You know - there are really 2 separate issues here, and I don't think anyone (myself included) has done a very good job of separating them.
Issue number one - the OLD PWBA - with it's original ownership, format, etc.
There were a lot of issues, problems, etc. No question. I was a member. I'm very familiar with the issues, problems, challenges, leadership, lack of marketing, etc, etc. That organization died last September. It's over. Dead. Gone, Buried, and long given back to the worms. (no pun intended...)
Second issue - the NEW PWBA - or what might have been. Steve Sanders made a generous attempt to revive women's professional bowling. As part of that attempt, he tried to work out a deal with ESPN to REVIVE this portion of the sport. This attempt would have been with NEW management, NEW leadership, NEW marketing, run by one of the top bowling promoters in the country, and hopefully a NEW image and a NEW presence to the world. This attempt is what was thwarted by ESPN.
And YES - I do understand business principles, and I DO understand responsibility to stockholders, and I DO understand the concept of profit. ESPN made the decision they felt they had to make based on these things, and they may very well have been the correct BUSINESS decisions. BUT several of the bowlers on this forum had voiced a desire to make their opinions known, and I started this post to pull some info together to make that possible. Last I heard, free speech was still a right in this country. That's it!!!
And if you read the closing comment in the original post
quote:
I don't really think anyone can save the PWBA at this point, but if enough of us contact these mega corporations, maybe we can get something next time.
you will understand that these comments people want to send might just influence a little bit of the TV world's decision when the next women's professional bowling organization looks to to business.
