I've been holding off on discussing the 2010 FLW Fantasy Fishing season because I think the organizers dropped the ball, even if they said the economy forced the changes.
A quick refresher: This is the third season FLW has held its Fantasy Fishing challenge. The first two awarded the winners of each regular season tournament $100,000, with excellent prizes a couple hundred deep for each tournament. The person with the most points at the end of the season won $1 million, and the prizes thereafter included boats and trucks and about anything an angler might want to add to his or her collection.
Best part, it was free to play.
Fast forward to the the third installment of fantasy fishing, and you quickly realize that handing out millions in prizes maybe isn't the best idea in these economic times. Tournament winners still can pull in $5,000, and payouts run through 15th place ($25).
The overall winner takes home $50,000, a big difference from the first two seasons. Second place wins $25,000. And the prizes payout through 15th place as well ($500).
Still, I can't help but wonder what will happen to the overall field. It's clear to me that handing out millions in prizes was the real draw to the bass fishing tournament. And I loved it because I thought it might help give the FLW Tour some credibility.
But let's be honest. It is pretty hard to attract fringe fans with a $50,000 cash prize, especially when those fans can't even turn on the television, plop down on the couch and watch live action of their fantasy players.
Plenty of lesser sports understand the importance of live viewing. And I think golf is a good example of a sport where switching from golfer to golfer doesn't always provide great drama, but it moves the broadcast along. Seems like a logical approach for bass tournaments. Maybe delay it a minute or two to make switching from pro to pro more efficient.
As it stands now, watching weeks-old tournaments isn't cutting it for the Tour. Just my two cents.
While I'm disappointed with the new structure, I still intend to play. I even lucked out on the first tournament, because once you sign up, you are given a random team. I forgot to pick a team for the first tournament, which would have started Thursday, Feb. 11, and was forced to use the random team. Thankfully, weather forced the tournament to be canceled.
So, after all that rambling, if you're like me and still interested in playing, then I guess you too are in luck, because the field of fantasy players is still at zero.
Besides, thinking bass fishing can help you fight off the winter blues.
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