Greenville, S.C. — Atlanta has never hosted a Bassmaster Classic, and there's no guarantee it ever will.

But it could happen, says an official with the high-dollar bass tournament, the recognized world championship of professional bass fishing, which will award its winner today a check for $500,000.

A lot would have to happen before the ESPN-owned organization would select Atlanta, but the door is open, especially with Gov. Sonny Perdue's Go Fish Georgia initiative on the table.

The program was approved by the State Legislature in 2007 and sets aside $19 million of state funds to promote fishing in Georgia, including the construction of mega boat ramps that could attract big tournaments.

"The answer is a profound yes," said Michael Mulone, Bassmaster's director of site selection, when asked about the possibility of the Classic coming to North Georgia.

"One of the scenarios could be fishing [Lake] Lanier with the weigh-in in Atlanta."

The next three Classics have already been booked, but the Atlanta market has a lot to offer. A majority of the 1 million anglers in Georgia are believed to live in north Georgia. Bass fishing has long-standing tradition in the state. After all, the world-record largemouth bass was caught in the Peach State.

The Classic, being held this week on Lake Hartwell and hosted by the city of Greenville has a lot to offer, too. Mulone said studies conducted by host cities on previous Classics say the event brings in from $19 million to $29 million.

Chris Stone, president of the Greenville Convention and Visitor's Bureau said about 8,000 hotels rooms had been booked for the weekend, about an $11 million impact alone.

"We were pretty much a sold-out community last night," Stone said Saturday afternoon.

But what does it take to lure the big event?

First, there's infrastructure. Mulone says the popular weigh-ins need to have a basketball-type of arena with 10,000 or more seats.

Greenville's Bi-Lo Center has hosted the Classic weigh-ins this weekend, filling its 15,000 capacity all three days, and seeing two-blocks-long lines of fans waiting to get in. Philips Arena (around 19,000 seat capacity) in downtown Atlanta and the Arena at Gwinnett Center (13,000) in Duluth both fit that deal.

The Classic's accompanying Outdoor Expo tradeshow needs a convention space of 100,000 to 200,000 square feet, Mulone said. The Georgia World Congress Center, the world's fourth-largest convention center, has plenty of space with nearly 1.5 million square feet.

The Gwinnett Center has 50,000 square feet of convention space in its Exhibit Hall, however.

There also needs to be enough hotel rooms, restaurants and shopping that will appeal to visitors.

Secondly, there's the fishery, and its proximity to the weigh-in area. "Realistically, we don't want to go any more than an hour's drive [from the lake to the weigh-in]," Mulone said. The Bi-Lo Center is about a half-hour from Lake Hartwell. In Georgia, Lanier is about an hour from downtown Atlanta, about a half-hour from Gwinnett's facilities.

John Biagi, the fisheries chief for the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division and head of Go Fish, said the signature events for Bassmaster and the rival FLW Tour usually cost its host city around a half million dollars. Stone said with fees, in-kind services and other expenses, such as moving a basketball tournament originally scheduled for this weekend at the Bi-Lo Center, cost Greenville about $400,000.

None of the above is relative, however, if the pro anglers can't get on and off the water quickly. That's where Go Fish comes into play.

Perdue recently announced the first 10 sites to get boat ramps. Laurel Park on Lake Lanier is one of them, and others are planned for lakes Hartwell (two ramps), Russell, Clarks Hill, West Point, Blackshear and Seminole, and Savannah and Altamaha rivers, and five more sports, possibly including Lake Allatoona, could get them later, said Biagi, who added that communities wanting the ramp have to commit to being an active partner with the state.

The 15 ramps would constitute the Georgia Bass Trail, designed to promote distinct fishing areas around the state.

Most of the ramps will cost about $1 million each, he said, with $400,000 coming from the state. The ramps will include four to eight launching lanes, courtesy docks, 200 or more long-lane parking spots for trucks and boat trailers, rest rooms, space for spectators and possibly lights.

"[Go Fish] is one of the greatest things to happen for out agency in promoting fishing in 20 or 30 years," Biagi said.

Mulane said BASS has been in frequent discussions with Georgia, and Atlanta has been considered for events in the past. He says the organization is serious in "partnering with North Georgia and with the Go Fish Initiative ... They've made this a serious public/private effort, and when a state is stepping up like that it's exciting for us to see."

"I think it can happen," Biagi said of Go Fish helping attract the Classic or FLW's Forrest Wood Cup to Georgia. "But I think it'll be a little while before it happens."