I have heard that there's some confusion about how we will caculate team of the year for 2004.
There WILL be team of the year for each division. That means if you only want to fish tournaments in your area (and therefore, fish 3) and you do the best in points overall; you will be MWC Central Team of the Year. Or MWC East Team of the Year. That purse will be based on $30 per team in the division. If 300 teams in Central. $9000. 65% to first place ($5850); 35% split between 2nd and 5th ($788 each). If 150 teams in East -- $4500. 65% to first place ($2925); 35% split between 2nd and 5th ($269 each). There will be trophies and Team of the Year Rings for the top teams.
It's just that the 'overall' MWC Team of the Year will come from the Challenge group. That purse is $20,000; also 65% to first place; 35% split between 2nd and 5th place. That's if there's 20 teams in the Challenge; 50 teams in the Challenge or 100 teams in the Challenge.
Could it be the same team that takes a division title? Could be. But not necessarily. Because of the unique point structure it could be a different team.
I know we shared a lot of information when announcing all this; so maybe this part got a bit confusing.
There's more money; but we aren't forcing anyone to take the Challenge. My question is; why wouldn't you want to?
Granted -- I heard from some anglers that they didn't want to have to drive very far. So, in those cases; just fish your division.
Are some anglers playing down the idea of "taking the challenge" to keep other teams away from doing it? Therefore; making it easier for them to go after the $20,000 with less competition? Hmmmm. Are there some poker faces out there?
Time will tell.
I'm with Michael Myers -- can't wait to get to bay de Noc and get this thing back on track. We're sorry for the split schedule this year. Next year will be steady eddy all through the year! :-)
One more clarification -- you don't have to fish all three tournaments in the division to win division team of the year. It's the highest number of points. And if you're good enough to get that with two tournaments....go for it.
