900Global and AMF ilegal in PBA

[75lockwood]

900Global and AMF products will be illegal in PBA competition as of October 1, 2012 and 3G Shoes will become illegal on November 1, 2012.

Was just surfing on the PBA website and found this, does anyone know why? this is a huge blow for a company....

[AZBowla]

Was just surfing on the PBA website and found this, does anyone know why? this is a huge blow for a company....

It's because they have opted not to renew their registration with the PBA. Source here: http://above180.com/register-or-not-to-register-that-was-the-question

[75lockwood]

Interesting read, it kind of sucks that the pba requires such huge fee's just to allow a company's equipment in the league...

[AZBowla]

Interesting read, it kind of sucks that the pba requires such huge fee's just to allow a company's equipment in the league...

Yeah it explains why so many players are throwing Storm balls now. If this keeps up then soon if you want to bowl in the PBA you'll have to throw a Storm ball and wear Dexter shoes! I didn't know the manufacturers had to pay for their equipment to be used, that's crazy in my opinion. It gives people an artificial impression of what's good or not - normally you'd think that if a pro was using a Storm ball it was because they got the best results with it, not because Storm and a handful of other companies were the only ones who ponied up over 6 figures for the "privilege" of having their ball used on TV. What happens to the pro's who got sponsored by 900 Global, do they now have to go out and BUY a bunch of Storm balls to compete? That's crazy.

[UBowling]

What company a PBA player chooses to sign with is partly due to what is available (obviously) and then performance. I have a friend who I used to bowl with that won PBA rookie of the year not too long ago and he was telling me how he was switching companies because what he was using didn't work well with his game on those conditions.

I understand having fees for a company. It is a lot of advertising on their broadcasts that each company will receive, plus it is very prestigious when they win. It is similar to a lot of things, people think that only the best equipment can be featured in this magazine or another when in reality they pay an amount to be featured.

[AZBowla]

I understand having fees for a company. It is a lot of advertising on their broadcasts that each company will receive, plus it is very prestigious when they win. It is similar to a lot of things, people think that only the best equipment can be featured in this magazine or another when in reality they pay an amount to be featured.

Fees sure, but six figures? Come on, that's insane. In the article I found, Visionary Bowling said they'd have to sell 15,000 additional balls to recoup the expense of registering with the PBA and quite frankly it wasn't worth doing because they weren't getting the exposure needed to sell that many more balls. That's not the manufacturer's fault, that's the PBA's fault for not having enough broadcasts and high enough TV ratings to justify the outrageous expense. Plus a manufacturer has to sponsor a player in addition to having the high fees and since only the top 5 players make the cut to appear on the TV show, the chances of them actually getting their product on TV are slim to none unless they sponsor a whole army of players like Storm does. That's even more balls they need to sell to ordinary moes like me in order to justify and pay for the expense. Crazy. For the money they would spend on a bunch of players and registration with the PBA they could run a 15 second spot on the Superbowl and show their product to hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Even if only 1/10th of 1 percent of those people bought their product, they'd recoup the costs easily. Not so with the PBA. They might as well set that money on fire and use it to keep warm by comparison.

If I had the money, I'd show the PBA a thing or two. For starters' I'd host my own bowling tournament just like Binion's World Series of Poker, open to anyone using USBC approved equipment. The entry fee? $10,000. Top prize? A cool million. You think ESPN would want to broadcast that? You bet they would. How many bowling manufacturers would be falling all over themselves to sponsor their players for the event? My guess: All of them. So would companies like AMF and Brunswick who would no doubt start up local and regional tournaments where player compete for a paid seat at the big show. There'd probably be 500 or more bowlers competing, easy, which would more than pay for the event and the prize money plus a nice little profit for myself. Each player would roll 6 games to qualify, ties would be settled with sudden death roll offs, with the top 10 total pincount advancing to the money round, where 10th place gets you $20K, 9th, $40K, 8th, $60K, 7th, $100K, 6th, $150K, 5th 200K, 4th, 250K, 3rd 375K, 2nd $500K and a million bucks for first place. That's only $2.45 million in prize money out of 5 million in total take which would easily cover the cost of renting out a center for the week and any other various expenses I'd incur. Hell, go all out and spend another 10 grand on a trophy for the winner, I mean really this isn't rocket science. Perhaps I'm over-simplfying it, but I don't see the need to gouge the manufacturers for a bunch of money just because no one watches bowling anymore on TV.

