Dan Martin
Member
I clearly stated I didn't have a dog in this fight. I do not work for the C of C.
ESPN had over 75 employee's in LaGrange for the high school football game telecast. That was with an anticipated viewing audience of only 600,000 nationally. They had people down to review/approve the football stadium BEFORE agreeing to telecast the game. ESPN is very specific and demanding - they even specified the brand of water that had to be served to the football teams - the brand of bottled water!
Now, it is my understanding ESPN made the location call on this tourney. We can disagree with it all we want - its a free world. But to suggest that ESPN did not review each site and determine which location suited ESPN the best is kinda silly.
Beside the fisherman, the common denominator in all of this is ESPN. ESPN has been around the country producing their bassmaster shows. They know what works and what doesn't work. I do not have a list of the ESPN criteria but you can bet your bottom dollar if ESPN thought Highland was the BEST place to host this, that's where it would be. I agree with an earlier post...follow the money....ESPN's money. ESPN will produce a 1 hour show, streaming video of weight in on ESPN3.com etc.
In terms of production cost, tv viewership, website presence etc etc this is alot bigger than a high school football game. ESPN wouldn't do the game without reviewing the stadium first. Does anyone really believe, that ESPN, think about ESPN - a national television network - that will have loads of money tied up in production (much more than the high school game) of this tourney would simply have no input as to where to host this thing? With the amount of money and manpower it takes to produce this thing it is simply farfetched to think that ESPN would "take the word or fold under the pressure of any C of C" - ESPN has the most at risk and the most to loose to NOT control the details. ESPN is accountable to a national viewership and the advertisers - at the end of the day they really do not care about what is best for a local C of C. It's about what is best for ESPN.
If you want us to believe that ESPN and the Bassmaster Elite Series (the Super Bowl of bass fishing) are just showing up around tourney time with their fingers crossed that the location will work out sight unseen and based on some recommendation by some little ole Chamber of Commerce is a town of less than 30,000..well that doesn't fly very far either...just say'in.
Here's a better idea. If you want the actual facts, just call the owner of Highland and ask him. He's always there working. Or search the archives for the Lagrange paper. You'll see the tournament was at Highland for three months before the Chamber took it and moved it to the mega ramp dirt bowl.