E-dition No. 1,033 • Friday, December 7, 2018
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
City Council to Consider Historic Designation for Bowling Center
The evening of Dec. 18 could be pivotal in the future of Cloverleaf Family Bowl in Fremont, Calif.
Beginning at 7 o’clock, a public hearing will take place in Fremont’s Council Chambers to consider a proposal that would add the bowling center’s building to the Fremont Register of Historic Resources.
The City Council also will consider an exemption from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA guidelines regarding projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. The owners of the land on which Cloverleaf Family Bowl sits want to raze the center and replace it with high-density luxury condominiums.
Cloverleaf co-proprietor Mike Hillman, in a Facebook post, urged supporters of the center to attend the meeting and show their support. Past meetings on the matter have packed the Council Chambers, and center supporters also have participated in a parade and a march in hopes of saving the facility.
PBA Summer Tour to Feature $40,000 USBC Cup
Professional Bowlers Association CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark has announced a six-city, eight-tournament summer series as part of the 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule that will include a $40,000 USBC Cup points competition.
The 2019 PBA Summer Tour will award eight PBA Tour titles, beginning with the 20th anniversary PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles in Houston in July.
Open to PBA members as well as non-members, all eight events will be streamed live from first ball to last by PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling. For subscription and schedule information, visit: www.flobowling.com.
All Summer Tour events except the Aurora Open will be classified as Tier 3 points events under the PBA’s Tier 1-2-3 points system. The Aurora Open will be a Tier 2 event.
The top five PBA members at the end of the Summer Tour will share in the $40,000 USBC Cup prize fund, including $20,000 to the points leader. The USBC Cup points bonus, sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress, will be part of the summer tour for the next three seasons.
All competition points earned during the Summer Tour also will apply to 2020 DHC PBA Japan Invitational and 2020 PBA Tour Finals eligibility.
The Go Bowling! Summer Tour schedule:
* July 26-29 — Storm PBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles, Copperfield Lanes, Houston, Texas
* Aug. 9-11 — PBA Chesapeake Open, AMF Western Branch Lanes, Chesapeake, Va.
* Aug. 12-14 — PBA Wilmington Open, Ten Pin Alley Family Fun Center, Wilmington, N.C.
* Aug. 16-18 — PBA Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic, Mid-County Lanes, Middletown, Del.
* Aug. 21-23 — PBA Bowlerstore.com Classic Presented by Moxy Xtra Pair, Pla-Mor Lanes, Coldwater, Ohio
* Aug. 24-31 — FloBowling PBA Summer Swing (Wolf Open, Bear Open, Aurora Open), Parkside Lanes, Aurora, Ill.
Complete tournament schedules and formats will be announced later.
Dates, Site Set for 2019 Turbo Collegiate Expo
After a successful event in Texas this year, the 9th annual Turbo Collegiate Expo will return to Turbo’s home state of Michigan in 2019.
High school bowling athletes, parents, college coaches and recruiters, Hall of Fame Turbo Pro Staff bowlers and coaches, and event officials will gather at the 80-lane Imperial Lanes, about 30 miles northeast of Detroit, July 7-10.
Being closer to home makes the logistics of the event easier for Turbo Bowling Accessories President Lori Mraz and her staff.
“We are super pumped to be back on our home turf in 2019,” said Mraz. “Metro Detroit is an exceptional bowling community with outstanding high school participation. There have been many changes over the years, and it keeps getting better thanks to the tremendous talent of our coaches, industry experts and the great families that give us so much valuable feedback. We expect Collegiate Expo IX to be our best event yet. “
Turbo’s all-star lineup of coaches for 2019 includes PBA Bowler of the Year Andrew Anderson, Diandra Asbaty, Del Ballard, Josh Blanchard, Lindsay Boomershine, Tom Carter, Jason Couch, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Rob Gotchall, Leanne Hulsenberg, Liz Johnson, Tim Mack, Shannon Pluhowsky, J.R. Raymond, Chris Sand, Mike Shady, Bill Spigner, Jordan Vanover, and world-renowned sports psychologist Dr. Dean Hinitz.
More than 30 top college coaches and recruiters also will be in the building to evaluate student bowlers and talk with their parents about possible college scholarships. Two of those coaches, who also will be presenting seminars, are Sam Houston State University’s Brad Hagen and Webber International University’s Randy Stoughton.
Stoughton will present “Coaching Venus vs. Mars 2.0,” an inside look at the differences in coaching male and female athletes. Hagen’s presentation is called “The College Shopping Experience: Finding the Right Fit.” It focuses on helping students and parents navigate the college recruiting process.
Each year, the Turbo Collegiate Expo selects an industry charity to support through proceeds from the sale of special merchandise. This year, the official charity is the Bowl 4 Life Foundation, operated by Brunswick Tour representative Chuck Gardner and his family. Gardner has been involved with the Turbo Collegiate Expo since the beginning, and again will be on the panel of experts brought in to advise attendees about the technical side of the sport.
