Letter From Tom Clark

I'm looking for some help from true PBA fans.

Fans that will support and thank PBA sponsors.

Fans that will demand coverage of the PBA in their local media.

Fans that will emulate and aspire to the pros' skill on the lanes with plenty of practice and the desire to bowl on PBA Experience lane conditions.

Fans that will tell their friends to watch The Show.

Fans that will take part in healthy discourse, speculating on the season on message boards and on Bowlspace.com.

We are just a few weeks away from the first telecast of the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season. For us true fans, it's time to get ready to do more than just enjoy the shows from our recliners.

It's time to talk up the Tour to your family, your co-workers, your league teammates, the person next to you on the plane, bus, subway or line at the grocery store.

Don't worry. It's cool to be a PBA fan. I just spent the weekend with NBA stars Chris Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. There aren't many cooler people on the planet and they are PBA fans. Big fans.

It's time to set the DVR, set up PBA viewing parties at your bowling center and pick up a Bowlers Journal magazine which has upped its PBA coverage.

One thing I can guarantee you is the PBA is working hard for you. The PBA has listened to its fans and will continue to passionately follow through on many things you have suggested and wanted. Now we are counting on you to be the best you can be in the most important role in our sport – the fan.

It's been an active summer for the PBA, filled with intense planning, great innovations, positive news developments – all with you, the fan, in mind.

Just look at what the PBA's been up to prior to this historic 50th Anniversary season, in no particular order:

• Hall of Fame: Rewrote the rules for the PBA Hall of Fame, assuring player inductions for the first time since 2000. It's likely at minimum the great Norm Duke will earn his rightful place in the Hall.
  

• 50th Anniversary: Put together extensive plans to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the PBA Tour. Just for starters, the PBA is bringing legendary commentator and Hall of Famer Bo Burton back to host a weekly series counting down the 50 Greatest Players in PBA history on the PBA telecasts. The PBA's regional events honored the players on the "50 Greatest" list, by renaming each one after a different player from the list. Keep your eyes open for a 50th Anniversary trading card set, a "50 Greatest PBA Players" book and a gala dinner at January's PBA Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas that will bring the living members of that elite group together.
  

• Jerseys: Entered into an agreement with Gemini Sport Marketing to be the official jersey of the PBA Tour, meaning our players will have the opportunity to improve their overall look as well as the PBA's with colorful, unique designs and styles. The jerseys will also enable the players' sponsors and the PBA's product registered partners to better represent themselves with bolder, larger logos utilizing Gemini's attractive dye-sublimated jerseys.
  

• Celebrities and charity: Ever think you'd see LeBron James competing in a PBA Tour event? This summer the PBA organized and taped for broadcast the first ever PBA celebrity event, the Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational presented by the Brands of Ebonite International. The show kicks off the PBA Tour season on ESPN, airing Oct. 19 at 1 pm ET. You will not want to miss NBA superstars James, Paul, DWade, Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay partnering with PBA stars Jason Couch, Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones, Mitch Beasley and Doug Kent in one of the most entertaining PBA telecasts ever – and all for Paul's CP3 Foundation. Likewise this off season, pros such as Parker Bohn III, Danny Wiseman, Sean Rash and Bill O'Neill frequented other celebrity charity bowling pro-ams – spreading the PBA's brand amongst the most influential people in the USA.
  

• Sponsors: Signed new title sponsor Lumber Liquidators to a lucrative 3-year deal. Maintained relationship with previous Tour sponsor Denny's, which will sponsor the Dick Weber Open in February. H & R Block, Geico, Pepsi, Etonic, USBC and others are primed for the season.
  

• Records: Changed a prior rule in order to retroactively count U.S. Open and Masters titles prior to the inception of the PBA as official tour victories, bringing deserved recognition and making it more clear who the all time leaders in major championships are.
  

