If you follow this column, by know you know how I feel about the ABC/Brunswick World Team Challenge. In case you missed it, let me sum it up: It’s junk!
However, one man’s junk still seems to be another’s treasure, as it continues to draw good entries. I don’t understand it any more than I understand why President Clinton’s approval ratings are so high.
After spending a week at the International Eliminator in early January, my wife, CJ, and I stopped by the BWTC being held at the Showboat in Las Vegas. There, we saw 68 teams in the open division and 34 in the women’s division. First place paid $3,000 to the open champions ($600 per bowler) and $1,700 to the women’s champs ($340 per bowler).
The entry fee was $500 per team. Let’s see: 68 x $500 = $34,000, and 34 x $500 = $17,000. That means first place is only 10 percent of the total entry fees. The total prize fees are 66 percent. It appears that the only people making a profit in this event are the few hot shots in the brackets and the tournament operators.
New York promoter Steve Sanders must agree with me. I haven’t talked to him about it, but he must see it my way because he has started a new National Team Tournament sponsored by STORM Bowling Products and Turbo 2-N-1 Grips. The first was held at The Orleans in Las Vegas the week before the International Eliminator. It drew 55 teams, paid out over $200,000 in prize money, and returned 100 percent plus $15,000 to the prize fund. One of every five teams cashed, and first place paid $30,000.
Additional events are planned, and a schedule should be announced soon. When that happens, the BWTC should disappear—but it probably won’t.
Speaking of bad tournaments, in April I will travel to Reno to bowl in the ABC Nationals at the National Bowling Stadium. For 20 years, our little group of 20 players has made the annual trek, and each year I listen to the grumbling among our guys and many others about the way this event is managed.
Sure, we enjoy each other’s company and the vacation, but we also realize that this is an event in desperate need of major changes.
Start with the prize fund. How can any tournament justify paying out less than 50 percent of the gross? And what other tournament or sport allows so little practice? What other sporting event has allowed scoring to get completely out of control?
This year, with new sponsors (Eldorado, Silver Legacy, and Circus Circus hotels), ABC has announced additional prize money based not on performance only but instead on participation!
The BWTC should disappear—
but it probably won’t.
Those with 25 years or more will compete for an additional $25,000 in prize money. Those with 30 years, another $5,000; 35 years, $2,500; 40 years, $1,000; 45 years, $500; and 50 years gets you a free entry.
Money to pay for this comes from "ABC expense money generated from larger tournament entries in recent years." It sounds to me like someone might be feeling a little guilty because very few of those longtime contributors to this event have a chance to cash against the younger players.
So why not just create divisions by age for the entire event? You could have Division A for those 60 and above; Division B, 50-59; Division C, 40-49; Division D, 30-39; and Division E, 29 and under. And finally, bring back the Classic Division for anyone who averages 210 or more.
Other changes have been announced for the ‘98 event. The 7:30 a.m. squad has been moved to 7 a.m., and the 10:15 p.m. squad is now set for 10:30 p.m. What a joke! The 7:30 a.m. and 10:15 p.m. times already were too early and too late; now, they make it worse. Why?
"To enforce courtesy and pace of play," says the ABC.
Also, according to ABC in a recent press release, "Tournament officials will be urging teams to bowl on time and strictly observe the one lane courtesy rule. Bowlers deemed too slow may be moved to slow bowling squads being considered for 1999. Such squads would be held on Wednesday evenings in February.
Wow! It sounds like the ABC storm troopers will brand a big "S" (for slow) on your forehead, and you will be cast into the "bad boy squads" which only bowl on Wednesday night. Give me a break!
There are two more changes: a new valet service for $1 a bag and a $1 contribution to the BVL for every bracket sold. Allowing wheeled bags would eliminate the need for a valet. (Done! —ED.)
As for the BVL donation, ABC says they expect to raise "approximately $55,000 for BVL." I interpret that to mean they will sell 55,000 brackets at this year’s event. If brackets are $10 each, that’s $550,000 they will make. Take away the $55,000 to BVL, and what happens to the other $495,000? And don’t forget, it’s all in cash.
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While I’m up here on this soapbox, just a comment on BTM magazine. Bowling This Month, published in Houston by my friend, Bob Summerville, is a valuable tool to coaches and avid players. Its articles on exercise, coaching, and the technical aspects of the sport are excellent. Bob’s Super School, which brings great coaches together, is a very good idea.
However, this "Ball of the Year" business is baloney! I have bowled all my life, and I associate with the best bowlers in the world. Every one of them will tell you that balls have general characteristics and are designed to do different things, but to imply that one is better than another is worthless because no two bowlers are alike.
How is it possible for a ball to be the best? For whom? On what condition? Your best is not my best. And how can a magazine that depends on ball companies for advertising support possibly be objective about such a subject?
In my opinion, BTM’s obsession with balls and its anonymous evaluations is not necessarily good for the sport. I know Bob’s heart is in the right place when it comes to the integrity of the sport because I’ve discussed it with him on several occasions. However, in the January issue of BTM, only five of the 54 pages deal with anything other than balls. What’s next: Bag of the year? Shoe of the year?
Our focus in this sport should be on its coaches and athletes, not on equipment. Only when the best players are well known will we be able to compete with other sports.
Jim Goodwin, a BWAA director and LPBT’s regional program director, is the award-winning editor/publisher of Stars & Strikes, in which the preceding originally appeared. Subscription rates are $20 per year (Pin Point Publishing, 2850 Red Valley Run, Rockwall, Texas 75087 ... voice/fax: 972/771-0069). His E-mail address is starsnxs@aol.com.