Where are the bowling hotbeds/meccas?

[NewToBowling]

I know the midwest (rust belt area) is bowling central. Talking about MI and OH. To a lesser degree maybe IN and WI.

What other bowling meccas are there. Maybe Upper NY (Buffalo) and FL and TX?

CA probably has a lot of bowling centers due to population but I don't consider it a hotbed of bowling (I could be wrong).

I'm talking about bowling being talked in circles outside of bowling alleys. Maybe weekly radio shows. Multiple tournaments. Some press coverage. High competition high school bowling with tournaments. Recognized as a true sport not just a drinking activity where people look at you funny if you mention you are into bowling.

[JaxBowlingGuy]

Central FL (Orlando area) has a good bowling following. Multiple $10k+ tourneys a year and all kind of smaller stuff in between. Over the summer the TNBA challenge tournament is in Orlando where the different senates in FL (Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Ocala/Gainesville, Tampa, & Miami) come together for 4 days to bowl against each other.

[JaxBowlingGuy]

Oops forgot Orlando, Pensacola, and St. Petersburg

[Amyers]

Minnesota and Wisconsin its huge.

[ep1977]

I wouldn't say it's a hot bed here on Long Island but bowling is big enough to have more centers than most other places besides Vegas. Within 20 minutes of my house there are around 11 centers and there are 5 within 10 minutes.

[fordman1]

I don't believe there are any bowling meccas anymore. Detroit used to be huge as did Milwaukee but when the factories became so automated many leagues folded. Many went from 5,000 to 500 workers. In the Metro Detroit USBC I think we still have 75-80 Centers. Depending on the traffic I can drive to any of them in about under an hour. Most within 25 minutes.

Local TV has one show paid for of a local independent station a half hour a month. The local ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox stations don't do anything other than when a quick snip it when the world series of bowling was in town. Mostly because we have pro Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey. Not to mention with in an hour U of M and Mich.
state. Our two newspapers are owned by the same outfit and are useless.

[classygranny]

Well it's definitely NOT Arizona!

[2handedsniper]

south Jersey

[Timmyb]

Minnesota and Wisconsin its huge.


Being a cheesehead, I'd say it's waning, but still does pretty good. Most parking lots are full during fall leagues, but the bigger houses are having problems filling all the lanes. I do remember the day when you had to know someone to even get in a league around here.

[J Anderson]

Well it's definitely NOT Arizona!

Ditto for Connecticut.

[LyalC52]

I think Vegas needs some mention in this thread.
Lots of lanes, leagues, and tourneys

[1VegasBowler]

I think Vegas needs some mention in this thread.
Lots of lanes, leagues, and tourneys

Vegas is one of the hot beds.

One of the largest USBC memberships in the country (around 15K) and there always seems to be some sort of tournament going on here even before you factor in the PBA, PBA50, PWBA and PBA Regional tours.