• Tournament formats: Introduced a 2008-09 season schedule full of fresh formats – which will lead to the most talked-about, championship-filled, educational, diverse season in the history of the Tour. Included in the eclectic list of events this season is bringing the first senior championship to TV in years, the return of a mixed doubles championship, a match-play championship that will feature two bowlers in a 3-game total pins match on TV, controversial events such as the Plastic Ball Championship and Ultimate Scoring Championship, mixed pattern events, an eliminator tournament, marathon event, championships in each of the PBA Experience oil patterns and of course the four major championships. More round robin tournaments will dot the schedule and the versatile talents of the players will be on full display. Already, Pro Shop Operator magazine calls this PBA Tour season "an intriguing celebration of the game," and says it will allow pro shops a "dynamic opportunity to share industry knowledge and inject new life into shop talk."
  

• Women's Series: The expanded schedule of seven PBA Women's Series, presented by the USBC, events gives the women's pro game it's best opportunity in 5 years to lift the spirits and inspire a generation of up and coming girls in the game. The exempt list of 16 players decided this summer at the Tour Trials (held in conjunction with the U.S. Women's Open near Chicago) is loaded with young talent from around the world.
  

• WTBA World Championships: For the first time ever this summer, PBA players were allowed to participate in the World Tenpin Bowling Association Men's World Championships. We brought Team USA's first-ever bowling "Dream Team," made up of Chris Barnes, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Rhino Page, Patrick Allen, Tommy Jones and Bill Hoffman all the way to Bangkok, Thailand for the event. The team promptly won more gold medals that any team in the event's history. Quite an experience for the group and you can read all about it in the new US Bowler magazine. Besides the PBA ambassadors reaching out to foster a more international future PBA Tour, the Dream Team served notice to the International Olympic Committee that our sport is serious about getting into the Games.
  

• PBA.com: A new and improved pba.com is about to be unveiled, complete with a super look back at the 50-year history of the PBA Tour, free video and a "bowling in the news" feature that will give fans a chance to read different news reports about our sport from all around the country. Be sure to play Fantasy PBA Bowling and stay tuned for exciting news regarding Xtra Frame for the new season – you will not want to miss out on what will be offered this year. Besides the frame-by-frame statistical coverage, Xtra Frame will include live streaming video of the Friday night match play rounds of PBA events.
  

• Summer TV exposure: Another successful Geico PBA Summer Shootout at Six Flags Great America, this time from Illinois, kept the PBA's top stars on TV this summer in the unique setting outside at the theme park. New PBA member Jason Belmonte, the Australian two-handed phenom, was introduced to large American audiences on the shows, which brought 5-man team action back to pro bowling. Over 50 airings of the shows have gotten consistent, respectable ratings across ESPN platforms this summer.
  

The above are merely highlights for all that is going on to make the PBA better every day. Be on the lookout for: New ESPN promotional commercials featuring PBA superstars (funny and appropriate for the 50th Anniversary season); New PBA Posters displayed in Strike Ten bowling centers nationwide; A special, new opening to the ESPN PBA telecasts this year; And exciting advancements are being made in the overall fan experience on site, many of which debuted at the Chris Paul PBA Invitational and promise to lift the entertainment value of our events.

And look for, no, demand, more coverage in your local media. Sports Illustrated, Sports Business Journal and the Chicago Tribune have had recent PBA-related stories and with the help of new PBA media relations firm BZA, fresh media kits touting the compelling storylines on most of the exempt men and women are going out to local media in preparation for the season.

Together, the PBA and its fans can be one of the most formidable groups in sports. You know the numbers that surround bowling in America. Seventy-million people bowl at least once a year. Over 2 million bowl in certified leagues. Over 300,000 kids bowl in certified youth leagues. PBA telecasts average nearly 1 million viewers per show.

We've got to make those numbers count. I know the PBA fans can be the best fans in sports, but let's show the rest of the world.

This is the PBA's 50th Anniversary season. The thought evokes visions of a glorious past – the faces and form of Dick Weber, Earl Anthony and Mark Roth flash before our eyes – and promise a great future. A future where the likes of Rhino Page, Sean Rash, Tommy Jones and Wes Malott lead the PBA Tour on to 50 more years.

Every sport relies on the fans to make everything work and to grow.

PBA fans, rally around this season. Start today. Thank Lumber Liquidators for its support. Write an email to your sports editor asking for coverage. Hand out the PBA Tour season TV schedule in your league.

And watch how far you can take this game.
From Tom Clark, Professional Bowlers Association COO and VP