From an attendance standpoint, the Bassmaster Classic that concluded Sunday in Tulsa was the second most popular ever, behind the 2009 tournament in Shreveport.
Dave Precht, communications manager for BASS, said Wednesday that overall attendance for the Tulsa Classic was 106,850. Total attendance for weigh-ins was 42,593. Because of the Classic’s expansive stage footprint, the BOK Center’s capacity for weigh-in ceremonies was about 16,000.
Thousands of people were turned away Saturday and Sunday, so attendance for those two days was a bit more than 32,000.
Precht said that 54,207 attended the Bassmaster Expo and 7,900 attended the launches.
“That’s phenomenal,” Precht said, “because the temperature at the launch was 20 degrees.” Attendance for the 2009 Shreveport Classic was about 135,000, Precht said.
Many of the pros who fished the event raved about the city, the facilities and the community’s enthusiasm.
Brandon Palaniuk, who finished second in the Classic behind Cliff Petal, said everybody in the Tulsa area seemed to know about the tournament and what it was about.
He and others said everyone they met was enthusiastic and welcomed them heartily.
Shreveport’s enthusiasm didn’t seem as conspicuous or as widespread, even though attendance was 8 percent higher there. On the other hand, the 2008 Classic was clearly the main event in Greenville, S.C.
My favorite is still the 2005 Classic at Pittsburgh. The city was enthusiastic, and the crowds were electric. The fishing was notoriously lousy, but the drama of Kevin VanDam’s razor-thin victory over Aaron Martens made up for it.
Contrast those events with the 2000 Classic in Chicago, which by all accounts was one of the most forgettable in the event’s 43-year history. That tournament was on Lake Michigan, which was too rough and windy for many of the anglers to fish effectively.
The weigh-ins were at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. It holds 61,500 people, but only between 6,000 and 8,000 attended and the stadium pretty much swallowed them.
Coincidentally, that was the last time the Classic visited a major city and the last time it visited the upper Midwest.
It is most at home in midsized southern cities, but a southern venue doesn’t guarantee success. With Disney World, spring break, a national cheerleading competition and everything else that was going on in central Florida at that time, the 2006 Classic in Orlando was sort of lost in the shuffle.
Birmingham, Ala., has hosted more Classics than any other city. That community is always supportive, but the Birmingham Convention Center is a tough place to hold a weigh-in. It’s a long way from any of the main tournament waters. The facilities are outdated and in many ways inadequate. The area surrounding the convention center is pretty seedy, and it shuts down at 5p.m. If you want good food or entertainment, you have to drive a long way to find it.
One potential problem with the Tulsa Classic was that the tournament was on a lake that is some 60 miles from the host city and weighin site. Transporting fish that have been in a livewell all day 120 miles round trip and exposing them to the rigors of a weigh-in seemed to be a recipe for major fish mortality. But according to BASS, all 548 of the largemouth bass caught on Grand Lake during the Classic were alive and in excellent shape when they were released back into the lake.
It seems a good thing that the Classic is venturing ever westward. Tulsa was the westernmost Classic. Before that it was Shreveport. There is talk of it going to Dallas in the near future. There are some good bass lakes near the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and a Classic there would have a good chance of being well received.
Jerry McKinnis, one of the principal owners of BASS, would love to have a Classic in Little Rock. The Elite Series tournament the Capital City hosted in 2006 was wildly successful, but the one held here in 2011 was a bust in comparison despite all the drama that occurred between Denny Brauer and Jonathon VanDam.
Weather was delightful for the 2006 tournament. It was broiling in 2011. The Classic is in late February or early March. Weather in central Arkansas can be pleasant in late winter, or it can be abysmal.
The Tulsa fans demonstrated they don’t mind bitter cold and sunshine. Cold and drizzly might be another matter.
Nevertheless, Little Rock has everything it needs to host a Classic except a worthy bass fishery. The Arkansas River just doesn’t cut it.
Sports, Pages 17 on 02/28/2013