Last night I subbed in a men's league in a house I haven't bowled at in a while.  (Mainly because I don't live in the area anymore). 

Immediately upon walking in I notice the house had added 4 gigantic projection screens on the backdrops of 4 pairs of lanes.  They were evenly spaced out across the house.  ESPN was playing college basketball on all 4.  Next, I noticed that it was darker on the lanes (This house was dim lit to begin with).  They had turned off the back row of lights closest to the masking units, I'm assuming to prevent glare on the screens.

I asked my friend does it stay like this during league or do they turn the lights back on and the TV's off.  Nope, it stayed that way. 

What was bad is that when they would go to commercial, some commercial had a strobe like effect to it, which made the whole house strobe.  If you bowled on a pair with the projection screens, you could see the reflection on the lanes.  It was weird throwing the ball over NC & Virginia basketball players running around everywhere.

What once was a competitive men's league is now fog & lasers away from being glow-bowl.

Is this where bowling is headed?   

Yep...... pretty much.

NO!  It is not.  Depends on the center owner.  There are many more center owners that operate bowling centers and not entertainment centers.

The people these days operate bowling centers because they can't afford to turn their bowling center into an entertainment center.

Bowling itself isn't enough to keep people occupied for the 2 1/2 hours it takes to bowl league.  They either watch TV or have their nose buried in their phone between frames.

I still cannot get over the fact that 2 years ago the juke box was turned on during league.  Since then, my average has dropped.  I just do not have the ability to tune it out especially since I hate the majority of the music played while we are bowling...

Some of the centers in my area play music -- and fairly loud, too -- during some (but not all) of the leagues.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that that's where bowling is headed. My inkling is that they would shut the TVs off and the lights back up if bowlers complained about it. I know a lot of centers that have that kind of stuff available for parties/cosmic, but they turn it all off during league. Remember, everything from lane conditions to TV/music on or off comes down to what the bowlers want. If enough people tell the proprietor that they don't want it, it will likely change because no business wants to see paying customers walk out.

Quote from: chrisleftwich on January 21, 2014, 10:46:34 AM

the Tv thing would bug me on the backdrop, but music should not bother everyone that much.  Any other sport has music, fans heckling etc.  You just have to learn to not pay attention to sounds and just focus on your mark and shot.

The standard ambient noise of a bowling alley is fine.  Heckling? Bring it on.  But crap music played loud enough that I cannot converse with my teammates is annoying.  Please name another sport where music is on DURING play.

Not saying I agree with playing music during league, but I know NBA and NHL play music during the game.  The organ music during NHL is pretty classic.  Other sports may not have music, but they may have cheerleading which can be much louder than music.  I liken bowling and golf as skill intensive sports.  Both require some intense concentration to do your best.  I've told many people I would not try golf until after I bowl 300.