If you ask Irwin L. Jacobs, Chairman of Operation Bass, Inc., and owner of Ranger Boats of Flippin, Arkansas, why competitive bass fishing is receiving so much attention these days, he will tell you simply, it’s a great sport and its time has come. On the final day of the historic Ranger Millennium M1 bass tournament, November 7, 1999, there may be one million more reasons to consider.
The $3.6 million Ranger Millennium M1 bass tournament, presented by Wal-Mart, features a first place cash payout up to $1 million, and is the brainchild of Minneapolis businessman Jacobs, who had been contemplating a tournament of this magnitude since experiencing the tremendous success of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour. It was during this time, that Jacobs saw, first-hand, the popularity and the opportunity that professional bass fishing held as a major league sport.
In 1995, Jacobs approached Gilbertsville, Kentucky-based company Operation Bass, Inc., with an idea he had about running a series of high-profile, lucrative bass tournaments totally unlike any that had ever been conducted before, the result of which spawned the history-making Wal-Mart FLW Tour. The tour, which features nationally televised events with first place cash awards of $100,000 – $250,000 and cash purses up to $1 million, became an instant sensation with America’s anglers, and after four complete seasons, continues to set the standard for the industry. In 1996, Irwin Jacobs purchased Operation Bass.
“Even though competitive bass fishing had been around since the 1960’s, the time was right to take the sport to the next level with respect to the marketing of it and building a national awareness of it,” Jacobs said.
“I kept looking at the numbers,” he continued. “There are 55 million people who fish every year in this country. These people are also consumers of every type of product imaginable. The fishing market was promotionally untapped by marketers, therefore, it presented an enormous opportunity, not just for bass tournaments, but for all kinds of other products as well.”
Acting upon his vision for the expansion of the sport, Jacobs charged the associates of his newly acquired Operation Bass with the mission of devising a plan to orchestrate the most lucrative bass fishing tournament in the history of the sport. The event became known as the Ranger Millennium M1 bass tournament.
“When we created the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, it was our goal to elevate the sport of fishing to the levels of prestige and national recognition attained by other professional sports,” said Jacobs. “I have always believed that America’s anglers deserve the opportunity to compete for significant cash awards equal or greater than those found in other sports. Providing the opportunity for anglers to compete for $1 million in the Ranger Millennium M1 is the realization of one of my dreams.”
The format arrived upon for the prestigious bass tournament is analogous to a PGA golf event whereby the full field of competitors, in this case 200 anglers in the professional division and 200 anglers in the co-angler division, compete for two days, Thursday and Friday, with the top scoring 50 anglers from both divisions, based on accumulated pounds, advancing to the second round of competition on Saturday. The 50 anglers from each division begin anew on day three and fish for one day for one of 10 berths in the final, championship round on Sunday. The 10 slots are awarded to the anglers with the heaviest catch weights for the day.
The winner of the Ranger Millennium M1 bass tournament receives the largest cash award ever paid in a fishing tournament, $400,000. If the winning angler has met each of the event’s sponsor bonus cash requirements, the winner receives $1 million.
Obviously, an historic event such as this warrants a national audience. While the planning for the tournament was underway, FOX Sports contacted Operation Bass, through one of their production partners, Chicago-based Intersport, and communicated an interest in televising the lucrative tournament, LIVE. On July 6, 1999, FOX Sports, and production partner Intersport, announced that they would televise the event live Sunday, November 7, 1999, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. EST from Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida. The 90-minute broadcast, they announced, would consist of one-half hour of taped coverage and, for the first time in major network history, one hour of live bass fishing tournament coverage.
The broadcast planned for airing during “Network Sweeps” will follow Fox’s coverage of the NFL. This is the first opportunity competitive fishing has had to be exposed to a huge national television audience. The historic Ranger Millennium M1 bass tournament will draw the huge NFL audience right into the richest tournament the world has ever seen.