Had our League payout.

[bowl1820]

We had vote a little while back by phone and email etc. to end the league. They finally got it sorted out and we had our league payout tonight.

It was team captains only and was done as a drive through for everyone's safety and following the guidelines of no gatherings of ten or more people. The team representative/team captain would pull up to the front of the building and stay in their car. They come to you with the team's payout and you just have to sign for it.

Didn't get a lot of prize money, but we did get back league fees we payed in advance also.

[Ryster]

Our bowling center has been closed since 3/16, but has not yet decided what to do. They are "waiting for more information" and will then make a decision at some point. We are under shelter in place until 4/30, so at least 3 more weeks are going to pass for us here before anything happens. Not sure what additional information they are waiting for at this point.

The approach your league took sounds very reasonable. Hopefully if our center does something similar, it will be as organized as yours!

[J Anderson]

The league I bowl in on Mondays is run by the owner of the pro shop. Unless 80% or more of the bowlers call him up an demand that he cancel the remainder of the season, I think he will just wait until the center is allowed to reopen and see if we can get a few more weeks in.
My Thursday league is definitely waiting to hear from the bowling alley to figure things out. To further complicate things, it’s one of the few leagues left that has an end of season awards dinner. It’s a small league with only 10 three person teams, but if everyone wants to attend and most of them bring a spouse or a date we may run into a restriction on gatherings of large groups when the restaurants reopen for any thing other than take-out and delivery.

[chrono00]

The league I bowl in on Mondays is run by the owner of the pro shop. Unless 80% or more of the bowlers call him up an demand that he cancel the remainder of the season, I think he will just wait until the center is allowed to reopen and see if we can get a few more weeks in.
My Thursday league is definitely waiting to hear from the bowling alley to figure things out. To further complicate things, it’s one of the few leagues left that has an end of season awards dinner. It’s a small league with only 10 three person teams, but if everyone wants to attend and most of them bring a spouse or a date we may run into a restriction on gatherings of large groups when the restaurants reopen for any thing other than take-out and delivery.

Get a vote online soon to convert the awards dinner money into money for points won or jut evenly distributed among teams. Most of the people could probably use a few extra bucks anyway right now so i imagine it wouldn’t be hard to get majority vote

[boatman37]

I'm fine with whatever they decide as long as its fair. I don't bowl for the money so as long as it's a fair split I'm good with it. Our summer league is also on Tuesday nights so no way we would be able to finish our league out and I doubt summer league will happen. Our league would be over either the last Tuesday in April or the first Tuesday in May and PA is on house arrest until April 30th so not likely we will bowl again this year anyway. And I had already planned on sitting out the summer league.

[SRB57]

Both my leagues are all settled. Will get everything in the mail. Probably best way to do it with least of amount of contact. Steve

[Ryster]

I'm fine with whatever they decide as long as its fair. I don't bowl for the money so as long as it's a fair split I'm good with it. Our summer league is also on Tuesday nights so no way we would be able to finish our league out and I doubt summer league will happen. Our league would be over either the last Tuesday in April or the first Tuesday in May and PA is on house arrest until April 30th so not likely we will bowl again this year anyway. And I had already planned on sitting out the summer league.

I am in PA as well, and the 4/30 stay at home order is for the residents. Gov. Wolf buried in the announcement that all non-essential businesses are closed indefinitely. So even if our stay at home order gets lifted on 4/30, non-essential businesses are still going to be closed until the governor gives them the go-ahead. A couple of the local bowling centers here are waiting anxiously for that 4/30 date to reopen, and I keep thinking to myself "yeah, good luck with that." I also expect our house arrest will be extended well into May, if not closer to June. If by some miracle non-essential businesses are permitted to reopen in June or July, I could totally see my bowling center doing a 8-10 week short season summer league just to start generating revenue. I would have no issue getting on board with that.