[billf]

This doesn't appear to have been a problem for Storm. They paid the fee, sponsored a crap load of bowlers and guess what? They are the number one selling brand to league bowlers. Not that they are better (better than a lot though) but because they flooded the market. They also have two of the best coaches on site to ensure their bowlers have the best chance at winning or at least make the TV show.

[striker12]

im wondering 1 thing how many people in the PBA that bowl them use storm balls and are sponsored by storm not meaning the pros and the onces that have wont titles but i mena all the other people out of the other thousand people.

but that sucks that the brand has to pay for them to bowl in the PBA.

[Ball99999]

Interesting read, it kind of sucks that the pba requires such huge fee's just to allow a company's equipment in the league...

I can't blame the PBA... I mean there is practically no effective way to advertise their products without the PBA.

[75lockwood]

This doesn't appear to have been a problem for Storm. They paid the fee, sponsored a crap load of bowlers and guess what? They are the number one selling brand to league bowlers. Not that they are better (better than a lot though) but because they flooded the market. They also have two of the best coaches on site to ensure their bowlers have the best chance at winning or at least make the TV show.

But thats the thing, storm is a huge company that can afford to sponsor so many bowlers (and the bowlers are willing to sign with them), for a small company that 1-2 bowlers that may or may not make it onto tv will get enough exposure to make 5 figures back.

for company's like storm and Brunswick that make almost every telecast, i have no problem charging them big bucks. but at this point anyone that prefers 900global equipment is sol

[Tampabaybob]

It's all about the money, guy's. He who has the deepest pockets, gets the most press. It always has been and always will be that way. Years ago the only names you heard were Brunswick, Ebonite, and AMF. Except for Brunswick, they lost their following because most people didn't care for their equipment and their failure to stay up with technology caught up to them and people stopped buying (for the most part) their stuff. Roto grip has been around for many years, but I can remember only one or two guys using Roto equipment back in the 60's and 70's. Today they, like Storm, (owned by the same company by the way) are one of the hottest selling tickets to there. They have good equipment and keep their name out there for recognition.

[americantrotter]

I can understand where the PBA is coming from it's in their best interest to get the most that it can get to improve it's product and it's reach, but it really sucks for the smaller companies.


I see two real problems with this:

Bowling equipment is expensive in the first place and these costs all get passed on to the consumer in the end. Our sport doesnt grow enough to leverage any true economies of scale, so new bowlers arent helping mitigate the cost either. (Meaning, the PBA's influence doesnt really offset the expense it creates)

Higher fees make it more difficult for a smaller company to innovate and expand if they can't get similar exposure at the top level of the sport.


In reality though this is a USBC issue, if it hurts bowling they are the governing body, the PBA is a separate business. If it concerns the USBC enough they should act. (I doubt it does though)

[scottymoney]

I could be wrong but that 6 figures I think pays for their commercials to be on ESPN during the shows. National commercials on your sports biggest stage...... hmmm I think I would pay the money.

Again it all comes down to marketing and having the faces to make people want the product.

[J Anderson]

In reality though this is a USBC issue, if it hurts bowling they are the governing body, the PBA is a separate business. If it concerns the USBC enough they should act. (I doubt it does though)

The USBC and the PBA are completely separate entities. While the equipment specs are the same and the game has the same basic rules there are some differences. Most notably the PBA has a shot clock while USBC has some vague wording about unreasonable delay of game, and the USBC has a rule limiting a player switching hands where a PBA member may throw with the opposite hand at any time.

The USBC has enough problems with declining membership to do what they're supposed to do, let alone try and boss the PBA around.