I just can�t see KVD , Reese , Swindle and all the others that get good pay thru there sponsors leaving . I might be wrong but why would they jeopardize the livelihood.

None of them will be jeopardizing anything. They�ll have the air cover from their sponsors before they make any decisions. Many of them already have it.

I think when MLF schedule and revised BASS schedule come out that will tell where the story is going. The one thing I wonder, is how much TV of MLF aren�t BASS followers. There will have to be a power play. I can see FLW being fine. They have lost top names to BASS for years and have still improved on their business plan regardless. I can not see BASS having near the value as an organization with MLF trail. At this moment it looks like a power play to devalue BASS and buy them for Classic. I�m probably wrong.
Didn�t Duckett try to buy BASS when Anderson Media took over? I�m curious percentage and depth of Owners at BASS and how willing are they to double down

And I�m curious what Toyota stance or involvement with MLF will be

The new BASS owners will have to protect their investment here but they can�t be happy with the cards they�re holding right now. They�ll have to spend more here to protect the initial investment.

Regardless if there are 40 trails or 1, regardless of industry I know this: the higher the investment cost to enter the bigger the return. The top 10% of all trades and professions make better than a living . The next 10-20% make a living and bottom 1/2 will always struggle unless they are subsidized. Not many businesses can you start with 70k truck, 70k piece of equipment and just make a great living right of the bat. No matter how good you are. Have develop your brand and be in top 10%. The good thing about the sport is most can compete much longer than other sports.

I agree Mark. I found it funny though on Ike Live there were rumors BASS could potentially waive some people fees. I can in no way see how that works out for them as a whole. To me that is a bigger slap in face to betterment of sport if that true

He is a Billionaire that owns several major sports teams, real estate guru, AND is married to a Walmart family member Billionaire. New level of tourney fishing coming..

a good read that was just posted by Boyd Duckett on Bassfan. Said they sent out the 80 invites and lots of anglers are pissed that they weren't on that list!! also copied and pasted if the link doesn't work for some reason.

bass fan MLF info

The 80 angler invitations for the inaugural season of the Bass Pro Tour have gone out and a lot of established tour pros are miffed that they weren't on the list. Boyd Duckett understands their angst.

"There are some great and respected anglers who unfortunately won't be able to be part of this � not yet," the former Bassmaster Classic champion and Major League Fishing co-founder said this week, shortly after plans for the new top-level circuit were announced. "It's not about how many tournaments you've won and it has nothing to do with who you know.

"We picked 80 guys who we think can help us take this thing to the next level, and we probably could've chosen another 80. We did the best we could."

Decision Time

The identities of all of the invitees are not presently known, but the list includes many of the top names in the sport and the majority are current Bassmaster Elite Series competitors. It definitely includes the 28 anglers who compete at MLF's Cup level (Tommy Biffle, Denny Brauer, Brent Chapman, Jason Christie, Mark Davis, Ott DeFoe, Duckett, Brent Ehrler, Edwin Evers, Shaw Grigsby, Greg Hackney, Tim Horton, Mike Iaconelli, Alton Jones, Kelly Jordon, Gary Klein, Jeff Kriet, Bobby Lane, Aaron Martens, Mike McClelland, Ish Monroe, Andy Montgomery, Takahiro Omori, Keith Poche, Skeet Reese, Dean Rojas, Kevin VanDam and Jacob Wheeler).

The new tour is a collaboration between the Professional Bass Tour Anglers Association (MLF anglers) and Outdoor Sportsman Group (parent company of the Outdoor Channel, which has been the PBT's media partner in MLF from the get-go), with title sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops. OSG is also BassFan's parent company.

A series of meetings at several locations will take place late this week and into the weekend at which the invitees will be presented the specifics of the 2019 Bass Pro Tour (schedule, format, entry fees, payouts, etc.). The new circuit will consist of eight regular-season events and a championship contested under MLF-style rules in which, among other things, all scoreable fish will be weighed and immediately released and anglers will know their place in the standings throughout the day.

The anglers will then be asked to make a 3-year commitment that will not prohibit them from fishing with any other organization, but will make concurrent participation in the Elite Series or FLW Tour likely impossible due to simple logistics. How much time they'll be given to make that decision hasn't been revealed.

"It's a big step for these 80 guys because we're asking them to quit their jobs as they know them and help us start something that we believe in," Duckett said. "For that commitment, we want to guarantee them 3 years."

Duckett wouldn't estimate the number of commitments that he thinks the BPT will get from the initial invitees, but he expects the percentage to be high (a second phase of invitations will take place if necessary).

ooh now I'm curious about the 58 others - you're testing some long time loyalties here with the "likely impossible due to simple logistics" statement. Think of the brands and brand builders. Scott Martin and his long time FLW commitment comes to mind.

Just looking at the Bass Fan Top 80 anglers is a fascinating list in terms of brands and loyalties - Martin, Thrift, Swindle, the Lee Brothers, Palaniuck, on and on. Plus since Bobby Lane is an original MLF do you assume Chris and Russ?

so does this mean that MLF will be hiring 70 more judges and how much will that pay?

good question! I still haven't seen where it says "if" this will be an actual 80 anglers on the water at one time OR are they still going to be broken up into Pods and compete against each other like the current format just on a larger scale.

Russ Lane is not related to the other two. From everything coming out unless BASS or FLW decides to pay some anglers under the table to stay the amount salary being offered to sign on to this MLF deal is a no brainer, there is big money behind this. Bassmaster has got caught with their pants down not giving their anglers steady raises over the years, BASS is currently changing the schedule to appease anglers to stay,