Bowlers Journal
Editorial
Joe Schumacker
November, 2002
Why Not A Fresh Start?
The ABC & WIBC are trying to create a USBA.
Instead, maybe they should work on designing a CBA. Part II of II. |
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THE IDEA OF MERGING BOWLING'S VARIOUS membership organizations long was considered an impossible dream. However, the notion kept surfacing, first because the groups in question would've been assembled as a single association had they been designed from scratch anytime in the last half-century or so. The notion of a consolidation took on a new level of urgency when the International Olympic Committee demanded such uniformity, although it took a few years for bowling to take the IOC mandate seriously.
The merger issue finally will be resolved no later than this coming spring. A positive vote by the American Bowling Congress and/or Women's International Bowling Congress will assure that the United States Bowling Association becomes a reality. At that point, the effort to create a membership organization capable of serving the contemporary bowling business will have taken a long step forward.
Combining the existing organizations will be a daunting task. It's a job so big that one wonders if it wouldn't be easier to just start over, building a new organization from scratch. What would such an organization look like? What functions would it perform? Who would be the customers for a contemporary bowling association?
Genesis of A New Group
Accordingly, we wave the magic wand, and – poof! - create our own mythical Contemporary Bowling Association (CBA) so we can answer such questions, as well as address all the situations that might arise in making a successful transition from the many bowling groups to a single entity. Even more important, the CBA is an organization designed to address all the issues that coincide with the ongoing metamorphosis of the game itself, especially because the next 15 to 20 years will be a period of transition from the second generation of league bowling (which we labeled Gen2 in the last year's June BJI cover story) to the third generation (Gen3). And even though it was a single new group, our CBA would be structured to serve these two vastly different customer groups, and not just a constituency broken down by gender and/or age.
Gen2 league bowlers are a part of the Golden Age of League Bowling, a period which began with the explosion of the suburban lifestyle in post-World War II America. Gen2 bowlers quickly replaced the first generation of league bowlers (Gen1), whose bowling “homes” were the small, dark and smoky bowling alleys that complemented urban bars and fraternal organizations.
Gen2 Bowling grew as bowling centers became neighborhood fixtures. League bowling dominated the bowling business. Proprietors helped organize league development. Control of the operation of league bowling was vested in the league officers, and directed by the rules, specifications and structure of the ABC and WIBC. The bowling business and bowling membership organizations were in a boom period.
Membership organizations continued to flourish until Americans began to lose their appetite for joining simply to belong in the early 1970's. An uninterrupted trend of decline in ABC and WIBC membership tracks with declines in almost all membership organizations formed during or before World War II (as dissected in Robert Putnam's scholarly “ Bowling Alone” paper and subsequent book).
The Changes in Gen3 and The Opportunities
The new generation of league bowler is vastly different from those of the prior generation. A Gen3 bowler is much less willing to commit to bowl 30 or more weeks in a single season. Also, Gen3 bowlers are not interested in a maze of rules and regulations. They look at bowling as a fun diversion from the hectic and stressful nature of everyday life. They prefer fun over prize funds. They want to enjoy bowling, then move on. Some will immediately develop a desire to increase their frequency. Most will drift in and out of bowling. One only needs to look at the morbidly high attrition rate of first-year league bowlers to see that there is a large difference between Gen2 and Gen3 bowlers.
The CBA would recognize that the remaining Gen2 bowlers require the structure, support and reward system of the Golden Age of League Bowling. The CBA would acknowledge that the typical Gen2 bowlers have been bowling in a league for about 20 years. Many are participating more out of habit than enjoyment. A major portion of the CBA's strategic plan would be to work with proprietors to develop programs that address Gen2 issues. The database of Gen2 participants would be exercised to create predictive models for attrition so that action could be taken to prevent abnormally high bowler loss in specific areas. The CBA would look to provide benefits directly to member bowlers, much the same as the traditional membership organizations. The CBA would oversee the rules and specifications required to provide structure to the activity of competitive bowling. Service to Gen2 bowlers would require a lean structure with support personnel reaching into member bowling centers.
However, when dealing with the Gen3 league bowling paradigm, the CBA would recognize that the primary customer is not the individual bowler but the proprietor. This creates the need for a radically different approach than that for the Gen2 - based association. Whereas Strike Ten Entertainment (STE) is focused on building relationships with major corporate sponsors, CBA would provide local marketing and bowler support. The CBA would provide professional database support for individual proprietors. Statistical modeling would allow center proprietors to design bowling products that would fit the demographics and buying patterns of the immediate trade area. Such modeling would be used to create a demographic profile of current Gen3 customers, and then show the proprietor where more of the same folks live and work. The CBA would support a frequency program that would identify and reward frequent but non-competitive bowling customers. The CBA would further administer a national league bowler (Gen3) communications program. Knowing that a Gen3 bowler tends to enter and then leave bowling, the CBA bowling communications program would continue well past the conclusion of the specific Gen3 product in which the bowler participated. The Gen3 arm of the CBA would also give the proprietor model rules for competition within a Gen3 league. (Understandably, those rules would be basic in that vehicle for creating prize funds.)
Clearly, the creation of the CBA – or any new, ground-up organization – would be a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. A significant portion of that expense would go to re-create the Gen2 support structure currently provided by the ABC and WIBC. Such an effort clearly would be a waste of our limited resources. Accordingly, the USBA is the best option for providing member services to Gen2 bowlers. Assuming the ABC and WIBC take the logical and correct step of approving the creation of a single membership organization, the USBA will be given the opportunity to serve Gen2 league bowlers. It remains to be seen whether the USBA can earn the right to serve Gen3 proprietors.
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