Source Spotlight: Building a National Tournament

Building a National Tournament

With a history older than the recent Rose Bowl Game and more participants than any single annual sporting event, the USBC Open Championships is a popular destination for tens of thousands of participants each year. 

Bowlers from all 50 states and a handful of foreign countries make the annual journey in search of exciting locations, camaraderie and a share of more than $5 million in prize money.

The USBC Open Championships is open to all USBC Adult members, men and women, but there also is a similar event just for women, the USBC Women’s Championships. Both tournaments feature average-based divisions, so bowlers of all ages and skill levels can compete and excel on the lanes.

The Open Championships, which began in 1901, has been held in 48 cities in 26 states. In 2014, it will make its record 11th trip to Reno, Nev., and be held at the one-of-a-kind National Bowling Stadium. The USBC Women’s Championships, first held in 1916, will be contested on 44 specially-constructed lanes inside the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. It will mark just the second time in history (the other was 2013) that they’re both being held in the same host city, allowing families and friends to travel and bowl together, and for women to bowl in both events.

The events have combined for more than 200 years of competition and attract more than 75,000 bowlers, plus their guests, each year between March and July. Competitors at each event bowl nine games – three games of team competition, three games of doubles and three games of singles.

But what does it take to keep the tradition going and give bowlers an unrivaled competitive experience on one of the biggest stages in sports, complete with high ceilings, bright lights and even championship banners in the rafters?

When not held in the National Bowling Stadium or traditional bowling centers (Women’s Championships only), a custom environment is created to give the tournaments a big-stage, championship feel. As with the RSCC for the Women’s Championships in 2013 and 2014, USBC construction crews are able to transform an empty convention center into a state-of-the-art bowling arena in less than two months. 

A typical build, usually a little bigger for the Open Championships, requires enough lumber to build at least five three-bedroom homes. More than 10 miles of electrical, internet and fiber cable also is required. The venue is wired with enough electricity to power 10 homes.

The custom tournament facilities include as many as 60 lanes, office and vendor space, squad room, locker area, concessions area and seating for hundreds of bowling fans. The setup also includes the world’s largest mobile scoreboard, featuring trillions of colors and the latest in video and scoring technology. 

Both events run daily from 7 a.m. until almost 2 a.m. Dozens of employees and managers from all corners of the country relocate to the host city each year to make sure the tournaments run smoothly and consistently. The non-stop schedules then require the hiring of 50-75 people locally to help with the day-to-day operations.

In a typical year, the Open Championships runs for as many as 150 consecutive days and has an economic impact in the host city between $75-100 million, while a city hosting the Women’s Championships, about 90 days long, can expect about $40 million from its steady parade of participants. Guests spend an average of 3.5 days in town.

This means the staff becomes part of the local community for more than half the year, sometimes, and airports, restaurants, stores and hotels stay busy with all of the guests and their hundreds of thousands of bowling balls.

The transformation of the convention center typically takes 45-60 days to complete, but only 10-14 days to disassemble. Whenever possible, all salvageable building materials are donated to a local charity to be used in local construction projects. This allows the impact of the tournament to extend beyond the financial benefits and few months of traffic.

Visually, there’s no bowling experience like the USBC Championships tournaments.

Competitively, bowlers will tell you that marching down the famed Center Aisle at the Open Championships will give you butterflies and take your breath away no matter how many times you’ve done it. Women’s Championships participants speak volumes about the opportunity to travel with their friends and meet bowlers from all over the world.

No matter what type of bowler you are, the USBC Championship Tournaments are one membership perk you don’t want to miss out on!