Author Topic: PBA/Bowlero Announcement (Read 31215 times)

Bowler19525 · « **on:** June 23, 2022, 04:46:25 PM »

Bowlero and the PBA announced today that they are forming essentially a competing league and tournament association to counter the USBC:

https://www.pba.com/2022/june/professional-bowlers-association-launch-league-bowler-certification-program

According to JR Raymond, this is a free association for all Bowlero league bowlers starting this fall.

Raises a few immediate questions.
1) Since all Bowlero league bowlers will be included, and the PBA/Bowlero association has their own rules, will USBC sanctioning no longer be a thing at Bowlero centers? Opens the door for conflicting rules if both will still apply.

2) as this rolls out to other centers, what will be the fee for non-Bowlero bowlers?

3) Will tournaments start acknowledging the Bowlero association average as a sanctioned average for those bowlers who may have a Bowlero association average and not a USBC average?

There is a lot of potential here, but seems like there are still a lot of unknowns...

JessN16 · « **Reply #31 on:** June 25, 2022, 05:33:47 AM »

I don't see how Bowlero can roll this program out unless the company is ready to make a pivot. That includes the return of pro shops, and catering to league bowlers. Add in Tom Clark being the very public face of it in news releases -- and especially hiring Neil Stremmel, which you don't do unless you're going all-in on this concept -- and what this reads to me is a strategic change.

I agree that this will, at least temporarily, throw snags in a lot of things the USBC is involved with in the international realm, but I believe the USBC was in trouble already (and it wasn't the only bowling entity in trouble).

One thing I haven't mentioned is that I have been an executive director of two nonprofits, including one now. The one I'm involved with currently is even quasi-governmental, which adds another layer. Our budgets were/are smaller (six figures, each organization) but the fundamentals are the same: You have to get not only the right executive director in place, but also a board of directors that really gets what you're trying to do as an organization and at least attempts to stay ahead of the knowledge curve. It's that level at which most bowlers' complaints have been lodged, with the SPI bowling ball saga serving as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. My evaluation of the USBC is that they have never been required to move more quickly than they're about to be, in order to compete with Bowlero and come to some kind of truce. USBC cannot win this, IMO, but maybe it arrives at cooperative agreement where it handles some things and Bowlero others. But if Bowlero goes forward with the plan as stated in its initial releases, it doesn't appear there's much room for consensus between the two organizations.

I feel this could have been avoided had the USBC acted more collegially for -- oh, I don't know, the last 20-30 years minimum? -- but its our-way-or-the-highway attitude, especially recently, is not something it could continue to swing over everyone's head while membership numbers were in repose. If Bowlero is a shark of a company as some people think, then it's just being a shark right now, having smelled blood in the waters.

Bowler19525 · « **Reply #32 on:** June 25, 2022, 09:40:46 AM »

Quote from: bradl on June 25, 2022, 02:08:05 AM

While not defending the USBC, it didn't help that one company bought out most of the chains of alleys in the country. That does put a strain on the supply of alleys in the country, and could effective bring in talk of monopoly. But that is for another conversation altogether.

Again, I don't think that Bowlero's certification program will kill off the USBC, as a lot more than just leagues depend on the USBC. I mean, Team USA, Jr. Team USA, Collegiates, participation in PABCON, World Cup, and other international tournaments all depend on the USBC, in addition to stateside tournaments. The USBC is the governing body on those, and because of that, the USBC isn't going anywhere. At the most, Bowlero's offering will only be as an alternative to what the USBC already offers, stateside. That's why I keep saying that people need to hold fire with talk of this killing off the USBC.

BL.

Bowlero only owns around 10% of the bowling centers in the United States. They are a long way from being a bowling monopoly. An argument could perhaps be made they hold a geographic monopoly in certain areas of the country, but as a whole they are not the sole provider of bowling.

This new association is also only affecting approximately 18% of the USBC's membership, and actually much less than that when taking into consideration not all of Bowlero's league bowlers were USBC members.

