I call bulls**t

[Timmyb]

Just finished watching the Bowlero Elite Series. Figured, this looks like a fun way to throw my money away. When I checked the rules, the only way you can enter as an amateur is if you currently bowl in one of their centers. You'd think a company that wants to be the "new face" of bowling would allow any amateur in, not just one that pays them money. Just my $.02.....

Anyone on here that has ties to Bowlero, you're more than welcome to chime in......

[boatman37]

Just them trying to inflate membership numbers. Their sandbox, their rules. I don't like it and that mindset will actually drive some members away. I don't even know of any Bowlero's near Pittsburgh so that would eliminate me from any of their entry lists. Not a strategy I would use if I were trying to attract members.

[Timmyb]

Just them trying to inflate membership numbers. Their sandbox, their rules. I don't like it and that mindset will actually drive some members away. I don't even know of any Bowlero's near Pittsburgh so that would eliminate me from any of their entry lists. Not a strategy I would use if I were trying to attract members.

It's crap. Best of my knowledge, there's only one here in the Milwaukee area, and that's Bowlero, which has been called that since well before the corporate name came out. All of them used to be AMF's before that, and there's only one of them that even goes by that name here (which is a great place if you love belt marks on everything you own). Kind of hard to call this nay kind of tournament if it's only open to your selected group of patrons. Just sayin"....

[RobLV1]

PBA Tournaments are only open to their members. Just sayin'! Oh, I have an idea, let's just have no bowling to watch 'cause you don't like the format. Grow up!

[boatman37]

PBA Tournaments are only open to their members. Just sayin'! Oh, I have an idea, let's just have no bowling to watch 'cause you don't like the format. Grow up!

I didn't watch it so not familiar with the format but understand Timmy is saying it's open to amateurs but only a select few amateurs. My son used to race karts and once a year we had nationals at our home track. To enter nationals you had to be a WKA member. Not worth it for a single race each year but they did offer a temporary membership that was discounted so it would allow more participants. Maybe Bowlero could do something like that. If there are no Bowleros near you then you are automatically eliminated.

Actually just looked and there is one 52 miles from me. Turns out it is the same place I bowled a tournament at last year.

And I could be wrong but isn't PBA pros only? No amateurs? And it isn't restricted to people in specific geographic locations.

BTW-my son just flew to Milwaukee today for work. He'll be back Friday. He is staying in Fond de Luc

[RobLV1]

There's a very simple alternative to bowling in a Bowlero center. If you think that you are good enough to bowl at that level, just join the PBA.

[J Anderson]

And I could be wrong but isn't PBA pros only? No amateurs? And it isn't restricted to people in specific geographic locations.


Amateurs are allowed to compete in PBA events. They must have a house shot average of at least 200 or a Sport average of at least 190 with a minimum of 21 games. If they cash in two PBA events in one season they either have to join the PBA or waive any future cash winnings to compete in any more PBA events that season.

[JasonNJ]

I personally don't have an issue limiting it to league people who bowl at Bowlero owned houses which should include AMF and Brunswick Zones. Bowlero is finally trying to renew interest in league bowling and shelling out a lot of money to do it

It's not a normal event. The amateurs have to send in an audition video so who knows what the selection criteria is. What I didn't like about this last event was they only select 8 and they brought back the 2 previous amateur champions when I think they should have given 2 new people a chance. If they wanted to bring back previous contestant, wait until there are 8 champions and do a champion version.

[Timmyb]

PBA Tournaments are only open to their members. Just sayin'! Oh, I have an idea, let's just have no bowling to watch 'cause you don't like the format. Grow up!

Who pi**ed in your corn flakes? Angry much?

Apparently I found out who has ties to Bowlero......

[Timmyb]

Just them trying to inflate membership numbers. Their sandbox, their rules. I don't like it and that mindset will actually drive some members away. I don't even know of any Bowlero's near Pittsburgh so that would eliminate me from any of their entry lists. Not a strategy I would use if I were trying to attract members.

This was the point I was trying to make before Rob once again flew off the handle. We have two centers in this state. Bowlero, which is 24 miles from where I live (not really conducive to league bowling if it's a 40 minute drive one way), and AMF West, which is consistently the poorest maintained house in the city. My dad left less belt marks. I get that they're trying to drum up leagues, and I'm all for that, but restricting a tournament to your hand-picked bowlers isn't representative for the sport.

Rob, the only person here that ought to grow up is you. You have a passion for smashing anyone else you disagree with into the ground. I've been watching you for a couple of years on this forum. No one will ever accuse you of being a nice person.

[RobLV1]

Rob, the only person here that ought to grow up is you. You have a passion for smashing anyone else you disagree with into the ground. I've been watching you for a couple of years on this forum. No one will ever accuse you of being a nice person.

Nowhere in my life goals will you find being perceived as a nice person. High up in my life goals is encouraging people to use the brains that God gave them and stop being self-centered whiners who think that they are deserving of everything without putting out any effort. Oh, and by the way, every bowling center in Las Vegas is located in a casino, and there is not one Bowlmore among them. I have no ties to Bowlmore other than to appreciate what they are trying to do for our sport. I try to encourage those things that are good for bowling without regard to the misguided feelings of entitlement that are so pervasive in our modern society. So sorry if I offended you.

