FLW Tour
 |
|
| Type | Tournament Organization |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Privately Owned |
| Purpose | To provide a lifestyle experience that is the best in fishing, on and off the water. |
| Headquarters | Benton, Ky., Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Location |
|
|
Key people
|
Irwin L. Jacobs Forrest L. Wood |
|
Staff
|
100+ |
| Website | www |
|
Formerly called
|
FLW Outdoors |
Fishing League Worldwide, also known as FLW, is the world's largest tournament-fishing organization. Each year, FLW offers anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money across the globe in five tournament circuits, four of which offer a path to the most lucrative tournament in professional bass fishing – the Forrest Wood Cup.
The organization's initials are taken from Forrest L. Wood, founder of Ranger Boats and developer of the modern bass-fishing boat. The FLW Tour championship - the Forrest Wood Cup - is also named for Wood. In 2007, the tournament was the first to offer a $1 million prize for the winner.
FLW was founded in 1979 as Operation Bass when Mike Whitaker of Gilbertsville, Kentucky, a former high school teacher and football coach turned electronics salesman, started conducting one-day, weekend bass tournaments. Unlike most tournaments of the day, Whitaker geared his events toward anglers who were unable to take time off from work and travel long distances to participate in high-entry-fee tournaments.
The first FLW tournament season followed in 1980 when the company held 12 events in two states and awarded $20,000 in prize money. The company’s first tournament was held on Barren River Lake near Glasgow, Kentucky, in March, 1980.
An important point in FLW history occurred July 24, 1996, when Minneapolis businessman Irwin L. Jacobs purchased the company. Jacobs still owns FLW today, overseeing more than 240 tournaments around the globe.
Operation Bass was renamed FLW in 2001 to honor legendary Ranger Boats founder Forrest L. Wood, developer of the modern bass boat. Over the years as FLW has expanded with broader reach around the globe, a new name of Fishing League Worldwide was adopted to better reflect FLW’s international presence. FLW still honors their namesake, Forrest L. Wood, by naming the sport’s most lucrative championship after him, the Forrest Wood Cup.
FLW's top tournament circuit is the Walmart FLW Tour. The Tour features a field of the best bass-fishing anglers in the world competing for a top prize of $125,000 at each tournament and points to qualify for the end of the season championship, the prestigious Forrest Wood Cup.
The FLW Tour was created by businessman Irwin L. Jacobs, owner of Genmar, the world's largest manufacturer of recreational boats (including Ranger, Wood's former company). Jacobs bought a small fishing-tournament promotion company based in Gilbertsville, Kentucky, United States, and renamed the company's tour as the FLW Tour. Jacobs' plan was to turn the tour into the object of major media coverage, with larger cash prizes, a television-friendly competition format, and sponsorships from well-known corporations from outside the fishing industry. Jacobs promptly signed the biggest company of them all — Walmart — which became the title sponsor for the FLW Tour, which was the first such sponsorship in the giant retailer's history. The tour went without Walmart as a title sponsor in 2010, but the retailer signed a new deal that restored the title sponsorship beginning in 2011. That same day, Jacobs also announced that legendary oilman and investor T. Boone Pickens had taken an equity stake and a partnership in the company.
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Wikipedia