There’d been rumblings for a few weeks that things weren’t quite right with the ESPN2 outdoor blocks, but today’s news that the ESPN network would dump all its outdoor programming at the end of this year was nonetheless a shock to the entire outdoors industry.

And with the news comes logical speculation over the future of BASS, which the network owns.

It’ll be weeks or months until the full ramifications of the news materialize, but clearly, the unstable world of outdoor media was dealt another serious blow today.

…

But as the network proceeds with a core mission to focus on live and event-based broadcasting, such programming is out the window. The weekend block will now be filled by other properties, such as English Premier League soccer, NASCAR and SportsCenter, which are all either live or event-based programs.

Thus the only show in the current outdoor block that will continue to air on ESPN2 is The Bassmasters, which focuses on Elite Series events, as well as Bassmaster Classic programming.

By the Underground’s count, there are five channels in the outdoors space (not including ESPN), and presumably ESPN was making more money elsewhere.

Fly fishermen – at least the couch potato-ish among us – won’t feel a big bite. A quick glance at ESPN’s Saturday and Sunday outdoors programming reveals:

Saturday
Poveromo’s World
Fishing Adventurer
ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series
Beat Charlie Moore
Wanna Go Fishing
World’s Greatest Fishing Show
Bassmaster Elite Series
ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series
ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series
Beat Charlie Moore
World’s Greatest Fishing Show

Sunday
Pirates of the Flats
Going Coastal
ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series
Spanish Fly
World’s Greatest Fishing Show
ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series
Bassmaster Tournament Trail

Right now, the Celebrities Pirates of the Flats TV show remains one of the only fly fishing specific titles, and frankly, I’d rather watch Premier League soccer than outdoor programming anyway.

Still, for the many “columnists” on the ESPNOutdoors.com site, the news is probably not thrilling.

So far, this is being played up as a simple refocusing on ESPN’s part, though you have to wonder if they’re not simply bailing on an increasingly polarized outdoor media situation, where politics seemingly enter into every conversation.

And not your kinder, gentler politics, but the spittle-filled kind.

Earlier this year – when a BASS writer and columnist (BASS is an ESPN property) went birther-level crazy about the end of sportfishing – ESPN was dealt a black eye when it was later forced to apologize for the story.

To a network happy to focus on stick & ball sports, fantasy leagues (and your American-as-apple-pie sex & drugs scandals), the prospect of more of the same isn’t appealing.

That said, Older Bro has been fly fishing up a storm this year, and he wants to break test-cast a bunch of rods, and so – in the interest of conning him out of a free show hot dog keeping him off the police blotter and on the casting ponds – I may accompany him.

Problem is this: Which show do we go to?

I haven’t been to the January ISE San Mateo show in well over a decade, and I’ve never been to the Sacramento ISE show.

Ditto for the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show.

So it’s time for the Central California Undergrounders to finally pull their weight contribute; which show and why?

Early in 2008 Scott Rods suffered some layoffs (though that had more to do with management issues than the economy). Then Winston laid off some rod builders, and recently, more bad news arrived on the horizon in the form of layoffs at Orvis (more on that below).

It seems as if I receive weekly notice of another independent fly shop going under, and yes, even the formerly flush pro BASS circuit is losing sponsors faster than I can LDR a skin-hooked 18″ rainbow.

Then the Baltimore Sun reported on the fading fortunes of consumer outdoor shows, and while everyone’s crossing themselves and hoping for a quick recovery, it’s clear that consumer spending in the “luxury” market (and fly fishing largely falls under that shadow) is in the dumpster.

Clearly, luxury boat sales are more affected than Chuck Furimsky’s Fly Fishing Show, which does offer cash-strapped members of the fly fishing community access to bargains, which may be the source of so much of AFFTA’s discontent with Furimsky’s shows.  (Following quote from the Baltimore Sun story, which is worth a read):

Timonium’s Fishing Expo and Boat Show, which began its silver anniversary run Thursday and ends today, is a shell of its former self. Walking the floor of a show that used to be nearly three times as big and attract celebrities such as Ray Scott, founder of BASS, is as depressing as the news from Wall Street.

