I thought alton jones father was a doctor.....does he own oil company too?

+1 NOT!

There have been a few subtle digs at the BPT in the LIVE commentary throughout this event. A bunch of not so subtle comments today lamenting the 'change' and how hard it's going to be to see the end of an era. And the times, they are a changing...

One other thought. The weights in this tournament, and most of the fish weighed in, are no different than a daily BPT event. Essentially, a dink fest. I enjoyed every minute of the live coverage.

one of the things that hasn't been mentioned is that with MLF television coverage you are going to get to see a lot more of the competitors actually fishing and an up to date scoreboard of how they are doing throughout the day....

Everything declines. Everything. How much is always an unknown but it will happen. There are constant peaks and valley's in everything. Now I was not making a direct comparison of NASCAR vs Pro Fishing as sports. I was comparing two business entities. You are referencing fishing in general but these post are talking about the business end of the sport. You say spectating takes a back seat but in reality that is not accurate. In the business end of the sport spectators drive it because without them there are no sales, without sales there is no money, without money there is no sponsorships and with no sponsors there is no MLF, BPT, BASS, or FLW in their current form. These companies ability to sell their product is their priority using high profile anglers as their salesmen. So from a business perspective the spectator is first and foremost a key part of the puzzle and takes a back seat to nothing.

Sorry, maybe the way I wrote it made it not quite so clear. The engine that drives sport fishing is the 30-40 million people who fish not the much smaller number who do so competitively or those that watch it in my opinion. My point was the leagues could be gone tomorrow and people are still going to fish. It�s a participation sport first, trying to argue that ignores the math...

When I knew Alton, back in high school, he wasn�t no oil family kid for sure. Maybe they struck oil in Lorena. (Pronounced �Low-reena�).

I�ll give you KVD, maybe Ike and definitely Duckett but you�re delusional if you think the rest don�t need $300K because �their family has money� or any other excuse that leaves them hemmorhaging money year after year with zero need to break even. There�s a couple on the list you�ve got WAY wrong but I�m not going to throw anyone under the bus.

All I know is the Mr. Jones has friends in high places...

Mark Perry is the only one that gets it. New doors appear in front of you. Do you go thru them or pass? It is called life and it changes every day. I wish them all luck in surviving. Its entertainment for us to enjoy. So why wish one would fail. BPT EXPANDS the field allowing new blood in the game, some that may have never received the opportunity to do so.

Made for TV means just that guys. Its basically a big long reality show. Its built on people sitting at home watching. BASS and FLW are more about participation, hence the expo and the live weigh in at a arena. 2 totally different business models and both can be successful. Much like racing cars, theres NASCAR, Indy cars, F1 etc... All are doing well just different. I do think its funny when a guy looks at his Judge and says Did I win? Kind of anticlimactic IMO, as compared to the BASS Classic winner.

THIS!!!!!!!!

The next classic will not break any records all the big boys are gone! The TV ratings for BPT will be crazy numbers that�s where the money is at. BPT is here to stay like it or not.

BASS will still be around but it won't be the premier league anymore

Plain and simple. There are a handful of guys that think that they are larger than the sport of bass fishing and that without them bass loses. But in reality the game is won and lost in grass roots. Look at the opens so far this year. Chalk full of guys that want to be the next kvd. Bass membership the opens and the federation are cash for bass. Because a large portion of those people want to be on the big stage. Yes they love watching kvd but they dream of being him not just watching him. The other part of the story is that there are a handful of sponsors that control a large number of fisherman. If you think that Johnny Morris was going to put his name on it and not have his best anglers come over you are wrong and if you think that the largest fishing retailer in the US cannot influence vendors you've lost your mind. Johnny Morris wants to control all of it. Hell look how bad he's screwed up Cabela's in a short time. All in the name of Johnny morris. He has attempted to buy bass and flw in the past from what I've been told but did not like the price. So now he's trying to sink them.

That's just the way I see it.

then why does he have major sponsorship stake in both FLW and BASS?