Last year's WSOB brought about a lot of mixed reviews and, while it was viewed as a success, the format for the 2010 World Series of Bowling has definitely been revamped. Here is a brief summary of the changes in this year's version.
1. Location, Location, Location
The 2009 WSOB brought the PBA to the Detroit area and had competition taking place at two separate venues. The Motor City Open was contested at Taylor Lanes in Taylor, MI and the remainder was contested at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, MI. Then you also had the added twist at Thunderbowl of the match play and TV telecast taking place in the Arena Bay at Thunderbowl Lanes (with the qualifying conducted in the Main Bay). The high-friction surface on that bay made lane conditions tougher and brought scoring down a bit during match play, as well as bringing us some grindouts during the TV finals. The only exceptions were the performance Norm Duke put up in the Cheetah Championship and then the Viper Championship which featured Rhino Page and Ryan Ciminelli throwing urethane.
There was just one 200 game bowled on the Chameleon Championship show, by winner Bill O'Neill in the title match. The semifinals had no player breaking 180, which could've been different if Amleto hadn't suffered that elbow injury. The Scorpion Championship was very similar, with Jason Belmonte shooting the only game over 200 (with a 222 in the semis) of the men, and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard shooting a 200 game to win the Women's Series side. Scoring for the Shark Championship was better than its two predecessors, which I'm guessing was helped by the extra length of oil in the Shark pattern. You then had the World Championship qualifying take place at Thunderbowl Lanes, and then the four TV finalists having to wait until December to bowl for the title won by the feel good story of former GM worker Tom Smallwood.The bootom line? There was definitely a lot to follow.
WSOB v. 2.0 brings us to just one place...Las Vegas baby! South Point Bowling Center at South Point Casino will be hosting all the action with qualifying for all events taking place during the first week and the match play and TV finals for the five animal pattern events taking place the following week. The qualifying for the World Championship will be a cumulative of all pinfall for the 60 games bowled over the five first-week qualifying events. You also have the added U.S. vs. The World made-for-TV match, consisting of the top six U.S. Qualifiers against the top six international qualifiers. All events being held in the same place is good for the players, who won't have to worry about navigating the different patterns on three different lane surfaces. One might also dare say that spending two weeks in Sin City is more appealing than spending two weeks in the Motor City.
2. Revamped Qualifying Formats
Last year, the Motor City Open had a traditional qualfying format with a 24 game round robin match-play format and a stepladder TV finals. The five events on the animal patterns had seven games of qualifying, followed by several rounds of best of seven match play. The World Championship had three six-game qualifying rounds, a six-game Cashers Round, followed by best of seven match play rounds.
This year, all five animal pattern events will have a pair of six-game qualifying rounds, cutting to the top 16 after each day's qualifying with match play contested the following week. As mentioned above, total pinfall from those five events determine the eight qualifiers for the three-day televised finals contested from January 14-16, 2011 at South Point. This three-day live event is new and a very exciting opportunity for the PBA to gain casual TV viewers following along as the eight finalists fight for their chance at the $50,000 first place prize.
3. Reduced Entry Fee!
The 2009 WSOB had entrants putting up $300 to $350 for each TQR, depending on if you were a member or not, and Open field entries were $500 for members and $600 for non-members.
WSOB v. 2.0? One flat rate entry fee of $750 covers your participation in all six events. Although I, like most anyone who respects our sport as a profession, would like to see the five animal pattern events pay more than $15,000 first, its still a great bargain to have a shot at each prize fund. In addition, South Point Hotel and Casino has offered great rates for those coming to the WSOB to help keep things affordable.
I think the PBA has potentially created an event that over time could grow into a very luxurious and prestigious event. The added TV time with the World Championship finals being run over three consecutive days gives us some fantastic exposure, and gives fans and casual viewers alike the chance to see some real intense competition en route to one of the four major titles on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. Although I'm anxious to see what the remainder of the schedule for this season is going to turn into, I think that the WSOB v. 2.0 is an upgrade from its predecessor and could be one of the building blocks to the future of our tour if its as successful as it appears it could be.