In search of sponsorships

FLW Director of Public Relations Chad Gay discusses the components that go into FLW team sponsorship deals

Professional tournament fishing is not a cheap livelihood. Besides a boat and tow vehicle, anglers face expenses such as rods, reels, baits and other gear and travel expenses that include accommodations on the road, food and gas for their boat and truck. To offset the costs associated with a life on the tournament stage, anglers look to a variety of companies for sponsorships to help offset the cost of competition.

Today’s angler must be part businessman, part fishing genius. Being a good brand representative is also key. And some anglers are better at securing sponsors than others. It’s a skill learned largely from experience, and veteran anglers will tell you it’s not easy to convince a company to give you money so you can fish for a living.

So how does an angler go about securing sponsorship deals? As I mentioned, being a good fisherman is a start. But it’s not the only qualification. Understanding a business’ marketing needs and convincing a company to part ways with sponsorship dollars is a complicated, and sometimes tricky, endeavor. Anglers must convince a company that their marketing dollars will be well spent if they become the angler’s sponsor, and to do this an angler must offer up a set of marketing assets that a company can tap into to make the investment get a return. This is not a simple task for FLW to do, which has more than 220 tournaments, a magazine, a web site, a TV show and a whole lot more to offer – oh yeah, and having Walmart as its title sponsor doesn’t hurt, either. FLW has been very fortunate in securing the sponsors it does year after year, but if it is a tough job for FLW, imagine how hard it is for an individual angler to offer up a compelling sponsorship opportunity – one where a company will see a lift in sales because of it.

FLW is unique in the industry. FLW is one of the only sports properties to offer its sponsors exclusivity, which is a very valuable asset to a sponsorship. It is in part because of this that FLW is in the position it is to secure anglers for its sponsors while also being able to help its anglers – who are its customers – fish for a living. Through this model the “team deal,” as they are widely known, has been born. And probably the question I get asked most by aspiring professional anglers is, “How do I get an FLW team deal?”

The question has been posed to me by rookies on the FLW Tour, by weekend anglers fresh off of a BFL win and by FLW College Fishing anglers eager to make the jump to the next level.

FLW team deals are viewed by many as the Holy Grail of sponsorship deals. And for good reason – it is a great deal. A team deal helps give an angler a higher profile by having a fully wrapped Ranger boat and fully wrapped Chevy truck while relieving the stress of one of the greatest expenses on Tour. Unfortunately, securing a team deal is a commonly misunderstood thing.

There are many factors that go into an FLW team deal. Obviously, production on the water is a big part of it. Some sponsors want to have high-profile anglers to be associated with their product or products. But it doesn’t start or end there. To be considered for a team deal an angler must run a Ranger Boat that is equipped with either an Evinrude or Mercury engine and he or she has to have fished the FLW Tour for at least one year as a pro.

Besides on-the-water performance, another factor in team deal selection includes an angler’s marketability. That can mean how well-spoken the angler is (how well they communicate to fishing fans and the media), how well the angler can describe, educate on and sell a product, as well as how strong of a presence the angler has in the world of social media. The more eyes and ears that pay attention to the angler, the better. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rules – one thing many anglers seem to forget is that it ultimately is the sponsor’s decision who they want representing them. Some sponsors request options from FLW, and some come into the sponsorship with an angler that they want. Bottom line is that it is the sponsor’s choice.

Once an angler has been selected, contracts are drawn up, the angler is educated about what is expected from the team deal, and the angler receives the perks everyone identifies the angler by – that fancy wrap and tournament jersey.

FLW team deals aren’t for everyone. Some anglers choose to pursue their own deals and manage their own sponsorship portfolio. But I’m pretty sure the anglers who have benefitted from an FLW team deal over the years would tell you it made their tournament career just a little bit easier.

Do you have a topic you’d like me to discuss? Contact me at [email protected] or Twitter at @FLWChadGay.