It has been over a year since Bowlero purchased a chain of three local bowling centers (one of which is where I do all of my bowling.) Business hours initially changed to 4PM-10PM. They have now been expanded to 11AM-10PM each day. Leagues continue. More have been added, actually. Pro shops remain in all three centers and are still owned by the PSOs that owned them before Bowlero took over.

The biggest change is with tournaments. The only tournaments being held at my center are tournaments that were scheduled/booked under the prior owner. The usual weekly house tournaments that we had were canceled. Tournaments at the other two centers that were purchased in the same deal have continued with no interruption.

When Bowlero bought our center, we were warned that leagues were up in the air and might not continue. That has been far from reality. They have been supported, encouraged, and league offerings expanded. Additionally, Bowlero is stepping up and subsidizing the scratch leagues with added prize money. The one league I bowl in used to be sponsored by Pepsi and Pepsi would add $1500 to the prize fund. Bowlero came in, pulled all vending machines, and Pepsi pulled the sponsorship. Pepsi said it wasn't worth it to them to sponsor the league if the Pepsi branded vending machines were gone (even though Bowlero continues to serve Pepsi products in the center.) Bowlero Corporate stepped up and added the $1500 to the prize fund. They have also already committed to doing the same this upcoming season. The other big scratch league used to be sponsored by Bud Light to the tune of a $3,000 contribution to the prize fund. Bud Light backed out, and Bowlero Corporate once again stepped in and added the $3,000 to the prize fund without blinking an eye. In both cases, the manager said he called Bowlero and asked if they would make those contributions. He said he was ready for a fight, but instead Bowlero simply said "No problem, how much do you need?"

It seems there may have been a paradigm shift within Bowlero with regards to the importance of league bowlers to their bottom line. Chasing out your repeat customers is not the best business model. This new association may ultimately be an attempt to further monetize that segment of their business, but at least they are actually acknowledging the importance of the league bowlers.

bradl · « **Reply #33 on:** June 25, 2022, 08:42:29 PM »

Quote from: Bowler19525 on June 25, 2022, 09:40:46 AM

Quote from: bradl on June 25, 2022, 02:08:05 AM

While not defending the USBC, it didn't help that one company bought out most of the chains of alleys in the country. That does put a strain on the supply of alleys in the country, and could effective bring in talk of monopoly. But that is for another conversation altogether.

Again, I don't think that Bowlero's certification program will kill off the USBC, as a lot more than just leagues depend on the USBC. I mean, Team USA, Jr. Team USA, Collegiates, participation in PABCON, World Cup, and other international tournaments all depend on the USBC, in addition to stateside tournaments. The USBC is the governing body on those, and because of that, the USBC isn't going anywhere. At the most, Bowlero's offering will only be as an alternative to what the USBC already offers, stateside. That's why I keep saying that people need to hold fire with talk of this killing off the USBC.

BL.

Bowlero only owns around 10% of the bowling centers in the United States. They are a long way from being a bowling monopoly. An argument could perhaps be made they hold a geographic monopoly in certain areas of the country, but as a whole they are not the sole provider of bowling.

This new association is also only affecting approximately 18% of the USBC's membership, and actually much less than that when taking into consideration not all of Bowlero's league bowlers were USBC members.

It has been over a year since Bowlero purchased a chain of three local bowling centers (one of which is where I do all of my bowling.) Business hours initially changed to 4PM-10PM. They have now been expanded to 11AM-10PM each day. Leagues continue. More have been added, actually. Pro shops remain in all three centers and are still owned by the PSOs that owned them before Bowlero took over.

The biggest change is with tournaments. The only tournaments being held at my center are tournaments that were scheduled/booked under the prior owner. The usual weekly house tournaments that we had were canceled. Tournaments at the other two centers that were purchased in the same deal have continued with no interruption.