[kingtut]

I am in PA as well, and the 4/30 stay at home order is for the residents. Gov. Wolf buried in the announcement that all non-essential businesses are closed indefinitely. So even if our stay at home order gets lifted on 4/30, non-essential businesses are still going to be closed until the governor gives them the go-ahead. A couple of the local bowling centers here are waiting anxiously for that 4/30 date to reopen, and I keep thinking to myself "yeah, good luck with that." I also expect our house arrest will be extended well into May, if not closer to June. If by some miracle non-essential businesses are permitted to reopen in June or July, I could totally see my bowling center doing a 8-10 week short season summer league just to start generating revenue. I would have no issue getting on board with that.

I'm with you on that. Im my area, I look forward to two "King of the Hill" weekly tournaments for the summer season. I have new equipment just to be more competitive for the various sport patterns they will pull out of the sky.

[Ryster]

I'm with you on that. Im my area, I look forward to two "King of the Hill" weekly tournaments for the summer season. I have new equipment just to be more competitive for the various sport patterns they will pull out of the sky.

I had just started using all new equipment a few weeks before the virus hit. One of the balls has never even made its way down the lane! I also have 4 brand new balls that need to get to the pro shop once it reopens. Oh well, just gives me something to look forward to!

The bowling center I go to did a "King of the Hill" sport shot summer tournament series a few years ago. They would get about 8-10 participants each week, however a couple of weeks had to be canceled because only 2 or 3 people would come out for it [especially on mornings when the weather was really nice.] It lasted one summer and then never came back. They have a much bigger, regular turnout for the summer handicap house shot tournaments. People love those and the different formats used (no tap, scotch doubles, etc.)

[kingtut]

I had just started using all new equipment a few weeks before the virus hit. One of the balls has never even made its way down the lane! I also have 4 brand new balls that need to get to the pro shop once it reopens. Oh well, just gives me something to look forward to!

The bowling center I go to did a "King of the Hill" sport shot summer tournament series a few years ago. They would get about 8-10 participants each week, however a couple of weeks had to be canceled because only 2 or 3 people would come out for it [especially on mornings when the weather was really nice.] It lasted one summer and then never came back. They have a much bigger, regular turnout for the summer handicap house shot tournaments. People love those and the different formats used (no tap, scotch doubles, etc.)

Yeah, The last one I participated in this past summer was similar to that. We would have on average about 8 people. Sometimes only 3 people came out because it was a really nice day. Funny, that one guy came out on that day because he didn't to participate in his softball league that day. Let's just say he was quite upset when he got there. The one "King of the Hill" I used to participate in a few years back is really big now. I heard they would have anywhere from 15 to 45 people participating. The summer is going to be fun, if we get back to level of normalcy again.

[classygranny]

Just finished distributing the funds for our Monday league. Not an easy task to say the least. First had to adjust the prize fund to the % of the weeks bowled. Had to calculate how much was paid ahead, as we had prepaid the last two weeks and some members had finished paying, some had paid for the month, some owed for a week since they didn't bowl our last week. Then I had to make sure I had current addresses to mail checks to; or find out if the bowlers wanted to meetup to get cash. Then figure out how much cash to withdraw after depositing the Bowlero check (after getting the Pres to sign). Then had to write out the checks and put cash in envelopes. A few requested PayPal - that was easy. Made sure everyone got their paperwork.

I like the work of being the Secretary/Treasurer, but this time around it was a lot more work than normal! Be sure and let your officers know you appreciate the job they do! I have great Presidents that have been a big help in getting my two leagues closed out.

This was the little one....tomorrow I tackle the larger one, in anticipation of receiving the funds this week.

[taxexpert2]

Finally heard from the alley on Friday. They are going to send me the money and I am going to send checks out from my checking account. Mailing the recap sheets and financial statements with winners recaps this week. Called everyone in the middle of March and advised them we were ending the league but I wasn't sure when we couild get them their money. I sure hope everyone stays well and can come back in the fall - if we can bowl again.

