Ontario BASS Federation Nation Shows Economic Value of Their Tournaments
By Wil Wegman
The free public government boat launch and wonderful waterfront facilities in Gravenhurst Ontario have been a drawing card to the bass-rich waters of Lake Muskoka for Canadian bass clubs and tournament organizers for many years. All that was in jeopardy when counsellors with the Town of Gravenhurst announced a proposal to charge a first-ever boat launch fee of $10 in and $10 out.
 When local resident, business owner and founding member of the Muskoka Bassmasters Dave Rochette, learned about the proposed launch fee he took action. In the middle of a cold 2009 Canadian winter, he addressed Gravenhurst Town Council with a comprehensive address exposing the significance of the free launch to the Town and the impact it has on the local economy.
Backed by the economic impact survey results from the 2007 Lake Muskoka Ontario BASS Federation Nation (OBFN) Hank Gibson Provincial Qualifier, Rochette revealed that the downtown launch was at the hub of significant spending by his group. He explained to Town Council that a free launch is the carrot that brings anglers and tournament associations into local communities like Gravenhurst. “Anglers who frequent the community and our beautiful waterfront may simply find somewhere else to launch”, he told Council. He pointed out that the $20 proposed fee may not appear to be too outrageous to councillors however for tournament organizations or anglers who frequent the lake, finding a free launch can be the deciding factor when choosing where to fish.
Preparing an Economic Impact Survey:
 Bass Club Digest readers know all too well that once we arrive in a community, we readily pay for fuel, food, beverages, tackle, accommodations, repairs and other expenses to fish a tournament. However, if you’re like me (and so many other frequent ramp patrons) continually reaching into your pocket to pay a $10-$20 launch fee just rubs you the wrong way.
As the Conservation Director for the Ontario BASS Federation Nation (OBFN) since 1995, I’ve been part of various tournament-organizing committees over the years. I realized early on that most town officials are simply not aware that we spend serious coin in their communities. The challenge as I saw it was to prove it. An economic impact study documenting how much tournament anglers spend would be the vehicle to make it happen. But who would do it? Certainly not I—someone who sucks at math and admittedly is the furthest thing from a “numbers guy?” To make a long story short, the task ended up in my lap. Despite little training or know-how, in 2001 I put together some questions for a survey asking anglers about their tournament related expenses.
Fortunately, I found help from a government economist who reviewed the survey with me beforehand as well as vetted the results afterwards. This essential step not only lends credibility to the research but also teaches you just what to ask and how to ask it. I asked anglers to fill out the survey at a meeting before the tournament and collected them afterwards. After I tabulated the figures as best I could, they were proofed by the economist for further credibility. This person also explained the importance of multiplier benefits, tax benefits and even employment benefits that can be extrapolated from these surveys.
 Today the OBFN still uses the survey at our annual Qualifier and asks such standard questions as how much is spent on accommodations, fuel, food, tackle and entertainment. It asks anglers to differentiate between fuel spent specifically for the boat, for the truck and what type of accommodations they used. It separates what we spend on food in restaurants and in grocery stores. Alcohol costs are separated from food bills and listed under entertainment.
Other questions ask anglers to really think about all of the little or not so little expenses paid for while in a community. This could range from the purchase of toothpaste or tackle to boat and motor repairs. Asking about all conceivable expenses incurred by anglers not only helps them to know where and how they spend all of their money, but the results show community leaders that tournament money is spread throughout local businesses and does not just benefit a select few.
Of utmost importance is the need to account for all expenses associated with pre-fishing days as well tournament days in order to get a true reflection of what the tournament brings to the community. These pre-fishing days include not only the week before, but also a month or two before, as those trips are all related to the tournament. We ask how many days and nights in total they stayed in the community because of the tournament. The importance of acquiring this information cannot be overstated as some economic impact survey formulas can even tabulate results based almost entirely on the number of participants and how many nights they spent in the town. We also ask if they brought guests with them, how many and if they enjoyed the area enough to return for a family vacation or future visit. Tourism Bureau’s and town officials beam with pride when we reveal our anglers consistently display a 97-99 percent affirmative answer to this question.
Back to Gravenhurst Town Council:
 Rochette then reported the average spending by each angler who competed in the 2007 Qualifier was $780. The 105 who fished contributed $81,900 directly to the local economy. With a modest 3.0 multiplier they brought in a total economic benefit to the local community of $245,700.
