Observations and Irritations

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Observations and Irritations
June 2008

Fixing League Bowling

Greetings fellow pin killers from the home office in Helena, Alabama.

What has caused the dramatic decline in league bowlers and how do we fix it? To answer this question I asked for the opinions from the governing body represented by Mark Miller, a local proprietor who had been around for quite sometime, Keith Henderson, a former active league bowler, Cliff Thomas who now lives in Virginia, and no longer bowls and the current active league bowler, me.

My thought has always been one reason for the greatest decline in bowling was change in the demographic of the American culture. When I was growing up in the 1980’s, it was very common for one parent to go to work and for one parent to stay at home and raise the children. Now without anyone taking any kind of offense normally the husband went to work and the wife was the person who stayed at home. One of the things that most of the women and men in the Chappelear family did was bowl in competitive leagues. The women would bowl during the day and the men would bowl at night, and my premise was the demographic was changing because now you had both parents working and there was not much time or money for bowling. To say that I was placing all the blame on the women would not be accurate but I felt it was a large part of the problem. It is but there are other issues that were brought to my attention as well. Mr. Henderson told me the biggest problem that happened to the bowling industry was that an entire generation of people were missed from being sold to become league members. I am a part of that generation. I have written before about where are the friends of my youth. In 1982-1987 I can remember many league bowlers that no longer bowl in leagues. I will say that of the “Rolling Superstars League” from Super Bowl we have fared better than others. I would say there are still around 15 members who still bowl. So what happened to turn the bowlers away from our sport?

Cliff Thomas was a member of the Vestavia Youth League and he says what really turned him away from our sport was readjusted priorities. Cliff and I bowled together as YABA bowlers and we bowled together in college. He says that when he married his wife and they started a family that bowling was no longer a priority, but he also said another reason is perception. Bowling has been long classified as a blue collar sport and in the mind of some it is not up to the standards of the Country Club set. I know of several bowlers who were advised if they really wanted to advance within the company they don’t need to be seen in a bowling alley. I was told that before myself but I am who I am and I don’t let anyone dictate to me what I can and can’t do for enjoyment as long as I am not breaking the law, so I am no longer employed by that company. It is ironic to think of that conversation and then to see that company always represented at Junior Achievement’s Bowl for Kids.

So why is bowling perceived in a negative light? It all goes back to perception as Cliff said: “When you think of bowling in the media what do you think of, Kingpin and The Big Lebowski.” When you think of bowling you think of Laverne and Shirley, blue collar bottle cappers who leave work and go bowling, Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton leaving work and going bowling good blue collar guys. My first image that comes to mind when someone talks about the negative image is from a Streetcar Named Desire, when Blanche Dubois goes to the bowling alley in New Orleans and the entire place is smoky and the men are rough looking. So is this perception corporate America sees when you say you are going bowling? One has to wonder if they realize that most bowling centers are now smoke free, and that the majority of bowlers now are not necessarily the factory and mill workers. There are still some factory type leagues such as ACIPCO but what’s wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with the camaraderie I see when watching the people who work together also play together. The thing is you hardly ever see the ACIPCO league bowlers participating in tournaments, but Cliff, also had another opinion in this area. He says that a lot of times people come and join leagues, they are new bowlers and they don’t feel welcome because of the cliques within the bowling center. This past season on Monday night we had several new teams join the Bud Men’s Classic at Riverview (hey is the popcorn ready?) and I noticed that no one was really interacting with them when they bowled with them. I started making it a point to offer to work with them if they wanted to come down early on Monday afternoon before league and I would work with them. Some did and some did not but I would say I made new friends just by offering. I think the arrangement of the bowling centers is contributing to this problem. Now you have separate tables for each team (strangely with 4 seats for a 5 man team) so there is not as much interaction and I can see where people would think that this was sort of “cliquish”. I wonder of all the new bowlers this season how much any center did to tell them about tournaments and why they should bowl. I wonder how many of the new bowlers bowled in the city and the state tournament. I wonder across the state how many new bowlers realize there are 2 tournaments every month at Plamor and that there is a Stepladder tournament once a month somewhere in Birmingham? Sticking a banner up on the wall is great but people need to know what they need to do how the handicap works in their favor and how they might win $1000 or $500 by bowling and having a good day. I am saying to the hosting center it is your job to help publicize these tournaments. I hear Vestavia announce weekly what tournaments are coming up and where but I never hear it at other centers, but I hear plenty of other announcements. If you as a center want to build your bowlers you have to let them know what is going on. I wonder how many people know about AlabamaBowling.com in Mobile. I wonder how many bowlers in Mobile knew there was a scratch tournament this past weekend in Birmingham that guaranteed $1,600 for first place. The centers have plenty of employees who could be telling people and handing them a flyer about the upcoming tournaments not just in their center but in other centers. I can almost guarantee that if you publicize another center’s tournament they will publicize yours. We have to make people feel welcome and wanted and made to feel a part of what is going on. If any of you have ever been to a small church the first time normally everyone wants to come up and meet you. Some churches even ask you introduce yourself and family to the congregation. When you have new members instead of just handing them a sanction card hand them an information sheet and ask them to fill it out ask about their family, their other hobbies, ask them if you can help arrange private lessons for them or their family members. People need to feel welcome and wanted and I think that is a big key to getting new members to become active members.

