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Bass pro's gone fishing for public cash.

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BASS PRO SHOPS IS ENTERING uncharted waters. The Springfield-based outdoor retailer's accelerated growth plan is casting the Bass Pro brand into four new markets this year with plans to land 10 more in each of the next two years.

The company has reached nine new deals this year. In its previous 32 years, Bass Pro Shops opened 22 stores.

"We've never had retail growth like this," spokesman Larry Whiteley said. "A lot of it is the demand for Bass Pro Shops stores across America."

Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Independence, Mo., are the latest communities to bite on the Bass Pro promise: at least $30 million in local sales and more than 2 million visitors annually.

That's what Bass Pro officials guaranteed the city of Broken Arrow, Okla., and a private developer there in a three-way deal reached in March, the developer and city officials told SBJ. The city's tradeoff: financing construction of a $20 million Bass Pro Outdoor World and an additional $4 million in site improvements.

"Our financing wasn't any different than what other cities provide to get a Bass Pro Shops in," said Broken Arrow Mayor Richard Carter, who is elated about netting the retail giant.

Such is the Bass Pro business model these days. "Build it and Bass Pro will come" is the message sent to municipalities and developers around the country.

Of the nine new store announcements this year, six deals include public monies, most for financing new store construction and infrastructure improvements totaling $20 million or more (see timeline). In some cases, Bass Pro anchors a larger commercial development. A combination of Bass Pro rent and portions of the city's sales taxes derived from that development are used to pay down the city's debt.

Bass Pro officials say cities, states and developers are pushing the expansion....

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