2019 WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS SURVEY RESULTS

ARLINGTON, Texas – Satisfaction with the United States Bowling Congress Women’s Championships is at an all-time high and, because survey results from 2019 participants show a majority favor using Championships Average as the entering average at the event, that change will take effect for the 2021 tournament in the Chicago area.

The survey also showed more than 91 percent of respondents plan to bowl the 2020 event in Las Vegas. The 2020 Women’s Championships will be held at the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas from April 18 through July 6 and more than 4,500 teams already have registered.

The 2019 Women’s Championships, the 100th edition of the event, was contested at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kansas, and was the first to be held in a bowling center since 2008.

For the survey, bowlers were asked if they would be in favor of using their Women’s Championships average, instead of league average, as the entering average for the event. While the majority (53%) were in favor, an increase from last season (47%), the highest percentages came from participants in the top two divisions – Diamond (71%) and Ruby (64%). The Diamond Division is for bowlers who average 190 or higher, while the Ruby is for averages between 175-189.

With the majority in favor of using Championships Average, that change now will be put in place starting in 2021. The USBC Open Championships began using Championships Average for its event last year and a survey of participants to the 2019 event showed 87% either agree or didn’t have an opinion regarding the use of Championships Average as the entering average.

For the 2019 Women’s Championships survey, bowlers also were asked about the difficulty of the lane patterns and whether the lane patterns should be kept secret until after the event.

Regarding the lane conditions, 81% of bowlers agreed or didn’t have an opinion as to whether the lane pattern was appropriate for the national tournament. As for keeping the lane patterns secret, 85% of bowlers agreed or did not have an opinion.

Overall, satisfaction with the event operations is at an all-time high with 84% to 96% of bowlers either satisfied or neutral when asked about key areas such as customer service, pace of play, online registration, event operations, schedule, lane conditions, and host city and venue.

Looking ahead to the move to Championships Average in 2021, bowlers will use their Women’s Championships tournament average, for the most recent 27 games, as their entering average. The event will maintain the same division structure (Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst, Topaz) but the average parameters will be adjusted to align with the use of Challenge averages.

For bowlers who do not have a qualifying Championships Average, their qualifying league average will be converted to Challenge using the appropriate Challenge Average Adjustment Chart that is available on BOWL.com/SportBowling.

The average range for each division will be posted when the 2021 Women’s Championships rules are released, and coming soon, the Find A Member application on BOWL.com will show Championships Average for Women’s Championships participants.

The 2019 Women’s Championships survey was conducted between April 21 and Sept. 1, 2019. With 16,432 bowlers in the Women’s Championships, 2,746 responses to the survey, and a confidence interval of 95%, it is estimated the survey has a margin of error of +/- 2%.

Visit BOWL.com/WomensChamp to learn more about the Women’s Championships.