20 Years on Tour
FLW Tour Celebrates Anniversary Season
When 154 pros and their co-angler partners take to the water at Florida’s Lake Toho March 5-8 for the first stop of the 2015 Walmart FLW Tour, they’ll not only be kicking off a new season, but also celebrating a major industry milestone: the Tour’s 20th anniversary.
When the Tour first launched in 1996, a tournament winner earned $18,500. The world of bass-fishing sponsorship and promotion was in its infancy. And the fishing industry was looking on to see what sort of impact this fledgling tour would have.
With Irwin Jacobs at the helm, FLW didn’t seek just to “fit in.” The organization built the Walmart FLW Tour up to be the industry leader in tournament earnings, with winning payouts of $125,000 to Ranger Cup-qualified pros at regular-season stops and $500,000 to the winner of the Forrest Wood Cup championship. Soon after its inception, FLW became the trendsetter in global television coverage and live Internet broadcasts, and the first to incorporate wrapped trucks and boats into its sponsorship packages with some of the best-known household brands in the country.
Within months after its startup, FLW was sailing uncharted waters and flourishing.
Now, 20 seasons later, the Walmart FLW Tour is an established entity in the fishing industry and looking forward to a new chapter in tournament bass fishing.
“Our goal at FLW has always been to provide the best-run, family-friendly tournaments for fishermen of all skill levels, from weekend Walmart Bass Fishing League anglers to the nation’s best on the Walmart FLW Tour,” says FLW President of Operations Kathy Fennel, who’s been with FLW since before the Tour’s initial launch in ’96. “The Walmart FLW Tour has been our flagship circuit now for two decades, and we’re incredibly proud of not only how far we’ve come, but of the great things that we have planned for the future.
“Now FLW is about to launch a cutting-edge website that’ll take our tournament coverage to new levels,” adds Fennel. “The website, along with the industry’s best magazine and a television show that’s viewed across the world, will help more people than ever before to get to know FLW’s top pros and follow along with every event.”
In the remaining weeks before the 2015 FLW Tour kicks off in Florida, FLW plans to take a look back at some highlights in the Tour’s 20-year history and also profile some of the pros who’ll compete on the Tour this season.
Stay tuned to FLWFishing.com for more.
Related Links