When Bowlero bought our center, we were warned that leagues were up in the air and might not continue. That has been far from reality. They have been supported, encouraged, and league offerings expanded. Additionally, Bowlero is stepping up and subsidizing the scratch leagues with added prize money. The one league I bowl in used to be sponsored by Pepsi and Pepsi would add $1500 to the prize fund. Bowlero came in, pulled all vending machines, and Pepsi pulled the sponsorship. Pepsi said it wasn't worth it to them to sponsor the league if the Pepsi branded vending machines were gone (even though Bowlero continues to serve Pepsi products in the center.) Bowlero Corporate stepped up and added the $1500 to the prize fund. They have also already committed to doing the same this upcoming season. The other big scratch league used to be sponsored by Bud Light to the tune of a $3,000 contribution to the prize fund. Bud Light backed out, and Bowlero Corporate once again stepped in and added the $3,000 to the prize fund without blinking an eye. In both cases, the manager said he called Bowlero and asked if they would make those contributions. He said he was ready for a fight, but instead Bowlero simply said "No problem, how much do you need?"

It seems there may have been a paradigm shift within Bowlero with regards to the importance of league bowlers to their bottom line. Chasing out your repeat customers is not the best business model. This new association may ultimately be an attempt to further monetize that segment of their business, but at least they are actually acknowledging the importance of the league bowlers.

I see what you mean. Unfortunately for a lot of other Bowlero centers, they haven't had the same experience. A lot of leagues did fall victim to their business model of pushing out customers. A lot of seniors lost their meeting/gathering place to do something fun and recreational, along with simply meeting. And it wasn't just from them pushing leagues out; 3 of the local Bowlero locations around here pushed their opening hours to 4pm, effectively shutting out their leagues; they closed down the 4th Bowlero house here completely; it was the alley where Wayne Webb had his pro shop. They then also pushed their weekend opening hours out to 1pm, which shut out any youth leagues. At one particular Bowlero here, they completely gutted the pro shop; thankfully, he was able to secure a spot outside and next door to the Bowlero location, so he's still there, and has hours separate/not depending on Bowlero being open.

If there has been a huge shift in paradigms by Bowlero, then a lot of what it would help if Bowlero would do what they are doing at your alleys across the board with all of their locations, because while you may be seeing one thing, and is the truth, others are not seeing that so they can't say the same. It would help if Bowlero put actions behind their words everywhere, so they could show that they are sincere in what they are trying to do, because having a statement about what they are doing doesn't carry much clout, compared to their actions, and they have a lot of actions to undo.

BL.

svengali · « **Reply #34 on:** June 27, 2022, 12:06:16 AM »

Caught the Tom Clark interview on The Bowler's Show and encouraged by this. Even though I am not the biggest fan of Bowlero I can appreciate that an effort is being made to actually grow league bowling. Clark mentioned that there are 180,000 league bowlers at Bowlero centers (yay, an organization that actually provides #s instead of keeping it a secret). He did also say that Bowlero leagues will have the option to also be sanctioned by the USBC which would bring up an interesting scenario for any mid-season rule changes that one organization imposes but not the other.

It will be interesting to see what the USBC's response is to this. I think it's going to be really hard for them to make any big rule changes unless the PBA is on board with it. Cause now league bowlers will have an option to sanction through the PBA once this is opened to non-bowlero centers.

ignitebowling · « **Reply #35 on:** June 27, 2022, 07:27:17 AM »

People post a lot about Bowlero and not liking league bowlers in their houses which maybe true but it doesn't mean they and the PBA dont see a market for league bowlers and a governing body that includes centers everywhere and not just Bowlero.

Will be interesting

Bowler19525 · « **Reply #36 on:** June 27, 2022, 08:51:59 AM »

Also just watched Tom Clark on The Bowler's Show. This new association seems to have been announced in its very infancy. They should have waited until 2023 to roll this out. You can't announce new rules and equipment specifications when they haven't been written yet, nor before the person leading that department has started working for you.

