I think the changes are GREAT and long overdue.

not a fan of the division change.  All that is saying is "hey, I can't compete with the best so make it so I don't have to."  To me this devalues the eagle a little.

ARLINGTON, Texas – When the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships heads to Las Vegas in 2017, the storied event will have several enhancements, highlighted by a new divisional structure.

The new elements for the event come from recommendations of a task force comprised of tournament participants, volunteer leaders and staff. The task force used surveys of bowlers and historical data from the event to make recommendations to the USBC Board, which approved the new components.

The USBC Open Championships also will have adjustments made to policies concerning professional bowlers, scale-room procedures and announcement of lane conditions.

“We are proud of the process that led to creating the future of the USBC Open Championships,” USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy said. “Our customers have been asking for improvements to this event, so we assembled a diverse task force with significant bowler input and came together with a clear consensus on how to move forward.”

The 2017 tournament will feature a new division called the Standard Division for bowlers with entering averages of 181-209. The Regular Division now will be for bowlers with averages of 210 and above, while the Classified Division remains for bowlers who have averages of 180 and below.

All three divisions will have team, doubles, singles and optional all-events, with combined entering averages being used for team and doubles placement.

“Research and feedback showed the task force that our largest demographic at the Open Championships wanted a better experience,” Murphy said. “The 190- or 200-average league bowler wants to compete against others of similar skill. The current scoring gap between the top and bottom half of the Regular Division is not an ideal peer-to-peer competition.”

The task force also recommended a series of adjustments to improve the integrity and fairness of the Open Championships. Starting in 2017, USBC will not publish the lane patterns until after the event. USBC also will discontinue providing information about lane-play strategies, including BowlTV live streaming of complete games and fixed live webcams at the event.

“The task force unanimously agreed that having access to the lane pattern provides an unquestionable advantage to bowlers with access to modern lane machines and centers closely matching the Open Championships lane surface,” Murphy said. “Success in USBC Championships should be based on the skill of the bowler, not whether you live near the right facility or have the resources to build arsenals to match a pattern. This change moves the keys to success back to shot-making and skill, rather than personal resources.”

Part of the more than 110 years of history and tradition at the Open Championships is a focus on equipment integrity, which includes weighing and checking every bowling ball used on the tournament lanes. In 2017, all equipment will be weighed and checked prior to both team and doubles/singles competition.

The task force also recommended making the Open Championships an event fully open to professional bowlers. In 2017, all professional bowlers will be able to compete, within parameters, and only in the Regular Division. The parameters include limits on the number of Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) national title holders who may compete on the same team.

The new rules, policies and procedures do not impact the 2016 tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.

In light of the task force recommendations, USBC will implement some additional policy changes as well.

Effective Jan. 1, 2016, USBC national headquarters employees and Championships tournament staff no longer will be eligible to receive prize money, bracket winnings or awards from USBC national events due to USBC’s conflict-of-interest policy.

Starting in 2017, the USBC Women’s Championships oil pattern also will not be published until after the event concludes.

not a fan of the division change.  All that is saying is "hey, I can't compete with the best so make it so I don't have to."  To me this devalues the eagle a little.

I am on the other side of this debate.  What motivation does the 181-200 avg bowler have to show up that in no way can shoot scores on their house shot that would give them a chance to compete much less on the Open pattern.  It can't hurt attendance.  I would like to see them give an optional checkbox that gives you the right to choose to compete on the top level if desired, but am otherwise good with that change.

not a fan of them not releasing the pattern, though I never practiced on it, and it will get leaked at some point anyway. 

I like the changes.

Hope 4 man teams come sooner then later.

Amen to that. I usually put together multiple teams each year and it's a pain in the ass to match up that one odd bowler if you don't have an even number.

I like the changes.

Hope 4 man teams come sooner then later.

I hope it goes to 4 man teams by 2018. It's just a lot easier to do 4 man teams vs 5. I don't mind the changes, except I liked having the live streams to watch.

I'm fine with them not releasing the pattern info, but it affects those who have to travel by plane. A lot of people took a limited arsenal based on the pattern, so now they're going to have to guess on which balls to take or take all of them which means a greater cost.

REALLY sucks not having the live streams anymore.  I enjoyed watching those.

I guess the Showcase Lanes will still be there, so practice would be available?

You can count on that. How else will you know what ball to buy from the vendors?

I'm sure there was some input from them on this...