There is a big whine going on the PBA site about how they feel the ball companies are screwing over the exempt players.

The contracts being offered are not very good in terms of financial incentives and the ball companies are saying in reality the national pros really don’t sell very many balls and they want to sponsor the local guys more so that their products are seen in the local markets.

Plus there are statements that if you are not on staff it will be difficult at best to buy equipment off the truck and little equipment will be given complimentary.

I feel that all the exempt pros should be able to buy any companies equipment off the truck at a nominal price. And if the ball was returned after the tournament then the company should refund the price of the ball.

In many cases I feel the pros have cut their own throats. I’ve known several national/regional pros that were/are on ball staffs. They hurt their sponsors by selling balls into the local market.

They dump used balls by the dozens on the local scene plus I’ve seen dozens of new in the box balls being sold by the staffers that they were given to them. These guys are suppose to be helping there sponsors sell balls not saturate the market with their discarded equipment some of which is their current premium releases.

If I was a ball company I would require a deposit on equipment requested and that they would receive the money back when they returned it, unless they asked permission to give it away in which case the deposit would be refunded.

It is sad that it has come to this but with the PBA fees and the current state of bowling economics I don’t know If I blame the ball companies for cutting back on the their staffs and incentives offered.

Sawbones – 15 years ago I would have said that TV sold balls. After a show was on and someone had won impressively you would see several inquiries on whatever ball it was. I remember selling lots of Ebonite Thunderbolts and Nitro’s after they were on a show.

But as we got into the resin era and the constant releasing of new balls you didn’t seem to see this as much. Now at the same time the PBA went from ABC every Saturday afternoon to being shuffled around on ESPN (if shown at all) so I don’t know if that is a fair comparison.

The last ball I really remember selling because of TV exposure was the Track Heat after Hoskins won several tournaments with it.

But you seldom see a ball show up on more than a show or two anymore.

Supposedly the bowlers on this site are more refined and in tune with bowling than the run of the mill bowlers.  Whats the biggest post after every telecast, "What was so & so using".

TV sells balls, period.
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~~~SrK - Have balls, will travel

1st law of combat, "Bullets always have the right of way"

i know a regional player on hammer staff----he gets free balls and doesn't cash at the regional level. yet, exempt players on the national tour don't ? this is lunacy.

One of the best tv seen bowling balls was the Quantum Helix.  The day after Walter and Jaros used them, distributors were going though them like hot cakes!!