“Everybody’s looking for value for the dollar,” says Chuck Furimsky, owner of The Fly Fishing Show, which still appears in eight cities across the country. “Instead of a $700 rod, they’re buying two $150 rods. … There’s still a light at the end of the tunnel for us; it’s just not as bright as it once was.”

The Retail Connection

Then news arrived of layoffs at retailing heavyweight Orvis:

According to Hathaway, 27 employees, mostly salaried, have been laid off from the Orvis offices in Sunderland. He said 12 hourly workers were let go from manufacturing positions in Manchester.

“We’re facing a historic downturn in our economy in this country and the world and Orvis is not immune to any of that. We have to make difficult, painful decisions that will ensure the health of the company,” Hathaway said.

Orvis employs about 220 people locally, and has about 2,000 employees worldwide, according to Hathaway. No retail store employees were affected by the job cuts.

In an interesting blogger death feud sidenote, brownliner Singlebarbed suggests Orvis is more susceptible to the downturn than other manufacturers, and I find I wholly disagree.

From my online marketing perspective, Orvis is pretty much cooking the rest of the fly fishing industry on the marketing front (especially in the online world), and it seems as if most of their competitors don’t even realize Orvis has turned up the heat.

The organizations that survive downturns do so because they got their manufacturing and marketing ducks in a row during the good times – something the historically backwards fly fishing industry hasn’t (by and large) done.

Rather, it’s likely there are layoffs occuring at other fly fishing manufacturers, but they’re simply going unreported.

The Media Hurt

Naturally, the fly fishing magazine world isn’t immune; Ad pages at consumer magazines are down 11% overall, and fly fishing mags aren’t likely any different. (Bored? Count the number of ad pages in your favorite fly fishing magazine, and be prepared to use far fewer fingers than before.)

In fact – as I’m noting in an almost-finished opinion piece about the future of fly fishing media – fly fishing’s print magazines are facing the double-whammy of a bad economy and an accelerating reader shift to online media.

In other words, things are pretty much as you’d expect them to be in a “luxury” market facing the worst recession in our lifetimes, and with news that all our bailout money is being viewed by most banks as a “no-strings-attached windfall” (hint: lending hasn’t loosened, and bank execs are basically sniggering all the way to… well, the bank), don’t expect it to get a lot better anytime soon.

Still, here at the largely recession-proof Trout Underground, ad revenues haven’t declined at all, but that’s mostly because we haven’t talked anyone into advertising.

As for the rest of the fly fishing and sporting world, I’d like to point out that the cost of enjoying the outdoors hasn’t increased all that much (gas perhaps), so my prescription is to take two fly fishing trips and call the Underground in the morning.

In other words, though credit has largely ceased to flow, that’s not true of our major rivers.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

And in truth, the conflict between the two has subsided into a kind of trade show cold war – both sides maneuvering quietly for small victories instead of trying to decimate the bad guys in one fell swoop.

The Undergrounders who haven’t burned their memories away via too much drug use will recall last year’s dust-up between the Fly Fishing Show and the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA), where AFFTA took direct aim at Furimsky by hosting a competing Denver show on the very same weekend.

As we noted in prior posts, AFFTA didn’t exactly win the war, and with the departure of AFFTA director Robert Ramsay, it seemed as if the matter was settled.

Instead of going quietly, AFFTA tried again – this time forming a new alliance with the International Sportsmen’s Exposition (ISE).

ISE’s popular series of sportsmen’s shows appear all over the country, but their participation in the fly fishing segment of the industry has faded over the last few years, in part because the Fly Fishing Show’s fly fishing specific focus.

Still, AFFTA pounced on an alliance with ISE like a big trout pounces on sculpins, and several AFFTA member companies will be appearing at the two AFFTA-supported ISE shows with significant fly fishing participation (San Mateo & Denver).

ISE and AFFTA will also be hosting a “Discover Fly Fishing” booth, and a side-by-side comparison of seminars suggests the celebrity wars are running about even.

A glance at the exhibitor lists suggests Furimsky’s Fly Fishing Show enjoys considerable grass roots support (I received emails from several small businesses who supported Furimsky’s show after prior “trade show death match” posts), while the larger manufacturers (AFFTA members mostly) are leaning towards the ISE shows.

