New "World Series" is the PBA's boldest move in 40 years By Matt Fiorito
03/30/09
The PBA's decision to truncate the fall tour of the 2009-10 season by staging seven events in the Detroit area from Aug. 1 to Sept. 7 - and calling it the World Series of Bowling - is the boldest move I've seen the organization make in the 40 years I've been covering it.
Obviously, it's great for the Detroit area and its bowling fans, but is it good for the PBA? Overall, the hometown equation notwithstanding, I'd have to give it a definite maybe.
Column
Republished courtesy of Stars&Strikes Vol. 19, No. 4 (April 2009)
The PBA's decision to truncate the fall tour of the 2009-10 season by staging seven events in the Detroit area from Aug. 1 to Sept. 7 - and calling it the World Series of Bowling - is the boldest move I've seen the organization make in the 40 years I've been covering it.Obviously, it's great for the Detroit area and its bowling fans, but is it good for the PBA? Overall, the hometown equation notwithstanding, I'd have to give it a definite maybe.
The move has some risks, especially the fact that six of the seven finals will be taped for an ESPN television series that will be shown from mid-October to early December.
There is also the question of whether concentrating the tour in Detroit will erode or alienate the fan base in the cities to which the tour usually travels. But give commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer and vice president and COO Tom Clark credit for trying something proactive to improve the overall viability of the tour.
The obvious benefit is that everyone involved will save money. The PBA, I'm guessing, will save more than $500,000 by not having to set up, tear down and haul its TV setup around the country for seven weeks. That savings will be a big boost in the current economic climate and should enable the PBA to direct more resources to the second half of the 2009-10 tour, which will have all live events.
The players will save, too - on gas costs, and wear and tear on their vehicles, as well as on housing, which will be cheaper by the month than by the week.
Player reaction has been muted, with most seeming to accept it, as I do, as something worth trying. The biggest howl of protest came from some of the diehards on the PBA's interactive forums bemoaning the fact that they won't bother watching the shows on television when they already know the results. But, the history of bowling's television ratings has shown that bowling fans will watch in about the same numbers whether a show is live or taped, and even if the winners have been made public. When the women's pro tour was still alive, its finals telecast were taped for years and that had no effect on the ratings.
More recent proof is the four taped telecasts of the quarterfinals of the 2007 Women's U.S. Open, which drew similar or better ratings than the live finale. And let's face facts. In today's world of sports television it's the tail that wags the dog. This move wouldn't have been made if there had been any qualms among the ESPN honchos.
The few thousand "insiders" on the PBA forums and elsewhere who will be aware of the PBA fall tour results will be more than counterbalanced by the half-million or more viewers who won't have heard or won't remember who won, or will still watch even if they do know. It's not like bowling is banner news in the nation's biggest daily newspapers, or a staple of highlight shows on ESPN.
Overall, the World Series of Bowling is a smart, money-saving move for the PBA and the players, If the PWBA had done something like this to finish the last four events of its troubled final season in 2003, it might still be alive today.
The only thing I don't like is the format for the fall finale, the World Championship, which is the only show that will have a live telecast for the finals. The four finalists will be determined in September, but will have to wait until Dec. 13 (location yet to be announced) to bowl for the title.
That was a bad idea for the Women's U.S. Open in 2007 and it's a bad idea now. I don't think it's fair to the bowlers to have their mood and momentum killed by the delay.
But, the bowling world didn't end because of the two-month delay for the finals of the 2007 Women's U.S. Open, and it won't come crashing down because the finalists in the 2009 PBA World Championship will have to wait for three months to shoot for the title.
Although if I were one of the finalists, I'd be awfully careful crossing the street during that time.
Matt Fiorito is an award winning bowling writer and sports editor for the Detroit Free Press, and a member of the PBA Hall of Fame.
There is also the question of whether concentrating the tour in Detroit will erode or alienate the fan base in the cities to which the tour usually travels. But give commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer and vice president and COO Tom Clark credit for trying something proactive to improve the overall viability of the tour.
The obvious benefit is that everyone involved will save money. The PBA, I'm guessing, will save more than $500,000 by not having to set up, tear down and haul its TV setup around the country for seven weeks. That savings will be a big boost in the current economic climate and should enable the PBA to direct more resources to the second half of the 2009-10 tour, which will have all live events.
The players will save, too - on gas costs, and wear and tear on their vehicles, as well as on housing, which will be cheaper by the month than by the week.
Player reaction has been muted, with most seeming to accept it, as I do, as something worth trying. The biggest howl of protest came from some of the diehards on the PBA's interactive forums bemoaning the fact that they won't bother watching the shows on television when they already know the results. But, the history of bowling's television ratings has shown that bowling fans will watch in about the same numbers whether a show is live or taped, and even if the winners have been made public. When the women's pro tour was still alive, its finals telecast were taped for years and that had no effect on the ratings.
More recent proof is the four taped telecasts of the quarterfinals of the 2007 Women's U.S. Open, which drew similar or better ratings than the live finale. And let's face facts. In today's world of sports television it's the tail that wags the dog. This move wouldn't have been made if there had been any qualms among the ESPN honchos.
The few thousand "insiders" on the PBA forums and elsewhere who will be aware of the PBA fall tour results will be more than counterbalanced by the half-million or more viewers who won't have heard or won't remember who won, or will still watch even if they do know. It's not like bowling is banner news in the nation's biggest daily newspapers, or a staple of highlight shows on ESPN.
Overall, the World Series of Bowling is a smart, money-saving move for the PBA and the players, If the PWBA had done something like this to finish the last four events of its troubled final season in 2003, it might still be alive today.
The only thing I don't like is the format for the fall finale, the World Championship, which is the only show that will have a live telecast for the finals. The four finalists will be determined in September, but will have to wait until Dec. 13 (location yet to be announced) to bowl for the title.
That was a bad idea for the Women's U.S. Open in 2007 and it's a bad idea now. I don't think it's fair to the bowlers to have their mood and momentum killed by the delay.
But, the bowling world didn't end because of the two-month delay for the finals of the 2007 Women's U.S. Open, and it won't come crashing down because the finalists in the 2009 PBA World Championship will have to wait for three months to shoot for the title.
Although if I were one of the finalists, I'd be awfully careful crossing the street during that time.
Matt Fiorito is an award winning bowling writer and sports editor for the Detroit Free Press, and a member of the PBA Hall of Fame.
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