[Ryster]

Have the bowling centers been pretty receptive to ending the leagues? The USBC sent guidance that the decision to end leagues should be a joint discussion between the leagues and the bowling centers. A couple of the bowling centers here have made it pretty clear that they want to have earnest discussions with leagues prior to final decisions being made to end seasons. So far, no leagues have been canceled in this immediate area despite bowling centers being closed since March 16th. The centers are waiting until the end of the month at the earliest to make any further decisions on the matter. There is some optimistic thinking that the centers will be allowed to reopen by the end of the month. Personally, I do not think our stay at home order will end on 4/30 as cases continue to rise in this area. Plus, with non-essential businesses closed indefinitely, the governor isn't going to suddenly loosen up the restrictions.

[bowl1820]

Finally heard from the alley on Friday. They are going to send me the money and I am going to send checks out from my checking account.
From your personal checking account? Doesn't the league have it's own checking account? I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my personal checks out (Possible ID theft issues etc.).

If your bank offers you free money orders or cashier checks because you have a account, I would get those.

If not depending on how many checks I might would check the cost of getting them (as Part of the sec. fee)

[jaypeesmith]

From your personal checking account? Doesn't the league have it's own checking account? I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my personal checks out (Possible ID theft issues etc.).

If your bank offers you free money orders or cashier checks because you have a account, I would get those.

If not depending on how many checks I might would check the cost of getting them (as Part of the sec. fee)

I am the captain on one of my teams and I offered to send the money via CashApp or Venmo. If that's an option, I would use one of these instead.

[taxexpert2]

From your personal checking account? Doesn't the league have it's own checking account? I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my personal checks out (Possible ID theft issues etc.).

If your bank offers you free money orders or cashier checks because you have a account, I would get those.

If not depending on how many checks I might would check the cost of getting them (as Part of the sec. fee)

I am actually depositing funds in to a little used checking account that I have and sending checks from there. Yes, the league has an account, but I do not have access to it as it is held by the bowling alley. Actually getting money today - April 20. Since it is a larger amount it will take a few days for the check to clear.

Last week I sent out recap sheets and prize money calculations. If any of them come back I will know I have a bad address for the checks.

Still looking forward to being able to bowl again. Here in Ohio we have been successful in keeping cases down, but without testing it is hard to tell when bowling alleys will open again.

[Ryster]

Still radio silent from our bowling center since March 16th about the status of leagues. Our State has made it perfectly clear that our county will be among the last to reopen, and even then bowling centers will not be reopening right away. No "entertainment" businesses will be allowed to reopen until the final phase of our reopening plan. That means we are probably looking at July before bowling centers can even think about opening up. The State has also warned that if cases start to increase after reopening, we should be prepared to immediately return to "stay-at-home" orders with little to no notice. I think at this point our bowling center should start league payouts and just be done with it. There were still upwards of 5 weeks left on some leagues when the shutdown happened. With social distancing and ongoing mitigation efforts that will be required at reopening, it is going to be very difficult for all leagues to simply restart and finish everything out unless the bowling center is going to try and get creative with league schedules and make-up sessions. Plus, with the threat of a return to stay-at-home hovering after reopening, what is the point of even trying to start a new league season (summer or winter) right away?

[boatman37]

Still radio silent from our bowling center since March 16th about the status of leagues. Our State has made it perfectly clear that our county will be among the last to reopen, and even then bowling centers will not be reopening right away. No "entertainment" businesses will be allowed to reopen until the final phase of our reopening plan. That means we are probably looking at July before bowling centers can even think about opening up. The State has also warned that if cases start to increase after reopening, we should be prepared to immediately return to "stay-at-home" orders with little to no notice. I think at this point our bowling center should start league payouts and just be done with it. There were still upwards of 5 weeks left on some leagues when the shutdown happened. With social distancing and ongoing mitigation efforts that will be required at reopening, it is going to be very difficult for all leagues to simply restart and finish everything out unless the bowling center is going to try and get creative with league schedules and make-up sessions. Plus, with the threat of a return to stay-at-home hovering after reopening, what is the point of even trying to start a new league season (summer or winter) right away?

yeah our center has leagues almost every night and most nights all 40 lanes are booked. On our night we have 16 teams then the womens league has another 6 teams so that is 22 lanes. We could probably skip a few lanes here and there but still tight quarters

