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| IS it true that the NPAA had a meeting with the folk from the PWT, and that the PWT showed the NPAA board thier books and that they are losing money? |
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Member
Posts: 164
| The minutes from the recent NPAA Annual Meeting, held on January 6-8 in Appleton, WI, are available online at www.NPAA.net. All NPAA members have access to them.
If you have further questions about the NPAA please contact the NPAA office at 630-845-2766.
Thanks,
Dave Landahl |
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| Geez Dave, that sounds like a resounding YES to me. Honestly though, how can a series expect to survive and attract participants when you can't win real money. Mostly retail priced products. People invest money to compete and expect money for winnings, not a bunch of stuff they have to resell to recoupe their investment. |
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Location: Rhinelander | I can't believe what I'm reading here. You are fortunate, no wait; EXTREMELY fortunate that the PWT has for years provided the venue to compete at what has become the top level in the Walleye fishing industry. PWT, RCL, MWC, WWA, GNWC, WAT, it's business, folks, but one where the competitive angler voluntarily takes his/her chances to compete and to win or lose depending on his/her skill levels. Pick a circuit in the walleye trade, all rely heavily on entry monies to provide a good purse paying back about an average of 65 to 80%, and sponsors to supplement that purse and cover expenses, which include everything you see at the sites. In other words, you are fishing largely for one another's money. If that is a surprise to anyone here it certainly shouldn't be. The HUGE costs of running a circuit like the PWT should be obvious. Without Wal Mart or another non endemic, what you see is what you get from the sponsors and entry fees available.
Everyone should know what the RCL was about. It wasn't formed to glorify walleye anglers for the good of the business and to enrich the winner, it was formed to promote and sell product, plain and simple. Same with FLW. Is that a bad thing? No, it's a great opportunity for those who know how to work in this business, who know what it takes to make a living as a fishing 'pro'. It's also a gamble by the promoters that the entire effort will create new demand for their products and those of the sponsors.
The Walleye industry is still a very tough place to find 'benefactor' style sponsors willing to lay out the 1 million dollars plus it takes to be a major sponsor in the big bass angling game these days. This business is still pretty small when compared to other 'single athelete' competitive professional sports, and the industry has only a few really big players as sponsors. Near ALL of those 'players' are already a sponsor at some level of the PWT or FLW. Look around you, and take a hard reality check. Then I suggest you quit whining about the playing field and compete at a level and exhibit the publicly displayed professionalism expected of any true Pro, or quit and take up professional golf. Heck, maybe tennis is your game.
If Primedia chose to get out of the tournament promotions business, you would lose FIFTY percent of the Pro circuit opportunity out there. It would take a very deep set of pockets indeed to start another that pays anywhere NEAR as well, as some members of the Professional Walleye Community undoubtably can tell you.
According to the PWT website, the minimum payout for first in each event is $64000 including a Lund/Mercury package. What's that without the boat, about $30 k in cash? That is for a single win. What it comes down to is you are betting your entry that you'll win enough to break even after your personal sponsorship contributions are considered. It's a BUSINESS, and the BUSINESS MEN AND WOMEN (AKA Walleye Professional Anglers) who 'get it', and know how to play, will be successful, similar to any other venture one might undertake. Don't like the rules? Don't like the reailty of the sport at this juncture? Don't compete. You can still watch the event here at WalleyeFIRST, home of the best Walleye Tournament coverage anywhere.
And, to answer your question the meeting you refer to was NOT with the NPAA.
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Member
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Location: Oklahoma | Thank you for your input, Steve. I agree with you, and I am sure that most folks have similar feelings as yours about the PWT. Gossip is about all this adds up to, and it won't go too far, I suspect. |
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| Why would anybody expect anyone in the know to answer a question like that on the internet? |
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| Well said Steve, the tournament scene for walleyes & musky has a long ways to go before it catches up with the bass world.Pushing products and making money is the bottomline.But the PWT has to change how it runs their business also.The days of being the only show in town are over.There is a difference how participants are treated by the PWT compared to the FLW. |
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Member
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Very well said Steve!
You hit on something that I have been saying for years. Good fishermen do not necessarily make good businessmen. Some people just do not get it.
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Member
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Location: Kaukauna WI | Steve
I agree fully in what you said and brought a great point on how fishing in some of these circuits is conceived to be glories but in reality it is a business to business transaction in where every angler is fighting to earn the ultimate final contract (top 5 finish) for he or she to market into a bigger package if they can.
This takes not only skill of fishing but skill of understanding ones self and working in abilities you have or you need to be smart enough to find a management house to handle and set up objective and business plan for you
Edited by irishwebs 2/3/2005 8:33 AM
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Location: Northern Illinois | Thanks Steve, thanks for your industry experience and for re-focussing some of the prevelant thought floating around. WM |
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