[Timmyb]

So sorry if I offended you.

Being a proud member of the Irish sect, I'm rarely offended. However, you are flat out the single most arrogant person on here. I'm not the one on here who seems to think everyone would benefit from my every word, unlike you. I also never said at any point in my original post that I was looking for a handout, nor was I "whining" about it, or was I looking for any kind of "entitlement", and how dare you ever assume I was. If they don't want my money, they simply don't get it. My point was (again....) that it's seems a bit out there that this company wants to bring back league bowling, but then institutes a tournament that only people that bowl in their centers are allowed to join. Bowlero just stuck a couple mil into the Bowlero facility, and from what I've heard, it's bleeding money, simply because these guys still can't get it right. There used to be at least half dozen AMF centers in the Milwaukee area. Now there are two. I walked into West on a Tuesday last year, and out of 48 lanes, they had league bowlers on 10. This company has an image problem, and crap like this isn't making it better.

[RobLV1]

Thank you for all of the kind words.

[boatman37]

I don't know what organization (pretty sure it was PBA) put it on but I did like the bowling shootout where they had 4 pro's going against each other > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAfaz4JmZpI (https://postimg.cc. Those were fun to watch > [url)

Timmy, my son is at the Milwaukee city hall. He said the building was sinking so his company is 'propping' it up...lol. He is a safety coordinator so is there overseeing the safety aspect of it. He said he was there today and I guess again Thursday.

[Timmyb]

Thank you for all of the kind words.

You're very welcome.

[Timmyb]

Timmy, my son is at the Milwaukee city hall. He said the building was sinking so his company is 'propping' it up...lol. He is a safety coordinator so is there overseeing the safety aspect of it. He said he was there today and I guess again Thursday.

No disrespect to your son, but that thing has been sinking since the day it was built. The entirety of Milwaukee county rests on a swamp. Not sure he can save it. Not sure it's worth it.....

[bowl1820]

RobLV1 & TimmyB this will stop right here, right now. Quit making it personal.

This goes for everyone else too. Your free to express your questions, ideas, reviews, But don't attack another user for expressing theirs.

[bowl1820]

As for the Bowlero Elite Series limiting amateur entry to their league member's only (Also it's by invitation only event that your also required to submit an online application including a video to see "if" they will invite you to participate), There's nothing wrong with that.

It's been a common practice for a lot of tournaments (and some leagues) over the years to limit who can enter based on where they bowl and/or what org./assoc. they belong too.

While a bowler who is not a Bowlero league member and/or doesn't have the opportunity to join one might not like that, it doesn't make the practice wrong.

[boatman37]

No disrespect to your son, but that thing has been sinking since the day it was built. The entirety of Milwaukee county rests on a swamp. Not sure he can save it. Not sure it's worth it.....

He had been working on the oil and gas pipelines for his company but he just finished a project in North Dakota so his company sent him to Milwaukee for the week. I wasn't sure why it was so short-term but I guess he is only there to learn some of that type of project from the guy that is already there on the project so he is only a 'spectator' this week for training. I think next week he will be headed to New Hampshire. His company is very big and they have several projects and several teams that have different specialties.

[ALazySavage]

Just finished watching the Bowlero Elite Series. Figured, this looks like a fun way to throw my money away. When I checked the rules, the only way you can enter as an amateur is if you currently bowl in one of their centers. You'd think a company that wants to be the "new face" of bowling would allow any amateur in, not just one that pays them money. Just my $.02.....

Anyone on here that has ties to Bowlero, you're more than welcome to chime in......

I don't really think there is an issue with this, this isn't a PBA event or another body that would provide more benefits than the prize fund and saying you won the event. The are putting up the money as a way to build up league activity at Bowlero houses, not at all bowling centers. The non-professional field is 8 bowlers, it isn't as though they were struggling to fill that bracket (although looking at the scores you could reasonably question the talent level they filled it with, but bigger events and exposure can be a cause for that as well). What this really serves as is a marketing ploy to try and tell people "look what you can get involved in" while the odds of getting selected are miniscule and the majority of bowlers are simply not good enough to compete.

[mc_runner]

I don't really see an issue either. As sponsor, they want to get people interested in their houses/leagues/etc and this is a good way for exposure and some incentive.

[vdubtx]

My Wednesday league is in an AMF center. I am going to enter for the next event, if there is a next one.

[J Daisy]

I think that it should be open to those who don't use their bowling centers, because I'm sure there are many bowlers out there who do not even live near one. However, I think they have the right to make rules like that if they want to, and people who don't like it need not take part.

[ALazySavage]

So here is my question to those saying it should be open to all bowlers.

My local house offers up a end of the season tournament for teams that place in the top 2 to 4 places in their league (number of entries are dependent on size of the league) that has some decent size prizes for a 6 game tournament ($5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, etc.) - this is obviously limited to teams/bowlers that bowl in a league at the house and you have to establish a set number of games in the league to be a qualifying bowler. Should this be open to all teams/bowlers in the area to participate in regardless of what house their respective team participated in league?

