State of the sponsorship game

from BassZone

MARTY STONE: STATE OF THE SPONSORSHIP GAME


Story by Pete Robbins

Norman, OK. – Sometime late on the afternoon of February 22nd, one skilled angler will be crowned the Bassmaster Classic champion, complete with a cash prize of half a million bucks. In all likelihood, he or she will at least double that prize in the coming year as the result of bonuses, new sponsorship opportunities and other business opportunities.

But the 50 other Classic qualifiers, as well as the remainder of the Elite Series field, will experience no such immediate financial windfall. In what has been the most difficult economic climate in decades, pro anglers have suffered along with members of many other industries.

No major new non-endemic sponsors have been announced, either league-wide or for individual anglers, while some companies, both endemic and non-endemic, have left the sponsorship fold partially or completely.

North Carolina’s Marty Stone has seen the changes firsthand. The lucrative deals which he, John Crews, Greg Hackney and BASS enjoyed with Advance Auto Parts have not been renewed. Stone is one of the few who has been part of multiple elite non-endemic sponsorship teams, subsequently losing each deal to changing corporate priorities or other non-performance based factors. Previously he was a member of Team Citgo and when he fished the FLW Tour he represented Land O’Lakes and Timex. While he could be bitter about the lost income and prestige, Stone instead chooses to view the changes in their historical context.

Historical Overview
“I feel like I lived through one of the glory days of bass fishing,” he said. “A lot of people won’t agree, but I think Don Rucks was the greatest General Manager that BASS ever had. He gave us more media opportunities and that allowed our value to go up more than anyone past or present has done.”

“We don’t have the value now that we had four years ago,” he continued. “Back then we had four hours of air time. We had the Majors. We had 11 Elite events. And that meant access to a lot of media avenues. Now we have an hour, maybe an hour and a half if you include Zona’s show. So our opportunities for air time have been significantly cut. BASS does a good job of helping the Elite anglers build their brand, but with the lost exposure it’s not what it was in the past. Our air time has been cut 70 to 75 percent and thus our value to the non-endemic world has been cut by that same amount. You can’t get yesterday’s rates anymore.”

He said that the decreased television exposure is the result of ESPN’s business decisions, none of which reflect directly on the anglers themselves, but rather where the sport falls in the network’s hierarchy.

“The only deals we get are the ones that can’t afford NASCAR and can’t afford Monday Night Football,” he said. “We’re about 12th on the list. To the best of my knowledge, no one is selling our sport first and foremost, so the marketing numbers and the impressions are just not there. In my opinion, there’s a direct correlation between us losing our air time and ESPN buying NASCAR and Monday Night Football. They’re bleeding over there. Back in December I read in USA Today that the ratings are at an all-time low. That money has to come from somewhere. They have no inclination to grow our air time, so we’re sort of stuck.”

When BASS offered more consistent television exposure to the anglers, there were also non-endemic companies who needed the media buys. Thus, Stone said, the Advance Auto Parts and Purolators (another company who left the fold this year) entered. When those opportunities dissolved, they left and no one has stepped up to take their place. Accordingly, the anglers must scramble to make up the lost income.

Stone wonders whether ESPN has the skills to make the most of the asset they purchased in BASS: “They’re the best in the business at cutting and pasting, but they’re weak at original programming,” he said. “When they can clip a highlight, there’s no one better, but show me one long-running original program they’ve made on their own that does not involve cutting and pasting. So for them to tell us they can build our brand, it’s up to each of us to decide if that’s really true.”

Diversification is the Key

Stone’s personal solution to the decrease in revenue was to refocus his efforts for 2009. While he has not completely given up the hope that a major non-endemic deal will come together at some point in the future, the changed conditions have led him to realize “how truly important the endemic sponsors are. No matter what the economy, these guys stick behind you. It’s humbling to have them stand behind me and we can’t lose the focus of how vital they are to our sport. When economic times are good, everybody wants in, so if there’s an opportunity for a non-endemic then great, but we can never forget that the endemic companies are truly our lifeblood, our saving grace.”

He has also taken stock of certain off-the-water business opportunities that have allowed him to diversify his sources of income and thereby hedge against future downturns. He has taken on a four-state territory as a representative for Bass Cat Boats. Additionally, he is now a dealer for Texas Hunter Products. “They make some of the best deer feeders in the country,” he explained. “I got to know the owner, Bob Brock, through my hunting trips in south Texas. I bought some of his feeders to put on our property in North Carolina. Then I approached him about selling the feeders. Ours is a market that they haven’t been able to penetrate. It makes sense – most of the bass fishermen hunt, too. In fact, Greg Hackney is my number one customer. I already represent the best boat company, the best motor company, the best lure companies, so this offseason I added the best deer feeder to diversify my product income.”

He also noted that he “need(s) to be more media-savvy, more aware or who the writers are and completely know the product lines for companies like Zoom, Lucky Craft, Tru-Tungsten, American Rodsmiths, Vicious, Browning and Carolina Lunker Sauce.”

