ARLINGTON, Texas – The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) have formed a new strategic partnership to provide new events, exposure and services for women’s bowling.

Highlights of the new partnership include:

• Seven new PWBA regional events to complement the PWBA Tour
• Player services transportation and mobile pro shop for the PWBA Tour
• Exclusive live coverage of the PWBA Tour through the Xtra Frame, PBA’s online video streaming service
• Eligibility for PWBA members to bowl in all PBA events
• Expanded points program for women bowling in PBA regionals culminating in the ESPN-televised PWBA Regional Challenge at the PBA World Series of Bowling VII

“Advancing opportunities for women professional bowlers has been a goal of the PBA for years and this partnership reinforces that commitment,” PBA Commissioner Tom Clark said. “We also are thrilled to add PWBA to the Xtra Frame schedule to provide more programing for our subscribers and valuable content from a business perspective.”

The seven new PWBA regional events are women-only competitions conducted by PBA’s respective regional managers and will have a $10,000 prize fund based on a minimum of 40 entries. Host centers and cities for the new events include:

• June 5-7 – Bowlium Lanes, Montclair, Calif. (West Region)
• June 12-14 – Secoma Lanes, Federal Way, Wash. (Northwest Region)
• June 26-27 – Pro Bowl West, Fort Wayne, Ind. (Central Region)
• July 4-6 – Liberty Lanes, Gastonia, N.C. (South Region)
• Sept. 25-27 – Tomball Lanes, Tomball, Texas (Southwest Region)
• Sept. 27 – Liberty Lanes, Carpentersville, Ill. (Midwest Region)
• tba – (East Region)

The new PWBA regional events will complement the PWBA Tour schedule. The 10 events on the PWBA Tour will have $60,000 in guaranteed prize money per event with a $10,000 first-place prize. The PWBA Tour schedule:

• May 13-19 – USBC Queens, Green Bay, Wis. (major)
• July 9-12 – PWBA Storm Sacramento Open, Sacramento, Calif.
• July 16-19 – PWBA Lubbock Sports Open, Lubbock, Texas
• July 23-26 – PWBA Wichita Open, Wichita, Kan.
• Aug. 6-9 – PWBA Topeka Open, Topeka, Kan.
• Aug. 13-16 – PWBA Lincoln Open, Lincoln, Neb.
• Aug. 20-23 – PWBA Minnesota Open, Welch, Minn.
• Aug. 27-30 – PWBA Detroit Open, Canton, Mich.
• Aug 31- Sept. 6 – Bowlmor AMF U.S. Women’s Open (major), North Brunswick, N.J.
• Sept. 10-13 – PWBA Tour Championship, location TBD (major)

“This agreement further demonstrates the bowling industry’s commitment to the success of competitive women’s bowling,” Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America Executive Director Frank DeSocio said. “Thanks to the PBA’s partnership, we are able to offer women bowlers the same top-level player services as men, plus additional events in more regions of the country.”

The PBA Women’s Regional points program, started by the PBA in 2014, will expand to include more than 70 additional PBA standard regional tournaments. These events will award points in tournaments across the United States and Japan under the PWBA name during the 2015 season.

Regional events afford women a professional environment close to home as part of weekend PBA Regional competition. The top points earners in each of eight regions with earn paid entries into this fall’s PBA World Series of Bowling VII in Las Vegas and will have the opportunity to advance to the ESPN-televised PWBA Regional Challenge.

“I want to thank Tom Clark and the PBA for their leadership in helping put the pieces of this partnership in place,” United States Bowling Congress Executive Director Chad Murphy said. “This agreement benefits the entire industry, including the ball brands, centers, fans and players. It is another example of working together to do what is in the best interest of bowling as we continue to build a future for the sport.”

Additional details about the PWBA regional point system events will be released soon.

2015 PWBA REGIONAL POINTS EVENTS SCHEDULE
(For complete tournament schedules and entry fee information, visit pba.com and click on the Schedules tab/Regional Tours)

EAST REGION
April 10-12 - Rockaway, N.J.
April 17-19 - Ellicott City (Baltimore), Md.
June 5-7 - Yonkers, N.Y.
June 19-21 - Howell, N.J.
May 15-17 - Syracuse, N.Y.
July 23-25 - Lebanon, Pa.
Aug. 6-8 - York, Pa.
Aug. 21-23 - Middletown, Del. (Xtra Frame)
Aug. 28-30 - Deptford, N.J.

