expanding the Tour to 11 events.

And don't forget our previously announced objective of building a schedule focused on selecting the right locations at the right time of year that will put the best anglers in the world in a position to catch the most and biggest fish.

All of these changes are part of our overriding objective to aggressively, but responsibly, grow the sport of bass fishing.

Why 11 Tour events instead of six?

Rucks: By increasing the number of Tour events we're giving our pros a greater opportunity to build a viable career in the sport.

With our Tour events stretching across most of the year, BASS anglers will have more and better opportunities to gain recognition and notoriety, more opportunities to win money and more opportunities to showcase their sponsors.

It's my opinion that fishing a full Tour season is a career commitment. Eleven events allow those careers to be solidified. The 11-event schedule was not and is not intended to be a one-size-fits-all situation. A lot of people talk about elevating the sport, but to really elevate the sport, these types of strategic decisions will have to be made knowing they are unpopular for some.

Why convert to the so-called Majors instead of sticking with the Elite 50s?

Rucks: We created the Elite 50s in response to the anglers' desire for no-entry-fee events with reduced fields and big payouts. The Majors are a natural progression from the Elite 50 Series, which enjoyed tremendous success last year and so far this year.

By correctly calling the events "majors" we hope to bring attention to the fact that these are major, stand-alone events for the best and brightest in the sport.

Our majors will be terrific outdoors events for the whole family with large outdoors expo consumer shows at each major event. They're also no-entry-fee tournaments with reduced fields — just the cream of the professional angling crop. We're working toward the day when our BASS majors command the same kind of respect and attention that "majors" in other professional sports have earned. The "majors" will grow over time to attract similar attention as our prestigious CITGO Bassmaster Classic.

Why not do away with the three-year average and money list to let pros qualify for the 2006 MAJORS in the same year AOY standings prior to each major?

Rucks: When we announced our multi-year plan in 2003, we believed the two-tier system struck the right balance between the legends of our sport and the anglers who have been hot over the past few Tour seasons. By keeping that basic system in place, we're following through on our commitment to maintain the balance that the anglers and our fans have come to expect.

Prior to the 2005 season, we made an announcement regarding all 2006 qualifying criteria and we're simply following through on those guidelines. As we look ahead to 2007, we'll look at these qualifying criteria again.

As with all of our programs, we will continue to evaluate our systems and schedules as part of our commitment to delivering the finest events in the industry. To address some of those concerns, there now are four wild card positions that we created for 2006 which will come from the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year points standings only, prior to each major. This will allow for the four hottest current anglers not previously qualified.

Why increase the Tour field from 150 to 200?

Rucks: We're growing field size to increase participation on the Tour so that we can build stars and create more opportunities for viable careers.

We understand that change is a difficult thing, but in this instance, we believe the anglers who've expressed concern are being premature in their assessments.

BASS is confident that anglers will be competing on fisheries that are large enough to accommodate the additional anglers without any issues or complications.

	“	A lot of people talk about elevating the sport, but to really elevate the sport, these types of strategic decisions will have to be made knowing they are unpopular for some. ”
		— Don Rucks

We also wish to underscore that the field will be filled with anglers who are worthy of Tour status, and we're confident that this will create opportunities for anglers who would not otherwise get a chance to compete against the world's best. We're excited that because of this field expansion many new stars will be born.

I see the increase in field size very much the same as the NFL's and Major League Baseball's many league expansions over the years. In both cases, more athletes were required with these changes, and, as a result, additional pros were given the opportunity to start careers and many new stars were born.

What is the tiered entry fee all about?

Rucks: The tiered entry fee system creates a "break" for anglers who do not make the cut — they pay only $1,800 per event (down from $1,925 in 2005).

For those anglers who finish in the top 75, an additional $1,200 will be collected from their winnings prior to being presented with final checks.

I wish the critics of the system would try to focus on the positives with this concept by realizing that 125 anglers out of 200 will only pay a $1,800 entry fee. That's less than the $1,925 entry fee Tour anglers paid this year, and far less than another tournament trail that charges all 200 anglers a $3,000 entry fee.

This is a very important ingredient when looking at providing the opportunity for new anglers to compete. It's especially important in 2006 since we're expanding from six to 11 tour events. Even seasoned pros will not make it into the top 75 cut in all of the events; therefore, they'll catch a break as well.

The easiest thing we could do is to have one flat entry fee, but that's not in line with our strategy of growing the sport and providing new opportunities for more anglers.

What if an angler in the top 75 after Day Two decides not to fish on Day Three? What happens?

Rucks: We'll simply work down the list to the next highest finisher after Day Two until we fill the 75 positions. An angler's prize money and entry fees are based upon his final day's finish in the tournament.

Any angler choosing not to fish to avoid additional expenses for lodging, gas, etc., will simply slide down in total weight, payout position and, most of all, points. At the conclusion of the tournament the additional $1,200 entry fee portion will be deducted from each of the top 75 payouts regardless of whether or not the angler has fished on Day Three.

We believe, however, that anglers will want to compete on the final two days in order to enhance their position in the point standings, increase their chances of earning additional prize money and to best serve their sponsors and the fans who follow them.

Let's face it, even if an angler is out of the running for any of the year-end money or CITGO Bassmaster Classic qualification, it's still important to an angler's career where he finishes in the season-ending point standings.

Obviously, when talking to existing sponsors or potential ones, it should put an angler in a better negotiating position if he finished 73rd on the CITGO Bassmaster Tour instead of 123rd. Also, with a multi year average required for Majors' qualification, it will be critical for any serious career-minded professional angler to fish every day for which he has qualified.

Why would an angler that is out of year-end awards like AOY and Classic qualification want to fish Day Three instead of dropping out?

Rucks: Once again, we believe that anglers will compete on the final days in order to enhance their position in the point standings, increase their chances of earning additional prize money and to better serve their sponsors. Where they finish is important — 63rd is better than 73rd. Also, with a multi year average required for majors' qualification, it will be critical for any serious career-minded professional angler to fish every day for which he has qualified.

Angler value to sponsors is driven by their performance. It's important to an angler's career to improve his standings every chance he gets no matter where that angler is in his career.

Anglers will now have a third day in their own boat, which has been a major concern for them. We're the only major tour that encourages anglers to fish in clothing that supports their sponsors, and we've now restructured our Tour events so that they get an additional day in their own boats.

When you look at the 2005 Tour standings at the end of two days of competition, you'll see that the competition is remarkably close. An angler can jump many valuable places by fishing on that third day, and I think that's significant.

In Part Two, we continue our discussion with BASS' GM regarding the changes to the Tour and what he thinks the future holds for pro bass fishing.

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