[J Anderson]

So here is my question to those saying it should be open to all bowlers.

My local house offers up a end of the season tournament for teams that place in the top 2 to 4 places in their league (number of entries are dependent on size of the league) that has some decent size prizes for a 6 game tournament ($5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, etc.) - this is obviously limited to teams/bowlers that bowl in a league at the house and you have to establish a set number of games in the league to be a qualifying bowler. Should this be open to all teams/bowlers in the area to participate in regardless of what house their respective team participated in league?

Since I would guess that the house is putting up a substantial part of the prize money, the tournament should be limited to teams that bowl at that center.
If it were the case that the prize money were entirely from entry fees or a combination of entry fees and sponsors other than the bowling center it would make sense to open it to the top teams from other centers as well.

[J Daisy]

So here is my question to those saying it should be open to all bowlers.

My local house offers up a end of the season tournament for teams that place in the top 2 to 4 places in their league (number of entries are dependent on size of the league) that has some decent size prizes for a 6 game tournament ($5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, etc.) - this is obviously limited to teams/bowlers that bowl in a league at the house and you have to establish a set number of games in the league to be a qualifying bowler. Should this be open to all teams/bowlers in the area to participate in regardless of what house their respective team participated in league?

I think that however they do it is up to them. If people don't like it, then the don't need to go.

[Timmyb]

So here is my question to those saying it should be open to all bowlers.

My local house offers up a end of the season tournament for teams that place in the top 2 to 4 places in their league (number of entries are dependent on size of the league) that has some decent size prizes for a 6 game tournament ($5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, etc.) - this is obviously limited to teams/bowlers that bowl in a league at the house and you have to establish a set number of games in the league to be a qualifying bowler. Should this be open to all teams/bowlers in the area to participate in regardless of what house their respective team participated in league?

My argument to this is that this is a local tournament being offered by a local house. The Bowlero tourney is nation wide, being used to possible pull in new league bowlers, most of which would come from where? Small local houses. Bowlero wants to be the face of bowling in this country, which is why they bought the PBA. I hate to say that the rules apply differently here, but they do. We have a tough enough time keeping the smaller house open now.

[boatman37]

I see valid points on both sides but my thoughts are if you want the best of the best you have to open it up to anyone that wants to enter. An example is let's say my league. We have a few very good league bowlers averaging 230's. If Bowlero has a tournament at the house an hour away why not try to attract the best of the best? I guess I'm looking at it as a competition where they are looking at it as a way to grow their company.

[JasonNJ]

You have to remember Bowlero is putting up 100% of the money so why should they open it to all bowlers? Just for being selected I believe you get $2000 and for each round you advanced was another $3000 I think. This isn't a normal tournament where bowlers pay an entrance fee and the prize fund is derived from the fees. As for the bowler's skill level, I actually thought the bowlers were all pretty solid, most of them had multiple 300s and 800 series. Elizabeth Jones was the only bowler who didn't really belong.

Did anyone watch all the rounds of the tournament? Greg Thompson impressed the heck out of me, I know he only bowled a 172 and lost his first match but if you watch closely, he hurt his hand or finger in the 1st or 2nd frame. He then bowled with only his thumb and middle finger the rest of the match, that was pretty impressive.

[boatman37]

If they put up all of the prize money then like I said in my first post, their sandbox, their rules. If the bowlers paid entry fees then maybe they should open it up to more but I wasn't aware of the format or where the prize fund came from.
Unfortunately I only saw the final game. Didn't know anything about it and just happened to catch it while flipping through the channels.

[ALazySavage]

My argument to this is that this is a local tournament being offered by a local house. The Bowlero tourney is nation wide, being used to possible pull in new league bowlers, most of which would come from where? Small local houses. Bowlero wants to be the face of bowling in this country, which is why they bought the PBA. I hate to say that the rules apply differently here, but they do. We have a tough enough time keeping the smaller house open now.

The thing is though, it is not Bowlero's job to keep the small house open. As many users have complained about Bowlero owned houses on this board (me included) and they leave plenty of opportunity for better offers. In regards to them being the face of bowling and trying to increase the significance, they did put an additional $400,000 towards PBA events in 2020. Secondly, as we all can reasonably assume this is an attempt to draw bowlers to their house - so why would they want to open it up?

[Timmyb]

The thing is though, it is not Bowlero's job to keep the small house open. As many users have complained about Bowlero owned houses on this board (me included) and they leave plenty of opportunity for better offers. In regards to them being the face of bowling and trying to increase the significance, they did put an additional $400,000 towards PBA events in 2020. Secondly, as we all can reasonably assume this is an attempt to draw bowlers to their house - so why would they want to open it up?

We don't have much to lean us towards them here. They have one big house on the northwest side of Milwaukee (Bowlero), and the other (West) may not last much longer, and then there will only be one. I'm not driving 40 minutes one way to bowl at Bowlero. Shut down all the small centers around here, and Bowlero isn't big enough to cover it. Couple that with $6.50 per line open bowling, and it sounds like a way to make a lot of disgruntled folks....