Unsanctioned leagues tend not to have a prize fund from what I have seen.  Its how Bowlero can afford a $11 a week league with 2 free open games in addition.  Agree not ideal if in it for bowling the sport.  Cheap just for fun leagues have their place (mainly to get me sub $2 games rest of the time).

As Bowling for Donuts pointed out, going unsanctioned is cheaper! No USBC sanction fee and use of the house as secretary/treasurer makes things a whole lot more manageable!

The bonding issue has not come into play so far, and as long as the house still has customers, I don't believe it will!

Wow, it's true - bowlers are cheap.

If bowling a just for fun league might as well go cheap.

This dry towel rule is nothing compared to the recent suspension of the three-unit rule and centers no longer needing to submit annual lane dressing inspection reports.

I've inspected bowling centers for the USBC before. Got flat-out told by proprietors at several of them that they would not allow us in the building or to pull lane tapes unannounced. They required us to make appointments to come in to do the inspection. To no one's surprise, the entire lane was flooded with oil for 40 feet, all the machines had weight-compliant pins in them, etc. Our tape machine sometimes couldn't get a readout because there was too much oil.

And then you'd go back in to bowl the following week and it was back to a blocked-up shot or just generally dry all the way across.

Big part of why I walked away from any kind of volunteer leadership position is the whole system is broken and not enough people care enough to band together to fix it.

Jess