The PBA players are USBC members too, they will also pay the extra #$3 fee, so it's not like an us vs. them thing. And what would the PBA give back, how about not charging for use of the PBA patterns so any center can use them and have PBA experience leagues. That way they bowler who want to improve or see how good they really are have a chance to participate. Currently there isn't an experience league within 50 miles of me and I live near Houston, a major city.
While I think there needs to be some opening of the field, totally open tournaments are not the answer. Look at the replies about some of the amateurs at the US Open. We need to keep a balance between "the best bowlers" and opening the field for everyone. What is the right number or scenario, I don't know, but there has to be a happy medium.
And lastly, I think the PBA tournaments need to be more rotational, minus the majors. While it is nice to be in the same center year after year, once you have the modified exempt format from my paragraph above, the way to bring more people into the tournament would be to move it around an area/region. Come back to a center every 3-4 years, like Nationals in Reno. I'll use my home state as an example: The tour stops in El Paso every year. Instead of that, have it in El Paso this year, Dallas next year, Houston the next year, back to El Paso, back to Dallas, back to Houston, etc. In the NE move a tournament from Baltimore to PA, to DE, etc. This way more people are exposed to it, hopefully bigger crowds throughout the week, and more local entrants for the qualifying rounds which adds an additional few dollars to the prize funds.
Just my .02, flame suit on.
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Jorge300