It’s this last fact which seems to bother Furimsky the most, and in a printed statement he said:

Many exhibitors and others ask me why is this competition and split continuing? I thought it was over after last year’s results clearly lost money for the trade and AFFTA, and our show had triple the attendance than the AFFTA expo. You would think fighting today’s economy is enough of a problem that should bring us together. The sport is not big enough to split and confuse our shrinking market.

Meanwhile, AFFTA continues to insist its “sustainable growth in the fly fishing industry” mission isn’t met by Furimsky’s shows, though last year’s rhetoric about wanting a new revenue stream to fund the organization seems to have disappeared into the aether:

“AFFTA’s primary strategic objective is to support our members by growing consumer demand for fly fishing products and services,” said Alan Gnann, AFFTA Chairman. “This agreement with ISE, producers of the largest and longest-running outdoor consumer events in the marketplace, creates the most powerful promotional and educational platform our members have ever had. The highly regarded show concept showcased at our January 2008 consumer Expo in Denver will be used as the model for our collaborative efforts with ISE to produce the finest fly fishing events in the country.”

The ISE and Fly Fishing Show consumer trade shows have coexisted for some time; the question now is whether the AFFTA’s partnership with the ISE shows will do long-term damage to Furimsky’s show – and whether they’ll deliver the new fly fishermen AFFTA so clearly wants.

What remains unclear to me is the nature of the problem between AFFTA’s board and Furimsky. I ask folks, and everybody offers up a different answer, and at this point, the conflict has taken on the patina of a blood feud – one that probably won’t be settled quickly.

Being a largely anti-social fly fisherman with little stomach for crowds, I’m not a big trade show attendee, though I’m considering making the drive south this year. How about the Undergrounders? Any plans to attend the ISE or Fly Fishing Shows? Any preference for one over the other?

See you at the shows, Tom Chandler

The Fly Fishing Show dates
Denver, CO
January 9, 10, 11

Marlborough, MA
January 16, 17, 18

Somerset, NJ
January 23, 24, 25

Charlotte, NC
January 30, 31

Bellevue, WA
February 6, 7,8

Portland, OR
February 14, 15

Pasadena, CA
February 21, 22

Pleasanton, CA
February 27, 28, March 1

ISE Outdoor Expos (San Mateo & Denver offer the most fly fishing content)

San Mateo, CA
Jan 8 – 11, 2009

Sacramento
Jan 15 – 18, 2009

Denver
Jan 22 – 25, 2009

Phoenix
Feb 27 – Mar 1, 2009

Salt Lake City
Mar 12 – 15, 2009

And surprisingly, it’s not industry heavyweight AFFTA.

Last year, fly fishing’s industry trade association (AFFTA) announced its first consumer trade show in Denver — a trade show held on the same weekend as Chuck Furimsky’s long-established Fly Fishing Show.

The resulting furball had all the tragi-comedic elements of Shakespearean farce; given its stated intent of growing the sport, why was the industry trade association trying to snuff out an existing show?

AFFTA President Robert Ramsay repeatedly said it wasn’t a personal thing; AFFTA simply felt it was time to gain a little traction (and a revenue stream) from a string of consumer shows while trying to grow the fly fishing market for its members.

Of course, when a trade association targets one of your most profitable trade shows, it might be hard not to take it personally, and Furimsky countered AFFTA’s move with a fair amount of heated rhetoric.

As time passed, the words grew more contentious, the whispering picked up intensity, the threats emerged, and exhibitors were forced to decide which show to attend. Many thought AFFTA’s show — which could count on the attendance of most of fly fishing’s bigger manufacturers — was a major favorite to win.

At the Fly Fishing Retailer show in Denver, the whispering came from every point of the compass.

Some said Furimsky was difficult and deserved his comeuppance. Others said this was simply a bungled money-and-power grab by a panicked AFFTA and its bigger fly fishing manufacturers, who were facing a stagnant industry and disliked the discounting that occurs at Furimsky’s shows.

The Jabs Just Keep Coming

Predictably, after the January showdown, both sides claimed a moral victory, though it wasn’t long after that AFFTA’s President Robert Ramsay — the point man in AFFTA’s effort to launch a string of consumer trade shows — announced he was leaving AFFTA’s top job.