Basically what we have is a situation where Bowlero bowlers will be told they are in this program, but they really won't see any benefits until the 2023 season. It is still just a concept, if not a pipe dream at this point.

I just showed this interview to a former VP of our local USBC association, and he just laughed and said it made his head hurt. He also said that despite what narrative Tom Clark is putting out there, this is all a marketing ploy to promote the PBA brand. Nothing more, nothing less.

As Bowlero bowlers through acquisition of our home center, we now don't care at all what happens and don't expect this to gain any traction. The USBC may have issues, but this PBA program is going to be even worse. Oh well, my cautious optimism has been replaced by skepticism after Clark's interview.

Bowls 300s · « **Reply #37 on:** June 27, 2022, 09:00:00 AM »

Quote from: ignitebowling on June 27, 2022, 07:27:17 AM

People post a lot about Bowlero and not liking league bowlers in their houses which maybe true but it doesn't mean they and the PBA dont see a market for league bowlers and a governing body that includes centers everywhere and not just Bowlero.

Will be interesting

Nothing interesting about Bowlero. They are making mistakes we knew not to make 50 years ago.

On so many levels, time I boycott this scourge on the sport and never set foot in one of their centers again. Which here in Phoenx will leave me (1) center as an option or driving 40 miles for another.

70s my industry start. Reared by truly great seasoned proprioetors and some of the games greatest mentor's for coaching, PSO training and every end from front desk to back room. At least 2000 hours outside of centers trainning not counting travel, hotel even renting an apartment once for 9 months. A decision I make not by being uniformed.

If the 80s was not a big enough disaster, this one will make it pale in comparison.

bradl · « **Reply #38 on:** June 27, 2022, 03:41:36 PM »

Quote from: ignitebowling on June 27, 2022, 07:27:17 AM

People post a lot about Bowlero and not liking league bowlers in their houses which maybe true but it doesn't mean they and the PBA dont see a market for league bowlers and a governing body that includes centers everywhere and not just Bowlero.

Will be interesting

I get that, and it's about time they recognize their mistake by shutting out league bowling, as they had them prior to and during the first couple of months of the acquisition. But to get rid of them, and then now want them back, they have to at least acknowledge that they screwed up so they can get the sympathy of those bowlers they lost. That would take them a long way with getting them back.

As far as a governing body goes, that won't happen. The reason: The PBA is corporate. Unless the PBA submits paperwork to the USOC and USPC to become that national governing body, open up their books for scrutiny by the USOC, USPC and Congress, the PBA can not have this program become the governing body for the sport of bowling in the US. Their rules and setup would have to change, apply to be that governing body (and subject to the USOC, USPC, USADA, the Court of Arbitration of Sport, and be compliant to Title IX, which they haven't even begun to go down that road yet, let alone think about it.

BL.

txbowler · « **Reply #39 on:** June 27, 2022, 06:21:30 PM »

Please, please, please explain something to me.

You decide to open a bowling center or own one. You have 32 lanes. In order to open you must turn on lights and air conditioning for the entire place. You must pay employees to be there. You complain that bowler pushed out seniors and youth.

How many lanes were your seniors and youth using?

Most of the time I visited centers early Saturday morning or during the week when seniors bowled a league, less than 50% of the lanes were in use. How do you expect a business to make money.

Yes Bowlero has made some poor decisions. But I cannot fault them for adjusting their hours so that they can make a profit. Even centers owed by individuals are trying to make a profit.

If I owned a center and saw thru metrics that opening early for youth and seniors was not a profitable thing to do, I too would adjust my hours. I wouldn't lose money because that's just the way it was done in the past.

It's quite selfish in my opinion that bowlers think they are special and places of business should lose money because well they used to be open. It's not a business' job to be a place for seniors to meet.

And yes bowling is not growing as a sport. And if you think that is because Bowlero isn't open Saturday mornings, I disagree. Kids these days care about video games, Netflix, etc. All youth participation sports are down across the country. You shouldn't blame that on Bowlero.