Bowl 4 Life is an organization that awards college scholarships based not only on ability, but also strong ethics and a desire to give back to bowling.
“Our personal family commitment to Bowl 4 Life remains that 100% of all donations, regardless of how they are received, will be given back in the form of scholarship awards,” said Gardner. “It is an honor for Bowl 4 Life to be chosen as the official charity of the Turbo Collegiate Expo. I have been involved with Turbo for over 30 years and I am thrilled they see and agree with the Bowl 4 Life mission to give back to youth bowlers.”
More information can be found at: www.bowl4life.com.
Expo sponsors for 2019 include Ace Mitchell Bowlers Mart, Bowl 4 Life Foundation, Bowlers Journal (all registered students receive a complimentary annual subscription), Bowlingball.com, Bowling Business Builders International (Kids Bowl Free), Brunswick Bowling, Classic Products, Columbia 300, Dexter, DiLaura Brothers, DV8, Ebonite, 900 Global, Hammer, KR Strikeforce, Logo Infusion, Motiv, On the Ball Bowling, PBA, Roto Grip, Storm, Track, Turbo, USBC Metro Detroit and XBowling.
For complete information and an entry brochure, go to: www.turbogrips.com
Zingerman’s Founder to Present at 2019 F2FEC
The 5th annual F2FEC gathering of the thought leaders in the entertainment center industry will take place Tuesday through Thursday, March 5-7 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“We’ve added a highly specialized session to our F2FEC format in keeping with our mission to push boundaries and challenge our attendees to imagine and reimagine what they do and why,” said Rick Iceberg, one of the “Three Amigos” who organize the gathering. “We are proud to introduce Zimmerman’s Community of Businesses, (http://www.zingermanscommunity.com/), which according to Inc. Magazine is ‘the coolest small company in America.’”
“Zingerman’s is known for creating quality service inside an amazing culture,” noted amigo Ben Jones.
The Zingerman’s leadership workshop will explore the company’s unique visioning principles, and how they apply imagination to develop new products, services and businesses. The amigos promise that the Zingerman leadership talk will offer attendees philosophical and practical knowledge in the areas of strategy, goal setting and empowerment that lead to legendary service, sustainable success, revenue growth and customer loyalty.
“We invite legends, leaders and the best-of-the-best in our industry from all sectors to ‘Be In The Room,’” said amigo George Smith. “In keeping with the Amigos’ core vision, we’re going to offer best-in-class and relevant content, and Zingerman’s Community of Businesses is the very best at what they do. The Amigos are excited to have the founder and co-owner, Paul Saginaw, present Zingerman’s approach to vision and culture.”
More than 250 influencers from the family entertainment sector will gather to share in a three-day conference experience dedicated to fostering relationships, stimulating collaboration and sparking opportunities.
F2FEC — the Face to Face Entertainment Conference — was founded and is produced by Iceberg, President of C.J. Barrymore’s; Jones, GM and FEC Specialist at Live Oak Bank, and Smith, President of Family Entertainment Group. It is a North American conference for leaders of the entertainment industry, its manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, media and facility owners. For more information, contact:
* Rick Iceberg — rick@F2conference.com; 810-444-2222
* Ben Jones — ben@jonesdetroit.com; 248-371-0700
* George Smith — geosmith4756@gmail.com; 630-240-8261
Pennsylvania Gambling Expansion Nears $400 Million
Only rarely have casino sportsbooks featured betting lines on bowling tournaments, but that doesn’t mean gambling has not impacted the bowling business.
Veteran proprietors will recall when casinos were first introduced outside Las Vegas, most often on land owned by Native Americans. In many states, the timing could not have been worse, as newly enacted indoor smoking bans were perceived to be pushing untold numbers of customers out of bowling centers — one of the last “safe havens” for smokers — and into casinos, where smoking was allowed as recreational dollars once earmarked for bowling were inserted into slot machines.
Now comes what many in the industry perceive as another threat from the gaming industry: widespread legalized sports betting following a Supreme Court ruling in May that struck down a 1992 federal law that had banned sports betting in most states. Background: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/us/politics/supreme-court-sports-betting-new-jersey.html.
The impact of that ruling already has had a significant impact in several states, including Pennsylvania, where an expansion of gambling was underway even before the Supreme Court ruling added sports betting to the menu of casino offerings.
In the first year since a law was passed to expand gambling in the state, gambling has injected more than $385 million into Pennsylvania coffers, surpassing state budget estimates. Upfront licensing fees for casinos, online casinos and sportsbooks, as well as mini-casino auction profits and tax revenue from lottery expansion and daily fantasy sports, have combined to net Pennsylvania more than $1 million a day since late 2017, according to a recent analysis by PlayPennsylvania.com.
