One thing the USBC could do to save money is stop mailing all the advertisements. Also they used to mail all the sanction cards to the secretary and he would hand them out now they mail them individually. We have over 80 bowlers in our league which is about $40 in postage they spend just to mail out our sanction cards.

The majority of the bowlers in my league bowl once a week and rarely if at all bowl in tournaments. While I don't have a problem paying the extra $5 if it's truly needed to cover costs but as President of our league I am sure if they raise the fee I will have bowlers asking me what the increase is for.   

 I say yearly fees stay the same.  Raise weekly prices by $1.00, then send USBC .75 and the local .25.

1,000,000 bowlers X .75 a week = $750,000 a week.

$750,000 X 30 weeks = $22,500,000. That's way more than the $5,000,000 that a $5 dues increase will raise, would only cost $1 a week, and would also help the local associations with the cost of their local awards programs by sending them the other .25 a week!

With that kind of money how would it make bowling better?

More money for the pwba? More employees?  More pay raises?

How does this get more bowlers into the sport? We raised our fees for one league to offset lineage with $0.25 going to the house and $0.75 going to the prize fund and people complained way more then they should.

1. Define "better".

2. PWBA? Not sure if that helps or hurts, but girls are people too, and if the money they spend supporting the PWBA pays off in increased womens participation at a level where it gives equitable returns, then yea, I'm ok with it.

2a. More employees? Maybe, if they are needed. I don't have a problem with them hiring more employees, if that's what it takes to get the job done.

2b. Pay raises? Who doesn't like a pay raise? Just don't give them out for the sake of saying you did. If someone earns or deserves a raise, why shouldn't they get one?


3. Bowlers complain, that's what they do. Ball doesn't fit, lanes were oiled wrong, somebody sneezed in my backswing, yada yada yada..........


 Yes, I know it's a lot of money, but how else are you/we ever going to know if they really can fix things if we don't give them the resources they need to do it with?

 If it works, then great, because it only cost a buck a week.  If it doesn't work, we can always go the route lots of people are looking at going anyway, and that is unsanctioned.

 Like everything else in todays economy, bowling is having a harder time than ever, and they are at the point of either raising more money, or cutting more corners. I say give them a chance for a couple of years. If they still don't start getting it right, then we start exploring what comes after the USBC goes the way of the dodo bird.

Its like giving to a charity where the money goes everywhere except for where its meant to go. What exactly has the USBC done for any of your leagues? Any of the leagues Im in would run fine without them as long as proper league rules are followed. Whats the worst that can happen? Your 300 game isnt "sanctioned"? You can still buy the ring, your score still gets posted on league secretary. When it comes right down to it...who the hell is the USBC and who put them in charge to begin with? I can start a sanction org...call it world bowling counsel, sell memberships, now everybody is "sanctioned"....see the point here? The usbc is nothing more then a scam taking peoples money. Where are the awards (not that we need them) key chains, towels, rings etc...They cut back on everything yet want more money. Why is there a national office? Every state has a usbc office...why is the "national" branch taking a cut of the fees? Its like they are shaking down the local usbc offices for their cut.

If you wanted to participate in organized tennis, the adult membership for the USTA is $44.

If you wanted to participate in organized golf, the basic adult membership for the USGA is $10.  The USGA also has membership packages all the way up to $2300/yr with additional benefits.

USA Swimming is $50.


You get the idea.  Bowling at a cost of around $20 is one of the cheapest options.  If you don't like the direction you can always run for office and try to implement changes.  Or you can complain and do nothing.  You can start your own organization or you can quit USBC.  The choice is yours, key word, choice. 

I personally would pay more than the $15.  And if the national organization raises their dues, I am willing to bet it will open the door for your local organization to raise theirs.  And I am fine with that.  Can the money be better spent?  Of course.  I could spend my money better but there are times I don't. 

I like the idea of adding an additional cost to weekly bowling to add to the fund.  You could even remove the annual fee and go to a "use" fee per game/week to give USBC.  The more leagues you bowl, the more you pay.  If you only bowl a single 12 week league, you pay hardly anything.

