Categories: SPORTS

Tournaments Are Too Short at PBA World Series of Bowling: A Fan’s Take

The PBA Tour is currently in the middle of the World Series of Bowling in Reno, Nevada. The World Series of Bowling is the biggest bowling event in the world, and has attracted 240 bowlers from 17 different countries this year. So many people come to the World Series of Bowling to compete because they are able to take part in five different PBA Tour tournaments over one week. While this certainly reduces costs for the bowlers and brings in more international competition, the tournament formats ruin what would be amazing bowling tournaments.

The traditional PBA Tour tournaments is going to take place for at least four days, and the major tournaments are going to take to a week to conclude. They all involved multiple qualifying rounds and then another round or two until the championship round is determined. The tournaments at the PBA World Series of Bowling consist of one eight game qualifying round to start the tournament. After this qualifying round is complete, the field is cut from 240 bowlers to the top 16. The top 16 then bowl six more games to try to be one of the four bowlers to make it to the title round.

Bowling tournaments are about being able to endure the lanes conditions and still put up great scores. This can only happen if you let the bowlers compete for more than 14 games before cutting to the final four bowlers. Cutting the field this fast eliminates any chance for a bowler to find a way to improve their scores throughout the tournament so they can stay alive. All of the World Series of Bowling tournaments turn out to be who can bowl the best for a few hours. This is not what the PBA is supposed to be about and it ruins the product that they are displaying on television. I want to see the absolute best bowling for the title on television, and thi sis only done when you bowl more games.