The announcement was immediately pounced on by the Furimsky camp as proof the AFFTA consumer show was a failure.

Then the Underground’s post-show article incited a fair amount of “spirited” commentary from both sides of the issue.

Kenji Haro — director of Denver’s Fly Fishing Retailer Show (a successful dealer-only show that’s run in the fall), posted this comment on the Trout Underground:

I think the point of the AFFTA show was that Chuck’s was not contributing to the industry growth…. fine for the art of bamboo rodmaking, but how does that get more people involved in the sport, which can support your local shops and eventually garner more interest in your niche? Did The Furimsky show give proceeds, even a little, to the association that supports the sport in DC and does outreach to get more people aware and involved?

The Fly Fishing Show’s Dave Seward responded with a salvo of his own, including an allegation that they had offered funding to AFFTA, but that AFFTA simply wanted too much:

As far as “give a little, to the association that supports the sport in DC and does outreach to get more people aware and involved” that is a whole can of worms, no pun intended. At one time The Fly Fishing Show was willing to donate 10% of booth rental fees of every AFFTA member back to AFFTA, they wanted more to put it simply (You can check out this effort on utaff.org/constitution.html “let the Truth be Known” also check out Business as usual).

Furimsky himself also chimed in, and amidst the volleys of charges and counter-charges, the truth will likely never be clear to those without backstage passes to the AFFTA board’s decision-making process.

AFFTA Opts Out of Death Match Weekend

In what Furimsky’s camp cites as a clear victory, AFFTA recently announced they weren’t going to reprise their Denver consumer show, but would instead merge their “successful” show concept with outdoor trade show giant ISE. From the AFFTA press release:

“This agreement with ISE, producers of the largest and longest-running outdoor consumer events in the marketplace, creates the most powerful promotional and educational platform our members have ever had. The highly regarded show concept showcased at our January 2008 consumer Expo in Denver will be used as the model for our collaborative efforts with ISE to produce the finest fly fishing events in the country.”

AFFTA would incorporate “Discover Fly Fishing” pavilions within ISE’s Denver and San Mateo shows aimed at recruiting new fishermen into the sport.

Furimsky — who has maintained all along that his show does plenty for the sport of fly fishing — announced he was partnering with the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) and launching in-show recruitment pavilions of his own.

Plans are being finalized to present an “Introduction to Fly Fishing” area staffed by men, women and youth members of F.F.F. that will provide free instruction to any of the tens of thousands who attend the shows. All questions and help requests in every aspect of fly fishing will be professionally responded to by qualified and certified F.F.F. instructors and show personnel.”

Last Show Standing…

Frankly, it’s hard to see a lot of winners in this mess, though Ramsay’s departure and the sublimation of AFFTA’s consumer show into the ISE shows suggests AFFTA no longer has the stomach (and perhaps the budget) for this kind of fight.

Furimsk’s Fly Fishing Show has earned the title of “Last Show Standing,” and while the true behind-the-scenes machinations which led to this furball remain unclear, what is clear is that AFFTA’s new President — Gary Berlin — is walking into a situation requiring a little fence mending.

Also left unclear is the role played by the AFFTA Board of Directors: former AFFTA President Ramsay repeatedly said the decision to launch a competing trade show was the result of a unanimous decision by AFFTA’s board — which includes representatives from industry heavyweights Umpqua, Sage/Rio, Frontier Travel, Simms, Cloudveil, Ross, Orvis and LL Bean.

If this somewhat select group was handed the goal of growing participation in a stagnant fly fishing industry — and their best answer involved a divisive attempt to terminate an existing fly fishing show and claim its revenues for their own organization — then the fly fishing industry as a whole might be headed for a rocky ride, and not solely as a result of economic forces.

As always, the Undergrounders should feel free to add their perspective below. See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: fly fishing,fishing,AFFTA,fly fishing show,robert ramsay,chuck furimsky,trade show death match,stuff I’d rather not write

Welcome to the Denver fly fishing show death match, Undergrounders. It won’t be boring.