[Ryster]

yeah our center has leagues almost every night and most nights all 40 lanes are booked. On our night we have 16 teams then the womens league has another 6 teams so that is 22 lanes. We could probably skip a few lanes here and there but still tight quarters

I agree. We have 48 lanes in the bowling center here, and there are a few nights where the whole center is filled with league bowlers. There are some nights where there are 250-300 people in the center at any given time. Theoretically they could remove the furniture and make people stand 6ft apart all night, or put out folding chairs that are 6ft apart for people to sit in, but having the staff try to "police" that all night and make sure the bowlers distance will be tough. Plus, there are people that go there more to eat and drink than bowl and trying to tell them they cannot do that while bowling would get very interesting.

It has been hard enough in the past just dealing with people that refuse to wash their hands ("If I wash my hands and don't dry them good enough I may stick in the ball!".) Now that is more important than ever and I guarantee the same hygienically challenged people haven't changed their ways.

There are also a couple of afternoon leagues where there are 75-100 seniors bowling at any given time. They need to be especially considerate of that issue.

[boatman37]

Considering our league was kind of the start of this thing in our area with one of our league members dying from Covid-19 and 2 others in ICU from it I think they will take these 'recommendations' pretty seriously. As far as I know those 3 guys were the first 3 in our county to get it, at least that was known and reported.

[boatman37]

Got my league payout today. The payouts were dispersed last week but I made it over to teammates house to get it today. $235 for 81 games and we were in last after the first 1/2 and I think next to last at the end of the 2nd half so we were pretty far down.

[boatman37]

Well some PA counties were not permitted to re-open under yellow phase. Specifically Beaver County (where our center is). All surrounding counties are allowed to open for about 100+ miles. There is a nursing home there that accounted for 90% of all Covid cases in the county. Take that away and the county is inline with surrounding counties. Local DA's said they would not charge any business owners that decided to open following yellow phase guidelines that all other counties are under now. PA governor Wolf just said that if you defy his order he will withhold state funds to those counties and will have your licenses and permits revoked and report your business to the insurance companies in an attempt to get your insurance coverage denied. This guy is ruthless. Let him give up his salary and live off of unemployment. Oh, and before he was governor he owned a kitchen cabinet business then sold it. That business was permitted to stay open through all of this.

[Ryster]

Well some PA counties were not permitted to re-open under yellow phase. Specifically Beaver County (where our center is). All surrounding counties are allowed to open for about 100+ miles. There is a nursing home there that accounted for 90% of all Covid cases in the county. Take that away and the county is inline with surrounding counties. Local DA's said they would not charge any business owners that decided to open following yellow phase guidelines that all other counties are under now. PA governor Wolf just said that if you defy his order he will withhold state funds to those counties and will have your licenses and permits revoked and report your business to the insurance companies in an attempt to get your insurance coverage denied. This guy is ruthless. Let him give up his salary and live off of unemployment. Oh, and before he was governor he owned a kitchen cabinet business then sold it. That business was permitted to stay open through all of this.

"Yellow" is kind of a joke. It is no different than "red", except some businesses can reopen and child care centers can open. Otherwise, telework is still suggested where feasible, gyms, salons, barber shops, movie theaters, etc. are still closed and restaurants are still take-out delivery only. It is just a very small step from "red". Stay at home is lifted, but there isn't much open or operating to really make that much of a difference.

Yeah, Wolf is really playing hardball with the counties that simply want to reopen and allow people to get back to work and support themselves and the local economy. His former cabinet business is an interesting case. They received a waiver from the shutdown when it first started. Then within a week after the shutdown, the waiver was rescinded which meant they should have closed. However, they have been operating during the shutdown without the waiver and there have been no repercussions. Even though he no longer owns it, the fact that they never shut down should be enough to get an investigation against him going. However, the State AG is also one of his cronies so that will never happen.

In reality, if all of the counties just gradually and sensibly started reopening there would be nothing he could do to stop it. He can't arrest everyone, he can't withhold funds from over half the state, and he couldn't pull/revoke business licenses for tens of thousands of businesses. That would essentially destroy the state and there would be nothing left for him to govern. Not to mention it would be a total embarrassment for his political career.

