what am I missing? how is anyone upset about this? seems to me the issue is some were paying entry fees and other were not. if you were not paying entry fees, due to sponsorship, i guess this is a paycut? but could u negotiate more money from sponsors that comes directly to you?

I dunno, i'm not a pro, so what do I know.

I bet the 2025 Elite season starts with a full field regardless of the anglers saying they don't like the changes.

100% There are enough guys that want to chase the dream that they will do it for less money. There will ALWAYS be guys/gals ready to step in.

I'm saying that I doubt any of them that are currently qualified on the Elites and planned on fishing it next year will still show up next year.


I said this earlier this year and feel this way even more now. These anglers always complaining about payouts, entry fees etc might just be alienating a good amount of fans. The economy sucks and lots are struggling themselves. They see a guy getting to fish for a living constantly complaining and it causes some discontent.


I think a lot of the pros live in a bubble to some extent. Their friend circle is all pro anglers as well so they get myopic in their view of things and don't realize things are tough all over. Not just in fishing.

Seems like a great move- it’s funny how everyone is happy about it but they bashed mlf when they attempted it.

Who bashed MLF for it. At the time it seemed like a huge deal.

Have you looked at the payout schedule and watched anything on it. Numbers are out there

I don’t have receipts- but it was an ongoing “that’ll never work” type deal. As always the devils in the details and this is a lot of smoke and mirrors but also I recognize no one is forced to fish so I hope those that do have a good time.

They have to buy new boats or certainly pressured to. They know every Tom dick and harry wannabe emulates the pros every move and you can’t catch fish without the latest and greatest- so we are told….

The "boat deals" are not like you going and buying a boat for many of the pros. Same with vehicles.

the boat deals are getting worse with te econnomy some of the pros used to have a waiting line of folks to buy their boats not so much now the pro are now in a new retail cottage industry. all toys are hard to sell right now unless you are willing to sell way below dealer cost.

how can anyone not?

But maybe im missing something. i think the issue for some is the realization of sponsorship money to pay for fees. Well if that money now goes direct to angler this could be good for those who were receiving it. if you were unfortunate to not have sponsors for paying fees, seems like a lot less risk.

BASS has always been about angler's getting sponsorship money. Its a platform. U do need additional revenue streams to make it long term.

Upside of this could be more money to anglers in the form of sponsorship dollars. Its just change and i think it will show out to better for many angler's. And it will hurt some. I think it also lower the risks for newbs getting in.

To me its a step in the right direction, and I'm sure it there will be amendments to it in the following years.

Free entries are a good deal, But i guess i still look at the payouts as a tournament fisherman.. 40th place out of a 100 people do you really deserve to get a check? Most of the tournys around here are a 1:5 payout.

I

I’m not sure what you are saying.

Put the sponsorship money aside - regardless if your fees are paid by a sponsor or not, regardless if you get to keep that money or not- the entire pay structure has been shifted to the bottom half of the field.