January 2017 -
9
Big Bowling - Bad For
Bowling
by Frank Weiler
"In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth...the earth was without form and
void...then there was light and it was good...then
there were the fishes in the sea and the animals on
the land...then there were men and women..." Then
the men and women began to bowl!
Then the bowlers got together and organ-
ized. First there was the American Bowling Con-
gress (ABC) then the Women's International Bowl-
ing Congress (WIBC) and then The National Bowl-
ing Association (TNBA). Then the the ABC and the
WIBC merged and became the United States Bowl-
ing Congress (USBC).
Bowling Alleys sprung up throughout America and
before long they organized as the Bowling Proprie-
tors Association of America (BPAA). Corporations
got involved and came to own hundreds of
"Alleys". More and more Americans took to the
lanes and before long there were millions of sanc-
tioned league bowlers.
Then Bowling Alleys became Bowling Cen-
ters. These centers added game rooms, hosted
birthday parties and began to look away from
league bowlers as their main revenue
source. League memberships dropped and the
new USBC reduced it's benefits as it raised it's
dues. More league bowlers dropped out and bowl-
ing centers closed their doors in droves. Then the
BIG BOWLING Corporation bought up hundreds of
bowling centers in America and in other countries.
Now BIG BOWLING has a near monopoly on
bowling in many parts of America, including where I
live and bowl. As a result, things are changing for
league bowlers like myself and my team-
mates. Unfortunately these changes seem to be for
the worse.
BIG BOWLING appears to me to be BAD FOR
BOWLING. Everything that is happening and being
done in the two BIG BOWLING centers that I bowl
in appear to be against the best interests of league
bowlers. Changes which affect pricing, services,
quality, youth, community, marketing and building
the sport all are affecting league bowlers negatively.
BIG BOWLING or corporate controlled bowling is
all about profits and the bottom line. Corporate
leaders see bowlers as sheep who love to bowl so
much that they, myself included, will show up and
put up with most anything to get their fix of bowl-
ing. They are not worried about losing league bowl-
ers. Like the old Kevin Costner movie about base-
ball, these corporate leaders feel WE WILL COME
no matter what.
The result is what we are experiencing now in my
area: increased pricing, reduced services, less qual-
ity, less for our youth programs, less community
outreach and involvement, less marketing and less
efforts to build the sport by supporting USBC. Let's
take a closer look at each of these areas.
At the BIG BOWLING centers I bowl in PRICING
is going through the roof. The price of food and
drinks are up twenty-five to fifty percent. At the
same time the quantity of food is less. I haven't
counted the number of french fries in my latest
combo but they sure cover a smaller area on my
plate than they once did. The hot dogs look smaller
as do the hamburger patties. At the same time It
appears that bigger buns are COVERING UP the
smaller meat products.
Get ready folks, the seven dollar hot dog is around
the corner! Corporate knows there is no problem
with that, bowlers are willing to pay for quality. The
gourmet pickles and real French Dijon mustard are
worth it.
What about the price of bowling? Open bowling is
up to six dollars a game with a ten dollar price tag
rumored and maybe just around the corner. If the
number of recreational bowlers begin to outnumber
league bowlers look for league lineage to go
up. This season we only experienced a modest
increase in league lineage while the independent
center I bowl in had no price increase in league line-
age.
One of the big reductions in league benefits this
year was the reduction in practice benefits for
league bowlers. A few years ago all league bowlers
received three free practice games of bowling eve-
ryday. Now that BIG BOWLING has taken over we
get two free practice games a week per
league. That's a big downgrade in our league bene-
fits.
BIG BOWLING is cutting back on employee hours
and the number of employees. Hence, SERVICE is
down. At one of my centers there is no mechanic
on duty during the day, until four in the after-
noon. That means if there is a mechanical
problem during the daytime it won't be fixed
until later. Bowlers either have to move to an-
other pair of lanes or bowl a make-up. Also,
our rest rooms don't seem to be serviced as
often as in the past.
Personnel turnover seems to be greater now
with new desk personnel seeming to appear on
a regular basis. While most of the new people
are cordial the feeling isn't the same as the old
days when desk personnel were around for
years and knew your name. The personal
touch is being lost.
In addition to many of the problems I men-
tioned above, the second BIG BOWLING center
I bowl at has drastically cut back it's operating
hours. Daytime hours are pretty much a thing
of the past. Also, their operating hours some-
times change without notice. One day they will
open at eleven in the morning but then change
to one o'clock in the afternoon, without notice.
The QUALITY of our lane conditions is way
down this season. Ninety percent of our
bowler's averages are down this year. In my
leagues half of the bowlers are averaging ten to
over twenty pins lower than last year. This in-
cludes my scratch league that boasts nearly a
dozen PBA bowlers and PBA Champions. It
appears that the centers I am bowling in are
cutting back on lane maintenance by oiling the
lanes less and not cleaning the lanes. Also,
there are rumors that the houses are using
lower grade oil.
I have also noticed that it seems that less empha-
sis is being placed on our YOUTH PRO-
GRAMS. One of my centers has no youth program
whatsoever and the other has a very small
one. The center with a program never uses the
youth products available from USBC. Alarmingly,
they do not participate in the USBC Volunteer Certi-
fication Program.
When it comes to COMMUNITY OUTREACH and
MARKETING I see very little at my BIG BOWLING
centers. These centers seem to operate in a world
of their own. Any events they host which do involve
the outside community are a product of their league
bowlers initiatives and not generated by center
management.
Finally, I see little effort by BIG BOWLING when it
comes to BUILDING THE SPORT. They never host
local USBC tournaments and they do not allow the
local USBC Association to advertise their local tour-
naments, which are being conducted in independ-
ent centers in the area. Cooperation with the local
USBC Association minimal.
While BIG BOWLING may be good for business,
IS BIG BOWLING BAD FOR BOWLING? Yes, it is
beginning to look that way to this
league bowler.
As I wrote above, I believe these BIG BOWLING
executives are taking bowlers for granted. I also
believe that because bowlers love to bowl so much
and are so dedicated to our sport these corporate
executives will get away with fleecing us.
