Charlest's post summed it up.  The PBA is very desperate so they are resorting to desperate measures.  They are just flinging any old poop against the wall to see what will stick.

Yeah LGD gotta disagree with you here. Charlest sums it up. The PBA is losing viewers in droves and comes up with something new every year to try to entice viewership. But it never works, and never sticks.

I will agree however that they are aiming for a younger demographic these days. A few of my friends that went out to Jersey were commenting on the fact that the shot they put out cater to the big hand players. And I think this is very evident when 90% of the shows have guys playing inside 3rd arrow.

But, in the end it will lead to their demise. Experienced high end players that used to be the bread and butter are being pushed to the side while they search for the younger audience. And....just like bowling in general....what the powers that be don't grasp is if you take those loyal customers for granted they will walk away or change the channel.

Then, when the audience you are catering to has 85,000 other sources of entertainment and doesn't develop into avid bowlers, or in this case viewers, you end up with nothing.

This is why league membership is down. This is why PBA ratings are down. No leadership....no direction. Just grasping at straws trying desperately to compete.

Let me address a few posts here:
 
Mainzer, you have nothing to apoligize for. Your feelinga are your feelings. Some of us disagreed with your thoughts and put down our reasons why. Are we trying to change your mind? I know I'm not, just pointing out a different perspective. As Complete mentioned in talking about the Baker team 300 he witnessed. I just know, when we bowled a tournament, we averaged like 254 as a 5 man Baker team for the finals, including a 279 our last game. I was one who held us back most of those games, including a nice solid 10 pin in the 279 game and know the pressure I felt and the excitement as we were performing.
 
Charlest, Falcon, et al who think this is just grasping at straws. Well it might be true, this is I think the best attempt yet at trying to bring in the casual bowler to watch the telecasts. Most bowlers are used to seeing a 5 man team. Now they probably aren't used to the Baker format, but it brings it closer to what they see every week in league. I think this is a better than the House Shot tournament, or the Plastic Ball tournament (which as a more than casual bowler, I loved; but not going to appeal to the casual bowlers at all), etc. But the problem is they are sacrficing the actual tournament finals, except for the final match. They need to find a balance so that we can see more of the actual tournament finals along with the team competition. I am not sure what the right answer is to that without expanding the shows even more, which I doubt ESPN or the PBA want to do.

Yep i like the Baker format also. But i would rather see the final 2 teams bowling baker format and the 5 man stepladder final. Rather than the 4 baker games and 1 championship game.