Opening ceremony officially welcomes 2023 USBC Open Championships to Reno

RENO, Nev. – The 119th edition of the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships had its official welcome party to Reno, Nevada, and the National Bowling Stadium on Saturday with an opening ceremony celebrating the tournament’s return to The Biggest Little City in the World.

The 2023 tournament marks the 14th visit to Reno for the USBC Open Championships and 11th trip to the NBS, which opened its doors to the event for the first time in 1995. The last time the tournament was held in Reno was 2016.

More than 9,700 teams and nearly 50,000 bowlers are scheduled to make their way to the Taj Mahal of Tenpins for the 2023 event, which will run for 143 consecutive days and conclude July 24.

The 2023 event originally was scheduled to start March 11, but the demand for spots pushed the tournament staff to open up an additional week of squads. Competition got underway March 4, but the date for the opening ceremony remained the same for those who previously registered to take part in the celebration.

RSCVA President and CEO Charles Harris, USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy, City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and THE ROW Reno Senior Vice President and General Manager Ken OstempowskiThe ceremony featured several speakers welcoming the bowlers to Reno, including City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve, THE ROW Reno Senior Vice President and General Manager Ken Ostempowski, Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Charles Harris and USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy.

The ceremonial ribbon-cutting and Mass Ball Shot also took place to keep with tradition.

Although no new leaders emerged in the team standings from Saturday’s squad, all competitors will return to the NBS on Sunday for doubles and singles competition.

The 2023 Open Championships features three average-based divisions in team, doubles, singles and all-events competition. Competitors bowl three games each in team, doubles and singles, and their nine-game total determines placement in all-events.

The Regular Division features bowlers with combined entering averages of 876 and above in team, 351 and above in doubles and 176 and above in singles and all-events.

Competitors in the Standard Division are comprised of teams with entering averages of 776-875, doubles tandems of 311-350 and features bowlers with averages of 156-175 in singles and all-events.

The Classified Division has teams with averages of 775 and below, doubles pairs of 310 and below and includes bowlers with averages of 155 and below for singles and all-events.

The top overall team performance for all three events (team, doubles and singles) over 45 games will claim the coveted Eagle awarded to the champion in Team All-Events.

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