Yes USBC needs to improve. I agree 100% on that.

But USBC membership is $22 (maybe going up) a year. That's 1/6 of the new bowling ball you just bought from Storm. That's the cost of the package of finger tape you bought from the pro shop.

I don't understand what you are expecting for $22 for an entire year. Bowlers bitch that they don't get multiple rings. Each ring at a minimum cost USBC $50. So your bitching that "you" didn't make a profit on your $22 investment.

USBC servers all levels of bowlers. Yes most of the complaining I see on here comes from the 190+ averages. (not always) Go survey your 150-170 average league bowlers who buy $50 worth of beer each week. You know what, they don't care what USBC does or doesn't do. They pay their $22 a year and order their 3 pitchers of beer a night. It's a select group of bowlers that want/expect USBC to meet their needs. The rest don't care.

milorafferty · « **Reply #40 on:** June 27, 2022, 06:40:23 PM »

Quote from: txbowler on June 27, 2022, 06:21:30 PM

Please, please, please explain something to me.

You decide to open a bowling center or own one. You have 32 lanes. In order to open you must turn on lights and air conditioning for the entire place. You must pay employees to be there. You complain that bowler pushed out seniors and youth.

How many lanes were your seniors and youth using?

Most of the time I visited centers early Saturday morning or during the week when seniors bowled a league, less than 50% of the lanes were in use. How do you expect a business to make money.

Yes Bowlero has made some poor decisions. But I cannot fault them for adjusting their hours so that they can make a profit. Even centers owed by individuals are trying to make a profit.

If I owned a center and saw thru metrics that opening early for youth and seniors was not a profitable thing to do, I too would adjust my hours. I wouldn't lose money because that's just the way it was done in the past.

It's quite selfish in my opinion that bowlers think they are special and places of business should lose money because well they used to be open. It's not a business' job to be a place for seniors to meet.

And yes bowling is not growing as a sport. And if you think that is because Bowlero isn't open Saturday mornings, I disagree. Kids these days care about video games, Netflix, etc. All youth participation sports are down across the country. You shouldn't blame that on Bowlero.

Yes USBC needs to improve. I agree 100% on that.

But USBC membership is $22 (maybe going up) a year. That's 1/6 of the new bowling ball you just bought from Storm. That's the cost of the package of finger tape you bought from the pro shop.

I don't understand what you are expecting for $22 for an entire year. Bowlers bitch that they don't get multiple rings. Each ring at a minimum cost USBC $50. So your bitching that "you" didn't make a profit on your $22 investment.

USBC servers all levels of bowlers. Yes most of the complaining I see on here comes from the 190+ averages. (not always) Go survey your 150-170 average league bowlers who buy $50 worth of beer each week. You know what, they don't care what USBC does or doesn't do. They pay their $22 a year and order their 3 pitchers of beer a night. It's a select group of bowlers that want/expect USBC to meet their needs. The rest don't care.

It depends on the bowling alley I guess. Bowlero in Manteca CA started out well, but now they seem to be cutting every corner they can. The AC has not worked for more than a year. They finally fixed the unit that cooled the offices and desk area, but not the lanes.

They also don't clean the place, the bathrooms have not been cleaned in months. Lanes are broken and not repaired, but at least they painted the walls and ceilings black to look good with the glow bowling lights.

Oddly enough, they are losing bowlers. Yea, the 190+ bowlers are bitching about it when the temp gets over 100 degrees here in Central California. What a bunch of cry babies.

Bowls 300s · « **Reply #41 on:** June 27, 2022, 07:59:38 PM »

Quote from: milorafferty on June 27, 2022, 06:40:23 PM

Quote from: txbowler on June 27, 2022, 06:21:30 PM
Please, please, please explain something to me.

You decide to open a bowling center or own one. You have 32 lanes. In order to open you must turn on lights and air conditioning for the entire place. You must pay employees to be there. You complain that bowler pushed out seniors and youth.

