When I was at Fork this past weekend, I noticed this article. I�d always heard that host cities had to pay a fee to bring a Bassmaster event to their city, but never knew if it was actually true and if so, how much it was. Does anyone know if this is the standard fee for all Bassmaster host cities? I�m guessing the overall economic impact of the event will be much more than the host city fee, so it�s more like an investment in the local economy rather than just giving $65k away?

It ranges from $50-$100k

Host cities usually pay out of the fund paid for by lodgers tax that�s earmarked to bring events to the city.

Thats a common thing with any city hosting a BASS event, whether it be an Elite or an Open event, it is basically what sets the schedule for these tournaments, its whoever will pay the money to get them there. As stated about, some of these cities use hotel tax money to get the events there, but it is considered a small investement compared to how much money these Elite style events can bring in. With all of the pros, marshals, BASS staff and fans coming into town to be a part of the event, the use of hotels, sale of food, fuel etc is a good thing for the host city. I know when Orange has hosted the handful of events they have had on the Sabine river, they have made it very family friendly with a carnival, local food vendors, concerts that stayed packed out all 4 days of the event.

note that the Wood county industrial commission paid $65,000. as their share...it also mentioned they were sharing the cost with Quitman Development ,city of Emory and Lake Fork chamber of commerce....pretty safe to assume that BASS received over $200,000. to hold their Texasfest on Lake Fork.....not sure if any of this income was shared with the anglers or not....is Texasfest a no entry fee tourney?

Yes aren't audiences and live weigh in so stupid..... Point BASS.

Read the next paragaph in the news pic. It says the cost was SHARED with the other entities.

Seems like Del Rio paid $120k for them to come there years ago, might have my number wrong; but it was in that ballpark.

I think Conroe paid BPT around $40k for when they came.

Wow, that�s crazy. How did Del Rio scrape together that kind of money and how would it pay off with only 100 anglers bringing their dollars to town.

At the professional Tour level CVB's, Lake Associations and/or Chambers will also value the media as a part of the host fee. While the driver for most is "heads in beds" there's many factors involved regarding the fees paid and the why behind them.

most towns have a special tax/fee of $2.00-8.00 added on to your motel fee each night and that money goes into a fund to attract various attractions to the town....might be anything from a coon hunters convention to a quilting contest....in the del rio situation,it brought attention to that lake and every motel in that town was booked up in that spring and brought thousands of fishermen from all over the country to the lake for several years...similar thing happened at Falcon lake...

I would love to see MLF come to Fork, I think the could break some MLF records or if the conditions are tough see how they struggle and overcome.

The tourism dollars after the Amistad events well justified any cost they incurred by hosting the events. BASS coming to Zapata and Del Rio put those towns and lakes on the national radar and both are still reaping the benefits even to this day regardless of how well they are fishing any given year.

That makes sense. More of a long term investment in the tourism industry.

Until the fishery went to hell, everyone bailed..