Since the announcement of the creation of the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, there has been a lot of talk and a lot of excitement among the pro bass fishing ranks. I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but to my surprise I haven't heard it yet. In other words, to me there appears to be the ingredients for a major letdown and some controversy in how the new E50 series will play out, but I've not yet heard a titter of discontent. For this reason, I have to ask myself: Has anyone really looked at the prize structure of the E50s?

In brief, points will be accrued through the four-tournament series, with the big money coming at the end of the season: $150,000 for the overall 1st-place finisher on down to around $20,000 for the lower guys. A decent payout, for certain. However, each individual tournament pays out considerably less than this, and therein lies the issue (for me, anyway). Does anyone realize that the 1st-place pro in each E50 event gets only $5,000? It dwindles dramatically from there: Everyone finishing from 6th place down to 50th place gets a whopping $500.

Of course every ounce will be critical, and these guys will be fishing hard because of the implications on the season point standings and the season-ending payouts, as well as qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic. The diehard fans realize this: A few of us don't need to see huge cash payouts to feel the drama and enjoy the action. However, let's understand that we are the minority by far.

For most viewers and casual bass-fishing fans, big cash payouts are the lynchpin in creating the interest and undercurrent of drama in these events. The big check hoisted at the end of each tourney is the tangible, universally understood and acknowledged source of drama.

For example, my dad is not a fisherman. Never has been. He can't really understand the pride of putting together a 15-pound limit when no one else was able to. He doesn't share the adrenaline surge of excitement felt when setting the hook and bringing a 7-pound hawg to the net in a hotly contested pro tournament. But he can certainly relate to the tears in David Dudley's eyes when he won half a million bucks at the FLW Tour Championship last year -- knowing that his house was no longer owned by the bank, his cars and boats were paid for, and his child's future suddenly that much more secure.

With that in mind, surely I can't be the only one who believes that BASS is making a big mistake by having these big-time, showcase, made-for-TV events pay out such paltry individual sums.

I mean, it's relatively easy to generate some interest from even casual viewers when the last man standing gets to hoist an impressive six-figure check, and this is what the bass-fishing public has come to expect from these events. Can you imagine the letdown the first time we get to see Kevin VanDam or Denny Brauer somehow manage to best the 50-angler, all-star field, and as a reward get to stand up on stage and hoist up that first big $5,000 check? Seriously, that's the kind of money most of these guys are accustomed to waiting in line outside the tourney trailer to collect, while staring at their shoes and kicking gravel around, commiserating with their fellow pros about how the tourney should have gone a lot better for them.

This is not meant to be an FLW vs. BASS commentary by any means, but for a sense of perspective, consider than in four of six regular-season FLW tourneys this year, the 50th-place pro will cash a check twice that big.

Take a 1st-place E50 check, increase it by 800 percent and that's what the winning co-angler will walk away with in two different FLW events this year.

I mean, $5,000? Tiger Woods blows his nose in checks that size.

Good Events, But...

I'm not saying this isn't fair. The E50s are no-entry-fee events, and it is widely acknowledged that this mini-Tour is largely intended for exhibition purposes. Little will be asked of these guys other than to show up and fish, flash those sponsor logos and smile for the cameras. Bass pros don't make what golf pros do, and they won't for a long time. I don't expect them to, and neither does any other reasonable bass fishing fan. The overall payouts will be equitable, the pros will be satisfied with the money they earn, and qualifying for a spot in the E50s will continue to be a major focus among Bassmaster Tour pros.

But in the world of sports, among payouts of millions of dollars in golf and stock car racing, among athletes' contracts now measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars, how can BASS expect to generate excitement and credibility by handing out $5,000 top prizes to the best of the best that our sport has to offer?

I wholeheartedly support the concept of the E50s. Showcase events, smaller fields, bigger stars – it's been a recipe for success in the development of other sports, and I believe that its time has come in our sport as well.

I applaud BASS for their efforts in pursuing the concept. They have drummed up $1.6 million in total payouts for the E50 series. Let's not forget for a moment that not a penny of this is derived from pro entry fees. The significance of this concept for the future of pro bass fishing can hardly be overstated.

But $5,000 for 1st place?

