Bass will be fine. In the short term, yes they have been devastated. In 3-4 seasons they will be ok. They will have to build up, but there is always going to be a young gun out there that is a good stick. It is unfortunate that MLF tour took so many, but that is life. Now there are 10 guys on that tour, that in 3 seasons if they do not end up in the top 70, they will be in trouble. They will either have to qualify through the bass opens or the costa opens on the FLW side. So they better hope MLF delivers as promised or that they do not fishing in spots 71-80. I wish everyone the best, but yes as much as I hate to see my favorites all move over and I will still support them, this is horrible for bass in the short term.

It will be interesting where BASS gets the rest of the anglers to fill their field. I wonder if they will invite any FLW anglers to come over? This could get crazy.

I like it, bring in new blood and new personalities.

If anyone listened to all of Ike last night then you heard what could be the downfall of the mlf. Litner (think I misspelled that) brought up a very valid point about sponsorship, why would TackleWarehouse want to keep him if he can�t show any support for them. So mlf might get bigger sponsorship for the group, it�s possible that individual sponsorship is gone. This sponsorship might go to the new bass guys instead.

This is a good point.

I think another wrinkle in this saga with the new crop of anglers will be the no-information rule. Right now, if you're not an Elite angler, you could get whatever information you wanted from anyone with the set schedule before you commit to the Elite series. Then, you haven't violated the rule because you didn't get the information as an Elite angler, but the existing Elite anglers had to abide by it...

Why wouldn't he be able to show support for Tackle Warehouse or any other angler/sponsor relationship? I may be wrong but Paulaniuk said in his announcement video they will be able to run their own boats with their own equipment which leads me to believe they will still have all of their sponsors represented.

You know Mercer reads their credentials when they come up on stage...like, 3 time Elite Series winner, 2 time AOY, etc. Now it's going to be like, Houston Lunker Hunters Bass Club 2-time AOY Bobby Johnson. Lol

They will but it will be a very small amount of TV time. And they might have to wear and support opposing sponsors in the cups. I could see some sponsor issues coming up with all of it. Maybe not enough to really effect anything and all these guys got the ok from current sponsors.