These economic benefits would all be in peril Rochette explained if the Town continued with their proposed launch fee. The fee would discourage not only his association’s presence in Gravenhurst but also that of several other tournaments held there over the course of the season. Even the many small club tournaments that routinely visit with their collective benefits would think twice if charged a fee. This was the main thrust of his argument.
It appears that Council members were not only listening, they were nodding their heads in agreement. That same day, the Town of Gravenhurst reversed its position to charge a fee to the public who wanted to launch a boat to go fishing, sailing, water skiing, or touring on beautiful Lake Muskoka. “NO FEES WOULD BE IMPOSED” Rochette was told!
The First Economic Impact Survey
RESULTS
Obviously, the more anglers who fish a tournament, the more cash dispersed through the community. The initial 2001 survey for instance showed that 148 OBFN anglers spent $135,816 directly in the Eastern Ontario community where our provincial championship was held. Other highlights revealed that the average angler spent $918 while in the community. They also spent 6.5 days and 5 nights for a total of 962 days and 740 nights amongst the 148 competitors. Our major costs were: Boat fuel $15,096, vehicle fuel $13,172, food $29,156 and $46,620 for accommodations. Incidental costs ranging from tackle to rain gear to boat repair accounted for $21,229 or about $143 per angler.
I figured all of this was a pretty good start but was told that multiplier benefits are really “where it’s at” when it comes to economic impacts—so I handed the survey off to the economist for review and to tabulate those multipliers. More importantly, she taught me how to tabulate multipliers myself so that for future tournaments OBFN could perform surveys in-house. The results for that first event were impressive:
Total sales volume became … $318,923
Total Income generated … $143,530
Total wages and salaries … $85,503
Total Taxes (provincial, federal, municipal) …$47,875
Yet, despite these encouraging results, in my own mind the following year’s Qualifier would be the real test of the validity of the first survey. If the results were vastly different than the first survey, then I felt that the 2001 survey was likely flawed. Fortunately, they were quite similar. We had 156 anglers compete who spent a total of $138,840 directly in the community, or $890 average per angler.With sales multipliers, a grand total of $326,274 was spent.
Over the last few years organizers of the Ontario Qualifiers have used the results of annual surveys as bargaining tools to show community officials what economic benefits our events can bring to the community. The task of beginning these surveys may be a little daunting at first but once completed the results will surely benefit your club or tournament group.
Wil Wegman is the Conservation and Media Director for the OBFN and has qualified for his state … er provincial team three times. He can be reached to assist any Bass club interested in trying to run their own economic impact survey, at wil.wegman@aurorabass.com
Sidebar 1
Multiplier Benefits Most Important:
When you spend $20 in a local tackle shop on some plastic worms …
It’s “NEW MONEY” – not recycled from existing residents. It gets filtered throughout the community in many ways after you leave Part of that $20 bucks pays the wages of the clerk—who may spend some of it to help buy clothes for his/her kids at a local store Part will help pay the store’s rent, the electrical bill, advertising costs etc. Some of it will go to taxes, and some to the company who made the worms, some to the distributor and so on, and so on...
Sidebar 2
A Million Dollar Event:
For the first time ever in 2003, Canada hosted a BASS Federation Nation Divisional Tournament. The big tournament was held in Midland Ontario in Georgian Bay—part of Lake Huron. Organizers of that event and local community businesses were thrilled that the tournament was being held mid week, after Labor Day—a period when very little else occurs there. We asked anglers to fill out a survey for that event and the highlights are below:
Total direct expenditures into the Midland community was $411,389 Based on a 2.41 multiplier this direct spending realized a total sales volume of $990,391 A total income of $432,964 was generated Total wages and salaries of $258,174 Total Taxes $145,745 for the three levels of government
Sidebar 3:
Three tips to help Bass clubs with their own economic impact surveys:
Have someone within your club or federation take the lead who has a keen interest in obtaining the results of such a survey. If that person is an accountant or ‘good with numbers’, even better Make sure that your federation executive and all the club presidents are supportive of this undertaking. The person in charge will need to explain to all competing anglers how important the survey is and why it is being carried out. Source out an economist who will review your survey questions, your results, and help tabulate your multiplier benefits. Some possible sources for economists who may perform this task at no or little charge include those working for: Government Agencies, Tourism Bureaus/Boards, Chamber of Commerce and Universities. Some of these may even want to partner with your club in order to publish the results afterwards. In order to assure you have the highest number of returned surveys possible you need a captive audience. A pre-tournament meeting is ideal. Offering a draw-style prize for all those completing the survey is an added incentive.
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