Only fans in the participating bowling centers have viewed Brunswick World Team Challenge events this season because the American Bowling Congress’ Eagle Productions lost its television contract with the Fox Sports Network. The former affiliates of the Prime Sports Network, which have been purchased on an individual cable affiliate basis by Fox for the past year, have not telecast the BWTC since September when the new fall season premiered.
Ed Baur, producer for the BWTC, says ABC and Bowling Inc. have an uphill battle when it comes to restoring the finals of the team challenges to TV on a regular basis.
"The little sports now have to pay for the major sports," Baur said. "By that, I mean the major sports are getting the best slots in TV on commercial and cable, and the rest of us have to pay for it. The prices Fox is charging are becoming prohibitive, and we just can’t afford it. Even if we make a deal with Fox, we would only telecast a very limited number of tournament finals because of the huge costs involved."
The only hope left for fans of the BWTC competition would be if Bowling Inc., the marketing group for most of bowling (except the PBA), made a deal with another TV network willing to televise challenge finals for less money.
Baur says such a network could be the new Paxson Television Network, which plans to broadcast in most major markets and eventually become competitive with newer networks such as WB and UPN. But the Paxson Network, which has its backbone originating from the Home Shopping Network in the Tampa Bay area, is still in its infancy. Owner Bud Paxson sold his Paxson Radio Networks to Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, Tex., to obtain more funding to pour into his TV network project.
As far as any bowling coverage is concerned on the new Paxson TV Network, Baur and company are still in the talking stages with Paxson. ESPN was not even a player in their search because of the prohibitive rental costs.
Thus, coverage of the BWTC finals on television is nonexistent and will remain so indefinitely. Bowling Inc. was hoping to get a new contract from Fox by January to become its own mid-season replacement, but this plan fizzled.
Television coverage of the PWBA faces the same dilemma, especially with Fox. Getting its finals telecast on ESPN will be tougher in the future because of the rising fees.
Without regular TV coverage,
sponsors will dry up.
The Fox Sports Cable Network prefers to televise sports and feature shows that are more "demographically correct," including shows geared to the football fan. Even professional beach volleyball tournaments are becoming more numerous because of wealthy sponsors. Fox constantly televises the entire spectrum of collegiate sports except bowling.
When executives of Disney-owned ABC-TV pulled the plug on the "Professional Bowlers Tour" last spring, that network paid the PBA approximately $50,000 per telecast. After the cancellation, all television networks were able to charge professional bowling fees for broadcast rights on their respective networks. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the bowling industry is hard-pressed to pay the exorbitant fees the TV networks are charging for airtime.
If the great experiment of the PBA on CBS should fail, ESPN will remain the last bastion of refuge for bowling fans as far as TV broadcasts go—and again, that’s only if the bowling tours can afford to maintain the association.
Without regular TV coverage, sponsors will dry up, and televised pro bowling finals of any kind would be headed in the direction of extinction. The manufacturers in the bowling industry—AMF, Brunswick, Ebonite, Columbia, etc.—have come to the rescue of the bowling tours on TV by sponsoring the tours and their stops. Hopefully, they will continue to do this.
Bowling fans got a preview of the new PBA finals format that will be used on the upcoming Spring Tour beginning April 18 on CBS. According to Damon Sarrocco, PBA media manager, the four-player, 60-minute format seen on ESPN last November 5 will be the one used. The program will feature three finalists bowling simultaneously, with the winner emerging to meet the top seed in the title match.
The other new ingredient the PBA and its production company, The Marquee Group, have decided to use is the change in audience participation. Before, the audience was instructed to make noise only after the bowler had released the ball. This has been scrapped in favor of allowing and encouraging a constant crowd din.
Pro bowling gets another boost April 5 when the "CBS Sports Spectacular" broadcasts a bowling Skins Game, similar in concept to golf’s Skins Game. Top bowlers will attempt to win prize money by winning frames. The last such competition appeared on NBC seven years ago and featured Earl Anthony, Marshall Holman, and Lisa Wagner.
Syndicated columnist Richard Kolb is a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America.