CBS Sports Network to televise 23 bowling events in 2016
Jason Overstreet
USBC Communications
Published: February 1, 2016

ARLINGTON, Texas – The United States Bowling Congress has reached an agreement with CBS Sports Network to televise 23 major championship bowling events in 2016 and 2017, highlighted by the U.S. Open, as well as 13 telecasts of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour.

The agreement features live telecasts of all four majors on the PWBA Tour and the U.S. Open, a major championship on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. The growing Junior Gold Championships presented by Storm, Roto Grip and Master will be televised for the second consecutive year, while the Intercollegiate Championships return to CBS Sports Network as well.

New to the television package in 2016 will be coverage of the USA Bowling Championships. USA Bowling is a youth-team program with regional tournaments culminating in a national championship event.

“With this package, bowling will be on national television every week from May to September,” United States Bowling Congress Executive Director Chad Murphy said. “We are thrilled to showcase the excitement of competitive bowling from youth, to college to the professionals and continue building a strong future for the sport.”

Nearly all events in the package including the PWBA Tour, U.S. Open and youth events are collaboratively funded with the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA).

“With a consistent schedule and a national television audience, bowling will be top of mind in the United States throughout the year,” BPAA Executive Director Frank DeSocio said. “We are excited to highlight our industry and great partners in a 23-week series that will provide tremendous benefit for all of bowling.”

The package features event coverage Tuesdays in primetime for 18 weeks starting May 10 with the Intercollegiate Championships.

The PWBA Tour kicks off Thursday, May 26, with a live telecast of the USBC Queens. Finals of the regular season PWBA events will taped on location at the major event sites to be televised on Tuesdays in primetime at later dates. 

CBS Sports Network television schedule (all times Eastern; subject to change):

5/10/16: Intercollegiate Championships, Wichita, KS, time TBD
5/17/16: Intercollegiate Championships, Wichita, KS, time TBD
5/24/16: Intercollegiate Championships, Wichita, KS, time TBD
5/31/16: Intercollegiate Championships, Wichita, KS, time TBD

7/26/16: Junior Gold and USA Bowling Championships, Indianapolis, IN, time TBD
8/02/16: Junior Gold and USA Bowling Championships, Indianapolis, IN, time TBD
8/09/16: Junior Gold and USA Bowling Championships, Indianapolis, IN, time TBD
8/16/16: Junior Gold and USA Bowling Championships, Indianapolis, IN, time TBD
8/23/16: Junior Gold and USA Bowling Championships, Indianapolis, IN, time TBD

5/26/16: USBC Queens Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 8pm (live)
6/07/16: PWBA Las Vegas Open, Las Vegas, NV, time TBD
6/14/16: PWBA Sonoma County Open, Rohnert Park, CA, time TBD
6/21/16: PWBA Storm Sacramento Open, Sacramento, CA, time TBD
6/26/16: PWBA Players Championship, Green Bay WI, 12pm (live)
7/05/16: PWBA Wichita Open, Wichita, KS, time TBD
7/12/16: PWBA Lincoln Open, Lincoln NE, time TBD
7/19/16: PWBA Greater Detroit Open, Detroit, MI, time TBD
8/07/16: U.S. Women’s Open, location TBD, 12pm (live)
8/16/16: PWBA Lexington Open, Lexington, KY, time TBD
8/23/16: PWBA Rochester Open, Rochester, NY, time TBD
8/30/16: PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, St. Petersburg, FL, time TBD
Date TBD: Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship, location TBD, time TBD (live)

The PWBA has a real tour and a real television contract. Why can't the PBA do the same?

Oh wait, the PBA has a journalist ruining, I mean running, the show. Tom Clark should be fired and the PBA should hire a real businessman with television connections to be CEO.

Please tell me one other major or minor sports organization that would hire a journalist to be its CEO. Tom's qualifications? He wrote some nice articles about bowling in the online editions of USA Today. Wow, they might hire Jeff Richgels to be the next CEO.

The USBC/BPAA combination knows that it is doing. The standalone PBA does not.

Are all those dates supposed to be 2016??

I'm not sure if I'd get too excited.  The way they were able to get on tv was by holding the finals for the majority of the tournaments elsewhere.  Meaning they're still traveling the country, but at each stop, they will hold qualifying and match play and then leave.  The finals will be held and filmed together elsewhere.  It appeared the USBC and BPAA knew what they were doing last year with the PWBA, and are proving this year already that they really don't.  CBS Sports also is usually included in a very high tier sports package, so not very many people actually have it, I know most in my area don't.  Those that have it didn't get it to watch bowling, and those that don't have it aren't going to spend the extra $20-40 a month just to watch a handful of bowling tournaments here or there, ESPECIALLY taped finals from tournaments bowled months ago, and the finals themselves being held long enough prior that you're not going to be able to avoid hearing the outcome.  Yeah they're kind of getting the ladies on TV, but they're compromising WAY too much in quality and fan experience.  Not nearly as good a deal as they're making it out to be. 

It was all readily and widely available being livestreamed on the internet, which a lot more people have than CBS Sports.  Anytime you compromise quality to reach a larger audience, it never works for very long.  You maintain your focus on the quality of the experience, and everything else takes care of itself.  If they can get people to want to come see them live when they're in the area, those same people will also watch them on tv, but if the live experience regresses to the point people aren't interested in going to watch them when they're in the area, those same people are definitely not going to watch them on tv.  They're severely damaging their brand already.  They've reduced a tournament and a championship to a few days of bowling and finals being aired a couple months down the road.  Yeah I'd still go watch just because I like bowling, but if there are no finals after the fact, I'm not going to be too upset if I miss it.  Then trying to keep track of who made what show and when the finals are going to be aired will be a complete cluster.  Just a very bad decision in my opinion.  Chasing money is no way to run a business. 

Quote from: milorafferty on February 02, 2016, 06:14:47 PM

Quote from: ITZPS on February 02, 2016, 05:56:50 PM

I'm not sure if I'd get too excited.  The way they were able to get on tv was by holding the finals for the majority of the tournaments elsewhere.  Meaning they're still traveling the country, but at each stop, they will hold qualifying and match play and then leave.  The finals will be held and filmed together elsewhere.  It appeared the USBC and BPAA knew what they were doing last year with the PWBA, and are proving this year already that they really don't.  CBS Sports also is usually included in a very high tier sports package, so not very many people actually have it, I know most in my area don't.  Those that have it didn't get it to watch bowling, and those that don't have it aren't going to spend the extra $20-40 a month just to watch a handful of bowling tournaments here or there, ESPECIALLY taped finals from tournaments bowled months ago, and the finals themselves being held long enough prior that you're not going to be able to avoid hearing the outcome.  Yeah they're kind of getting the ladies on TV, but they're compromising WAY too much in quality and fan experience.  Not nearly as good a deal as they're making it out to be. 

It's not optimal, but at this point, I'll take what I can get.

So if you bowl the tournament in say, Canton, Mich., and qualify for the finals you won't bowl the finals in Canton? What if the person who made the finals can't make the new finals location due to other commitments; like work?