Why I am glad bowling isn't more popular

[ursus]

I keep wondering why bowling has lost some of its popularity over the years, but then it occurred to me that it might not be such a bad thing. It seems everytime something get popular the price goes way up. Pickup trucks used to be one of the lower priced vehicles till it became a hip thing to drive and the prices shot up. I wore carhart clothes all growing up, then it became popular, now what was once a good affordable coat has gone through the roof in price. So I am glad I can still go in the the bowling alley about any time and get on a lane, and relatively cheaply in this day and age enjoy afew games without breaking the bank.

[MICHAEL]

Your right Ursus! I guess its the balance that needs to be there! If 2 many people leave the sport, alleys close! Balance is the key! Fewer alleys might actually make prices go up! Many different ways to look at it I guess!

[ursus]

You don't like to see the Bowling Alley's bottom line suffer. It would also be nice to not see them stuggle to have to fill enough teams for each of the leagues. In the mean time I will do my part by providing them with an income stream, and enjoy the open lanes and reasonable prices

[The German Shepherd]

Back in bowling's "hay day" (60's, 70's and 80's) I used to bowl for 25 cents per game up through $1.00 per game. Nowadays, you can expect to pay $3.50 per game on average and in some places much higher than that. The demand has gone waaaaay down, but the cost has gone waaaay up. The law of supply and demand??? That is not the way I was taught it.....

Jay

[ursus]

When you compare it to other things it is still pretty cheap. A round of golf is $40+. Cost $10 just to see a movie. There are quite a few alleys around that have $1 nights or $8 for all you can bowl. Thats still cheap entertainment all things considered. But yeah, the alleys that charge $5 bucks a game seems pretty steap

[billf]

Ours is $4.00 game, league bowlers discount to $2.50 game. These are 60 year old wood lanes. They spent a lot of money about 5 or 6 years ago on new tables and carpet. The carpet glows in the dark for 'glowmania'. Nothing new was done for all the league bowlers. Ownership tried telling me once that they made more on open bowling. I actually laughed at loud. I then explained how the less than 100 open bowlers made up less than $1,200 gross revenue. The alley gets $8.50 per person per night for league totaling over $5,100 in gross revenue. That doesn't count the massive amounts of alcohol or food consumed by either group. Noticing I figured this out on the fly, in my head, management has not tried to BS me again.
During the summer the house gets the full $12 per person/night league fee as they are non-sanctioned. One week this month they had a total of 13 open bowlers. Common sense alone says that if leagues weren't profitable, they wouldn't keep adding them.

[TheSheibs]

Out here in California, I think we have the highest prices. $15 for movie, $20-$100+ for golf, cheapest gas is $4 and if your not on a league at the bowling alley you are at, $5.50 per game. If you are on a league at the bowling alley it is $1 9AM-5PM everyday(at least the one I go to). Then there is also the amount that they charge per hour. Which is something like $15 per hour. Kind of sucks that the price for everything has gone up. When I was a kid you could bowl 3 games for about $8-$10. I'm glade I'm on a league so I only pay $1 a game. I usually bowl as many as my knee and arm can take to try to make it worth while for the bowling alley to give us league members a great price.

[GeorgiaStroker]

The price per line at my local center is $2.50. It's not the most modern house but not bad. 24 lanes synthetic pretty well maintained. There are quite a few leagues and a fair amount of open bowling. There is another 24 lane house across town that probably does about the same amount of business. They are both owned by the same people so I guess the prices are the same at both.

[panbanger]

Place I bowl at has a sweet deal if you come in before 3:00 Monday through Friday it's 10 bucks per person for 2 hours plus you get a soda and a small pizza. The food there isn't that great though. I just get the soda. On the weekends it's pretty expensive, about 25 or 30 bucks for 2 people to bowl an hour.

