Some questions about FLW, BASS and new clubs

[Hooksetter]

I have some questions I was hoping someone could answer for me.

1. How long would a new club have to join either the TBF or The Federation Nation and still be eligible for the State Championship?

2. Would this same time frame apply to an individual looking to join an affiliated club?

3. Are all affiliated clubs of either group restricted to draw tournaments only or is that up to each club to decide?

4. Will paper clubs be allowed in either?

[djkimmel]

Good questions. Here are what the Michigan federation board has been saying related to the questions or what is presently in the bylaws:

1. How long would a new club have to join either the TBF or The Federation Nation and still be eligible for the State Championship?

Your club eligibility for the State Championship already scheduled by the existing federation for August on Saginaw Bay is set by your membership in the Michigan federation. Existing clubs have to have been in by the December meeting. The only question about the existing state championship at this time is where the qualifiers will be sent. That will be decided on March 12.

I will confirm, but I believe new clubs have to be in by the April meeting under existing bylaws. If you have to start a new club to 'rejoin' the existing federation because your club leaves, I would hope the board allows that and makes it clear for everyone how that will be handled.

As far as a new federation that might start up after the March 12 vote, that would be up to that federation how they qualify for whatever state championship they arrange.

2. Would this same time frame apply to an individual looking to join an affiliated club?

For the existing federation, right now, the NUMBER of persons a clubs sends to this year's State Championship is decided by club membership at the April meeting per bylaws. Who the club actually ends up sending is up to each club and the federation doesn't know the actual people until the participant list is sent in later this year. I have not heard any discussion on this topic at the state level, but I was not at the entire board meeting and I guess we'll cross that road after the March 12 vote.

A new federation that might be formed after the March 12 vote again will decide all this as they set up their new bylaws, rules and regs, along with scheduling their own state championship.

3. Are all affiliated clubs of either group restricted to draw tournaments only or is that up to each club to decide?

The existing Michigan federation is not dictating to clubs how they qualify their state championship contenders. I'm not aware of any rules from TBF or BASS that change that. The only club dictate from BASS I'm aware of is not being able to affiliate with another competing organization under the same club name and charter. TBF is not limiting clubs at all.

I don't know what a new federation might do if one forms. The all new BASS Club Championship is a different deal with more control by BASS at a lower level. This has no impact at this time on clubs and the state championships to qualify state teams, but may impact the formation of new 'clubs' or groups of anglers just to fish this new format since all members of each 'club' team must be from the same 'club.'

4. Will paper clubs be allowed in either?

There are no rules that I'm aware of in either TBF or BASS that target paper clubs. I and others actually believe the BASS Club Championship will cause the formation of many more paper clubs just to fish that format. This is separate from state championships.

You raise some good points that probably need discussion after the vote to help smooth out any transition to TBF or BASS Federation Nation affiliation since both require some changes at the state and club levels. I'll check with some of the existing federation board later this week and make sure they've seen this. Some of them usually do read here.

[djkimmel]

If need be because your club quits the existing federation after the vote and you want to stay in the existing federation, I will offer membership in my club - The Bass Boys as an option to anyone on this forum who needs help. We only have 6 members right now. Maybe 7 soon. Membership is cheap. People would consider us a paper club since we don't hold our own tournaments. Our guys fish tournaments all over. Would not guarantee you a spot on our team, but right now only 1 member wants to go anyway. Total number of spots available would depend on how many were to join.

The Bass Boys has voted to vote for TBF, but we have not decided that we will leave the existing federation if 2/3's of the other clubs vote for BASS Federation Nation. We'll decide what we are going to do shortly after the March 12 vote if necessary. I can help anyone if necessary if we go TBF and you need a club for this year (or longer if it works out for you). Not sure until a little after the meeting about the other option.

I have been approached to see if I would start a new BASS Federation Nation federation in Michigan if the existing federation goes TBF. I did not commit to anything. As I've tried to explain in the other thread, my feelings were possibly misunderstood on the issue. I did not come right out and say no way because this has been a tough decision that I have thought about quite a bit since back in November.

I have not talked to anyone about starting a TBF federation if the existing federation goes BASS Federation Nation. That hasn't even come up. Maybe someone else has had these discussions, but I'm not aware of it. TBF and their partners have handled all of this differently than BASS.

I am a BASS life member so individually, I plan on still getting the magazine. I'm also an FLW Outdoors life member. Who knows, maybe I'd join both. I do not know what might happen after March 12. As I've said, we'll all find out together.