CENTRAL REGION
March 20-22 - Hubbard, Ohio
April 11-12 - Kokomo, Ind.
April 18-19 - Elkhart, Ind.
May 8-10 - Lorain, Ohio
May 15-17 - Grove City, Ohio
June 19-21 - Wooster, Ohio
July 17-19 - Fishers, Ind.
July 24-26 - Angola, Ind.
Aug. 14-16 - Coldwater, Ohio
Sept. 11-13 - Wapakoneta, Ohio
Sept. 18-20 - Troy, Ohio
Oct. 3-4 - Kokomo, Ind.
Oct. 10-11 - Muskegon, Mich.
Dec. 11-13 - Allen Park, Mich. (Xtra Frame)

SOUTH REGION
April 10-12 - Bluffton, S.C.
May 15-17 - Marion, N.C.
June 5-7 - Easley, S.C.
June 19-21 - Pensacola, Fla. (Xtra Frame)
July 3-5 - Gastonia, N.C.
Aug. 14-16 - Spring Hill, Fla.
Aug. 28-30 - Fayetteville, N.C.
Oct. 16-18 - Franklin, Va.
Nov. 13-15 - Gloucester, Va.
Dec. 4-6 - Merritt Island, Fla.

MIDWEST REGION
June 5-6 - Richton Park, Ill.
June 13-14 - Elk Grove Village, Ill.
June 20 - Tinley Park, Ill.
June 21 - Tinley Park, Ill.
July 11 – St. Charles, Mo.
July 12 – St. Charles, Mo.
Aug. 8 - Lockport, Ill.
Sept. 5-6 - Peru, Ill.
Sept. 19-20 - Dubuque, Iowa
Sept. 25-26 - Carpentersville, Ill.
Oct. 9-11 - Council Bluffs, Iowa (Xtra Frame)

SOUTHWEST REGION
Feb. 20-22 - Lakewood, Colo.
March 20-22 - Odessa, Texas
April 10-12 - Shawnee, Okla.
May 1-3 - Junction City, Kan. (joint with Midwest)
June 12-14 - Jonesboro, Ark. (joint with Midwest)
June 26-28 - Lubbock, Texas (Xtra Frame)
July 17-19 - Fort Sill, Okla.
July 31-Aug. 2 - Houston, Texas (mixed doubles, Xtra Frame)
Aug. 7-9 - Killeen, Texas
Aug. 21-23 - Greenville, Texas
Sept. 11-13 - McAlester, Okla.
Sept. 25-27 - Tomball, Texas
Oct. 9-11 - Austin, Texas
Nov. 13-15 - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Nov. 20-22 - Fort Worth, Texas
Nov. 27-29 - Beaumont, Texas

WEST REGION
Feb. 20-22 - Sutter Creek, Calif.
April 10-12 - Dublin, Calif. (joint with Northwest)
April 26-28 - Kona, Hawaii (joint with Northwest)
April 29 - Schofield Army Barracks, Hawaii (joint with Northwest)
May 1-3 - Hickam AFB, Hawaii (joint with Northwest)
March 6-8 - Reno, Nev. (joint with Northwest)
June 5-7 - Montclair, Calif.
June 19-21 - Modesto, Calif.
Aug. 7-9 - Gilbert, Ariz.
Sept. 25-27 - Tuolumne, Calif.
Oct. 16-18 - Reno, Nev. (joint with Northwest)
Dec. 11-13 - Reno, Nev. (joint with Northwest)

NORTHWEST REGION
May 22-24 - Puyallup, Wash.
Aug. 14-16 - Milwaukie, Ore.
March 20-22 - Grants Pass, Ore.
June 12-14 - Federal Way, Wash. (joint with West)
July 31-Aug. 2 - Boise, Idaho (joint with West)
 
JAPAN REGION
Dates and locations to be announced

About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is an organization of more than 3,200 of the best bowlers from 27 countries who compete in PBA Tour, PBA International Tour, PBA Regional and PBA50 Tour events. The PBA is in its 56th consecutive year of nationally-televised competition, reaching more than one million American households and thousands more around the world who watch PBA activities on Xtra Frame, the PBA’s exclusive online bowling channel. PBA sponsors include Barbasol, Bowlmor AMF, Brunswick, Concrete Software, Ebonite International, GEICO, HotelPlanner.com, MOTIV, Rolltech, Storm Products and the United States Bowling Congress, among others. For more information, log on to www.pba.com.

About the Professional Women’s Bowling Association
The Professional Women’s Bowling Association is the membership organization for professional female bowlers, hosting tournaments across the United States as part of the PWBA Tour. The PWBA Tour major championships include the USBC Queens, Bowlmor AMF U.S. Women’s Open and PWBA Tour Championship. PWBA was founded in 1981 as the Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour and is now a joint venture of the United States Bowling Congress and the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America.

The online home for the PWBA Tour is www.PWBA.com.