Mark Miller at bowling headquarters says there are several things that have led to massive decrease in league members. The length of leagues is anywhere from 30-36 weeks and that is a large commitment for anyone to make. Cliff agrees saying that he travels quite a bit and he can’t make a commitment for 36 weeks. My father travels a lot as well and he commits to 3 leagues a year for 36 weeks and he does not like the length the either and suggests that perhaps leagues should be shortened. The problem is when you make your competitive leagues shorter you open your self up for people sandbagging for the short time and having an established average for tournaments. Mark Miller also states another reason for the massive drops in numbers is the elimination of most 8:30-9:00 leagues. He says the drunken driving laws have been a major factor in this because people are worried about possibly getting a DUI being out that late and having been drinking. Cliff says the late leagues are also an issue because people have to get up and go to work, some as early as 5:30 am depending on their commute. In 1980 there were 28 million league members, in 2006-2007 there were 2,608,279. That is a very alarming decreasing number. In 27 years bowling has lost 22 million members. Going back to what Keith said we missed an entire generation of bowlers. He is correct based on the actual figures bowling loses 4% of its members every year. So what can be done to stop the bleeding? All 3 people I interviewed have the same response: Go after the children.

Bowling is fastest growing high school sport in the United States but in this state we do not have it. Speaking directly to Keith Henderson he told me getting it started was a nightmare. The Alabama High School Athletic Association has so many guidelines such as bringing children to designated place to practice requires having a school official present the entire time which would require a coach. The AHSAA was not discouraging but not very proactive. Keith believes and I agree if the demand was there then it would have a better chance of being included. I think part of the problem is the fact that the NCAA has made Women’s bowling a Sanctioned Sport but not the Men, and at this time there does not appear to be change coming. Back to my original thinking the women were not bowling as much but now they can bowl competitively in college. Mark and Keith both talk about bowling in the youth programs. Sending out the bowling carpet kits for schools to use and get the kids interested in the sport. They want to address the kids but I say it is not too late the 20-30 year olds.

I have ideas of my own first of all I agree that leagues could be shortened and made into 3 seasons rather than 2. As I said the target audience should also be the 20-30 year olds. I feel that the bowling industry is missing out on a golden opportunity. There are so many singe and divorced men and women that are always trying to find new ways to meet people. The internet, bars, and church just to name a few. What if on Friday Night you had a speed dating bowling league. You bowl 3 games, women are assigned a lane based on the number that show up, the men start on the first lane and move to right each game. After 3 games open your meeting room up for them to have a place to talk and drink and eat. This is a great opportunity fro the bowling industry to not only solicit new members but also provide a valuable service. I know after I was divorced on Saturday and if I didn’t have a date I wanted to meet new people somewhere or I wanted to Casino Bowl at Riverview why not incorporate that into a singles night out.

