What happened to bowling

[fordman1]

I have a few theories the first is that the reactive balls maybe even urethane balls ruined bowling.
They changed how much the top bowlers and the lower average bowlers scored.
In the old days the average Joe was 150 to 165 with the good bowler being 190 to 200.
With the advent of the high tech balls the average Joe went to 175-190 and the big shooter went to 220 to 240. When the big shooter in your league averages higher than you life time high game you give up.

Cost hurt it isn't cheap to bowl in a good league anymore. Remember that the cost of living has not gone up in 30-40 years. Bowling has.

One other thing is top heavy stacked team leagues getting all the prize money.

[Amyers]

The main reason is the destruction of the American middle class factory worker and changes to our life style. The Average bowler never competed with the big boys is the past and wont in the future. Does it really matter if you lose 160-200 or 185-225. Modern work schedules make people feel like there is no time for regularly scheduled event add in the cell phones that make everyone feel like their life is a constant buzz and the average joe just no longer has the time. Factor in money where no one gets raises that keep up with the cost of living and extra activities are going to get cut. Bowling is taking it hardest but it's simply because our demographic was the most fragile. Your beginning to see it in golf and tennis now also.

[NewToBowling]

I'm new to bowling so take this with a grain of salt but people's lifestyles have changed. It isn't due to higher scoring or monster hook balls. There are just more ways for people to spend their time and money. Bowling as a recreation (open bowling) is fine in this area. Leagues do need to change their schedule. Newcomers don't want to commit 30+ weeks. Split seasons should become the norm.

This is all theoretical but even if reactive resin or THS never came about we would still see the same decline in bowling, heck it might even be more pronounced.

[got_a_300]

I agree with what Amyers said people just do not have the time
or money to bowl with nowadays.

I used to bowl 7 nights a week back in the late 80's thru the late
90's but it has become way too expensive to try that now as the
bowling center(s) have raised their linage so high and the costs
of equipment is so high also.

Back in the good ol' days you could bowl on a league for somewhere
around $6.00 to $9.00 per league but now days it is anywhere from
$12.00 on the low end to $20.00 to $30.00+ per league per night.

[mc_runner]

Amyers nailed it. Costs going up (how many people can bowl seriously for years with 1 ball anymore?), time going down, and the constant "go" of life has interfered with commitment-based activities. With so many other distractions in modern life... tv, internet, phones (all of which also cost money), something has to go.

bowling, amongst most other sports was going to drop significantly which we've seen. It will balance out at a point, and reinvestment in the youth program can/will help.

[J Anderson]

I have a few theories the first is that the reactive balls maybe even urethane balls ruined bowling.
They changed how much the top bowlers and the lower average bowlers scored.
In the old days the average Joe was 150 to 165 with the good bowler being 190 to 200.
With the advent of the high tech balls the average Joe went to 175-190 and the big shooter went to 220 to 240. When the big shooter in your league averages higher than you life time high game you give up.

Cost hurt it isn't cheap to bowl in a good league anymore. Remember that the cost of living has not gone up in 30-40 years. Bowling has.

One other thing is top heavy stacked team leagues getting all the prize money.

The cost of living hasn't gone up in 30-40 years?! Seriously!

I think one of the big factors is that 30-40 years ago most adults had jobs with regular hours. With the decline in manufacturing, and retail businesses juggling their employees' hours to minimize the number qualifying for full benefits, fewer people can commit to 34 to 36 weeks of league. More people either have jobs where the times they start and stop change from day to day, often on very short notice, or they need to work two or three part time jobs to make ends meet. More hours working, more hours commuting equals less time for bowling.

[bowl1820]

The decline of bowling is not the fault of the ABC/USBC or the proprietors or the ball manufactures. It's was changing demographic's and the sponsor money going to the sport drying up.

Bowling was/is a blue collar sport that was one of the few sports easily accessible to masses at the time, it was the sport of "Happy Day's" & "Archie Bunker".

But the times changed, blue collar 9-5 jobs started fading away, working hours changed, costs rose, new sports and activities arrived that caught the youths and public attention. As the new sports and activities grew in popularity, They caught the attention of the media and the sponsors and their money.

So bowling started losing players and sponsors money.

[NewToBowling]

I'll be honest not sure how anyone who pays for open bowling rates ever come back short of date night or once-in-a-while night out with friends. $5-6 games and upwards of $8-9 on prime weeknights. Add in $4 shoes and it gets pretty expensive. As a casual bowler not sure how many times one would go bowling without league rate discount.

I've seen people in front of me paying for their games and being close to $180-200. Ouch.

[mishatx]

Lineage for open bowling, anyway, around here seems to have matched inflation. The only place that's more expensive in real dollars than it was 20 years ago is the place that put in automatic scoring in the mean time.
Now certainly, something like 3 centers have closed down in that time.
Bowling is still a very popular once-in-a-while recreational activity (3 centers have closed but like 4 or 5 "family fun centers" have opened that have a few lanes along with bumper cars, video games, movies, etc - but no pro shops and no leagues), but I do agree there's been culture and demographic shifts that are causing leagues to suffer. Heck, I'm one of those - I just don't think I can commit to a whole season of showing up once a week, let alone practice and what else. I only consider it at all since I live 2 miles from the center. As our population spreads out and centers shut down due to rising property costs, that adds to the time investment of joining a team.

[got_a_300]

I'll be honest not sure how anyone who pays for open bowling rates ever come back short of date night or once-in-a-while night out with friends. $5-6 games and upwards of $8-9 on prime weeknights. Add in $4 shoes and it gets pretty expensive. As a casual bowler not sure how many times one would go bowling without league rate discount.

I've seen people in front of me paying for their games and being close to $180-200. Ouch.

If our rates were that high around here I'd never be open bowling we only pay $1.25+tax which
comes out to $1.37 per game league rate or for non league bowlers it is $2.25 per game + tax
which makes it $2.47 per game not too bad.