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Fox Sports expands television schedule

Ed Townsend - Columnist
Posted 11/7/19

Today, FOX Sports and the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) announced the 2020 Go Bowling! PBA Tour television schedule, which includes more shows on the FOX broadcast network, the first show …

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Fox Sports expands television schedule

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Today, FOX Sports and the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) announced the 2020 Go Bowling! PBA Tour television schedule, which includes more shows on the FOX broadcast network, the first show featuring women bowlers and more live telecasts. The announcement was made today by Bill Wanger, FOX Sports' EVP, Head of Programming and Scheduling and PBA CEO Colie Edison.

The second year of the PBA-FOX Sports agreement features six telecasts on FOX, the most PBA action on network broadcast TV since 1999. Plus, there will be 25 shows on FS1 and a total of 23 live broadcasts, the most in 12 years (up from 19 live shows last year). Altogether, the 2020 TV schedule includes more than 60 hours of coverage.

“We are delighted to expand our Go Bowling! PBA Tour offerings,” says Wanger. “In our first season, we brought new energy and excitement to the tour, highlighting the star bowlers and enhancing the broadcasts with Kegel's Specto ball-tracking technology StrikeTrack to provide real-time ball tracking during all events.”

Kicking off the 2020 PBA on FOX season will be a bonus event - PBA Clash - on Sunday, Nov. 3 on FOX. The 90-minute telecast will feature top PBA stars in a unique, $50,000 winner-take-all competition, plus a look at the new year and upcoming events on FOX and FS1.

“We're making major investments in the PBA and the future of the tour by expanding TV coverage and increasing prize money across our tournaments,” said Edison, the PBA's CEO and Chief Customer Officer of Bowlero Corp, its parent company. “Bowlero Corp purchased the PBA with the goal of strengthening its presence throughout all media and our partnership with FOX is an essential part of that objective.”

Other highlights of the 2020 PBA on FOX Sports schedule include:

Live coverage of five PBA major championships: the PBA Tournament of Champions on Sunday, Feb. 9, from suburban Akron, Ohio; the PBA Players Championship on Saturday, Feb. 15, from Columbus, Ohio; the US Open on Sunday, Feb. 23, from Lincoln, Nebraska; PBA World Championship on Wednesday, March 18, from Las Vegas, and the United States Bowling Congress Masters on Sunday, March 29, from Reno, Nevada.

Revolutionary coverage of professional bowling's biggest event, the PBA World Series of Bowling XI. Five consecutive days of WSOB coverage, including live finals of four PBA title events, will air from Las Vegas, March 15-19.

The PBA Playoffs are back bigger and stronger, taking place from April 6 through May 17. The playoffs will be held in four different locations, allowing fans across the country to see their favorite bowlers in the exciting tournament.

The PBA/PWBA Mixed Doubles take place on Sunday, July 5 live on FS1 from Denver and will include the debut of professional female bowlers on FOX Sports.

The PBA League team competition returns to Portland, Maine, where the hometown team looks to defend its PBA League title in four live primetime telecasts on FS1 for three consecutive nights, July 21-23.

Viewers can live stream the PBA shows on the FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps or at FOXSports.com.

In addition to the 60 hours of broadcast television, FOX Sports digital also will play a key role in expanding the PBA's visibility. Select highlights will be available on @FOXSports social handles across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Additional details concerning tournament formats, host bowling centers and more, will be announced by the PBA soon through the PBA Network's social media outlets.

Ed's Outlook

PBA Pro Bowling

Game Makes Debut

PBA Pro Bowling, the first officially licensed video game designed for gaming consoles and PCs in more than 30 years, makes its official debut today, the Professional Bowlers Association and FarSight Studios have announced.

The new PBA Pro Bowling game for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Steam owners allows gamers to interactively “bowl” against more than 15 PBA stars, including Jason Belmonte, Jakob Butturff, EJ Tackett, Norm Duke and others, with commentary provided by PBA announcers Rob Stone and Randy Pedersen.

“It's been our dream to create an official PBA video game with the real pros since a lot of us watched the PBA Tour growing up,” FarSight Studios Vice President Bobby King said. “We're proud of the game that we've created and can't wait for people to check out just how easy and fun it is to play, while still being difficult to master.”

To preview the game, view the trailer released by FarSight Studios: (youtube/QkW87h5_Cxg).

The easy-to-use "Arcade" controls are patterned after the hugely popular PBA Bowling Challenge for mobile devices from Concrete Software which has been downloaded more than 27.6 million times, including almost 2.5 million times in 2019 alone.

The game is selling for $19.99 at launch. To place online orders, visit probowling.com/buy.

For more information about the numerous features included in the game, visit probowling.com/.