“The most notable aspect of the significant revenue that has been generated is that this is almost completely from fees, rather than tax revenue gained from gamblers,” said Jessica Welman, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Clearly, there is enough interest in Pennsylvania’s enormous market so far to generate the fees.”
The revenue estimates were tabulated using a combination of official statistics and estimates based on iLottery, keno, and virtual sports sales numbers. Using return-to-player rates of the games, PlayPennsylvania estimates that the state has collected more than $23 million in revenue from online lotto games ($19.6 million), keno ($3.6 million), and virtual sports ($87,000) through October.
Other sources of revenue so far from the law include:
* Mini-casino auction profits — $128 million
* Interactive gaming petitions — $94 million
* Casino licensing — $78 million
* Sports betting petitions — $60 million
* Daily Fantasy Sports tax revenue — $1.4 million
By comparison to the gambling expansion, the state collected $799.8 million in taxes from statewide slot revenues in fiscal 2017-18. Pennsylvania estimated in February that the state would generate more than $34 billion in general fund revenues for its 2018-19 fiscal year.
“If the point of the expansion was to fill short-term gaps in the state’s budget, then the expansion would have to be considered a success so far,” Welman said. “We believe that the gambling expansion will eventually prove to be a winner for the state’s budget, but the long-term picture is less certain. More casinos and sportsbooks must open before we get a clear picture of whether Pennsylvania’s relatively steep tax rates and license fees will produce the desired outcome.”
With the November opening of the sportsbook at Hollywood Casino at Penn National, the rollout of sports betting is just beginning in Pennsylvania. More openings are expected this month and next month.
In addition, Pennsylvania should begin adding revenue from online gambling in early 2019, and further down the line, mini-casinos should enter the fray.
“The addition of retail sports betting should help buoy a slowing Pennsylvania casino industry,” said Dustin Gouker, lead sports betting analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “If New Jersey is any indication, though, the more significant revenue generator will be online sports betting. A successful rollout there should generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for the state.
Whether people are betting on sports in person at casinos or online, they’re spending money that otherwise could have been spent on something else — such as bowling.
Will the spread of sports betting have the same impact on the bowling business as the early smoking bans and non-Nevada casino openings did in the 1980s? Time will tell. What we know with certainty is that the competition for the discretionary dollar has never been more intense.
For more detailed information on the revenue generated in Pennsylvania, visit: playpennsylvania.com/revenue.
Business Briefs…
* Strikers Family Sportscenter in Sunrise, Fla., recently made a $2,500 donation to the Bowlers to Veterans Link, and has announced plans to make an annual donation to BVL in support of America’s veterans. Look for a picture of the check presentation in the January issue of Bowling Center Management.
* The deadline to submit applications for the American Amusement Machine Association’s FEC Location of the Year Award has been extended to Dec. 14. You can access an application form here: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/HnB3vS.
Other News You Can Use…
* The 10th anniversary PBA World Series of Bowling will return to its original home at Thunderbowl Lanes in suburban Detroit in March, where it will write a new chapter in bowling history with five consecutive nights of prime-time national television coverage on FS1. Preview: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/10th-wsob-in-suburban-detroit-to-feature-four-consecutive-nights-of-live-tv-finals/.
* Bobby Jakel, the PBA Central Region Manager since 2006, will succeed Rich Weber as PBA Midwest Region Manager at the start of the 2019 season. Jakel, a 49-year-old graduate of Illinois State University where he majored in psychology and bowled with the Redbirds for four years, will become the Midwest Region’s seventh manager, following in the footsteps of Pat Patterson, Ray Bluth, Don McClaren, Dick Weber, John Weber and Rich Weber. He also will continue to manage the PBA Central Region. “I’m looking forward to handling duties in both regions and seeing Midwest bowlers more often,” Jakel said.
* The United States topped the medal table in the World Bowling Men’s Championships in Hong Kong with eight medals, Canada was second with six and Malaysia and Korea earned two each. Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Singapore and Sweden all earned one apiece. You’ll find coverage here (http://www.bowlersjournal.com/2018-world-mens-championships-concludes-with-canada-winning-masters-gold/) as well as in several other posts on the BJI website.
* The guest this week on Phantom Radio is Larry Suhrbier, former laneman at the legendary Showboat Bowling Center in Las Vegas. To listen to the interview, go to: https://kegel.squarespace.com/phantomblog/2018/12/4/larry-suhrbier-phantom-radio. And while you’re at it, don’t miss the special feature, “Ghosts of the Showboat,” in this month’s 105th Anniversary Issue of BJI.
* CONTACT: Please send business news, event information, etc. to Bob Johnson at bjibob@aol.com. For breaking business news, visit bcmmag.com or bowlersjournal.com, and “Like” Bowling Center Management and Bowlers Journal International on Facebook. BJI Cyber Reports are now archived at bcmmag.com.
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