note: I've never bowled in a Bowlmor center

http://nbr.com/2016/12/23/how-i-made-my-millions-bowlmor-amf/

If you want to be mad at someone....be mad at the people who do not re-invest in their business. They run it into the ground and in the end hurt bowling. It happens in many different businesses including restaurants.

^^^^

This is a good point as well.

It seems to me that Bowlmor doesn't really care about the league bowler and caters to the birthday parties, company parties and open bowling wit the flashing lights. I know in the house I bowl in they asked our league to transfer to another one a short distance away a couple of years ago thinking that they were really going to rack up on open bowling on the Friday nights when our league bowled but it was a flop and they asked us to come back and we did. At the start of league each year they promise the moon and don't deliver, the machines break down quite often and in some instances they will put open bowling on the lanes next to league which is a treat in itself. Also if you go in to practice you just never know what you will get sometimes no oil sometimes so much carry down no hook. In our area it seems to me that Bowl America is looking after the league bowler in a much more professional way and encourage league bowling where as I said earlier Bowlmor just doesn't.

Na, it's all USBC's fault. I gave them $10, so I know they have plenty of money to fix all these problems. 

League and competitive bowling will always be around. The numbers will depend on many factors including the bowlers themselves.

Times have changed and bowling has to as well. Most people do not want to commit to 30 to 40 week leagues. New bowlers especially. League formats, tournament formats, length of seasons are all a big part of what has to be considered to maintain and grow new bowlers.

Keep doing what you always have and expects everyone else to change cannot continue to be bowlings motto.

I think the other thing that we need to take into consideration is our proximity to the current standing that bowling is in.

What I mean is that we are seeing this only how it relates to us in this country. So far, when we complain about BowlMor, and subsequently, the current state of league bowling in the USA, we are not taking into account how well it is doing overseas. Cases in point: reference how well it is going in Europe, the middle east, China, and especially Japan. When we take those regions into perspective with our own, does it really look so bleak?

My understanding is that Qubica/AMF is a different entity altogether than that of AMF/Bowlmor, just as Brunswick is a different entity than BrunswickZone/Bowlmor. If so, how is league bowling faring at those alleys versus Bowlmor?

For example, and while a lot of this is for show, when you look at a QubicaAMF house:

https://www.qubicaamf.com/plan-your-bowling-project/gallery

or a Brunswick house:

http://www.brunswickbowling.com/photo-gallery/view-all/

How is league bowling looking? I know it's definitely thriving at two of the alleys listed: Kingpins in Portland, OR, and Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, NE. But what about the others and everywhere else outside the US?

My point here is that we are staying so US-centric that we are drowning in our despairs due to the state of bowling in our own region and not seeing the big picture worldwide.

BL.

I feel for all of you who have bowled in the past or currently at Bowlmor/AMF/Brunswick centers where Tom Shannon's model of party/boutique bowling is the future.
But, I can tell you based on my experience while traveling all over this wonderful country 6 months of every year, that both league and open bowling are cohabitating together and doing just fine in the majority of centers I have bowled at.
I believe I read on BR in a post that Shannon's centers comprise about 8.5% of all active centers.  So his model in no way represents the majority of centers when it comes to deciding the future of bowling.
Understanding there are exceptions, I believe traditional bowling is alive & well in centers where the owners are investing in their centers making it a place that is attractive to be in for both league and open bowlers. As an example one of our local centers just invested 1M in what was a "dump" and dying.  Now it is a thriving center
with a 25% increase in leagues as well as a packed house with open bowling. 
Bottom line, I do not buy the "doom & gloom" for bowlings future in the USA.  To that point I will not be selling my league equipment anytime soon.

Steven,
Spot On; +1