[austin]

Price of bowling here in Australia is a far cry from you guys in the states. With AMF Australia, social play $14.90 1 game, $19.90 for 2 games. League bowlers get $5.50 practice games if you flash your gold member card. You can pre-purchase games online and print out a voucher for $7.95. Most of the private centres aren't too far off this either, but haven't seen any under $10.00 a game for social play for yonks.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Price of bowling here in Australia is a far cry from you guys in the states. With AMF Australia, social play $14.90 1 game, $19.90 for 2 games. League bowlers get $5.50 practice games if you flash your gold member card. You can pre-purchase games online and print out a voucher for $7.95. Most of the private centres aren't too far off this either, but haven't seen any under $10.00 a game for social play for yonks.

Yes but it evens out because we have to pay more for Victoria Bitter and XXXX if we can even find it. LOL :D

[ursus]

Price of bowling here in Australia is a far cry from you guys in the states. With AMF Australia, social play $14.90 1 game, $19.90 for 2 games. League bowlers get $5.50 practice games if you flash your gold member card. You can pre-purchase games online and print out a voucher for $7.95. Most of the private centres aren't too far off this either, but haven't seen any under $10.00 a game for social play for yonks.

Are those in Australian Dollars? Whats the exchange rate?

[Hampe]

The exchange rate is basically 1:1 so it doesn't matter.........DAMN that's expensive :).

I was going to complain about the prices here in Switzerland, but now they don't seem that bad :D

[eugene02]

for Singapore.. only 1 bowling center has $1.50 games from Monday to Thursday 1200Hrs - 1800Hrs for students exclusively... During the holidays, it cost more.. Because the place is kinda remote.. so it's difficult to get in without a car.. although a shuttle bus is available.. others would be $4.50 all day round for students.. $2.70 before 1800Hrs for (Nebo Members) $3.20 after 1800Hrs (Nebo Members), Not sure about the rest though.. but nebo's the cheapest.. :) Glad i have it.. or also there is this membership of the place which is $15 per hour.. It can be used anytime of the day.. All $$ was in SGD! so do convert the $ yourself! hahahaa

[travkoiboi]

dude supply demand... if bowling was more popular it would be less for open bowling, leagues would not have trouble filling teams, and there would be more televised events and probably more companies involved. Bowling is still cheap compared to other sports (golf) and equipment wise (hockey) but it forsure is not because it's not popular. ECON101 supply demand... read

[billf]

You mean like gasoline where the demand is high and the available supply a hundred times higher? ECON101 is great for reading but was the class furthest from reality that I had to take. Golf is a lot more popular with the general public than bowling but still more expensive. Supply and demand as explained in school books would work as such if corporate greed didn't influence pricing so much. A big percentage of the companies that folded the past four years wasn't due to supply and demand of their product but rather the demand the CEO's but on the supply of company funds, milking them dry.

[TheSheibs]

Gas is high due to reasons other than supply and demand, Look at all the different world events that have happened in the last 60 years which have influenced gas prices. I know this because I just did a paper on four events that influenced oil prices. One of them just happened in 2008. The price for bowling has increased due to a lower interest from the public, the recession, and not having the kind of financial backing that other sports, like golf, has. Golf has a number of sponsors who are both companies, individuals, and country clubs. Plus in order to be a member of a country club, you have to pay up to $1000, sometimes depending on the club even more than that. So golf has a lot of money backing it. Bowling only has a few sponsors who don't give nearly as much money to the sport therefore, bowling does not have the kind of financial backing as golf does to really make it popular. In order for a sport to be popular there needs to be the financial backing to pay things like wages, prize money, bowling alleys, etc. Plus you need to take into account that back in the 80s and 90s, things were overall cheaper. So you need to think about inflation, even though it has not been that big it has still happened. Also the companies that folded in the past four years had little to do with the supply of company funds but due to poor management, poor allocation of funds, poor book keeping, having operational cost exceed income, and overall cost of equipment, wages, and retirement costs.

The point is that it is not econ101 supply and demand but more to do with the current state of the economy, and financial backing of the sport. The prices we pay are caused by much more than supply and demand. To say such a thing is to have a limited understanding of our economy. Might I suggest watching the documentary "A League of Ordinary Gentlemen". It is a behind the scene type of movie that is about the PBA back in 2005.

