Economic Impact of State Tournaments

The hotbed of bowling is usually located in the Midwest or Northeast areas of the country. We see the decline of bowling here in our state by looking around us. Is your league getting smaller over the years? Where is that companion league that used to bowl next to yours? Remember when second shift of league night filled the house also? In the past few days, two Midwest newspapers touted the cash flow their community was receiving from their respective state tournaments.

Green Bay is hosting the Wisconsin state tournament. This event draws local media coverage because of the economic impact to the city and area. Bold added for emphasis

"When an estimated 10,000 bowlers visit Green Bay the next 17 weekends to participate in the Wisconsin State USBC Bowling Association Tournament, they'll drop more than pins.

They'll also drop $4.4 million into the cash registers of hotels, attractions, restaurants and retail shops, according to estimates by the Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau."

By comparison, Alabama runs three week-ends in two of its larger houses in one of its more popular tournament site cities. Birmingham and Huntsville are the two sites where the state tournament gets its most entries. However, that only means 300-350 teams. Wisconsin may have been the home to Bowling Headquarters, but this same story is also covered in Michigan.

"About 12,000 bowlers and 2,300 teams from around the state are expected to visit the area for the Michigan State USBC Bowling Association's 106th state tournament, which continues today and 15 other weekends through May 3."

Because of the downturn in the economy, Lansing business are loving having the influx of tourism.

""You bring that size of a tournament in any area, (and) we look at it to being between $5 and $7 million," said Barney Eagan, association manager for the Michigan State United States Bowling Bowling Association."

The state association should calculate our impact to communities when the state tournament(s) roll into town. It won't be millions of dollars, but local convention and visitor bureaus love to know and report this kind of stuff. With the local CVB working with the association, maybe the bowlers could get some better coupons or deals from hotels and restaurants competing for the week-end surge of bowlers.

Competition is good for us. How many of you actually stay at the host hotels? I usually find better deals at other hotels. If hotels realize that an unofficial multi-weekend 'convention' was coming to town, there are more deals for the bowlers. Some hotels do realize this. Do you see the ad on the state tournament web page for the Hilton Birmingham Perimeter Park? They are not an official host hotel but sure are competing for our business. This is good. In an economic downturn, the consumers have more bargaining power. We just have to have a collective voice to be heard.