BASS to Return to Alabama for Bassmaster Elite Series Postseason

February 17, 2010

BASS will return to Alabama, site of the 40^th Bassmaster Classic and the state in which BASS was founded more than 40 years ago, for the second annual Bassmaster Elite Series postseason.

Toyota Trucks Championship Week is set for July 24-31 and will be played out once again on two productive Alabama fisheries. The first leg, the Trophy Chase, returns July 24-25 to Lake Jordan out of Wetumpka and the finale, the Evan Williams Bourbon Trophy Triumph, is slated for July 30-31 on the Alabama River from Montgomery.

With the Bassmaster Classic this week in Birmingham and on Lay Lake, Alabama has hosted 11 Bassmaster Classics. The 2010 Bassmaster Elite Series season, which starts March 11 with the Duel in the Delta out of Stockton, Calif., will culminate with the two-event postseason in July in Alabama.

The final day’s weigh-in for Championship Week will be in Montgomery, a city in which BASS was headquartered for more than 35 years. The 2010 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year will be crowned at the season finale and will be awarded the accompanying $200,000 top prize.

“We are proud to bring this event back to Alabama, a state that is so central to BASS’ history,” said Tom Ricks, vice president & general manager, BASS.

The top 12 anglers in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points at the end of the Bassmaster Elite Series regular season will qualify for Toyota Trucks Championship Week. The regular season concludes with the June 17-20 Sooner Run on the Arkansas River out of Muskogee, Okla.

In 2009, BASS introduced the postseason format to increase the focus on one of the most prestigious awards in the sport: the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year. The inaugural postseason delivered on excitement and a down-to-the-wire finish, as Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., then a four-time Angler of the Year, and Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., the 2007 AOY, competed fiercely for the title.

VanDam and his undeniable competitive spirit broke through in the end, as the two-time Bassmaster Classic winner overtook Reese in the points in the season finale. VanDam claimed first place in the Evan Williams Bourbon Trophy Triumph on the Alabama River, earning his fifth Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.

BASS will match the prestige of the postseason with an ambitious multimedia schedule. As part of daily, live updates on Bassmaster.com, the popular webcast Hooked Up will host on-the-water coverage from practice and competition days, coupled with live post-competition interviews.

Postseason scores are calculated by taking the regular-season AOY points for each qualifying angler and moving the decimal one place to the left, rounding to the nearest tenth. Additionally, each angler receives two bonus points for each regular-season win. For the two postseason events, anglers will be scored on a 50-point sliding scale. Full details can be found at Bassmaster.com.

2010 Toyota Trucks Championship Week

About BASS

For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing.  The organization advances the sport through advocacy, outreach and its expansive tournament structure while championing efforts to connect directly with the passionate community of bass anglers through its Bassmaster media vehicles.

As the flagship offering of ESPN Outdoors, the Bassmaster brand and its considerable multimedia platforms are guided by a mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer; comprehensive Web properties in Bassmaster.com, BASSInsider.com, ESPNOutdoors.com and ESPN360.com, and ESPN2 television programming, Bassmaster provides rich, leading-edge content true to the lifestyle.

BASS oversees the prestigious Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, BASS Federation Nation and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic.

BASS offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

Media Contact: Doug Grassian, 407-566-2216 or doug.grassian@espn.com