That just stinks, I use to look forward to the PBA and more recently the PWBA US Open tour stop at Carolier to watch and talk to the pros. Now since Carolier/Bowlero have essentially cut the number of lanes for competitive bowling in half, there are now no bowling centers in NJ large enough to accommodate a Professional tour stop. Unless some insanely rich bowling enthusiast feels like opening up a brand new 70+ lane center with an emphasis on competitive league bowling, the closest professional tour stop will be the PWBA Rochester Open in NY state, which is serious hike for anyone in NJ.
Why not? There are two PWBA stops in No. California. One at Double Decker bowl in Rohnert Park which has 50 lanes and one at Steve Cook's Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights which has only 32 lanes.
There are also multiple locations with 32 lanes that host PBA Regional and PBA50 stops and when the PBA "tour" was actually a tour, both Harvest Park Bowl(32 lanes) in Brentwood and E.A. Dublin Bowl(40) lanes had multiple tournaments.
Even during the heyday of the PBA tour, the pros bowled tournaments at a few 32 lane houses.
Not for nothing either, but Sun Valley lanes in Lincoln, Nebraska is 32 lanes, while the LPBT/PWBA stop at Maplewood Lanes in Omaha was 40.
That said, it would depend on number of entries into the tournament in proportion to the number of lanes and squads available.
By contrast, the last tournaments at the Showboat/Castaways, including the Firestone TOC used barely a third to half of the lanes available.
BL.
Ah, I did not know that. In that case I guess it would now all depend on whether prospective proprietors want to displace open/league play for a week in order to host a Tour event, and since "Bowlero" agreed to host the 2017 NCAA Women's Bowling Finals, I guess it's possible.
Some places would, as they would get paid either way. At that point, it would come down to which one would bring in more money for that week: league bowlers, or the entity hosting that tournament, as they would effectively be reserving the entire house for that week.
If done during the summer months, which the PWBA basically always has (yes, they did tour in the fall, but a lot of their stops were in the summer), the proprietors absolutely went all in for it, because the money they'd get in was more than what they'd take in with summer leagues and open bowling.
Bring in something like Collegiate tournaments, and you'd basically have the same thing. Even if during the regular season, they'd factor in how much they'd bring in with league bowling versus what the USBC and NCAA would pay for reserving the house. Then you'd have to factor in the costs of maintenance (USBC/PBA/PWBA would bring in their own mechanics and hardware), refreshments (alcohol is more expensive than soft drinks), and see which one looks better on paper.
And league bowlers being bowlers, they wouldn't really complain about not being able to bowl for a week if they were able to see current or future pros going at it in their house, let alone in their city.
The proprietors of Sun Valley, Strike and Spare Lanes in St. Charles, Mo. (outside St. Louis), and Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis had no problem at all with having their bowlers forego a week for collegiates, because of how much they'd earn over league, and to be honest, with the action they saw the weeks the tournaments were there, league bowlers there didn't mind it one bit.
BL.
