CLAYTON — The Clayton Chamber of Commerce estimates that the Bassmaster Elite tournament held in the village last month netted the region $250,000 in direct income, but local officials say they can’t begin to estimate the value of the free advertisement the region received.
Chris Bogenshutz, president of the Clayton chamber’s executive committee, said the $250,000 is from the 86 anglers directly, including their purchases of food, lodging, gas and other incidentals.
BASS, the organization responsible for the tournaments, said over 4.3 million people tuned into the televised program on ESPN2 and projected over 108.3 million people saw newspaper, TV and radio coverage of the event.
Mr. Bogenshutz said he’s already heard from business owners in the region that visitors are coming to the Thousand Islands after seeing the event on TV.
“There was one merchant that asked someone where they were from,” he said. “I don’t remember if they even said where they were from, but they said they’d never been to the Thousand Islands, but they’d seen it on TV and decided to come up.”
Scott A. Gray, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Legislators, said during a board meeting on July 28 that the village of Clayton and Jefferson County are both interested in hosting future Bassmaster events. He said BASS is also interested after some anglers lauded the region for having “the best fishing in the world,”
Currently, BASS is in a contract with the town of Waddington, in St. Lawrence County, for at least one more year. Mr. Gray and Mr. Bogenshutz both said they’re interested in bringing either the professional or the open versions of the tournament to Clayton once negotiations reopen.
(1) comment
Certainly a needed boost... time will tell what affect it had on our Covid numbers... I'd wait to confirm what the total cost is... if our Covid numbers spike...and we're forced to retract... close our businesses...schools.. . we may rethink this article...
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