[boatman37]

"Yellow" is kind of a joke. It is no different than "red", except some businesses can reopen and child care centers can open. Otherwise, telework is still suggested where feasible, gyms, salons, barber shops, movie theaters, etc. are still closed and restaurants are still take-out delivery only. It is just a very small step from "red". Stay at home is lifted, but there isn't much open or operating to really make that much of a difference.

Yeah, Wolf is really playing hardball with the counties that simply want to reopen and allow people to get back to work and support themselves and the local economy. His former cabinet business is an interesting case. They received a waiver from the shutdown when it first started. Then within a week after the shutdown, the waiver was rescinded which meant they should have closed. However, they have been operating during the shutdown without the waiver and there have been no repercussions. Even though he no longer owns it, the fact that they never shut down should be enough to get an investigation against him going. However, the State AG is also one of his cronies so that will never happen.

In reality, if all of the counties just gradually and sensibly started reopening there would be nothing he could do to stop it. He can't arrest everyone, he can't withhold funds from over half the state, and he couldn't pull/revoke business licenses for tens of thousands of businesses. That would essentially destroy the state and there would be nothing left for him to govern. Not to mention it would be a total embarrassment for his political career.

if you look at the map Beaver County is the only county still in lockdown within maybe 100 miles. Ohio and WV are not under lockdown anymore as far as I know. More of our yellow phase so all yellow within at least 100 miles. Does Wolf think all the residents of Beaver County are going to stay in Beaver County? lol

[Ryster]

if you look at the map Beaver County is the only county still in lockdown within maybe 100 miles. Ohio and WV are not under lockdown anymore as far as I know. More of our yellow phase so all yellow within at least 100 miles. Does Wolf think all the residents of Beaver County are going to stay in Beaver County? lol

EXACTLY! LOL

Ever since the stay at home order went into effect, residents have been traveling to outside areas to get things they need/want, or just for something to do. While probably not the best idea and not what the stay at home order intended, it is just naturally what Americans do. To go from having the freedom to basically do whatever and go wherever, to being told NOT to do anything except go to the local store only when absolutely necessary and right back home was unnatural. Plus, it wasn't a gradual change in lifestyle...it all happened overnight. Then to expect people to do that for months with no end in sight just makes it seem even more oppressive.

I have done my part, and only left the house once per week since March 13th to go to the store and then come right back home. My county is still "red", and we have been told that there is currently no estimate as to when we will be out of the "red". Our current stay at home order has been pushed to June 4th, which means nothing. I am guessing that the week of May 25th, Wolf will announce that a few more counties are going to "yellow", but the counties in and around Philly will again stay "red", and we will be extended to July sometime. It is all getting to be a bit crazy. This just isn't what America is supposed to be like. If this truly is the "new normal", it is going to take a very long time to adjust.

Just to stay on the original topic...no word from our bowling center yet other than facebook postings about "we hope to open soon" and "think about joining a summer league!" I know they have furloughed most, if not all, of their staff. I think it is time for them to end the winter leagues, adjust the prize funds, and pay everyone out. Leaving hundreds of league bowlers hanging, and holding on to prize money that some truly might need right now, is just being too optimistic. I get why they don't want to do it, but it is going to have to be done soon.

[boatman37]

Yeah our winter league normally ends the first week of May anyway because of the summer league starting. actually the first day of summer league is the last day of winter league so we have a waiver on the limit for pre-bowling for the first week. normally we only allow 2 pre-bowlers per team per week

[J Anderson]

EXACTLY! LOL

Just to stay on the original topic...no word from our bowling center yet other than facebook postings about "we hope to open soon" and "think about joining a summer league!" I know they have furloughed most, if not all, of their staff. I think it is time for them to end the winter leagues, adjust the prize funds, and pay everyone out. Leaving hundreds of league bowlers hanging, and holding on to prize money that some truly might need right now, is just being too optimistic. I get why they don't want to do it, but it is going to have to be done soon.