Who knows if you started at 7:00 and the people were having a good time they might stay for your glow bowling or at least visit your bar. The main thing is if you do something like this you have to advertise you have to get the word out. This is where I think bowling has missed the boat. It was happy with its market share and it did nothing to grow it. This is a time of I want what I want and I don’t want to have to find you. Vestavia Bowl has a Myspace page and I am sure other centers do as well. What if Vestavia tried this for a month on Saturday Night and one of the employees at Vestavia sent a personal invite with an RSVP to attend a singles night bowling league, every Friday Night for a month. Charge $15.00 per night plus a one time $10.00 membership; provide the cokes and pizza instead of a prize fund. After 4 weeks tell the people we are going to do this for four more weeks with more people. You don’t have to bowl 4 weeks in the league to bowl but to be a member of the Vestavia Singles you have to have a membership. You tell them their membership provides many benefits such as entry to the singles night but also to other leagues with no additional charge. You can build your league bowlers this way. In my opinion you would have a lot of people to bowl in this kind of league. People are always looking for something to do in Birmingham. We have always had mixed leagues but why let the bars be the matchmakers. Have you ever tried to talk to someone in a smoke filled bar? If the people don’t like each other its only 15 minutes out of their lives, and then they get to meet a new partner.

Another source that can be addressed is having a church league and being proactive by going to the churches and suggesting them having a summer league. This is how I became involved in bowling. I had not been in a bowling alley since I was 5 years old and my church started a bowling league when I was 11. We were a small church of around 100 members but we had enough for 10 teams of 4 players, adults and youth together. The center could have easily sanctioned the league, but they didn’t. There were some pretty decent bowlers in the league but I know most of them have quit because no one took the time to see what they could do to make the league better we had it for 3 years.

This is the time for the bowling industry to pull itself up by the boots and go get the new members. It is going to have to do what it takes to change its image. The only way to do that is to advertise. The manufacturers are not going to do it for you. The PBA came here and it should have been advertised, but it wasn’t it was barely a blurb in the newspaper. Do you know some people still don’t know it came to Birmingham? The economics of bowling are to address a need and fill it. Grow your market share by advertising. Do things the new bowlers can get involved in like a singles night league, ask people about bowling in a fall leagues or summer leagues, they are already sanctioned now you just have to get them to participate. Do more for the novice bowlers have your counter people ask if they would like any assistance or coaching when they come in to open bowl. Get the pro shops involved. I have heard over and over people want to have fun and be entertained. You want compete with Blockbuster? Blockbuster does not have a singles night. You want to compete with the movie theater; movie theaters don’t supply the food for free. You want to grow your market share, give people the most value for their dollar. You want to resurrect our sport, give people a reason to want to bowl. If you entertain the family they will come back, if you train the kids and help them to bowl, they will get better, when they get better they will want their own equipment, and when they have it they will want to compete. Don’t throw them to the wolves put them in a fun league or ball league. I learned a long time ago if you don’t ask for the sale you will not get the sale. It starts at the counter and it ends at the counter, make your counter personnel aware of why they should smile, why the new customer should be taken care of. The idea is to change the image and it starts by perception.

The days of the smoke filled bowling alley are over. The time of the family fun center is here and what can be more fun than doing something you enjoy and improving each time you come or meeting new people and made to feel welcome. Like the theme from song from Cheers:” Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came”. Advertise, chase the business and bring the bowling industry back and change the people’s perception of what bowling is.

Until next time…Lets make bowling as fun for everyone as it is for us.

Don is a Birmingham bowler. If you have any story suggestions, please submit to Don at Donchappelear@bellsouth.net

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