The sparks and the rhetoric flew when the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) announced it was getting into the fly fishing consumer trade show business — by competing head-to-head with an already-established Denver consumer show.

The new AFFTA consumer show is set for January 4-6, 2008 in the downtown Denver Convention Center — the very same weekend as The Fly Fishing Show , the existing event run by Chuck Furimsky at Denver’s Merchandise Mart.

Furimsky didn’t wait long before crying foul, alleging a personal vendetta and an attempt by some of AFFTA’s manufacturers to put him out of business. Furimsky owns and operates several Western fly fishing shows, and recently split (amicably) with his partner, who retains control of the company’s eastern shows.

Ramsay: “It’s Nothing Personal. It’s Just Business.”

AFFTA President Robert Ramsay responded to Furimsky’s attacks in a recent interview, where he said the AFFTA Board of Directors voted unanimously to move into the consumer show business because the existing shows weren’t oriented towards growing the fly fishing market.

“It’s nothing personal,” Ramsay said. “It’s just business. Our goal is the growth of a sustainable fly fishing market, which helps everyone.”

Furismky apparently didn’t agree, and he’s vowed to organize a retailer trade show to compete with AFFTA’s Fly Fishing Retailer (FFR) show in the fall.

He’s also said he’s willing to lose money on the Denver consumer show for several years in an attempt to drive the new AFFTA consumer show under.

Meanwhile, AFFTA’s Ramsay said the decision to compete was not taken lightly by the AFFTA board, but that the association wanted to build a sustainable fly fishing market, and one of the best methods for doing so was through beginner-friendly consumer shows.

Dividing an Industry

The heated rhetoric aside, it’s clear that exhibitors will have to make some hard decisions. Exhibit at one show? Smaller booths at both shows? Skip them altogether and hope for a resolution next year?

Obviously, AFFTA’s trump card here is its own membership; the show with the big manufacturers might be perceived as the most prestigious, and Furimsky’s job will be to stem the losses of exhibitors from his show to the new AFFTA show.

For his part, Furimsky has years of momentum behind him; attendees have been flocking to his Merchandise Mart show for several years, and it’s possible a lot of showgoers won’t even know about AFFTA’s Downtown Denver show.

We’ve already seen a few public battles over fly fishing’s celebrities, some of whom immediately defected to the new show while others stood pat with Furimsky.

One thing is clear; even given the popularity of fly fishing in Colorado, it’s unlikely that both shows will survive for long in direct competition.

The Consumer Decision? Wait and See.

In any free market, the consumer decides who wins, but like most inter-family squabbles, this one’s going to leave some long-lasting scars on an industry that can ill afford it.

When I spoke with Ramsay, he repeatedly emphasized this wasn’t a personal vendetta, though one wag at the FFR show said it looked to him like a commercial “assassination” of Furimsky — a somewhat flambouyant character who has made his share of enemies in the industry.

It couldn’t feel good to have the industry’s own trade association paint a big bullseye on your back, and if this show is a success, Ramsay said the AFFTA will expand their line of consumer shows.

Next time, Ramsay said, AFFTA would move into major markets without directly competing trade shows, though I question how many truly worthwhile markets are left (Ramsay mentioned Dallas and a few other Southern locations).

One thing is likely clear; the other show owners are closely watching this battle in an attempt to divine what’s in their future.

Waiting For Early January

During our interview, it became clear Ramsay was frustrated with some of the rhetoric generated by Furimsky, and admitted that a model of direct competition — as with Furimsky’s Denver show — won’t be repeated at other venues.

What I find remarkable is the width and breadth of feeling within the industry; while almost no one is willing to go on the record, I heard whispers at the recent FFR show aimed at both sides of the aisle.

“The manufacturers dislike the bargain basement selling that goes on at Furimsky’s shows, and they’re trying to put him out of business” said one attendee.

Another said (rather hopefully) that “a little competition would only help dealers and manufacturers,” while another cryptically said only that “this was going to be good for the industry.”

One thing is clear; it’s a PR problem of significant proportions for the AFFTA. Regardless of their true motives, whenever a trade association enters into direct competition with one of their own, the results won’t be pretty.

Stay tuned, Undergrounders. And — as always — the floor is yours. Any opinions?