Neither league that I bowl (bowled?) in have officially ended. I talked to a former teammate who bowled in a different league for 2019-2020 who hasn’t yet heard anything about ending the season. For my Thursday league there is a good chance that we could finish things up when the center reopens. We only have 10 three person teams and bowl at 4 p.m. For the Monday league there’s almost no way we will be able to finish out the season. It is the smallest of the three leagues that bowl Monday night and there is not one lane available for open bowling between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. I suppose it could happen if the larger of the other two leagues doesn’t finish up and the alley doesn’t organize any summer leagues. There has been zero communication from the officers of the Monday league. The center has actually had the managers call every league bowler to say how much they appreciate us yada yada yada. They also send at least one e-mail a week. The Thursday league has been in regular communication with a “No News Newsletter” that gives some distraction from the boredom of shelter in place.

[Ryster]

Neither league that I bowl (bowled?) in have officially ended. I talked to a former teammate who bowled in a different league for 2019-2020 who hasn’t yet heard anything about ending the season. For my Thursday league there is a good chance that we could finish things up when the center reopens. We only have 10 three person teams and bowl at 4 p.m. For the Monday league there’s almost no way we will be able to finish out the season. It is the smallest of the three leagues that bowl Monday night and there is not one lane available for open bowling between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. I suppose it could happen if the larger of the other two leagues doesn’t finish up and the alley doesn’t organize any summer leagues. There has been zero communication from the officers of the Monday league. The center has actually had the managers call every league bowler to say how much they appreciate us yada yada yada. They also send at least one e-mail a week. The Thursday league has been in regular communication with a “No News Newsletter” that gives some distraction from the boredom of shelter in place.

Most of the leagues at the center where I bowl had 5-6 weeks left in the season. Assuming the center can reopen in mid-July (at the earliest), and the distancing rules can be accommodated in a way to allow all of the leagues to continue, theoretically there would be enough time to finish the leagues just before the new winter season starts. I think that is a little optimistic as the CDC guidelines will dictate how many people can be in the center and how far away we have to stand from each other. If this stretches in to August, it would be impossible to finish out the season unless they intend to try to double up on league sessions or have everyone pre-bowl when available or something crazy.

There are many people at the bowling center who bowl on leagues, and that weekly league fee is a big expenditure for them. They really deserve to be contacted and asked if they would like to end the league and get their portion of the prize fund. For many of them, that could be a few weeks worth of food or other expenses during this whole pandemic. Hopefully the bowling center is thinking about that and realizes that the prize fund money they are banking/holding for the leagues belongs to the bowlers and is not the bowling center's money.

[Hammer]

My senior league and my regular league settled with our money after our bowling center closed down because of the COVID-19 virus. I couldn't believe how much money my wife and I got back. I sure am missing going bowling on my two leagues. I have been bowling since the first season of league bowling in 1978. I still like to bowl even now. I hope we can get back to it soon. Stay safe.

[Ryster]

My senior league and my regular league settled with our money after our bowling center closed down because of the COVID-19 virus. I couldn't believe how much money my wife and I got back. I sure am missing going bowling on my two leagues. I have been bowling since the first season of league bowling in 1978. I still like to bowl even now. I hope we can get back to it soon. Stay safe.

I start summer league tonight. I practiced for the first time in 14 weeks this past Saturday. While it was nice to be back, it doesn't feel 100% safe. The center where I bowl is not requiring masks, only encouraging them. They are also only following 50% capacity guidelines for open bowling. League bowling is just as it was before the pandemic. Two teams per pair, no empty lanes in between, etc. I wish they would simply follow the state's guidelines to the letter, which clearly state that all customers in recreational sports facilities *must* wear a mask unless they are participating in the sport. It also stipulates that groups cannot exceed 50% of licensed capacity or 250 people, whichever is smaller.

I will try it, but if it seems too crazy or careless I may have to just drop off and open bowl once a week when I know it will be better distanced. We'll see.

[Timmyb]

We just finally got our league payout this week. We're also leaving that center for a new house a couple of miles away. Coincidence? Nah.....

Haven't heard yet when league starts. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.