[J Anderson]

Economists have convinced ( or is it conned? ) most people into thinking that economics is a science like physics or chemistry. Therefore we assume that the economy can be "managed". The problem is that the US alone has about 300,000,000 variables, i.e. Humans. OK, so a lot of them are infants and children who do not make direct choices, but I didn't include the various groups like clubs, businesses, corporations, churches, non-profits and bowling leagues that do. We're still dealing with a pretty big number free agents. If we were on the planet Vulcan, and all decisions were made with logic the economists might be right. Here on earth, where even the most logical people are known to make decisions based on emotion and then use logic to try and justify them, there is no way to do it.

[TheSheibs]

Economics is a science but not like physics or chemistry. It is more like mathematics. It uses a lot of formulas and calculations to try to explain things in our economy. The economy CAN be managed but the problem isn't the millions of variables. The problem is the desire for more. More money, more success, more recognition, etc. Also our, the US, economy is affect by the world economy. The problem is that by having our economy connected to the world economy. We have problems in other countries affecting the economy in the US. Look at Greece and the EU. They both have problems and if you watch the stock market, every time there is a story in the news about trouble in the EU or even Greece, you will see the stock market in the US drop. This is because the economy has become so entwined with other countries economy that when a countries economy is doing poorly, other countries are affected by it. Also economics is more like mathematics since if you change one number/variable you will get a different outcome/answer. Also I disagree with your statement that even the most logical people make decisions based on emotion rather than logic. Most "logical" people who make decisions, base their decision on facts and not emotions. It seems like your trying to disprove economics entirely by saying it is pointless since even logical people base decisions on emotion. What facts do you have to back such a statement? Examples?

Also if bowling wasn't as popular as it currently is, we would be seeing prices a lot higher since the bowling alleys would be making a lot less money. The reason that league members receive a discount is because leagues account for a majority of the bowling alleys income. Followed by the increased number of people on Friday and Saturday nights. Followed by increased number of people during the summer months. If bowling was less popular, the price would have to be higher in order to meet operational costs, and wages for employees. Not to mention maintenance cost. Minus the money that is paid out of they have any type of tournament or event in which there are cash prizes.

[panbanger]

Price of bowling here in Australia is a far cry from you guys in the states. With AMF Australia, social play $14.90 1 game, $19.90 for 2 games. League bowlers get $5.50 practice games if you flash your gold member card. You can pre-purchase games online and print out a voucher for $7.95. Most of the private centres aren't too far off this either, but haven't seen any under $10.00 a game for social play for yonks.

I don't often say OMG, BUT OMG!

[dgz924s]

I agree with The Sheibs for the most part with the exception of "financial backing" as a reason for poor interest in bowling. Absolutely correct in regards to the PBA tour as the backing is extremely small and very limited but in regards to bowling for the general public,financial backing from sponsors has never played a role to any large degree. Yes houses do have local sponsors that help out but the amount of money is not enough to carry much weight and really does nothing in terms of promotion. And which leads me to the main point...marketing.

Marketing and advertising for local houses is basically non existent largely due to the high cost to adverrtise. Not to say there are no houses who do not advertise, it is just that the vast majority cannot afford it and those who do are usually in large demographic markets. If you were to see/hear a bowling advertisement at the rate we see/hear on TV and radio ads we would be sick of seeing "all those bowling alley ads"! But that is the whole point to advertisement, drill it in, make you remember and when the need arises you visit the business running the ad.

My opinion is the USBC does very little in supporting the marketing and promotion of the sport and what little is done is only during a PBA TV event. The other area in which they promote is in bowling publications and various businesses related to bowling but never do you see an ad run on TV while watching the evening news or sports events. Run an ad just as McDonalds does and you will reach millions of people and all it takes is the mention of bowling and you would see more people going bowling. The mere mentioning of the sport is now in the viewers mind which is a tool designed specifically to encourage a sale, called "impulse marketing". Same reason you see magazines and candy etc; at the checkout. The candy is right in your face so you are compelled to purchase. This can work for bowling as well, every ad is a another tool to suggest to the viewer " hey just saw an ad for bowling, sounds like fun let's do that today/nite"!

