FLW spiraling down as well?

[bmadd]

Just read an article on BF about FLW pros Craig Powers and Koby Krieger. They have dropped out of the FLW series this year due to treatment they say they received from FLW officials in the sponsor department.

Both Powers and Krieger were members of an FLW Team. As many of you know, FLW has lost a lot of it's team sponsors over the last two years. Both Powers and Krieger said they called the FLW official in charge of the team sponsor deals and said that if they wanted to know if they would be resigned they would first have to pay their entry fees for all of the tournaments this year  To go on further, the FLW official told them with the way the economy was they should "step-up" and give FLW the help that they had given the anglers over the years.

Interesting...

[arul]

sounds reasonable to me...

It seemed to me that FLW was the one that got the sponsorships lined up for anglers as part of the Walmart brands marketing. However, I don't know if that should be the responsibility of FLW... I would expect the individual angler line up their own sponsorship.

Of course, I don't know much about sponsorship but it appears from the outside that FLW in past played a heavy role in getting guys sponsored or on "teams". I doubt they have the ability to that anymore...

[bmadd]

I guess I should add that the article went on to say that the two stated they wanted to know whether or not they should look for new sponsors but were again told they wouldn't know until after their entry fees were paid.

The problem with getting their own sponsors is that FLW pros cannot wear any logos for companies that do not sponsor the FLW trail for any FLW related media events. That makes it extremely hard for FLW pros to find sponsors on their own.

[arul]

not sure if this is the article you were reading, but here is a good one on it...

http://www.another site.com/news_article.asp?ID=3488

[bmadd]

Probably. Looks like you had the same problem I did trying to post the link.

[bmadd]

Well the second part of this story came out today. Krieger and Powers both made some pretty interesting comments. Both of them said they weren't allowed to actually communicate with their sponsors, only FLW middlemen. They also both made comments about how they thought they would be in much safer positions had they chosen BASS.

[Willzx225]

FLW has always wanted to call the shots when it comes to advertising. Yes they "get" the team guys sponsors but I have a suspicion that FLW benefits a whole lot more than the anglers do. You look at P&G's level of sponsorship on the FLW side and then compare it to Evan Williams level on BASS and see who is coming out better. Both of them are large companies (P&G is much bigger) but yet it seems like the angler is taken care of on BASS while the organization is taken care of on FLW.

Also, that comment about "its time they support FLW since they have supported them for so long" is a load of crap. The tournament fishermen are their customer's. I would never call one of my better customers and ask them to help them out b/c I had taken care of them for so long. Without the fishermen then these guys would be like the other 10% of our population standing in the unemployment line! Do you think P&G gets more exposure from the boats that these guys drag around the US or the flyers that are passed around at the tournaments?

I've been fishing BFL's for 10 years now and they have not done the first thing to "support" me, it has been the other way around.  Ok I'm off my soap box now.

[oteymc]

This sounds like just a bad situation all the way around.

I would think both all parties involved need each other; the association, the anglers, and the sponsors.  The worst part is it sounds like if there had just been some communication, everyone would still get along.  Much of sponsorship is just building and maintaining good relationships.