Jess,
I can speak from experience, that $1500 deal weas a steal and you should have jumped on it. That would probably about the cost per ticket normally, if not more. And I have shown that $550/person is also not the real cost to Reno. You can find cheaper tickets than that, but of course, that would ruin your point. Don't most people "save up" for vacations? The bigger the vacation the longer you save. I plan to take my family to Hawaii next year, we are beginning to save now for that. Just like if I wanted to take my family to Reno, we would save for that. That is how things work for the majority of people. You act like this is something only you do.
You are by far the exception to the rule. I speak metaphorically, but I would bet you a trip to Reno that if you asked the majority of the USBC members would not support the raising of their membership fees. And even your exception has a caveat to it. You say they have to guarantee Reno only once every 3 years.....that is not something anyone can do. Look at what happened in 2011 (I believe it was). It was schedule to be in Wichita, but they had to back out. So the tournament had no other real option but to come back to Reno with such short notice.
I don't mean to pick on you specifically, but I am sick and tired of hearing these unrealistic arguements. You ( and I mean all of those with them) act like it is so easy to just pick a city, and that the USBC purposely does not choose cities. Have you done as I asked and talked to your local convention center board? I already know the answer is no. DO you really think there are bunches of cities sending in offers every year? What convention center in it's right mind would tempt losing routine yearly customers like flower, gun, boat, or car shows just to bring in this tournament for 1 year? And just like others have forgotten, the idea of a business is to make money, the tournament is a business, just like any tournament is. No one runs any tournament to lose money or just break even. So why should the USBC Open pick an offer that isn't the best? The numbers from Baton Rouge didn't skyrocket after being in Reno back to back years. Based on your theory we should have seen a dramtic increase in teams, but we didn't. In fact, there were less than before. Of course when faced with this dilema we hear the excuses come out like " well people stopped going after Reno-fatigue", or "BR isn't really East" or "It was (pick your least favorite political figure and insert here)'s fault". Maybe you'll have something new....maybe blame it on aliens and UFO's. The number of teams are dropping for a variety of reasons, membership overall is dropping, the economic downturn of 2008 is still effecting a lot of people are two reason why.
A lot of people have no issue with creating a 3rd division. Heck, even call it the Eagle division so that people know this is where you need to bowl to win an Eagle. But just because someone average 230-240 on THS, doesn't mean they are contenders for an Eagle. There are many 230 average THS bowlers that struggle to average 200 at the Open. I know a few of them personally. And also, you act like a PBA membership is such a big thing. The qualifications to become a PBA member are incredibly easy. All you have to do is average 200 on THS. You can then pay your membership fee and you are a member. The same people you are claiming can't compete are PBA member eligible.
And your last paragraph is a lot of hot air, but not much else. As I said previously, it is not hard to become a PBA member. I am sure there are more PBA Members with multiple regional cashes that haven't won Eagles than their are ones that did. I, for one, have multiple PBA regional cashes including finishing as high as 3rd once, but I have no Eagles. Now I have never felt that I would get enough value out of being a PBA Member to join, but I meet their criteria. And is that a top 5 finish ever in an amateur high roller or just recently? I mean really, these are some of the weakest arguements I have ever seen. We all know good bowlers, the best bowlers are the ones that win Eagles, as it should be. But going in thinking you have no chance, is going to guarantee you will fail. How many stories do we see on Sportscenter of some kid dunking on, faking out, making a great play against an NBA player during one of their camps? There are usually 1 or 2 every summer. I am not saying that just believing you can do well, will win you an Eagle. But thinking you have no chance, will guarantee that you don't win an Eagle, no matter how good you are.
