Perhaps the ball manufacturers should consider getting into the business of owning bowling centers. They would certainly cater to league bowlers, because it's the league bowlers who buy their products. There can't be much profit in manufacturing bright orange or lime green plastic balls.
I am not a spokesman for Brunswick, so take this for what it's worth.
Did you know that Brunswick sold the bowling centers they owned to Bowlmor? As I recall it was about 85 of them. For whatever reason the capital side of Brunswick didn't want to own bowling centers anymore. Perhaps they have watched the declining numbers of league bowlers for the last 20+ years and decided to get out. Perhaps it was for other reasons because Brunswick Capital owns a successful line of fitness equipment, which would probably be pretty popular in today's society... Who knows?
There are other ball manufacturers that are very profitable, at least for the time being, and I don't see them out buying bowling centers either. If the league base continues to shrink then why would they?
Right now we have X amount of ball companies competing for a shrinking market. UNLESS the sport can attract new bowlers, presumably from those who start out as open play bowlers, we will continue to shrink in numbers. That, to me, does not sound like a good long-term investment.
I'm not condoning the poor treatment by poorly run centers at all. I believe if you're going to be in the bowling business do it right because you can't afford to alienate ANY segment of your customer base, open bowlers or league, because you really need it all to be successful.