How many lanes were your seniors and youth using?

Most of the time I visited centers early Saturday morning or during the week when seniors bowled a league, less than 50% of the lanes were in use. How do you expect a business to make money.

Yes Bowlero has made some poor decisions. But I cannot fault them for adjusting their hours so that they can make a profit. Even centers owed by individuals are trying to make a profit.

If I owned a center and saw thru metrics that opening early for youth and seniors was not a profitable thing to do, I too would adjust my hours. I wouldn't lose money because that's just the way it was done in the past.

It's quite selfish in my opinion that bowlers think they are special and places of business should lose money because well they used to be open. It's not a business' job to be a place for seniors to meet.

And yes bowling is not growing as a sport. And if you think that is because Bowlero isn't open Saturday mornings, I disagree. Kids these days care about video games, Netflix, etc. All youth participation sports are down across the country. You shouldn't blame that on Bowlero.

Yes USBC needs to improve. I agree 100% on that.

But USBC membership is $22 (maybe going up) a year. That's 1/6 of the new bowling ball you just bought from Storm. That's the cost of the package of finger tape you bought from the pro shop.

I don't understand what you are expecting for $22 for an entire year. Bowlers bitch that they don't get multiple rings. Each ring at a minimum cost USBC $50. So your bitching that "you" didn't make a profit on your $22 investment.

USBC servers all levels of bowlers. Yes most of the complaining I see on here comes from the 190+ averages. (not always) Go survey your 150-170 average league bowlers who buy $50 worth of beer each week. You know what, they don't care what USBC does or doesn't do. They pay their $22 a year and order their 3 pitchers of beer a night. It's a select group of bowlers that want/expect USBC to meet their needs. The rest don't care.

It depends on the bowling alley I guess. Bowlero in Manteca CA started out well, but now they seem to be cutting every corner they can. The AC has not worked for more than a year. They finally fixed the unit that cooled the offices and desk area, but not the lanes.

They also don't clean the place, the bathrooms have not been cleaned in months. Lanes are broken and not repaired, but at least they painted the walls and ceilings black to look good with the glow bowling lights.

Oddly enough, they are losing bowlers. Yea, the 190+ bowlers are bitching about it when the temp gets over 100 degrees here in Central California. What a bunch of cry babies.

In the last 1 1/2 years frequenting a Bowlero Center the desk never asked me to sign up for a league or even come back to open bowl again.
Truly a strange way to operate a center. League building is hard work, always has been.

Bowlero Managers / Desk, last weeks Arby's managers & line cooks.

Bowlero Front desk design is truly brilliant. Putting a wall up behind the desk Personel in many centers so they cant even monitor the lanes, see a rowdy group, catch a 180 before its called in. If your in a Brunswick A2 house, look for the oil leaks running down behind the 8 pin. If their mechanics can't stop oil from entering into the pin and ball transfers systems or to lazy too, think anything else gets fixed? Think they care? Look at the condition of their house balls before throwing yours, give you a good idea what damage is instore.

Short of the USBC doing nothing to protect the intergrity of the sport, no issues with them other than the tired 45 year debates over inflated scoring.

On senior leagues, typical was more than several per week. Typical sr. times 7am, 9am, 11 am and 1 pm.
More importantly many indroduced their kids, grandkids to the sport. One of 3 extremely important demograhics if not the most important for some reason and Bowlero ran them.

Nice Job Bowlero.... clap clap clap

txbowler · « **Reply #42 on:** June 27, 2022, 08:05:48 PM »

I happen to be friends with the head mechanic at a local bowlero as well as an independent owner of a bowling center in the area.

I bowl and support both centers. Both places have "lane" issues. I have spoken to both of my friends about the issues. Here's their answers. We can't get parts.

The head mechanic showed me their order of $10,000 in parts from the distributors. They are back ordered for 2 months. Their hopes are to get the parts in so that the lanes will all be in good condition when the fall leagues start. This bowlero house supports leagues and has grown their leagues. They have leagues every night of the week except Friday and Saturday which are the open play money makers.