Someone will certainly say that part of this idea is to spread the wealth. With the payouts as they have them set up now, a large majority of the E50 pros will come out with at least $22,000, and a few with significantly more. Just qualifying for the E50s will provide some of these pros with a sigh of relief, knowing they can get some of their expenses paid and can probably afford to at least re-up for the next Tour season.

But where is the excitement in a sigh of relief?

Winner Take All...

You want excitement? You want people tuning in to ESPN for the event coverage? You want people taping the shows and watching them again and again? You want people huddling over their computers for the latest up-to-date results? You want fishing buddies calling each other just to talk about who did or didn't win the last event? You want to generate buzz among local tackle store talk and internet chat rooms? You want to see some weigh-in crowds like you've never seen before?

Make it a four-event series if you must, but make it winner-take-all. That's an exciting concept. Pay the winner of each event $400,000. Yeah, that's right: An ounce can mean the difference between four-hundred large, and zilch. Instant drama. Just add water.

Let's go one better. Let's make it three events. Let's make the 1st-place payouts half a mil each. An even $500,000 a pop. That would even leave enough money to float the also-rans $680 per tournament, $180 more than was budgeted for the bottom 45 finishers in the current E50 payouts.

If BASS wants to play the "these payouts are designed so that the pros can make a living" game, then do this: Float the idea of fishing three times a year for a 1-in-50 chance at a half a million bucks, and see how many pros are shedding tears (other than those of unadulterated joy).

...Or Beef Up the Classic

Why stop now? Let's get crazy. Let's go all the way. Let's forget this E50 business altogether. Let us once again make the storied Bassmaster Classic the spectacle that it deserves to be.

Let's hand the Classic champion a check for $1 million.

Let's not cry for the pros who aren't fortunate enough to win the big one. Take the $1.6 million from the E50s and add the roughly $600,000 paid out at the 2003 Classic. Even with an expansive 50-man Classic field, the rest of the pot could be split up to average $25,000 per pro, which is around what the lower finishers for the E50 series could expect to collect over the four tournaments anyway (at about 20 percent of the travel, lodging, food and gas expenses, no less).

There may be a feeling in ESPN/BASS that the idea of a four-event mini-Tour is necessary to fulfill the needs and desires of the sponsors. A claim might be made that the sponsors of the E50 series require four separate showcase events to make their marketing dollars work. More events = more time on TV = more logo exposure and commercial time. But does that really make sense? How much value can there really be in pounding those logos and commercials into the brains of all 14 of the diehard souls who bothered to tune in to watch an angler score that first big, career-making win to the tune of what it costs to buy a used high-mileage Honda Civic?

Consider this: The entire payout for the E50 series is slated to be $1.6 million. Aren't some of these sponsors the same ones that are gladly paying that much for a 15-second Super Bowl commercial?

I won't dare to compare tournament fishing coverage to the Super Bowl just yet. That's silly. The point is that these sponsors recognize value. Spending seemingly ridiculous sums on these Super Bowl ads is, in fact, recognized as a good value for many of these advertisers. A 15-second Super Bowl ad will generate more exposure for the advertising dollar than a whole lifetime of bass tournament coverage that nobody bothers to watch.

Create drama, excitement, viewership, chat-room and water-cooler buzz, and you create value for sponsors at the same time that you create interest from the sporting public. Do both of these things right, and you create a real sport and a real spectacle – I won't be the first to invoke the name of NASCAR.

If the spectacle of multiple $400,000 or $500,000 payouts awarded to event winners – or a $1 million payout in the most prestigious and storied fishing tournament in history – televised on the biggest, most-influential TV sports network in the world can't scare up the same kind of sponsor support as the proposed E50 series, then someone's not trying very hard to sell it.

The E50 series started with an excellent concept. But an excellent concept can't overcome poor execution. It seems to me that the Elite 50 series pros, ESPN/BASS and our sport in general will suffer from this. I can't see the E50 series in its current form meeting the high expectations awaiting it, nor generating the kind of interest among the sporting public that will be required for its long-term success. I hope BASS is able to recognize this and adjust, to the benefit of the pros, the fans and the sport as a whole.

Chris Koester is the BassFan Army co-angler rep on the FLW Tour.