Anyone watching professional bowling on Sundays?

The Game Room
1

One of the first threads I ever started when I joined the board was about professional bowling and how miserable prize funds and such are when compared to other similarly categorized sports - most notably, golf. Since that time, the PBA has continued to work very hard on improving its image through marketing. It has gained more and better sponsors. It has worked on getting its crowds and announcers to be more lively. It has a regular spot on ESPN, and has even had some minor success resurrecting the women’s tour.

What I’m wondering is if all this effort has had any noticeable effect on sports fans in general. I haven’t seen any ratings figures for the PBA telecasts to make a comparison, so I’ll take a simpler approach:

**1. How many of you out there have watched a PBA broadcast at all in the last year?

  1. How many watch on a regular basis?

  2. For those that haven’t watched, is there anything that the PBA or ESPN could do to get you interested, or are you just completely turned off by the idea of watching bowling on TV?**

2

Hambone!
I’ve watched it, but only when I notice it’s on when flipping channels. The thing that would make me more interested would be if I bowled more - now, its “oh, yeah, I used to watch bowling when I was little. I used to bowl a lot, too.”

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It’s on right after Roller Derby & before the Abbott & Costello re-runs, right? :wink:

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1. How many of you out there have watched a PBA broadcast at all in the last year?
I catch them when flipping through ESPN 17 Classic Deportes Au Lait or whichever channel it is, and will sometimes watch a frame or two.

2. How many watch on a regular basis?
Not I. For one, maybe I’m watching the wrong channel or the wrong time, but it usually seems to be some tournament from 15 years ago. That doesn’t improve its watchability for me.

3. For those that haven’t watched, is there anything that the PBA or ESPN could do to get you interested, or are you just completely turned off by the idea of watching bowling on TV?
Better announcers and better production values would be two good starting points. I mean, ESPN manages to sell Texas Hold 'Em, the least kinetic of all leisure pursuits, so bowling isn’t an impossibility. Give me two announcers - one of whom is specifically there for the benefit of laymen, newbies and amateurs. Give me a variety of camera shots. Give me on-screen graphics that are actually informative - what percentage of the time does this bowler convert this split?

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I was wondering if there were any other PBA fans around here.

I’m a PBA member. Don’t look for me on TV anytime soon, though–I can’t afford to go out on tour (like about 90% of the members), so my participation is limited to regional events in my area, and the odd national event I can get to.

Anyway, to answer your questions, I watch every week and have since the '60s when it was on ABC on Saturday afternoons.

As far as prize funds and sponsors go, while some progress has been made recently, we are still well short of how it used to be. Motel 6, Lumber Liquidators and CLR are hardly a substitute for Lincoln-Mercury, Miller Beer or Brunswick. 20 years ago, pros were getting $40,000 for winning; this year, we’re down to $25,000. It’s a major sticking point with the members. For further discussion on the subject, may I suggest www.pba.com , mouse-over “interactive” and click on “message boards”. There’s always some sort of discussion on this particular subject. Warning: there are idiot trolls lurking there; not many, but they can get annoying. Just ignore them.

IMHO, the main problem with the drop in the PBA’s TV ratings is simple: back then, there was no cable TV and not much else to watch on weekends. Now, there are so many choices out there, they just can’t compete. Back then, ABC paid all the production costs and got the sponsors. Now, the PBA pays for everything and has to get the sponsors. As you can imagine, that doesn’t leave much for prize funds.

And as far as the golf comparison goes, you have to remember that the average golf fan has a much higher median income that the average bowling fan; therefore golf attracts more high-end sponsorship. If you want to be outraged, a better comparison would be bass fishing tournaments. These guys get a top prize of $50,000 for catching FISH, fer chrissakes! And their sponsors aren’t much better than the PBA’s.

Combine that with this fact: the number of sanctioned league bowlers has decreased by about 75% in the past 20 years! Less bowlers means less interest means less viewers.

Short of a major network deal and a huge cash infusion from high-end sponsors, I don’t see any way the PBA improves its current situation without resorting to some form of cheap exploitation, and I assure you, that would not sit well with those of us who take the sport (yes, I said sport!) seriously.

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For the record, the current broadcasts have all of these things. The current season will end soon, and I believe this week is an off week, but if you can, try to catch ESPN (the main one) next Sunday morning at 12:30PM EDT to see what today’s shows look like. If you miss it, I also believe they rebroadcast the prior week’s tournament on Monday mornings at 9am on ESPN Classic.

aktep, I hate you. :slight_smile: That phrase is about the worst thing ever, and I really hate Rob Stone compared to Dave Ryan from last year. However, the fans seem to like it, and anything that increases popularity is good for the game. So, much in the same way I feel about cosmic/glow bowling, I will suffer for the sake of the sport.

want2know, that’s a great post, thank you. All of your points are solid. I wanted to add that because of the lack of prize funds, most of the guys even on the national tour have “day jobs” because they can’t afford to stay on tour otherwise. Only the very top money earners can afford to bowl full-time. On a personal note, I hope you’re able to rack up some wins in the regionals! Do you coach as well?

I used to be a member of the PBA.com boards, but I got kind of tired of it after a while.

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I’ll watch a frame or two on occasion, and do watch and like the trick shot competitions, although those are kind of limited in the number of tricks one can do in a bowling lane I suppose. Other than naked ball girls I don’t know of anything that would get me to watch more.

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No, I don’t coach (apart from my wife on occasion). I have a hard enough time keeping my own head out of my a** without worrying about someone else! :smiley:

Thanks for the encouragement, though. I’m just now starting to figure out the PBA patterns–my next shot is the Senior U.S. Open here in Vegas in June.

Re Rob Stone–I have to confess that, in the beginning, I hated the hell out of him. But over time, he sorta grows on you. His knowledge of the sport has gotten better; for the record, I still hate “hambone”, but the crowd has gotten into it, so that’s ultimately a good thing. The byplay between him and Randy is acually fun to listen to. Still miss Chris and Bo, but I guess things must change to some extent if any progress is to be made.

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I suppose he’s grown on me, too, if for no other reason than that he genuinely seems to have fun doing the announcing. I still prefer to have someone like Dave Ryan, who seemed to balance Randy Pedersen, more than Rob, who seems to encourage Randy to go more overboard (and vice-versa). But again, if it helps the popularity of the broadcasts, what can you do?

I’m really sort of fortunate in that my two favorite sports – baseball and bowling – fill the holes in each other’s off-seasons for me. Still, sad that bowling season is nearly at an end.

I’ll just have to look forward to sweeping in Vegas in May. :slight_smile:

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I watch. I always liked to watch bowling. It is a simple sport. Almost anyone can do it. But doing it well requires focus and concentration. At the highest levels you have to control yourself.
I am bored by the trick shots.