Summer 2019
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them an invite to be part of this group. They accepted and that’s pretty special!
WB: Why did you decide to take the leap of the new Tour when you did? Why then? What was the precipitating factor?
KLEIN: Our strategy was kind of an in-house strategy. The timing was just right for us in 2019 and we had made this decision to pull this off in 2019. It was not just a spur of the moment deal; but when you’re dealing with the power houses that we have backing this, it takes time to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
MLF is the first in the history of professional angling that is truly angler-owned and angler-driven. The anglers have a big voice in this, and I think that is one of the features that the anglers really liked about it.
For, example when we invited the anglers, Boyd, myself and our management team met with every angler face-to-face, because we thought this was a very important decision for them to make and that we should be available to answer any questions that they had.
We brought our whole team with us and met with all 80 anglers and we told them that there will be an entry fee involved. The same amount that they were accustom to with other organizations.
With their $48,370 in entry fees, the league was going to pay back $9,830,000, which is a huge pay out to 80 anglers; but the 80 anglers got together and voted out the entry fees That was historic. It changed the payback to $5,960,000. This is the first time in history, we will have 80 anglers competing for $5,960,000 with no entry fees.
WB: Were you surprised at that “entry free” outcome or did you feel like you knew that was coming?
KLEIN: No it didn’t surprise me at all. In fact, I expected it, because I have lived in their shoes. I am one of the anglers and there is no one that has been more devoted to the sport than me. I have lived my whole life in it, so I too had to pay the entry fees every season.
When you go back and look at the beginning of that particular format with other organizations up until present, which was my last year with them, I spent over $600,000 in entry fees.
The public probably doesn’t think about that that. That the angler has spent that kind of money. So no, it did not surprise me at all. I thought it was a good thing, because the vote gave the anglers a voice and that gave them a very good feeling.
Now, they know that they do not have to come up with $,8000 payments every month. They know they are not paying big entry fees and that MLF is heading in the direction that we said we would be, creating a league and legitimizing the sport, because we are not paying entry fees.
WB: Is there anything that you can elaborate on that is coming down the line for MLF?
KLEIN: If I’m able to paint with a very broad brush, MLF becomes the new norm. The fish are caught recorded and released My grand vision is that MLF would be available and be played at all levels across the country from the grass roots, the high school, the college and on to a feeder system into MLF Bass Pro Tour, which is coming.
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