Bigger not better

    The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship—by far the highlight in terms of community festivals here—has come and gone for its 13th year, leaving organizers with the task of evaluating what went right and what didn’t as they already start preparing for the 2008 tournament.
    No doubt there will be plenty to talk about when the committee gets together for its annual “post-mortem” in late September, not the least of which will be how to attract bigger crowds for the nighttime entertainment during “Bass Week.”
    As for the tournament itself, one idea already being floated around is expanding the field from the current 137 teams, as well as raising the entry fee, in order to sweeten the pot from the $171,250 doled out this year, including the first-place prize of $50,000.
    On the surface, it seems like a good idea. You know, “the more, the merrier” and all that jazz. Deep down, however, bigger is not better in this case.
    For starters, any increase in teams that might be attracted to the larger purse very well could be offset by those that drop out because they no longer can afford to enter. And those teams, more often than not, will be the local ones.
    They’re not the pros, of course, yet they draw just as many fans (i.e., family and friends) to the big tent for the daily weigh-ins. As well, it’s quite often local teams that produce the “good news/underdog” stories of the tournament, much like Ken and Mandi Olson did this year.
    Then there’s the logistics. It already takes a lot of time and effort to get 137 teams launched and checked in each day, not to mention how long it takes to get all of them through the weigh-ins.
    Will volunteers be willing to work extra hours all three days to accommodate the extra teams? And, equally important, will dragging out the weigh-ins even longer actually drive spectators away rather than bring more in?
    The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, like any other annual event, always has to look at ways to improve. Expanding the tournament from its current size is not one of them.