Update: As of 4/25/12 the Delta Challenge series has been canceled by the organizers. The Delta Classic will still be shot in September.
One of the most talked about events this year is the $1,000,000 Delta Challenge series. The series consists of five sporting clay events with purses totaling just over $1 million dollars. The series is laid out as four main events spread throughout the year with a one day ‘super final’ Challenge event on the last day of the series. The final Challenge event purse accounts for $300,000 of the $1 million total payouts and in order to be eligible to compete in the event you must shoot all four previous events in the series. The events are:
- Delta International Open – March 21-25, 2012
- Delta Global Games – May 2-6, 2012
- Delta FITASC 300 – August 7-11, 2012
- Delta Classic – September 26-30
- Delta Challenge Shootout – September 29, 2012 – FREE to shooters who have competed in the four previous challenge events.
All of the events will be held The Delta Conference Center and Resort located in Tillar, Arkansas. The same location as last years Delta International Open. The Delta sports multiple clay courses with over 300 Promatic machines available. The terrain is described as being “reservoirs and flooded timber land” accordingly a lot of shooting takes place over marshes and water. Targets thrown at last years DIO received mixed reviews. Just know that they were considered stout and this years events probably will be too.
Payouts at the events will be 12 deep in classes and you are looking at a $3,000 pay day for winning your class. That’s HOA money at most events. All of the payouts are of course amplified in the Challenge event. Winning your class there will get you $4,500. There are also the other events such as FITASC that have their own payouts too. A chance to add even more winnings to your pot.
The HOA payouts at the four main events are set at $10,000 each and unique to this series, the Ladies HOA payouts are matched at $10,000 also. The HOA payouts for the final Challenge event jumps to an unheard of $50,000 each for Main and Ladies.
There are a few things you need to do in order to shoot in the whole series of events and be eligible for all of the monies. Here is the language from the Delta Challenge website:
“To qualify to compete for the $300,000 Delta Challenge purse you must have competed in all four of the 2012 Main Events at the Delta which include the DIO, Global Games, FITASC 300, and the Delta Classic.
In order to compete in the overall Delta Challenge Series you will be required to be an American Shooting Sports Coalition Member. Your ASSC membership will help raise the level of the sport as shooters from across the country realize greater potential that includes transparency in all administrative and financial efforts, national coverage of the sport and deeper more lucrative payouts. Please note, that this membership does not supersede, negate or effect your NSCA membership.
Your Entry Fees in the Delta Challenge events will include your annual ASSC dues as detailed here: Tournament Registration Fees total $536.00 which includes your initial 3-month ASSC Dues of $36.00.This initial payment will be followed by 3 additional tournament payments of $536.00 each. Each of these four payments will have a response mechanism that will report your payment and send you to the online event registration form.
The first Entry fee payment is due on/or before March 15, 2012, with the remaining payments made on April 15, May 15, and June 15.
Refund requested due to extraordinary conditions will be evaluated by the Delta staff.
Following the approved refund – any Delta tournament participation in that given year will be at market price and will not include the Delta Challenge value pricing.”
So that means to shoot the whole shebang you’re looking at $2,144 for a total of 2,100 targets. This represents a discount over the ala-carte pricing if you choose to enter the events separately. To be clear you cannot enter the events separately and be eligible for the final Challenge. You must use the payment plan to be eligible for the final $300,000 Challenge. You have only until March 15 to make the first payment if you plan to shoot the entire series.
There is still a lot of money to be won if you can only make it out to Arkansas once or twice this year. You can enter any of the events separately if you want and be eligible to win that event purse. Just be aware that your entry fee will be more per bird than if you entered the whole shebang.
Register for the Delta Challenge
Contact:
Delta Conference Center & Resort
7920 Bucks Ducks Road
Tillar, Arkanasas 71670
Phone: 615.283.0011
Opinion:
Much opinion about these shoots has been floating around on and off the web and it comes up in conversation quite a bit lately. There are many facets to the story, most of which I will not discuss because it’s not in the nature of this blog to comment on hearsay or promote negativity. My opinion is that it’s just a sporting shoot. Go to their website, check out what they have on offer and shoot if you want to or don’t.
I had a chance to sit down with Gary Gibbs and other associates behind the Delta and the ASSC at the SHOT Show this year. We had an informal discussion in which all of the hyped up talk on the web forums was addressed. What I can tell you is that this group’s main goal is to professionalize the sport. In addition they are doing or plan to do a number of things with youth, Olympic and women’s shooting programs. I will also tell you that yes they do have strong opinions on how the NSCA runs the sport and they have expressed them to the NSCA. So far the two organizations have been working together.
I can’t say I agree with everything the Delta plans to do but I do like new shooting opportunities and they are providing several. It can only serve to grow the sport and if you are game you should take the opportunity to shoot in the series. In what way these shoots grow the sport does remain to be seen. Already I can see that the payment structure required to get into these events will exclude a portion of shooters who just aren’t ready to commit that much money to one series of shoots. Then again these aren’t necessarily the shooters a professional sport wants to attract. This is the double edge sword of professionalizing the sport, no matter if it’s the Delta/ASSC or the NSCA that tries it. It seems to be a good idea on first look but we need to realize that the sport could become exclusive rather than inclusive loosing one of its unique charms. Only time will tell.
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