BASS Fed Nation / TBF vote - Special meeting set & more

[djkimmel]

The Michigan Bass Federation is announcing the special president's meeting to vote on the bylaw changes for either the BASS Federation Nation offer or The Bass Federation (with FLW & BassFan) offer is set:

Where:
The Lansing Center
333 E. Michigan Ave.
Lansing, MI. 48933
517-483-7400

When:
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Time:
12:00 PM (noon)

During the Lansing Sportfishing, Boat & Travel Show; A map of the location can be found at http://showspan.com/lcs/map.html.

Each club has one vote from the president or appointed representative. Please make sure that you and your club members stay up to date on the most current information from all parties involved by regularly visiting the following three websites:
   http://www.michiganbass.net       Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation
   http://www.bassmaster.com         B.A.S.S. Website
   http://www.bassfederation.com    The Bass Federation (TBF)

These three sites will contain the latest information to help you and your club to make an informed decision.  While you may read information on other sites, be cautious, and confirm it on one of the above sites.  If in doubt, go to the Michigan Bass Federaton web site above for contact information for the federation president and other board members.

[djkimmel]

I talked to Gary Jones ? BASS National Federation Director last Friday (2/3/06) to ask for clarifications about some topics.

I asked specifically about the statement BASS made that, while clubs can affiliate with multiple partners - whomever they want, federation state officers can only affiliate with the BASS Federation Nation exclusively.

I was concerned about Michigan affiliations such as with the MichiganUnited Conservation Clubs (MUCC), and possibly if we stayed with BASS and also wanted to accept the BassFan offer.

Gary Jones said the intent was that state officers (federations) can not affiliate with another competing company. BASS would not consider MUCC a competing company.

I asked about BassFan and Mr. Jones wasn?t as sure. He states that BASS plans on providing similar services eventually through the BASS Insider membership, so BassFan might be considered a competing company.

My other clarification request revolved around our existing Michigan federation contracts with companies that are not national BASS sponsors ? such as Ranger and Yamaha. These are very important and valuable arrangements for our federaton.

Mr. Jones said BASS would not expect us to cancel our existing contracts. The only exception is the new BASS Club Championships do not allow non-BASS national sponsors to be shown from the state level on.

I all media involving the BASS Club Championships, we can?t show any of our sponsors that are not BASS sponsors. This means Ranger and Yamaha along with others. If we have part of our web site, newsletter and any other media, including the our tournament trailer and banners at the state BASS Club Championship, we can only show national BASS sponsors.

To clarify, we can show our existing state sponsors on our web site, but if we have a web page that talks about the BASS Club Championship, we can?t show our state sponsors on that page if they are not national BASS sponsors too.

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So, we could keep our existing state contracts as far as BASS cares as long as we meet BASS? limits above. Understand this has no bearing on our state contracts from our actual sponsor?s perspectives. They will be making business decisions based on our choice and possible limits, and may not be able to provide the same level of support or any support if we go with the BASS Federation Nation. That is up to those companies.

I want this to be clear because the Michigan federation is a business and these are business deals based on a negotiated value. No company has said they will cancel our contract if we stay with BASS, but it is possible with the new commitments some are making with TBF/FLW that we may not get the same level of support we were have now.

[djkimmel]

I talked to Charlie Evans, President of FLW Outdoors, for some clarifications about some topics today (2/9/06).

If you?ve been reading everything, then it has already been clarified that the total monetary package from FLW through The Bass Federation is based on the percentage of membership of the existing federation membership that goes with TBF. The money part is based on an FLW subsidy above the membership collected so we didn?t talk about that.

The initial main topic was the category exclusive sponsorships that FLW requires. This is not an issue with our present state sponsors ? Ranger and Yamaha, because they are the category exclusive sponsors too. It also doesn?t affect any sponsor in a category that doesn?t have a clear FLW sponsor already.

Mr. Evans stated that the existing FLW sponsors were committing to significant investments in the new federation program in exchange for exclusive sponsorship. What this means is that we can?t have a competing company in a category aligned with us that we say we are ?sponsored by.? What we can do is sell advertising space to anyone in our publications, media and on our booth/trailer as long as we don?t say ?sponsored by? in conjunction with them. If we aren?t clear on a specific situation, we can ask Mr. Evans anytime for additional clarification.

Mr. Evans also clarified that this limitation was also at the state level, NOT the club level. Clubs can do whatever they want with whomever they want to. No limits on clubs.

Mr. Evans said he honestly feels there is nothing negative in this program for the states and many new programs and offers are coming on line including conservations grants, and products/support from any companies for youth activities.

He as excited about a number of new companies who have specifically approached them because they are interested in this new state federation opportunity with the youth and conservation in particular.

One he shared with me was the National Guard. The National Guard specifically wants to get involved in state and local youth and conservation programs. Good to hear new opportunities may exist for these important areas.

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There will be new programs for the state federations from the TBF-FLW offer, but how will this affect our really good existing state contracts? In particular, the Michigan federation has one of the best contracts with Ranger Boats. We have been told by Ranger Boats that we can keep our existing and extremely valuable contract with them in addition to any of the new TBF programs if we choose TBF. Very important to consider because this contract is critical to our major Michigan fundraising for our annual budget.