A revamped, revitalized PBA returns to the Seattle area
 |
|
||||||||||
KIRKLAND — Flip through the hottest fashion magazines and you'll find retro bowling-inspired handbags along with the sport's shoes. Once deemed hideous, they're now upscale vogue trends. Bowling is on television shows, in our lingo, and a new video game is in the works.
But there's still a hazy fog around the actual sport.
Make that a smoky cigar cloud with whiffs of cheap alcohol and chili-cheese grease hanging over the common perception of bowling. It's a view former Microsoft executives Chris Peters, Rob Glaser and Mike Slade set to clear when they purchased the Professional Bowlers Association in April 2000.
Today, Tech City Bowl showcases the revised PBA in its first event in the area since being bought by the Seattle millionaires for a combined $5 million — that's 40 times less than Howard Schultz and Co. paid for the Sonics.
The Earl Anthony Memorial Classic, named for the legendary bowler from Tacoma, runs through Sunday, where the finals will be televised live on ESPN from 10-11:30 a.m.
"I like to call this PBA 1.0 from my Microsoft background," said Peters, 43, who made his money as a programmer and manager for the software company. "During the summer we'll pause and reflect, then come out with PBA 2.0 and keep revving the product until we have a large number of fans that love us."
It's hard to imagine that a group of computer guys, who battle with their own stereotypes, can make bowling, of all things, hip. Yet, that's the goal.
And in its 43-year existence, the PBA hasn't had a rebirth like this. From marketing to a set season schedule, the association has a path unheard of in its past.
The league was originated in 1958 by promoter Eddie Elias, who asked each bowler to chip in $50 to start the tour. Elias ran the nonprofit league solo for 30 years. In 1961, he signed the PBA to a television contract with ABC. For 36 years, bowlers like Anthony, Mark Roth and Dick Weber were on TV every Saturday morning.
|
"A lot of guys were starving to death trying to stay on tour," said Doug Kent, a 12-year tour veteran and five-time career title winner. "It was miserable. Some mornings you'd go in and nobody would be there except the bowlers. And that's attributed to the fact that we were only bowling for $16,000. You've got basketball players on TV who make millions and spend $16,000 on dinner. Who wants to watch you bowl for that?"
The computer gurus bought the fast-sinking PBA shortly after Elias' death in 1998 and brought in Nike masterminds Ian Hamilton (PBA commissioner) and Steve Miller (PBA president) to help revamp the image.
Change was instant. The league became for-profit, the competition focused on defeating each other instead of pin falls, the players were marketed and given stock shares in the league, and the prize money was increased — from $1.3 million in total money in 2000 to $4.3 million today.
"I was worried that I'd have to fire the marketing staff when we bought the league," Peters said. "Then I found out there never was one. And there's no player's union or officials union or any of that, so decisions are made quickly. Like putting their names on the back of their shirts. We wanted to do that for name recognition and in 10 seconds it's a rule. In other leagues that would have taken two months."
One of the biggest changes is the addition of fan atmosphere. The hypnotic rhythm of 16-pound balls crashing into small pins 60 feet away is now drowned out in title competition by cheers and chants from fans seated on metal bleachers around the lanes in a "traveling arena" stage. And under new ownership, the bowlers are allowed to get into the spirit, such as a roar from Peter Weber or a fist pump from Jason Couch.
"We had a choice," said Miller, 58, who oversaw Nike's $100 million investment in the Sydney Games. "We could have became WWF, Comedy Central "Let's Bowl" to attract people, but we choose to maintain the integrity of the game. And there's a place for us even in our retro bowling shorts and shoes."
The public has responded, partly because the mainstream working class makes up the estimated 50 million Americans who make bowling the largest participatory sport in the nation. Since being bought, television ratings have increased 38 percent (topping the NHL and WNBA) while PBA membership has increased 10 percent.
Suddenly longtime amateur bowlers like Chris Barnes are turning pro and guys like Hugh Miller, who left the tour because of its financial state, are returning. Bowling isn't featured in rap videos like golf and NASCAR, but to Miller it's just a matter of time.
"Why not?" he said. "But we've still got some work in making it a credible sport again. I told the guys that when they become bona fide (jerks) with agents, then we'll know we've made it."
Popularity and million-dollar events aren't the only future possibilities for the PBA, however. Peters said he expects to be global, with events already in the works in Germany, Japan and Sweden. They've jazzed up the Internet site and maybe the computer guys will save the Professional Women's Bowlers Association, which currently is in a similar state as the PBA was two years ago.
"Right now we have to focus on the PBA," said Peters. "I wouldn't say there's no chance we'd look into the women's tour, but right now there's no chance until this is profitable."
Peters, Slade and Glaser have the PBA on a five-year plan to turn a profit. But to the bowlers, the future seems solid as they practiced yesterday with their name-embroidered polo shirts, pleated pants and fashionable bowling shoes.
"At first I wondered if we were just going to be a toy for these guys," said Parker Bohn III, who won his first of 27 career titles in Seattle in 1987. "But they take it serious and really saved this league. We want to get rid of the bad image that we're all fat and drinking beer and if these guys can't do that and promote us, no one can."
Jayda Evans can be reached at 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com.