Performance Where it Counts

Stone stated that despite his diversified business portfolio and new focus, ultimately his bank account and credibility are primarily dependent on how he performs in national tour-level tournaments. In that respect, he hopes he has turned a corner as well.

“For about 2 ½ or 3 years, I was not real pleased,” he said. “But for half of last year it felt right again. I only missed the Classic by 38 points.”

So with his fishing getting back to the level he desires does he fear that the additional sponsorship and business interests will distract him from that task?

“I had to find a balance,” he responded. “I have a partner, Mac McCormick, who handles the day to day stuff for me with Bass Cat. I jump in when there are situations that require more than one person and lately that is happening less and less because Mac’s knowledge of the product is increasing daily. And my wife has another person who helps her in the office. That takes a lot of the burden off of me. Our business model is strong. I’m fired up about this year.”

To the aspiring up-and-coming pros who occasionally approach him and claim they could compete at a national level if only they had his sponsorship support, he has a simple message: Prove it. “My first three years fishing on a national level I had approximately $10,000 from sponsors, counting my boat and motor and sponsors and one local company that gave me a little bit of cash. That increased in my fourth year after I had proven that I could perform on a national tour. That’s when things started to take off.“

“It’s real simple,” he continued. “If you perform on a national level, and you beat the Greg Hackneys, the Gerald Swindles, the Kevin VanDams and the Gary Kleins, the sponsors will find you.”

The Role of the Two Tours

While Stone considers himself fortunate to have lived through one of the sport’s golden ages, when non-endemic sponsorships were available, he also considers himself fortunate to have come into the game when he did.

“My group came in at the perfect time,” he said. “I bankrolled my career at FLW the first four or five years. I learned with Charlie Hoover and Charlie Evans. It was a great training ground and back then you could fish two trails for $35,000 a year.”

The anglers coming up today don’t have such a clear path, though. First off, it costs more to get into the game. Second, the increased number of competitors makes it harder to claim a slice of the sponsorship pie. “The easy stuff has been picked off,” he said.

Additionally, the current economic conditions and lack of opportunities for television exposure limit the chances to grow. “Four years ago, it was a great buy in (to join the Elite Series),” he said. “But now the media opportunities are not there like in those first four or five years. You’re asking a young fisherman out of the Opens to buy into that but the ability to build a brand is just not there. I don’t know how they do it. You look at the success rate and if there are 15 to 20 new guys, three years later only three or four of them are left.”

He thought that the pool of up-and-comers willing to take the plunge would eventually dry up, but now concedes that there seems to be a near-endless supply. “I don’t know where they’re all coming from, but we’re full this year and that’s a pleasant surprise,” he said.

But that seemingly limitless group may someday go away if the major circuits don’t increase their efforts to get youth involved. “It’s a travesty that one of the first cuts BASS made was when they moved the Junior program away from the Classic. If BASS and FLW don’t collectively get more involved, my generation will be fine, but if they don’t do something radically different, by the time the current youth are old enough to participate this will be an elitist, costly thing. We’re at a point in the sport where we have to look at the long-term investment, not just the immediate return on the dollar, if we want to keep the sport alive and growing. If that’s not addressed, it’s bad for everybody.”

While he’s cast his lot with BASS, he expressed a certain amount of admiration for the FLW model: “Where they’ve done it right is that they don’t make radical changes. They’re still under the same management. Their modifications are small, they’re minor. At BASS, it’s greater risk, greater reward. When things are going well, we make more, but when they’re shaky, they’re really shaky. It does all of us a lot of good to have two leagues. It’s a healthy thing.”

Nine Bosses

Despite that doom and gloom that’s evident nearly every time you open a news source, Stone says he remains optimistic about the future of bass fishing and his place in it.

“We’ve had everything possible happen to the economy,” he said. “We’ve had so much time off and I’ve tried my best to keep the TV off. Now it’s time to go back to making a living with a rod and reel. I’ve tried to remove myself from all of the political arguments of the sport, the things I can’t control. Instead, I’m going to put my energy and effort into map study, into organizing my tackle and into my time in the weight room. “

While he’s occasionally been able to steal a day away to deer hunt this offseason, those days have been more the exception than the norm. He continues to work with nine different sponsors, which means that he answers to nine separate employers. Assuming he continues to perform well on the water, he knows that his ability to survive in the sport continues to depend equally on his ability to show them that they are getting their money’s worth.

“When I’m catching them, I’m a bargain,” he said. “And when I’m not, I’m a value. But the one thing that I hope is always a constant is the energy and effort that I put into my sponsors and this sport.”

[Shep]

Stone wonders whether ESPN has the skills to make the most of the asset they purchased in BASS: “They’re the best in the business at cutting and pasting, but they’re weak at original programming,” he said. “When they can clip a highlight, there’s no one better, but show me one long-running original program they’ve made on their own that does not involve cutting and pasting. So for them to tell us they can build our brand, it’s up to each of us to decide if that’s really true.”

He obviously never heard of NASCAR. ESPN pioneered the weekly coverage of NASCAR Winston Cup races, and most of the broadcasting ideas like in-car camera, and pit road reporters still exist as they did them back in the 80's and 90's. I miss Buffet Benny!