gotta have that plastic ball lolOriginally Posted by J Anderson
Very close. If I hadn't looked up what my sport average translates to for a couple of tournaments, I would have thought you were right on the money.
I've seen a few 190-200 average bowlers who have a hard time breaking 160 the first few weeks they try to bowl on sport patterns.
John
gotta have that plastic ball lol
Stroker
Ball Speed : 17mph Rev Rate : 300-325 PAP : 4 1/2
Balls : Hammer Taboo Deep Purple Roto Grip Shatter Roto Grip Scream Hammer absolute hook
Avg 182 high game 291 High series 709
bowling 2 leagues and everyday i can
Member ID: 9407-9357
I sent my ring back and got the watch instead. The ring was poorly made.
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Getting back to Aslan's original subject of this thread, I had wanted to bowl two leagues this winter - Thurs and Fri. For Friday I had 3/4's of team already setup so that was no problem (we picked up a 4th member on week 3). Never did get into the Thurs night league I wanted because my team didn't want to bowl that night so I had to go solo. That caused a problem with "fitting me in" to an existing team.
I asked the bowling center coordinator for a spot on a Wednesday night league if I couldn't get into to Thursday. She said she would get back to me in a "few days" (that was 4 weeks ago and I have yet to hear from her). Meanwhile I can see by the league sheets there are still 4 vacant spots on the Wed night league I was interested as an alternate choice. So I suspect there must be some weird kind of politics here. It would seem they would be anxious to fill a league esp. if there are interested people. Last time I checked, vacant spots don't pay the weekly fees.
I think next week I am going to show up on Wednesday night and offer to substitute and see what happens. I also think it has to do with the part of the country you live in. If I were in Wisconsin for example, I suspect I could have all the league slots I wanted. Well at least I got this thread back on topic! LOL; somehow it turned into a discussion about 300 pins.
Thats what really annoyed me most...I reached out, offered to be a sub....she tells me she'll have a spot for me...then confirms that she'll have a spot for me...then the week before league starts...I send 3 unanswered emails....not knowing where I needed to go, who I needed to see/speak to...nothing. And she almost acted "annoyed" that I wanted the information.
Bowling leagues are the heart and soul of bowling alleys. The problems as the numbers have faded is that you might have 20 people that want to bowl...but they are all singles/doubles/trios...so a lot of people don't join a league because they "don't have enough people to forma a team". I think alleys need to do more promotion of the fact that they want more people to play leagues...and you don't need a full team to join. I know me personally, I woulda joined a league years ago...but always thought that I needed a full team to join a bowling league.
In Bag: (: .) Zen Master Solid; (: .) Perfect Mindset; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 192; Lifetime Average = 172;
Ball Speed: 14.7mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 198
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
You would think so. In the case of our Friday night leagues, we give the center a lot of steady business. We have 30 teams on our league, and the other league has 8 so that nearly fills the house. You would think that would be a bowling proprietor's dream! Having a guaranteed house full of bowlers every Friday night. I know Wednesday and Thursday nites are the same scenario when I look at the numbers and times they are bowling. So what is going on with those folks?
It is now week 9 on those leagues and they still have 3 "vacant" spots on the Wednesday night league. I went down last Wednesday and offered to sub but there were no takers so I wasted the trip. :-(
Last edited by bowlerRob2; 10-29-2013 at 10:47 AM. Reason: typo
One house in my area claims they make over $10,000 on a $0.25 a game night promotion that mostly fills the house. For leagues they make ~$1000 in linage with a full house. They would need to average $9 per person in food and drink profit. You can see which way they are going to lean.
The house I bowl in has multiple leagues filling the house almost every night. The are trying to make it as a league driving house. They just might as the ohter houses are not. but if the example I was told above is consistent, the economics to be a league house is not a as good as being a fun party house.
25 cents a game! No wonder they fill the house. That creates a loss since I'm pretty sure it costs them more than 25 cents a game so they must really make up the difference in food and drink. League bowlers use the bar and food service very heavily where I bowl and one other thing to add is they give business to the pro shop that "fun time" bowlers probably do not. So I don't know what the real numbers are but I would hate to see leagues declining.
THIS x 500!!!
On league night...Thursday...which is the "El Cheapo" league ($10 per night, non-sanctioned) so by definition...not "big spenders"...I'd say on average...our team or any given team will spend $40-$80 for 4 people. So even in this CHEAPSKATE league...they're making over the $9 they say they need.
On league night on Fridays...5-person league...EVERY WEEK our food/drink bill is roughly $100. And thats AFTER the $24/person to play in it. So thats more than DOUBLE the $9 they say they need.
And like bowlerRob said...the KEY is that league players drive other players to your alley. They bring in people...new league players, new teams. They also spend money in the pro shop. How many times have I been to some weekday/midday alley for some $1.25 a game special...and the pro-shop is open with ZERO people ever even so much as looking in there?? Yet on league night...people are in and out and in and out and in... When I went to visit Mike White...once it got within an hour of league night...there were like 4 people lined up to see him! On Fridays, the pro shop has someone else on staff watching it so the pro can bowl in the league (he's the president of the league).
You lose league players...and you try to rely on cosmic bowlers and birthday parties for your revenue...forget about it. Your alley will close in under 4 years. Cosmic bowlers have a LOT of people competing for their dollars. You're not getting them once a week. And birthdays are once a year and most people don't go to the same place for their birthday party EVERY year.
But, alleys are stupid...and rather than look back at the 70s...see so many leagues that you had turn people away...and thinking, "How can we build more leagues and get younger folks interested in league play?"...they listen to some arcade consultant that feeds them all that nonsense about turning their alleys into goofy looking bars with wine spritzers and tofu sandwiches. It's just too bad.
In Bag: (: .) Zen Master Solid; (: .) Perfect Mindset; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 192; Lifetime Average = 172;
Ball Speed: 14.7mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 198
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
All of this stuff is opinions and not fact which I'm sure everybody knows. I would love to hear from an actual bowling alley owner or someone who really knows the numbers and isn't guessing.
BowlingVids.com -- USBC Tennessee (2204-27181) California (222-32895)
IndexGenie.com -- In The Bag --> Roto Grip Wrecker - Roto Grip Hyper Cell - Storm Polar Ice Hybrid
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