(Akiit.com) Major League Fishing, or the MLF, isn’t a household name like the NFL or the NBA, but it wants to be. This October the organization announced that it would be embarking on efforts to bring Major League Fishing to the masses through a series of projects designed to improve the visibility of the sport.
Ask most people to give you the names of famous basketball, football or baseball players, and they’ll immediately come back with dozens of names, and even include players from minor teams. But do the same for competitive fishing, and you’re lucky if you even get one name back.
The Bass Pro Tour
The organizers of the 2019 Bass Pro Tour hope that their event will begin to change this and improve the visibility of the sport. They’ve collected 80 of the top anglers from around the country and have
amassed a substantial pot of prize money which they believe will entice audiences and improve the quality of fishing.
The tour is being supported by a range of other organizations, including various retailers and will take place across eight distinct events, running a bit like a miniature football season.
Other Events
The MLF is also going to continue to operate its World Championship events. These will be shown on large national broadcasters, including CBS and the Outdoor Channel. How many viewers these events will get remains to be seen, but the organizers hope that it will be in the hundreds of thousands.
As the MLF expands, it will lead to a need for higher quality venues. Fishing magnets will no doubt become more popular as a way to keep waterways and fisheries clean to prepare venues for the professional tour. Retailers that supply fishing magnets on Amazon.com alongside regular fishing equipment stand to benefit from heightened interest in the sport.
History Of The MLF
The MFL was founded in 2011 after its two executives successfully persuaded the Outdoor Channel to broadcast live events. Initially, the channel had protested that fishing wasn’t amenable to television and that it was better broadcast in a series of highlight reels, but the founders insisted that there was an audience for their vision.
It turned out that they were right, and that live-action fishing was an excellent formula for attracting those interested in angling from all over the nation. Far from being a gimmick, the MLF tour has gone from strength to strength over the years, and is now a fully-fledged and mature movement, with multiple tournament series and grassroots movements supporting it.
While it’s true that the crowds at fishing events aren’t quite what they are at the baseball ground, they are growing. There’s a real community feel to all of the MLF’s events which is causing their popularity to skyrocket.
The range of broadcasters getting involved is also on the up. Discovery.com says that it too will be hosting major league fishing events both now and in the future as part of its regular programming.
All that remains to be seen now is how big the fish will be, and who will ultimately win the league.
Staff Writer; Craig Love