Bowling's Clash of Champions - Q&A with Tom Clark

The United States Bowling Congress recently announced it will conduct a special, made-for television event - Bowling's Clash of Champions - at this year's USBC Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

The Clash, presented by USBC and Strike Ten Entertainment, will bring together 16 champions of USBC events and the U.S. Open ranging in age from teenagers to seniors competing for $100,000 in prize money on national television.

The event will take place May 7-8 and taped for broadcast on CBS Sports May 10 from 5-6 p.m. Eastern and May 11 from 4-5 p.m. Eastern.

USBC Vice President of Communications and Marketing Tom Clark (pictured), who is spearheading the Clash, sat down recently to answer some questions surrounding the event.

Question: Why is being on network television so important?

Bowling's Clash of Champions is an historic event in that it brings bowling back to network TV for the first time this decade. Previously, bowling had a long history of successful network television with the PBA Tour on ABC. Network television is available free in all homes with a television set.

USBC is proud to partner with CBS Sports for the Clash as it is a network steeped in tradition and excellence. Network television is important for bowling because:

• It maximizes the potential for the largest possible television audience.
• The credibility that network television brings any sporting event is extremely valuable in building the perceptions of that sport.
• Potential advertisers and sponsors find exposure on network broadcasts valuable.
• It affords bowling a greater opportunity for media coverage. Media attention helps spread the word of bowling as a sport and all the players taking part plus the event itself and the media story it is will gain valuable space in local and national TV and print media.

Question: What are the long-term goals of this event?

When Bowling's Clash of Champions proves to be successful it could become a yearly event, strengthening the USBC brand as the governing body of the sport, enhancing the USBC Convention, building USBC national championships and growing bowling as a sport in the eyes of the general public.

The Clash will:

• Serve notice that bowling as a sport in America is strong and solidify bowling's viability as a network television sport. If television ratings please the network, more opportunities will surface.
• Educate millions of viewers to the virtues of our lifetime sport. Youth bowling, collegiate bowling, professional bowling, senior bowling - it is all on display with the best players male and female from all categories competing.
• Bring recognition to the champions of the United States Bowling Congress' national championship events. Each of the USBC's 14 major national championships is represented. Most of these events have not had television exposure previously.
• Build stars to represent what the sport of bowling is all about. The players on these shows will become more familiar with larger audiences.

Question: What does this event mean to the bowling industry?

For one, it is a rallying cry. The Clash emanating from the USBC Convention loudly and strongly says competitive bowling is back, it's healthy and it is eyeing the future with ambition and aggressively trying to get in front of as many people as possible.

• Bowling brands absent from network TV for a long time will get prime exposure.
• Promotions surrounding this event will reach millions of people inside and outside the bowling community through such devices as Web sites, Web video, print ads, TV ads, email marketing campaigns, public relations campaigns and marketing efforts within bowling centers across the country.
• The attention and exposure generated by the shows will help youth bowling initiatives, educate people toward college bowling opportunities and scholarships, the Professional Bowlers Association stars, top level women professional bowlers and senior bowling opportunities, as well as coaching initiatives, Team USA, and drive people into bowling centers to give it a try.

Question: How were the competitors chosen for this event?

The Clash is a showcase event featuring the 2007 champions from the USBC's 14 prestigious national championship events, plus the 2007 U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open. In order to show the wide range of competitive bowling available in the USA today, youth champions, male and female champions and senior champions were all selected. The diverse nature of the invitational field brings an electric atmosphere to the television audience curious how players will match up and offering different people players they can connect with and cheer for.

The champions from the following 2007 events were invited to participate in the Clash:

• USBC Queens champion
• USBC Senior Queens champion
• USBC Youth Open Championships girls all-events champion
• USBC U.S. Junior Amateur girls champion
• USBC U.S. Amateur women's champion
• USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships women's champion
• USBC Women's Championships Classic All-Events champion
• U.S. Women's Open champion
• USBC Masters champion
• USBC Senior Masters champion
• USBC Youth Open Championships boys all-events champion
• USBC U.S. Junior Amateur boys champion
• USBC U.S. Amateur men's champion
• USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships men's champion
• USBC Open Championships Regular All-Events champion
• U.S. Open champion

Question: Why isn't this event open to all USBC members?

If a USBC member bowled in any of the above events in 2007, they were in effect entered in the Clash of Champions. While the Clash itself is a showcase, made-for-TV contest (not an open event), and the players were chosen retroactively, if for example you bowled in the USBC Open Championships, you are represented by the all-events champion from that event. In all, more than 130,000 bowlers took part in the 16 events represented in the Clash.

Question: Why is there a unique format for the first telecast?

With the Clash, sports fans at home will watch bowling like never before. In the first hour broadcast on May 10, fans will see all 16 players in a shootout to get to the final four, setting up a more traditional, bracketed final on May 11, which will culminate in a man vs. woman championship game.

The shootout to whittle the field down from 16 will be contested at breakneck speed as players face sudden death elimination on every shot. The players will be broken up into four groups of four decided by their totals in a special, non-televised seeding round. Those groups each bowl three rounds, which one player must be eliminated from each round. Each round consists of the bowlers throwing one shot and the bowler with the lowest pinfall is eliminated.

Bowling purists may frown at the "gimmicky" or "luck" factor of the shootout format on Day 1, but television audiences will eat up the elimination process and pressure on every bowl thrown.

This event is not meant to decide the best bowler of the year. It is simply a chance for the USBC national champions to be invited into a bowling arena like none other and face off in a battle that will entertain and thrill fans while exposing the players' great gifts for the sport. Up for grabs is $100,000 in prize money (or scholarship money for the youth players).

Some critics will say the potential of a youth player advancing past a Hall of Famer like Pete Weber is detrimental to the sport - this couldn't be further from the truth as the broadcast will make it clear this is a shootout anyone can win.

Bowling needs to be exciting and fresh on TV again, and this creative format will be anything but boring.

Question: Who is funding this event?

The United States Bowling Congress, as part of its effort to grow the sport through greater exposure, is the main funding source. Strike Ten Entertainment, the marketing wing of bowling, is a major partner and separate sponsorship packages are being sold.

Question: How does this event help further USBC's goal of growing the sport?

Currently, just 22 percent of Americans polled consider bowling to be a sport. Bowling is a sport, so for the majority of people to not consider it so, there are prevalent existing misconceptions. Those poor perceptions must be combated and overturned in the eyes of the public. Exposure on national television is a key component in changing the public's view of our game.

When bowling is respected as a sport and thought of as a viable athletic and skillful endeavor with worthy prizes and star players, more corporate dollars will come into bowling and people will play with a renewed pride and vigor.

We want as many people as possible to enjoy the enduring pursuit of getting better as a bowler. When the sport is accepted by more people due to the inspirational stories made widely known through shows like the Clash and the surrounding media within and outside the bowling community, it will open more doors for growth.

Also, the TV production crew will incorporate never-before-seen graphics and television presentation techniques to the broadcasts to better educate and engage viewers, and the stories told about the players and how they got there will resonate.

By going on national TV with a unique format featuring a diverse list of champions facing off in an arena setting with the USBC delegates and Hall of Famers in attendance, there will be great impact. Impactful events like this change perceptions faster than any other means.

Question: What will the lane conditions be like for this event?

The players will attack the 2008 USBC Open Championships pattern (the same pattern being used in Albuquerque, N.M., this year) on a special four-lane Brunswick installation on the floor of the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium . This is a USBC Sport Bowling compliant, challenging and fair condition devised by USBC.