The independently owned house owner told me the same thing. Lane parts backordered from China.

So it's not always the house isn't spending the money to maintain the lanes and pinsetters. There are outside issues this pandemic caused that are still being felt as far as parts availability.

I am sure there are centers that are worse than others. But in this area, both Bowlero and of course the independent house both support league bowlers.

txbowler · « **Reply #43 on:** June 27, 2022, 08:11:01 PM »

Quote from: Bowls 300s on June 27, 2022, 07:59:38 PM

Quote from: milorafferty on June 27, 2022, 06:40:23 PM
Quote from: txbowler on June 27, 2022, 06:21:30 PM
Please, please, please explain something to me.

You decide to open a bowling center or own one. You have 32 lanes. In order to open you must turn on lights and air conditioning for the entire place. You must pay employees to be there. You complain that bowler pushed out seniors and youth.

How many lanes were your seniors and youth using?

Most of the time I visited centers early Saturday morning or during the week when seniors bowled a league, less than 50% of the lanes were in use. How do you expect a business to make money.

Yes Bowlero has made some poor decisions. But I cannot fault them for adjusting their hours so that they can make a profit. Even centers owed by individuals are trying to make a profit.

If I owned a center and saw thru metrics that opening early for youth and seniors was not a profitable thing to do, I too would adjust my hours. I wouldn't lose money because that's just the way it was done in the past.

It's quite selfish in my opinion that bowlers think they are special and places of business should lose money because well they used to be open. It's not a business' job to be a place for seniors to meet.

And yes bowling is not growing as a sport. And if you think that is because Bowlero isn't open Saturday mornings, I disagree. Kids these days care about video games, Netflix, etc. All youth participation sports are down across the country. You shouldn't blame that on Bowlero.

Yes USBC needs to improve. I agree 100% on that.

But USBC membership is $22 (maybe going up) a year. That's 1/6 of the new bowling ball you just bought from Storm. That's the cost of the package of finger tape you bought from the pro shop.

I don't understand what you are expecting for $22 for an entire year. Bowlers bitch that they don't get multiple rings. Each ring at a minimum cost USBC $50. So your bitching that "you" didn't make a profit on your $22 investment.

USBC servers all levels of bowlers. Yes most of the complaining I see on here comes from the 190+ averages. (not always) Go survey your 150-170 average league bowlers who buy $50 worth of beer each week. You know what, they don't care what USBC does or doesn't do. They pay their $22 a year and order their 3 pitchers of beer a night. It's a select group of bowlers that want/expect USBC to meet their needs. The rest don't care.

It depends on the bowling alley I guess. Bowlero in Manteca CA started out well, but now they seem to be cutting every corner they can. The AC has not worked for more than a year. They finally fixed the unit that cooled the offices and desk area, but not the lanes.

They also don't clean the place, the bathrooms have not been cleaned in months. Lanes are broken and not repaired, but at least they painted the walls and ceilings black to look good with the glow bowling lights.

Oddly enough, they are losing bowlers. Yea, the 190+ bowlers are bitching about it when the temp gets over 100 degrees here in Central California. What a bunch of cry babies.

In the last 1 1/2 years frequenting a Bowlero Center the desk never asked me to sign up for a league or even come back to open bowl again.
Truly a strange way to operate a center. League building is hard work, always has been.

Bowlero Managers / Desk, last weeks Arby's managers & line cooks.

Bowlero Front desk design is truly brilliant. Putting a wall up behind the desk Personel in many centers so they cant even monitor the lanes, see a rowdy group, catch a 180 before its called in. If your in a Brunswick A2 house, look for the oil leaks running down behind the 8 pin. If their mechanics can't stop oil from entering into the pin and ball transfers systems or to lazy too, think anything else gets fixed? Think they care? Look at the condition of their house balls before throwing yours, give you a good idea what damage is instore.

