Wal-Mart, FLW Outdoors announce major expansion, new Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series
07.Jul.2005
MINNEAPOLIS — Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading tournament organization, announced Thursday the launch of a new $1.1 million kingfish series to compliment the wildly successful $1.7 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, which filled its 100 boat fields within 48 hours of its introduction earlier this year. The new Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series is the third saltwater tournament circuit introduced by FLW Outdoors in less than 12 months. It is yet another sign of the incredible demand for the organization’s high-profile, lucrative events.
Debuting in 2006 as a qualifying circuit for the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, the new Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series will feature five divisions: North Carolina, South Carolina/Georgia, Florida – East Coast, Florida – West Coast and Mississippi/Louisiana/Texas. Each division will feature three $100,000 qualifying events.
The tournaments will be one-day, Saturday events, and each team will be allowed to weigh one kingfish. The team with the heaviest kingfish will win as much as $30,000 in each event, with cash awards going to the top 20 teams.
Charlie Evans, president and CEO of FLW Outdoors, stated, “The new Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series will help satisfy the overwhelming demand for professionally operated weekend kingfish tournaments.
“The new Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series will allow kingfish anglers everywhere to compete in lucrative, one-day events,” Evans said. “Our goal is to do for competitive kingfishing what we have done for professional bass and walleye fishing. We want to meet existing demand and help grow the sport through high-profile, family-oriented competition.”
Each tournament will feature a field of 100 boats with priority entry for Seaswirl, Hydra-Sports and Wellcraft boat owners. In the 15 qualifying events, the winner is guaranteed $12,000 in cash, based on a full field. Additionally, a contingency bonus of $9,000 in cash will be offered from Seaswirl, Hydra-Sports and Wellcraft as the series’ official boat sponsors. Additionally, Yamaha will offer a $9,000 cash bonus if the winner owns and uses Yamaha engines in the tournament for a total top award of $30,000. Guaranteed cash and contingency bonuses will be offered through 20th place in each qualifying event. Entry fees for each event are $500 per team.
The top 20 teams in each division at the end of the season will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship, where the full field of 100 boats will compete on days one and two and the top five teams will advance to day three. The top five teams in each division at the end of the season will also qualify to fish in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour in 2007.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and seven additional national tournament circuits offering combined purses in excess of $30 million through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.
Wal-Mart serves as the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors as it has since 1997. For more information about Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Additional information on the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series payouts and tournament locations will be announced in the near future.
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