Bowling Tip

By Mike Luongo

Repeating a good bowling shot requires bowlers to release the ball the same way shot after shot.

This week we will talk about the release and offer information that will help bowlers of all levels.

A properly executed release is possibly one of the most understood parts of a bowling shot. Most bowlers want to muscle the ball through the release zone and they do this by accelerating or decelerating on the downswing.

The proper release for all bowlers is executed by letting gravity bring the ball from the top of the swing through the release zone with no interference from your arm or shoulder muscles.

If the ball fits properly, the gravity will take it off your hand at the right time providing your body is in the proper position. Any rotation on the ball should come from your hand only ... not your arm.

Using the proper technique will allow you to get as much rotation on the ball as desired.

When your bowling ball does not fit properly this is where it will require excessive grip pressure to hold on to which will make the release harder to execute.

Gravity can be your best friend or worst enemy depending on how you use it.

Mike Luongo is a Certified IBPSIA Pro Shop Operator, Master Instructor, USBC Silver Level Coach and an Advisor-Special Events Assistant with the Storm and Roto Grip Bowling Ball Company. Have a question, email him at mike.luongo@stormbowling.com.

Butturff wins the

2019 PBA Clash

Jakob Butturff outlasted seven other top money earners from the 2019 Go Bowling PBA Tour season and defeated EJ Tackett Sunday afternoon on Fox Sports TV in the championship match to win the $50,000 winner-take-all prize in the second PBA Clash held at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla.

BOWLING SCORES

BEECHWOODS LANES

Monday Villa Roma Ladies

Pam Wayne 159, Lillian Zieres 190, Lindsey Bauer 150, 188, Beth Schumacher 161, Laurie Brockner 161, Diane Conroy 158, Lori Kimmes 169, Lois Erdman 183, Ginny Connelly 151.

PORT JERVIS BOWL

Thursday Night Ladies

Erin McDonagh 172, 170, 184, 526, Carol Flynn 188, 156, 174, 518, Josephine Zych 181, 168, 146, 495, Sheri Laird 169, 158, 164, 491, Celeste Fitzpatrick 138, 183, 181, 482.

FOX BOWLING CENTER

Saturday Youth League

Luke Prescot 154, 166, 156, Alex Mosher 138, 148, Olivia Johnson 113, 113, Landon Fuller 105, 111.

Wed. Men's Independent

Doc Bolduc 241, 247, 681, Shane Dirig 203, 246, 640, Brandon Drumm 225, 200, 238, 66, Scott Lacy 221, 232, 630, Donnie Marino 244, 222, 637.

Thursday Night 3

Dale Conklin 206, 200, 577, Ray Cornwell 232, 618, Shane Dirig 224, 584, Dan Keesler 231, 620, Rick Mills 233, 590.

Friday Couples

Andy Bullis 202, 212, 603, Linda Ferris 190, 197, 561, Dennis Leonard 233, 624, Dan Wormuth 235, 614, Jay Wormuth 214, 212, 203, 629.

Sunday Mixed Fun

Kolby Decker (youth bowling award) 124, 135, 119, Ashley Hanstine 184, 525, Don Marino 223, 211, 257, 691, Landyn Robinson (youth bowling award) 128.

KIAMESHA LANES

Monday Men's

Eddie Lake 180, 300, 265, 745, Pedro Agapito III a 240, 207, 258, 705, Jody Farquhar 213, 257, 253, 723, Jaryl Scott 204, 221, 233, 658, J.J. Wilhelm Jr. 188, 233, 232, 653, Charlie Tuttle 210, 213, 237, 660, Tom Skiff III a 258, 195, 228, 681.

Tuesday Mixed Firefighter

Kyle Giordano 265, 235, 234, 734, Jon Wilhelm 253, George Severnak 214, 234, 200, 648, Trasey Barres 150, 156, 198, 504, Mary Lee Williams 189, Shane Cunningham 231, 214, 242, 687.

Friday Mixed

Pedro Agapito III a 209, 297, 268, 774, Eddie Lake 215, 206, 248, 669, Ryan Lepke 193, 266, 217, 676, Kevin Stackhouse 177, 229, 246, 652, James VanAken 237, 213, 212, 662, Mikayla DeGraw 181, 190, 180, 551, Anne Kaplan 161, 172, 167, 500.

Ed Townsend is a Public Relations Consultant to the sport of bowling and brings over 60 plus years of sports journalism experience writing and compiling the information for this column. If you have league or tournament information, bowl a 300 game or 800 series, let Ed know at 845-439-8177, email at edwardctownsend@hotmail.com or fax to 845-205-4474. View this column and Ed's photos at hppt://bght.blogspot.com We are also on Facebook and Twitter.

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