Heres the deal guys....some of this is true fact and some of it is my opinion based on fact. Too many people speculate that they know whats going on, then make their reccommendations as to what SHOULD happen. I'll be the first to say that if you can think of it, so has somebody else. Just because it may seem like common sense, there is always something behind the scenes that hold the idea back....things that you may not know about.
First of all, the TV Show / ESPN :
ESPN does have a financial investment in the PBA Tour. Therefore, we are sort of at their mercy. Yes we do pay rights fees to be on ESPN, that much is true and quite honestly sucks. We have at least 1 or 2 more years on the current contract, so those of you that say we should just leave ESPN....it doesnt workt that way. If we could ever prove our worth to the execs at ESPN, they will gladly pay us the rights fees to our shows. This is also why we cant do any "fancy" graphics, re-plays, slo-motion and other technical special effects. We just dont have the money to put into production. As for the time slot on Sundays...thats all ESPNs call. We are the only sport that can consistently draw at least a .7 rating against the NFL, so in their eyes it would be foolish to put us somewhere that they dont feel the need to gain viewers. Unfortunatley for us, that limits our viewership. They tried the sunday night prime-time slot in Baltimore as a test run so we'll see what happens from there. As for the announcers....the play by play man is supplied by ESPN and the PBA has no say in the matter. For those of you begging for Marshall, Bo Burton, or whoever else to be in the booth...its not gonna happen. Like it or not, Rob Stone has created a little bit of a buzz and the "Hambone" has caught on. At least he has brought a little excitment to the shows. I liked Dave Ryan as a person and i thought he was very professional in the pre-show meeting, but i dont think he ever took this job seriously. Next up is the camera crews and production people. Winnercom is the company that we use for Sponsorship/Marketing and TV Production. This year we had a whole new production crew and there were some bumps in the road. We lost a crew that had been doing our shows for a number of years, and they had gotten very good at their jobs. I have a feeling that this new group will do the same in time.
Sponsorship / Marketing:
Its my opinion that the PBA needs to get away from outside marketing firms and hire our own people to do the job. Winnercom represents several sports ( Bassmasters, Bullriding, etc... ) and when they approach a Sponsor, they are represented all of their entities at one time, not just bowling. We need people selling the PBA and the PBA only....people that care about the sport and are out there working for us. Im sure Winnercom has approached every company you can think of, but its time to revamp the packages and hit them again. We need aggressive people with passion !!! Im not sure what will happen with Dennys, but we certainly need companies like them to support them, but we also need our fans to truly support our sponsors ( not continuously bash them on message boards....that means the commercials as well ). Unfortunatley, the current administration was left with a lot of debt built up by the infamous Steve Miller. Steve had a dream of where the PBA should be and had no problem spending millions to try to make that dream come true. The bad part is that his arrogance just about sunk us. Then he bolted as soon as the ship started going down. I dont blame the owners for stopping the endless cash flow, just because the have millions on top of millions that doesnt mean that they owe any of that to us. Its up to us as an organization to carry our own weight. For those of you that are wondering why the Bowling Manufacturers dont step up and put more money in....first of all, they arent making enough money these days to invest it back into the tour. Second, the TV shows just dont sell product like they used to. Third, the PBA already has the manufacturers held hostage by charging extremely high product registration fees...so the manufacturers feel they've already invested enough.
Its going to take a collective effort on everybodys part to pull us out of this...the USBC, the BPAA, the fans, the players, the owners, etc... Theres been talk about the USBC rasing dues to help support the Tours and as a card carrying member of the USBC i'm all for it, to a certain extent. I think that a minor dues increase, coupled with a fee on lane beds instituted by the BPAA would help generate enough income to help the Tours get back on their feet. The key is that the league bowlers and the bowling centers need to receive something in return for their investments. Im not sure what that is, but i'm sure it could be figured out. Another way to help grow the PBA is through the Regional program and the PBA experience leagues. If marketed properly, those leagues could be a tremendous boost....but without proper education they will fail miserably.
I could go on and on and on about this topic, but talking about it isnt going to do any good. Something needs to be done and done soon. There will always be Professional Bowling, but in what shape and form we have no idea. I'd like to think that things can turn around soon, but right now there isnt much hope on the horizon. I know i've lost my fire to compete on Tour right now. The injury layoff really made me realize how much i enjoy life at home with my kids, stability and my coaching "job". I cant even bring myself to practice right now because i just dont see the light at the end of the tunnel. Normally i would be looking forward to the Regional schedule, but since the regions just got Brunswick lane machines i think we're in for a long summer ( thats another story for another day ). So i guess i'll spend my summer coaching, bowling a little here and there, and hoping that the fire comes back sometime before October. I can tell you that i've never seen moral this low on Tour. It just doesnt look or seem like theres much enjoyment in this profession anymore. Hopefully times will change
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Bowl up a Storm,
Jeff Carter
www.stormbowling.comwww.jeffcarterbowling.comwww.myspace.com/jeff1295
