there is an interesting article at www.pba.com  about how columbia 300 signed a sponsorship deal with the pba. i'm curious, how can they afford to do this after spending a huge chunk of money on chris barnes and declaring bankruptcy several years ago ? can someone from columbia 300 or the pba explain this ?

I may be wrong but wasn't Elite the official ball sponser last year?  If thats true then Colubmia will get some commercials on tv.  Remember all those elite commercials, that many of us dreaded, and still dread if we watch ESPN Classic, lol.  

But Columbia has grown substantially in the last few years.  

The Track brand is growing steadily, as well as the Columbia brand.

They have aquired the rights to make AMF balls

They bought out Circle, which will allow them to enter the shoe market

They are making Dynothane balls

And Rumor on here is that they may soon be making Lane #1.


They have gotten very large.  They are probably the biggest consumer bowling product manufacturer in the world.  Paying Barnes 125K a year isn't all that bad when you think about how many balls there producing/selling.  Without knowing nothing about their financials, I would assume they have around a 25-40% market share of all balls/bags sold.  

There making money!
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