Truth is the reasons for a lack of participation in bowling are too numerous to lay the blame on. Some it is economics, others it is time, and there are just some who feel they are not athletically inclined to bowl, which is a myth but not to the those who never bowled. The youth are so consumed by technology and all it offers bowling just isn't cool because it does not include the need for a smartphone....lol

[billf]

I totally agree! Why advertise to those who already use the product/service? Some I understand to keep it in their minds but not the entire budget.
I once worked for a national/worldwide chain. During the CEO's visit he said how females made up something like 70% of our decision making customers and we were looking to exploit that demographic. I asked, "Then why the hell are we advertising during Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN instead of daytime talk shows?" He said I was wrong while seriously talking down to me. When he visited my store the next day I produced a VHS tape recording of the game in question with 17 of our commercials during the broadcast. I mentioned something about the CEO either had to be clueless or the advertising director a liar for him to declare as fact that they did not, at all, never advertised on ESPN. The CEO said I was a smart ***. I said no, I just do the research before I ask a question. He left without another word and never visited me again. I was promoted to regional manager three months later and left the company shortly after that.

[billf]

Oh, on the topic of inflation. I'm not sure how many of you paid rent or a mortgage in the 80's but I pay a whole lot more now than I did then. Also, bowling alley's around here are open a lot less hours during the summer do to the lack of people coming in. It would help if we had a sanctioned summer league but we don't. My home alley is closed on Sundays during the summer and they are talking about not opening Saturdays until 6pm.
My interest in physics derived from my love of math. So trying to separate mathematics from physics is too hard for me to grasp seeing as physics is all mathematical equations.

[J Anderson]

Economics is a science but not like physics or chemistry. It is more like mathematics. It uses a lot of formulas and calculations to try to explain things in our economy. The economy CAN be managed but the problem isn't the millions of variables. The problem is the desire for more. More money, more success, more recognition, etc. Also our, the US, economy is affect by the world economy. The problem is that by having our economy connected to the world economy. We have problems in other countries affecting the economy in the US. Look at Greece and the EU. They both have problems and if you watch the stock market, every time there is a story in the news about trouble in the EU or even Greece, you will see the stock market in the US drop. This is because the economy has become so entwined with other countries economy that when a countries economy is doing poorly, other countries are affected by it. Also economics is more like mathematics since if you change one number/variable you will get a different outcome/answer. Also I disagree with your statement that even the most logical people make decisions based on emotion rather than logic. Most "logical" people who make decisions, base their decision on facts and not emotions. It seems like your trying to disprove economics entirely by saying it is pointless since even logical people base decisions on emotion. What facts do you have to back such a statement? Examples?

Also if bowling wasn't as popular as it currently is, we would be seeing prices a lot higher since the bowling alleys would be making a lot less money. The reason that league members receive a discount is because leagues account for a majority of the bowling alleys income. Followed by the increased number of people on Friday and Saturday nights. Followed by increased number of people during the summer months. If bowling was less popular, the price would have to be higher in order to meet operational costs, and wages for employees. Not to mention maintenance cost. Minus the money that is paid out of they have any type of tournament or event in which there are cash prizes.

I tend not to think of mathematics as a science. I think of it more as the language of science, a way to communicate scientific principles. Either that or a set of tools we can use in the different sciences.

I doubt if I know anyone who can honestly say that every decision that they have made as an adult is the result of pure reason. I don't doubt that there are people who discipline them selves to make logical decisions in the big matters. I do know that almost every article I've read about selling, or business seminar that I've attended that has touched on selling focused on emotions and relationships.

[TheSheibs]

Nice mention about advertising and marketing. I think it would help if bowling had its own channel just like golf does. It would be 24/7 365 days a year and always out there for the "channel surfers" and those who can't sleep. It would be perfect for all the bowling alleys to advertise on. The only down side to this idea is cost, which was mentioned. I agree with your post about advertising. Especially about the USBC really dropping the ball on this one. The people there don't know anything about advertising and reaching a larger audience. Your right about it being a waste to advertise to those who are always bowling. The time and money spent on advertising needs to be used to reach the general public. Seems like people on here could do a better job than those currently at the USBC.