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Outdoor Heritage Looks to Angler Advisory Board and Key Industry Contacts to Craft More Angler-Friendly Payback Structure
October 3, 2012
Sacramento, California
In August, Outdoor Heritage, Inc. (OHI) released the details of its inaugural 2013 bass-fishing tournament season, including its $400 co-angler and $1,200 professional payback structures. It also made the bass tournament world take notice when it announced its new “Loyal Angler Incentive.”
A Pro, who elects to fish all four regional events, and finishes in the top 20% of the points race (based on average boat count in a region) will receive four paid Pro entries for that region the following season. On the Co-Angler side, the 1st place Co-Angler can choose between four Pro entries or four Co-angler entries for the following season. Co-Anglers who finish 2nd – 5th receive four Co-Angler entries for the following season. OHI’s Team division offers the same Loyal Angler Incentive. The teams who fish all five regional events and finish in the top 20% (based upon average boat count) will receive five paid team entries for the following season.
Example of how Loyal Angler Incentive works:
○ Assume 122 boats, on average, fish the four Northern California Pro Am events.
○ Then 24 pros will receive paid entry fees in the following year’s Pro Am events. (Note that 20% of 122 is 24.4 which would be rounded to 24. If it were 24.5 it would be rounded to 25.)
So, how does a tournament organization top that? “Our goal from the very beginning was to revolutionize the way bass tournaments operated, and I believe we have done it” said Gary Dobyns, the West’s all-time leading money winner. “We started off by listening to the anglers. We have received an overwhelming amount of support and commitment from the angling community, however, with this current economy there was a growing group of anglers who told us they just could not afford the $1,200 Pro entry fee. The other directors and I went back to the drawing board to produce a format that would benefit a broader range of tournament anglers”
“Our newly formed Angler Advisory Board was instrumental in assisting us to make this decision. We gathered feedback from them and spoke to a few key industry contacts to make sure that what we were doing was in the best interest of the sport. We want to be able to provide maximum participation for quality fishermen while still providing a solid payback,” said Tony Franceschi, OHI’s CEO.
In response, OHI now has a new professional angler entry fee of $800 and an option pool has been added at $400. Hence, pros can enter and fish with an $800 entry fee or choose to fish for a larger paycheck by also entering into the $400 option.
“Our structure will provide a greater degree flexibility for our anglers,” said Craig Gottwals, fellow OHI founder. “Now a fisherman can learn from the back deck for $400, make the leap to the front deck at $800 or go all in for $1,200 on the professional side by getting into to our $400 option pool which pays back at 100%.”
OHI expects to launch its website at www.OutdoorHeritageInc.com on October 10, 2012 and will begin accepting entry fees soon after it is launched. In the meantime, anglers can learn more about OHI on its Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/OutdoorHeritageInc. Anglers are also invited to submit questions to Jim Markham at jmarkham@outdoorheritageinc.com