One thing I have not seen yet from the dissenters is what do you want from USBC?  For your $10, what are you expecting?  If the dues are raised $5, what more do you want?  It is easy to complain, but don't complain if you don't have suggestions.  You only sound whiny when you do that.

If you wanted to participate in organized tennis, the adult membership for the USTA is $44.

If you wanted to participate in organized golf, the basic adult membership for the USGA is $10.  The USGA also has membership packages all the way up to $2300/yr with additional benefits.

USA Swimming is $50.


You get the idea.  Bowling at a cost of around $20 is one of the cheapest options.  If you don't like the direction you can always run for office and try to implement changes.  Or you can complain and do nothing.  You can start your own organization or you can quit USBC.  The choice is yours, key word, choice. 

I personally would pay more than the $15.  And if the national organization raises their dues, I am willing to bet it will open the door for your local organization to raise theirs.  And I am fine with that.  Can the money be better spent?  Of course.  I could spend my money better but there are times I don't. 

I like the idea of adding an additional cost to weekly bowling to add to the fund.  You could even remove the annual fee and go to a "use" fee per game/week to give USBC.  The more leagues you bowl, the more you pay.  If you only bowl a single 12 week league, you pay hardly anything.

One thing I have not seen yet from the dissenters is what do you want from USBC?  For your $10, what are you expecting?  If the dues are raised $5, what more do you want?  It is easy to complain, but don't complain if you don't have suggestions.  You only sound whiny when you do that.

Please don't compare the USBC to other governing bodies in the sports world because it just isn't the same. None of them run a professional tour or make the majority of their money from tournaments fueled by their membership. The USBC is about squeezing more money from a shrinking membership base by increasing tournament entries and raising dues...plain and simple.

If you wanted to participate in organized tennis, the adult membership for the USTA is $44.

If you wanted to participate in organized golf, the basic adult membership for the USGA is $10.  The USGA also has membership packages all the way up to $2300/yr with additional benefits.

USA Swimming is $50.


You get the idea.  Bowling at a cost of around $20 is one of the cheapest options.  If you don't like the direction you can always run for office and try to implement changes.  Or you can complain and do nothing.  You can start your own organization or you can quit USBC.  The choice is yours, key word, choice. 

I personally would pay more than the $15.  And if the national organization raises their dues, I am willing to bet it will open the door for your local organization to raise theirs.  And I am fine with that.  Can the money be better spent?  Of course.  I could spend my money better but there are times I don't. 

I like the idea of adding an additional cost to weekly bowling to add to the fund.  You could even remove the annual fee and go to a "use" fee per game/week to give USBC.  The more leagues you bowl, the more you pay.  If you only bowl a single 12 week league, you pay hardly anything.

One thing I have not seen yet from the dissenters is what do you want from USBC?  For your $10, what are you expecting?  If the dues are raised $5, what more do you want?  It is easy to complain, but don't complain if you don't have suggestions.  You only sound whiny when you do that.

It seems like some bowlers just want to bitch and complain. They get to bitch and complain about USBC already, so there is no value from paying $5 more to do so.


And I want to say once more. It's $5...PER YEAR.

Like I said, no one here is stating what they want for their money.  Rings were reduced to once-a-lifetime in 2014.  National dues haven't changed since 2006.  Dues increases have been stagnant for quite a while and because of this, the things bowlers have complained the most about (rings/awards) have had to be eliminated. 

There are more than 50,000 award scores shot per year.  At 1 million bowlers, that is 1 award score per 20 bowlers.  It would take a lot of money to bring these back.  But let's say you don't care about awards.  It still takes USBC a set amount of money to provide services to its members.  Doesn't matter if there are 1 million, 10 million, or just one lonely bowler.  And that cost increases every year.

I wonder if bowlers would be okay with a graduated increase of $X/year till it got to a particular level.  I mean, $5 might take food of the table for some.