Are bowling leagues promoting sandbagging and dumping ?

[Aslan]

Well, that's the advantage of this system.....since the teams in the divisions are equal, there is no handicap, so you can't really sandbag your way to division champion. It is a really fun system though, and gives the league and teams some cool history.

I TOTALLY agree regarding the history. I mean, if you have a team in the league for 4-5 years, you may have a year where you won and got moved up with the "big boys"...or maybe you struggle early and get bumped down then have some success in the league below.

[Hampe]

Yea exactly . Some teams were once the top dogs of the A league 15-20 years ago, but lost some players or they got old and now they're down in the C or D league. My dad and I started our team 4 years ago and started in the E league. The first season we finished last place. We've gotten better each year and this year we will be playing in the C league . And I only know of one guy who sandbags in this league, and thats only for the 2-3 tournaments associated with the league (the tournaments are also scratch, but are tier/division based on average). It's kind of dumb since the tournaments are for trophies and a small amount of money (Iceman would love them )

[Aslan]

The key is...like in euro soccer...to make the A-league desirable. If the only difference is a bigger trophy...might not be enough motivation. But lets say you do THIS:
4 leagues, 5 teams per league...A, B, C, D. A and B are scratch, C and D are handicap. B league awards trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd...1st place bumps to A the following year and the 5th place team in A moves down. Same thing happens in C and D...best D team moves up, worst C team moves down. C and D leagues only award 1 modest trophy for 1st place.

And...to make people "want" to get moved up...nice trophy for 1st place in B. REALLY nice trophy (possibly even perpetual trophy) for first place in A-division and ALSO..cash prizes. $4000 for 1st, $2000 for 2nd, $800 for 3rd.

How to generate the prize money? All 4 leagues pay $10/person each night. The teams in the A-league benefit...where as B, C, and D will at best get a trophy...but the main bulk of the money goes to pay for trophies and A-league payouts. That gives incentive, like in EU soccer, for teams in the B league to finish first and get bumped up. It gives teams in the A division motivation NOT to get bumped down. And sandbagging/dumping would be reduced to nearly ZERO because the only thing you can win in C and D league is a small trophy.

I like it. Me and Hampe need to open up and alley and start some leagues!!!