Maybe I don't see as others do. I don't think Bowlmor getting rid of some daytime leagues and some weekend leagues as a "nail in the coffin" for bowling ball sales. Will every displaced bowler go to another bowling alley? Probably not.
Perhaps the new owner is just giving lip service:
In an interview after the merger, Shannon said that Bowlmor was the “only bidder willing to pay†to help AMF out of bankruptcy. It was the second time in 10 years that AMF had been in bankruptcy.
“I didn’t buy AMF to get in bankruptcy a third time, but to save it,†Shannon had said in the July 9 interview.
In that interview, Shannon also declared that league bowling under the new company was “very safe.â€
“We plan to increase the league bowling business, not shrink it,†Shannon had said.
I may not agree with what is happening with the AMF centers. I currently bowl in an AMF center. But there is a reason AMF has filed for bankruptcy twice in the last ten years. One possible reason is there simply are too many bowling centers. If this endeavor makes money for Shannon, then more power to him.
I could have sworn that in the past 15 - 20 years, AMF had gone into bankruptcy at least 3 times. I thought they were in the deep red after they put out the Night Hawk in 1993, but I can't remember..
But too many bowling centers? Again, my only references may be Omaha, Lincoln, Vegas, and Sacramento, but I've seen more of a
decline in bowling centers than a surplus, and this is going back to at least 1991. Back then, Omaha had 21 centers. Now, they are down to 12 (I believe you may have to be military to bowl at the AFB, save the JTC league). Lincoln only has 3 centers (down from
, again since 1991.
Sacramento just dropped 4 centers in the past 4 years, and possibly more prior to 2003.
The only place that had seen an increase that I am aware of, is Las Vegas. When I moved there in 1998, they had:
Boulder Bowl
Sunset Lanes (not the one at Sunset Station)
Sam's Town
Orleans
Gold Coast
Showboat
Jerry's 300
Santa Fe Station
Between 1998 and now, they've added at least 5:
Suncoast
Texas Station
Sunset Station
South Point
Red Rock Station
They lost Showboat when the casino closed, and Sunset Lanes became Wildfire Lanes. For a short time, even the Rio had a bowling center in it!
I really don't think that the problem is surplus of centers. If anything, that would be to the league bowler's advantage, as it would put the onus on the centers to drop prices to get those leagues into their center. Otherwise, we are paying through the nose for prime slots.
Edit: The bowling community has been wanting a new direction. The current state of affairs is not making bowling popular with a large percentage of the public. Yet any real change is scoffed at because it doesn't fit into some 50 year old model of what everyone remembers from way back when.
Do I like the initial perception of what is happening. Not really. But at the same time, who has done anything different to bowling in the last 30 years? No one has; and the game has suffered because of it.
If Shannon is true to his word and wants to increase league bowling, then make your displeasures known. But at the same time, be vocal on things that are going well also. Don't be a Debbie Downer all the time. An active CEO will want to know how the new implemented operations are working for their customers.
Totally agree here. If league bowling is 'safe', we should make our voices heard at his office, in his email, on his phone, in his voice mail, everywhere that this guy goes outside of his home or personal matters. If we're going to make sure that this comes out in the best interests of the league bowler, we have to affect that change.
BL.
