FIRST CAST : JOEL SHANGLE
( re ) embracing the action
If you ’ re even a passing fan of sports in North America , you ’ re probably aware that most successful leagues — and the games they play — have fascinating , complicated and sometimes improbable origin stories . More than 100 years before the National Football League became the multi-billion dollar international juggernaut it is today , it was born in a Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton , Ohio , where four teams from Ohio met to form the American Professional Football Association ( the precursor to the NFL ). Since then , the game ’ s scoring standards have changed noticeably and consistently — touchdowns and field goals were both worth 4 points at one time — and game play has evolved to match the times and technology as both the viewing audience and participation in the sport have expanded . Sound familiar ? Roughly a month before this issue of MLF Bass Fishing magazine went to press , Major League Fishing announced a handful of notable changes to both the game play and roster structure of the Bass Pro Tour . The scoring standard of the five-year-old league returned to the original MLF format , where every fish over a certain agreed-upon weight — a “ scorable ” fish , in our parlance — counts toward an angler ’ s daily total . That ’ s a departure from the five-fish-limit competition standard utilized in 2023 and a return to the DNA of MLF — the adrenaline surge of the “ every fish counts ” format that the league brought to the public in 2011 . This change was far from arbitrary . The transition to a five-fish format in 2023 occurred after careful consideration of requests from both anglers and fans , who were interested in how the slower-paced , five-fish game would look , sound and feel on SCORETRACKER ® and on a livestream . The beauty of the catch / weigh / release format and the revolutionary live scoreboard is that it ’ s always lent itself to creative ideas and adjustments to the scoring of a tournament , and 2023 seemed like the right time to lean into a different method of scoring .
While the 2023 season certainly produced some drama and intrigue — Chris Lane ’ s “ Hail Mary ” win at Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain is one of the greatest moments in the history of the sport — the facts are impossible to deny : The Bass Pro Tour pace slowed considerably in 2023 . Anglers were more prone to go into “ practice mode ” earlier , and the dynamics of the six-day competition changed . Analytics tell us that fishing fans would come to the MLFNOW ! livestream or check SCORETRACKER ® for live updates , bounce , and then return throughout the day in shorter windows .
The reasons why aren ’ t complicated . While the five-biggest-fish game is established , beloved and deeply ingrained in tournament fishing — including Major League Fishing ’ s highly popular MLF5 circuits and just about every club tournament you all fish — it ’ s just not as action-oriented , dynamic and watchable for a broad-based live viewing audience as the “ every fish counts ” structure . Notwithstanding the furious debates on social media between five-fish fans and supporters of “ every fish counts ,” the numbers and trends don ’ t lie : In a live sports viewing environment where action is the norm and attention spans are more mercurial by the day , a quicker-paced game is just more binge-worthy .
Hence the NBA shot clock , the MLB pitch timer and the play clock in the NFL . Viewers of live competitions like their games fast , and in 2024 , the Bass Pro Tour will deliver that pace .
I ’ m always interested in your thoughts , dear readers . If you ’ d like to skip the chaotic queue on social media and chat about the plusses , minuses and in-betweens of competition formats ( or any other bass-related subject , really ), please drop me a line : Joel . Shangle @ MajorLeagueFishing . com .
Here ’ s to the year that ’ s passed , and to a healthy , fruitful 2024 .
joel shangle , editor-in-chief
6 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER-JANUARY 2024