Building the Bassmaster Classic and Expo

B.A.S.S. isn’t the only game in town right now- The Jimi Hendrix Experience is here at the hotel as well. While The Experience is ready to go, the two main components of the Classic- the weigh-in show and Outdoors Expo, are still being rapidly built. Let’s take a look at how it’s going, two days before the beginning of the Classic.

Signs of the Classic are everywhere…

…except the boat yard, which is empty while competitors fish their final day of practice.

The BOK Center will be a mob scene in two days, but a late Wednesday morning finds it quite serene.

Welcome to Downtown Tulsa.

The Outdoors Expo contains many giant rooms full of vendors. In a small arena, some boat manufacturers will be the main attraction.

In the concourse, B.A.S.S. merchandise waits to be unloaded.

Huk will have a huge presence here at the Expo, but right now their booth looks like a great place to play racquetball.

Yamaha, as well. Vendors started moving in today, and each of them operate at their own speed. Most of them have done this before and will work around the clock so that when the Expo officially opens Friday morning, everything will be perfect.

The Expo is still packed away in crates, being rapidly expanded by an army of workers.

Some of them high in the air.

Others down below, such as the team responsible for making sure the LIVE show goes off without a hitch on Friday morning at 7:30am CT.

Hey, here’s Yamaha’s stuff which is headed for their booth. I decide not to take it over for them. I don’t know how to drive a forklift.

GoPro has a massive area that’s being built right now.

If you go look at a Triton at the Expo this weekend, just know that this guy vacuumed them for you.

This is where Toyota will set up shop, and it’s currently the superhighway of forklifts.

Carhartt even has cool looking crates.

I took a lot of photos of crates.

Berkley’s bass tank is already set up and…

…its residents seem happy and healthy.

A.R.E. Truck Caps has a pretty easy setup- just drive a truck with their product up to their booth.

If you get a keychain from A.R.E. this weekend, just know that this guy unwrapped boxes of them for you!

Livingston Lures is getting ready as well. I thought this was a stage but this is their sign, soon to be hung from the ceiling.

Lots of brave souls up in the air in the Expo.

Yes, I did want to drive this.

I wanted to drive this, too. This guy was just joking, he didn’t mind me taking his picture.

Not everybody had neat little carts. This guy had to move stuff in the old fashioned way.

So many trucks to unload. It’s really amazing to watch thousands of moving parts work together to make the Outdoors Expo what it is.

Everything is getting polished and perfected.

This is where the LIVE show will happen. Lots of work to do between now and Friday morning, but these guys are professionals.

The LIVE show will have a big presence at the Expo in addition to providing live on-the-water coverage. Here workers put together a video board for fans at the show.

Everywhere you look, elaborate booths are being constructed.

That’s enough for now at the Expo. If you are coming to the Classic in person, keep these photos in mind when you arrive to get an idea of how in 3 days this place is transformed from what it is today. Even if you can’t make it, we’ll have plenty of photo galleries of the Expo to take in right here on bassmaster.com. Let’s go look at one more location and see how it’s preparing for Friday…

The BOK Center! Home of the weigh-in stage.

I know this place pretty well from our time here in 2013. This time is a little nicer because it’s not 30 degrees in the loading dock.

Much like the Expo, this place has a massive and surprisingly quick facelift this week.

You (and I) will never know what goes on in this room. Because the door was locked.

B.A.S.S. TV production studio, JM Associates, does double duty at the Classic- not only do they make the television show, they make the graphics that appear on stage.

They shot video with the anglers before registration yesterday, and today they begin putting together the footage for the live show.

The bowels of the BOK are clean and nice.

The room I care about the most. This is where we make sure we publish all of the content coming in from Grand Lake and right here in Tulsa.

I’ve been in this room before, in 2013. It was my first Classic working for B.A.S.S., and my introduction to just how crazy this event is.

Our room is a locker room, with an attached bathroom. There’s no door between this and where I’ll be sitting, so I promise you I will make sure nobody sneaks in here. Bathroom’s down the hall, everyone. Not here!

The two things that I care about most- Good, fast internet and power. With that, we can cover a tournament anywhere. Unlike remote locations like Toledo Bend or Falcon Lake, the internet is lightning fast at the BOK.

These drinks are bound for the Media Center, where the hundreds of media members will report on the Classic.

These ladies are helping set up…

…but there’s no time to talk as their cargo elevator closes.

The Media Center is ready for the journalists from all over the world.

There’s a wall of set lists of bands and acts that have played the BOK.

We will not be touching this.

In a mere two days, the BOK Center will be transformed into the epicenter of our sport. I hope you’ve enjoyed this early look and we can’t wait to share the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic with you this week.