Dear PBA - Consider Free Admission

The PBA season is underway.

However, if you are unaware of the new model, a lot of bowling is being conducted in Detroit for the next month or so before being televised later this fall.

As an avid bowler, the description of me made the other night by Don Griffin and Ken "Iggy" Strode on their KFNS Kegler's Korner radio show, I have no problem with the delay. I'll watch any kind of bowling to get insight into mechanics, balls used, and other things that will help my game.

But as a former television manager, I do have a problem with it. The current television makeup of PBA shows comes from avid bowlers and if the PBA is going to dramatically increase their audience, they'll have to reach casual-to-average bowlers. Forget trying to reach non-bowlers. That's another issue for another column.

The reason I'm addressing television is because the PBA spends a lot of time explaining why they do what they do for television.

Here's how television works...today. The average person wants it now and they want it live. This is the Internet era, that has nearly made television news obsolete. The audience for live television sports has been in flux for several years. This model doesn't work if the PBA wants to get a 1.0 Nielsen Survey Index share - about 1.2 million U.S. homes. A 1.0 share is that important for the PBA. Television ratings just look better with a number in front of the fraction.

I am sympathetic to the PBA. I want them to succeed. I like their "out-of-the-box" attitude. And I understand why they are doing several events in Detroit for airing later this fall - it's cheaper for them to do - and it saves bowlers the expense of city-to-city travel.

But the PBA needs to really assess "Is what we are doing enough?"

This morning, I read a great story by David Nicklaus, the long-time business writer for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. It's about the American Drag Racing League. Until today, I'd never heard of the organization. Then again, I'm not a drag racing fan.

But I do know there are hundreds of thousand of drag racing fans across the country. And the ADRL is reaching them in a big way after just three years in business.

How? Free tickets.

Freebies jump-start entrepreneur's drag racing league

The National Guard sponsors NASCAR. The Guard buys time on NFL telecasts. Bowling's excuse has always been, "Well, they're bigger sports with a bigger reach that we have."

The National Guard now sponsors the American Drag Racing League. That's big.

The PBA events in Detroit are featuring Thunderbowl's arena for the finals. It can accommodate about 750 people and it's the stadium venue the PBA wanted.

My question - will every final be a sellout? It should, given Detroit's passion for bowling. And if so, great. If not - maybe they need to look at the ADRL's business platform. It seems to be working in drag racing.

Bowling no longer can make excuses. The ADRL is doing what the PBA has been trying to do since 2000 - and they've done it in only three years.

My next column - why the PBA needs to dump ESPN - and the replacement network ready to say "yes."