It is way too easy to call this the tale of two tours. Irony cannot begin to describe the polarity of these closely timed announcements. The news is also unusually serious for both tours with the PWBA suspending national tour action the rest of 2003. The PBA, on the other hand, announced a new format for next season. The PWBA is not dead as of now, just the national tour version. Their website is still up and running, regional stops are still being held, but more than likely, we have seen the final PWBA telecast as we know it. Last minute WIBC monies helped the tour through the summer swing ending with the July 13th show. At the end of August, PWBA President John Falzone and marketing chief and TV announcer Jan Schmidt were relieved of their duties. In a rare recent radio interview on none other than WJOL, tour owner John Sommer said he was still trying to put together financing to get a 2004 tour afloat and running. TV ratings were at all time highs as highlighted in the July JPA, but like the PBA Tour in the mid 90's, it did not translate into a profitable TV package. Sommer told Don Ladas on the Wednesday morning show "Don Ladas on Sports," that each ESPN telecast cost $43,000 to produce. Commercial time sold by the tour or the network pays for this. Without incoming advertising revenue, the show was relegated to "Does a tree falling make a sound if there is no one to hear it?" status. This problem is not uncommon with other women's pro sports leagues right now. Without Annika Sorenstam, many would not know there is a LPGA tour, much less any of its talented players. The WNBA? Their ratings are lower than the NHL, whose ratings are surprisingly low considering its major team sport status. Even yet, the league is funded and run by the NBA in all of its corporate success. So what does that say about marketing niche sports? It's not the easiest thing to do right now. The toughest thing facing the immediate future of the women's tour may be John Sommer himself. As noted before, it is widely believed his price also includes his 20-year financial loss of the tour, which is supposedly around four million dollars. When the PBA was sold to its current owners some four years ago, their price was somewhere between one to two million dollars. So Sommer's own stubbornness may ultimately cause to demise of the PWBA nee LPBT. The loss started around ten years ago when the original Strike Ten marketing arm made promises it couldn't keep. The PBA had its own plans, so Sommer jumped on board with support and a promise to make the LPBT, as it was known then, appealing to both sponsors and viewers. One recent plan involves combining professional women bowlers along with a men's senior tour. The PBA has stated before its wants to strengthen the national, regional and seniors tour in that order, so whether they would sanction this group is unlikely. Options appear at a minimum and although outwardly optimistic, off the record they will say it just does not look good right now.

      John Sommer's greatest accomplishment may be getting bowling approved as a varsity sport in hundreds of high schools across the country, giving thousands of students another positive outlet. But as dozens of states approve bowling as a high school varsity sport based on the model he built in Rockford, his women's professional bowling organization has hit yet another chapter in the 'fork in the road' scenarios. Down the next road is a lot of uncertainty and worse yet, the unknown.

      Meanwhile back at Seattle, the PBA announced a bold format change beginning in the fall of 2004. Each field will have only of 64 bowlers, rather than the present 128 or so, with each of the 64 guaranteed a paycheck. Getting into that field is going to be much tougher than ever before. Sixty of the entrants will have exempt status from this season. Champions will receive an automatic exemption, while non-winners will be entered through a season-long point system. The last four will be entered by commissioners' exemption and by PBA Tour Trials. The Tour Trials will be a week long tourney held in the early summer which will reward the top ten finishers an exemption for the 2004-05 season. Sound a bit like the PGA Tour? Current PBA Commissioner Steve Miller used to head up the Buy.com Tour, then known as the Nike Tour a few years ago, so he wants to use that model for bowling's top pros. The top 125 on the annual PGA money earning list get automatically qualify for the following year's tour. Others whom do not make that list or want to qualify again must enter the PGA Qualifying School tourney each December. The top seven to ten qualify for the following year's PGA tour. The whole idea is to make the national tour more elite, thus more appealing to sponsors and advertisers. For the players, to guarantee a paycheck for each of the 64 entrants is quite a carrot to dangle. What should be interesting to see is who ends up exempt and who does not. You could take the earnings list right now and guess who should be exempt and who should not and still only get 80% right. Out on tour, it's hard to tell who achieves that breakout year we see every couple of years or so. There will be some surprises, but that's why they play the game. So what will be the trickle down for the Regional program? If the PGA is the model, then the exempt player will not be allowed to bowl a regional tournament. If prize funds keep up, you may some day see full time regional players able to earn a decent living just throwing the ball on weekends. Keep in mind, this scenario will take roughly 5 to 7 years to unfold down to the regional level.

      Part 2 of the new PBA has been unveiled.