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As I write this in the waning days of 2018, the Fed has just raised interest rates, and has promised to do so again in the future. The Dow Jones dropped 464 points today – it is down over a thousand points for the month and 1,500 for the year. The potential for a trade war based on aggressive tariffs could further impact boat sales and production numbers.
Right now, the one saving grace for boaters (although not for oil field workers) is that oil prices are very low. If that were to change, the boating industry could be in for a shock.
Of course, I hope that financial despair does not drive the sponsorship bus. Fair competition has always been the greatest spur for innovation in the fishing market in general and the boating market in particular.
Look at what the electronics manufacturers have done over the past few years, competing with each other to provide more and better features, crisper pictures, and more computing power. They haven’t been forced into a price war yet, but that may still come.
For the time being, if you have a good sponsorship deal with a dealer or a manufacturer, now is the time to shore that up and solidify your worth – we’re living high on the hog, and eventually (if not sooner, then later) some market-driven changes are going to change the boating landscape, and it’ll hit the world of sponsorships especially hard. If the President of your chosen craft answers to a major conglomerate or a private equity fund, they don’t care that you developed the color “junebug” in 1953, or that you won six AOY titles – it’s going to be all about ROI.
It’s no surprise to me that the kayak market is exploding – among other reasons, many ardent anglers have decided that the horsepower arms race is not worth running. In the meantime, if you want to play in the big boys’ pool, it pays to think a few moves ahead. If you believe the Oracle of Omaha, the time to be fearful is when others are greedy, and the time to be greedy is when others are fearful. He may not have ever fished for bass, but he knows his way around a ledger. •
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