[Hooksetter]

Thanks for such a quick response, Dan. I appreciate the time and effort you put into this forum.

Hopefully all this will be somewhat settled soon after March 12 and we can all concertrate on getting ready for another season in the sun.

[ronhuntfish]

but we have not decided that we will leave the existing federation if 2/3's of the other clubs vote for BASS Federation Nation.

Our club is having simular discusions also. But, what if there is not a 2/3 vote either way? Let's just say, 50% vote TBF and 50% vote BASS. If a 2/3 vote is required, what happens then?

Am I missing something?

[djkimmel]

No you aren't missing anything. Some of the board briefly (very briefly) discussed this exact issue after the president's meeting.

I think everyone expects one or the other to get 2/3's but it is possible that won't happen. I do know they are only going to have one voted on as a yes and one as a no. Clubs need to pick, not vote yes on both or no on both. We really need to make a decision one way or the other to move forward.

If it really is close to 50-50, I don't know for sure what happens. Technically we would need a different motion, renotify the clubs and have another vote, although there may be something in the bylaws to handle the situation that I'm not remembering. I'll check the bylaws - I think there's a copy on the federation web site - maybe tomorrow night

I hope it doesn't get that complicated, but I really only have heard the results from about 5 clubs - not enough to guess what the majority are thinking.

[ronhuntfish]

This is probably past the point, but...

It really seems to me that, from the beginning, the only vote should be if we wanted to go TBF/FLW. If it did not get 2/3 votes that way, then it means we stay with BASS.  The Federation was formed as a BASS Federation, has always run as a BASS federation. Why is it all of a sudden not a BASS federation. We did not vote to leave BASS, did we?

I know they now go by The BASS Federation Nation, but our affiliation has not changed, as far as I can tell.  The second motion is really just to change the wording in the by-laws to reflect that.
I guess if less than 2/3 vote for TBF, and then less than 2/3 vote to change the by-laws, that could be a problem.

I am still mixed on which organization is best, although I did cast a vote at our last club meeting.

[djkimmel]

Technically, both bylaw amendments are just a vote to change our bylaws to either meet the requirements necessary to accept the present TBF arrangement or BASS Federation Nation arrangement. There really is no difference either way since we are already affiliated with both BASS and TBF (we originally went in on a share with TBF as all state federations except Texas did). The issue is do we accept the Fed Nation arrangement/offer/package, or do we accept the TBF arrangement/offer/package.

We could have conceivably accepted both, but BASS decided to not allow any state officers accepting Fed Nation to also accept a 'competing' offer. Later, as we know, BASS also decided clubs could not accept a competing offer at the same time too. So to accept both, we'd need two charters, two sets of bylaws and two sets of officers - so two federations anyway.

TBF has no similar restriction although BASS Fed Nation and TBF/FLW sponsor requirements could end up conflicting and making it unfeasible anyway.

Regardless of how we look at it, we do have to change the bylaws to meet the requirements of either choice. Bylaws, rules, laws, regulations can all seem tedious, but it's a lot better than just going by the seat of our pants. Structure is important.

A vote is necessary for accepting either offer to keep within our operating structure so we don't just slide into 'anything goes' or 'make it up as we go along.' Just doesn't work, especially when a fairly significant amount of money is involved (our operating budget).

[ronhuntfish]

Hmmm...

First the DK open, then the DK spring classic, next year the DK Federation kicks off!  Maybe the Great Lakes Bass Federation! 

Your sponsors would love it.  You could give free membership to greatlakesbass.com to all who join. Well, that's already free, but it still sounds like a deal.

just trying to lighten things up a bit, I guess.

[djkimmel]

I appreciate the levity (although the thought of it gave me an instant headache... ouch!)

[djkimmel]

In case you haven't seen it, here's a letter BASS put out that explains their ruling on club affiliation. It's an MS Word document, so you need Word installed on your PC to open it. I didn't have the time right now to copy it over, plus I want to make sure you know you are seeing it as it was originally provided. That has been an issue brought up several times in places.

MS Word BASS club affiliation letter

The BASS Federation Nation agreements basically have to do with trademark usage allowances and requirements. Here are pdf (you need Adobe Reader installed to open these - again these are as they were provided by BASS) documents for the state and club affiliations:

State BASS Federation Nation agreement

Club BASS Federation Nation agreement

Watch the new Michigan TBF board on this forum below for information on the Michigan TBF as it becomes available if you are interested. I put that section up since Michigan TBF hasn't formed yet and has no web site for people to check.