Why Not?

I noticed that Sunday night football reached 26.4 million viewers, a 54% increase over last year’s same Sunday’s audience.  Now, of course this was the Denver Broncos with Payton Manning returning to play his old team, the Indy Colts.  The hype built around this event was huge and it worked. Over 26 million people watched the game.

So strong was the appeal of the star, Payton Manning, that some fans wore football jerseys to the game that had half a Denver Bronco side and half a Colts side stitched together.  Some fans cried when he was introduced proclaiming that “he put Indianapolis on the map”).  Gee, I always thought it was there already.  The city of Indy was out in full force. Record numbers of people in bars and restaurants watching the game were reported.  It was shockingly amazing, but not unexpected, especially when the majority of a city rallies around ITS team.

So why doesn’t bowling have city teams from NY to LA and as many points in between as possible.  Isn’t this the next step for the PBA?  Real teams, mascots, naming rights. divisional series, championship series  and of course our very own “Super Bowling Champion Game.” (The photo on this page was from the 1954 Pfeiffer Bowling Team out of Detroit, Photo courtesy of Jimmy Carter)

Franchises could be sold to high net worth individuals; TV rights obtained and players drafted to play on a team with a schedule of X# of “Baker format” games so sponsorships could be sold locally and nationally.  Fan loyalty for their city’s team would grow and people would show up to watch the games. Heck, proprietors could even sell peanuts, popcorn and cracker jacks!

Why not?