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By Frank Spurlock
Whoever knew that fisherman would have adoring fans like rock stars? I didn’t. But, I quickly found out that they do when I showed up at Portman Marina on Saturday Februrary 23rd to take some photos of the anglers loading up to head over to the Bi Lo Center for weigh-ins.
A crowd of people lined the road from the boat ramp all the way to the exit. Specatators also watched from their own boats as they made a path for the anglers to come to the ramp.
All the media was on hand, as well - by land, by sea, and by air! The Bassmaster Classic is considered the “Super Bowl” of bass fishing. We are blessed to have such a well known bass fishing lake that the BASS organization would want to host their most prestigious tournament here. By bringing the tournament to Hartwell Lake, BASS and ESPN gave our community a chance to shine. These are just some of the benefits of hosting the Bassmaster Class
- 13 Hrs. of ESPN2 coverage
- 4 Hrs. live coverage on “Mike & Mike Show”
- 5 Million hits on bassmaster.com website during Classic week
- Tournament recap in Bassmaster Magazine
- 4.5 Hrs. additional TV time during
- Bassmaster Classic Yearbook the weekend prior to 2009 Classic
- National, state and local exposure as the designated host
- Countless exposure gained in promoting
- Hartwell Lake & Upstate SC as a leisure fishing destination
The most measurable effect is the money spent while visitors who attended the tournament were in Upstate, SC. According to the Greenville Conventions and Visitors Bureau, the estimated direct spending was $13+ million. Here is how that amount is broken down:
- 8,500 Room nights sold
- 94% Average weekend occupancy (Thurs-Sun)
- 74,000 Combined venue attendance totals over 3 days
- 6,800 Visitors stayed overnight in hotels (based on 2 per room / 2.5 night average stay) = $5.3 million
- 30,000 Estimated visitor days (day-trippers: based on 2 days/2 events attendance) = $7.7 million
The $13+ million that was spent in our area does not reflect the effects that we will feel in the future. Now that our lake and our area has received the national attention it deserves, visitors are more likely to come back. Who knows, some of them may even stay. If the visitors that came to see this wonderful event left with the same impression that two-time classic winner Kevin VanDam did, then they will definitely be back. Van-Dam stated, “You guys should be proud of this area. You have a great city [Greenville] and a phenomenal fishery.”
Let’s pray for rain and a slow release of our water to get our levels up so when the visitors return, they won’t want to stop coming back for more!
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The crowd cheers as the anglers exit Lake Hartwell and head to the BI-LO
to weigh their catch
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