Short of the USBC doing nothing to protect the intergrity of the sport, no issues with them other than the tired 45 year debates over inflated scoring.

On senior leagues, typical was more than several per week. Typical sr. times 7am, 9am, 11 am and 1 pm.
More importantly many indroduced their kids, grandkids to the sport. One of 3 extremely important demograhics if not the most important for some reason and Bowlero ran them.

Nice Job Bowlero.... clap clap clap

So you are the business owner, you are fine giving away your money to grow the sport. Good for you. Go to your local center an announce you are sponsoring a youth league. You will pay 50% of the youth's lineage so they can bowl and learn the sport. Do your part. You expect the business owners to do that. You should give away your money as well.

milorafferty · « **Reply #44 on:** June 27, 2022, 09:15:23 PM »

Quote from: txbowler on June 27, 2022, 08:05:48 PM

I happen to be friends with the head mechanic at a local bowlero as well as an independent owner of a bowling center in the area.

I bowl and support both centers. Both places have "lane" issues. I have spoken to both of my friends about the issues. Here's their answers. We can't get parts.

The head mechanic showed me their order of $10,000 in parts from the distributors. They are back ordered for 2 months. Their hopes are to get the parts in so that the lanes will all be in good condition when the fall leagues start. This bowlero house supports leagues and has grown their leagues. They have leagues every night of the week except Friday and Saturday which are the open play money makers.

The independently owned house owner told me the same thing. Lane parts backordered from China.

So it's not always the house isn't spending the money to maintain the lanes and pinsetters. There are outside issues this pandemic caused that are still being felt as far as parts availability.

I am sure there are centers that are worse than others. But in this area, both Bowlero and of course the independent house both support league bowlers.

I suppose Ajax and bathroom cleaner is also backordered

JessN16 · « **Reply #45 on:** June 28, 2022, 02:50:34 AM »

Quote from: txbowler on June 27, 2022, 08:05:48 PM

I happen to be friends with the head mechanic at a local bowlero as well as an independent owner of a bowling center in the area.

I bowl and support both centers. Both places have "lane" issues. I have spoken to both of my friends about the issues. Here's their answers. We can't get parts.

The head mechanic showed me their order of $10,000 in parts from the distributors. They are back ordered for 2 months. Their hopes are to get the parts in so that the lanes will all be in good condition when the fall leagues start. This bowlero house supports leagues and has grown their leagues. They have leagues every night of the week except Friday and Saturday which are the open play money makers.

The independently owned house owner told me the same thing. Lane parts backordered from China.

So it's not always the house isn't spending the money to maintain the lanes and pinsetters. There are outside issues this pandemic caused that are still being felt as far as parts availability.

I am sure there are centers that are worse than others. But in this area, both Bowlero and of course the independent house both support league bowlers.

That's happening in an independent house we bowl in here. A casino owns it, 16 Brunswick GSX pinsetters over Anvilane. Two of the lanes keep dropping the 2 or the 3 pin if they're still standing when the machine cycles to the second ball. Mechanic diagnoses the problem as the pincher system that grabs standing pins and orders the parts. After 2-3 months, they finally get parts -- and they're the wrong ones. Back to square one.

The oil machine was on the fritz for the better part of 3-4 months back in the winter season, same deal. Distributor couldn't get parts. I just happened to be at Kegel for a lesson and mentioned it to Del Warren and he told me to tell the center to pick up the phone and call Kegel directly, that they would help. I passed the info along to the center. Oiling issues have quieted down substantially so I guess they took Del up on his offer.

I don't know what else houses are running out of but anything that comes from China right now is a crapshoot. I'm not sure where all companies get their accessories from, but I've heard Storm is either out of its branded plugging material altogether, or supplies at least are tight. A couple of companies that sell the smooth vinyl thumb tapes are out of 1-inch width. It's a disease.

Author Topic: PBA/Bowlero Announcement (Read 31215 times)

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