College Bass Fishing Takes Center Stage

Collegiate bass fishing has been around for a while, as the Big 10 Classic has been an annual event for more than a decade, but now there is a full blown national program that culminates each year with a championship sanctioned as the top event in the country - The BoatU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship (NCBFC).

The NCBFC made its debut in the fall of 2006 as a result of Fox College Sports (FCS) and Careco MultiMedia combining their respective expertise and committing to take college bass fishing to the next level. It was a modest beginning with 41 two-person teams representing 24 colleges and universities. But it was the right group for a first event of this kind because it included some of the nation’s top inter- and intra-divisional rivalries. With participating teams from Purdue, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oregon, Alabama and others, conferences like the Big 10, Big 12, PAC-10 and SEC all had a prominent presence.

The three-day event held at Sneaky Pete’s Marina on Lake Lewisville in Texas had all the fanfare of any major college sports’ championship, including television cameras rolling to capture the before, during and after activities for a 2007 air schedule on the FCS network.  North Carolina State goes in the history books as being the country’s first national college bass fishing champion.

The success of both the premiere event and the TV series left the participants, the sponsors and the American public wanting more collegiate bass fishing. The result is today’s BoatU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship.

In less than six months after the inaugural event, the number of collegiate fishing programs across the country nearly tripled in size, and participation in the 2007 Championship doubled.  The 2007 event brought 84 two-person teams representing 44 colleges and universities from across the nation to Lake Lewisville, and Texas A&M University took the national title home to College Station. At least 100 teams are expected to participate in the third annual championship in 2008. Additionally, local and regional collegiate tournaments are now popping up all across the United States, with others having already been planned for future years. Many of these events are also being filmed as part of the FCS college fishing TV series.

About Fox College Sports

Fox College Sports (FCS) is three channels stocked with select collegiate programming culled from FSN regional sports networks and its affiliates.  FCS features men’s and women’s competitions across a broad range of NCAA-sanctioned sports highlighted by perennial powers from the ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC, as well as other top conferences. The three networks combine to telecast more than 800 live NCAA events over the course of a year.  Fox provides all three channels: FCS Pacific, FCS Central and FCS Atlantic throughout the country.  Each Fox College Sports viewer also continues to receive their own local professional and college sports programming courtesy of their Fox Sports Net or affiliated regional sports network.  Based on current distribution agreements, FCS is available to approximately 45 to 50 million digital homes, and is seen by viewers in the nation’s 25 largest cities.. Key MSO partners include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Adelphia Communications, Mediacom Communications, Insight Communications and CableOne and the National Cable Television Cooperative.  The most up-to-date telecast schedule is available 24/7 by logging on to www.foxcollegesports.com.

About Careco MultiMedia

Careco Multimedia is a full-service video production company experienced in field acquisition and editing of top quality outdoor programming. The company produces and markets several outdoor fishing programs, including Fishing and Hunting Texas, Americana Outdoors, the BoatU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship and more.