Professional Bowlers Association
Encyclopedia
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling
in the United States
. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington
, the PBA membership consists of almost 4,300 members worldwide. Members include "pro shop" owners and workers, teaching professionals and bowlers who compete in the various events put on by the Association.
The PBA also oversees competition between professional bowlers via the following tours:
, Carmen Salvino
, Harry Smith, Dick Weber
and Billy Welu
) and two for Meritorious Service (Frank Esposito and Chuck Pezzano). Since its inception, it was located at the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame
in St. Louis, Missouri
. It is now part of the new USBC headquarters in Arlington, Texas
.
Through 2010, there are 87 PBA Hall of Fame Members in three categories:
Membership in the Hall of Fame was originally determined by annual elections. From 2000-2008, those in the Performance category had to have ten PBA titles (or two major championships) on their resume, as well as be retired from the tour for five years.
Another revision took effect in 2008. Bowlers can now qualify for the Hall of Fame based on five PBA titles on their resume, as long as two of those titles were major championships. Other active bowlers can now qualify for the Hall as well if they have 20 years of membership and are elected.
Late in 2008, The PBA announced the launch of a new PBA Seniors Hall of Fame. John Handegard
, the all-time leader in PBA Senior titles (14) became the first inductee on January 24, 2009.
began airing nationally.
At the same time, there was a desire to start a professional bowling division in the United States
; an effort led by Eddie Elias
, a sports agent based in Akron, Ohio
. During the 1958 ABC (American Bowling Congress) tournament in Syracuse, New York
, sixty men, including Don Carter
, Frank Esposito, Buzz Fazio
, Matt Lebhar, Carmen Salvino
, Billy Welu
, Steve Nagy, Harry Smith, Ray Bluth, Dick Hoover
, Bill Bunetta and Junie McMahon, attended a presentation by Elias. After listening to his proposal, thirty-three of the men donated $50 each, totaling $1,650 to start the organization, which was incorporated in 1958, and headquartered in Akron. The investors then became charter members
of the PBA, basically giving them lifetime membership. Bill Bunetta was slated to be the first commissioner of the PBA by Eddie Elias but Bill was still a very active bowler and turned down the position to continue his bowling and teaching career.
Competition began in 1959 with three tournaments. Lou Campi of Fort Worth, Texas
won the first event (the Empire State Open), and Dick Weber won the other two (Paramus Eastern Open and the Dayton Open) Weber would become the first "face" of the PBA in the early years, as he won 10 of the first 22 events held.
Elias would also lead the effort to give the PBA a permanent home on television, which it would find on ABC Sports by 1965. (See also: Professional Bowlers Tour.) Coupled with the continued support of its charter members, as well as sponsorships by the Ford Motor Company
, Coca-Cola
(which sponsored eleven tournaments in 1963 alone), True Value
Hardware and Firestone Tire
, the PBA experienced growth in its tournament schedules and prize funds.
Schedules reached a plateau of 35 tournaments per year in the 1980s. The 1965 Tournament of Champions was the first to offer $100,000 in prize money; the 1982 event featured a $200,000 purse, and the 1987 U.S. Open, sponsored by Seagram
distillery, offered a $500,000 prize fund as well as the first $100,000 first-place prize in PBA history.
By the 1980s, True Value pledged $100,000 to any roller of a perfect game on national television (increased to a $200,000 sum during its own True Value Open). Prior to this, the PBA would award a televised 300 game with $10,000 and a new Ford automobile. In addition, in the early 1990s the Miller Brewing Company
offered $1 million to any bowler who could win all three of its sponsored tournaments in a given season.
As television exposure increased for the PBA, it spun off a Seniors Tour in 1981, with Bill Beach winning the first seniors' championship that year.
Elias continued to be involved in the PBA until his death in 1998.
executives Chris Peters (chairman), Rob Glaser
, and Mike Slade, and its corporate headquarters were moved to Seattle, Washington
. Together with CEO Steve Miller
, a former Nike
executive, they are recognized for rescuing the PBA from the brink of extinction. As of 2011, Geoff Reiss currently serves as the PBA's CEO and Tom Clark serves as Commissioner. These two assumed the shared CEO/Commissioner post that was held by Fred Schreyer
since he took over over for Miller in 2005.
The PBA was featured in the 2005 sports documentary, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
. The documentary, filmed during the 2002-2003 season, enjoyed a limited release in theaters before being released in a DVD format in March 2006. The PBA was also featured and acknowledged in 2007 film 7-10 Split
.
The PBA, in conjunction with the USBC
, inaugurated the PBA Women's Series
in 2007. Following ESPN telecasts of the U.S. Women's Open, it brought back women's bowling to the airwaves for the first time since the defunct PWBA
(Professional Women's Bowling Association) folded in 2003. The top two seeds out of a field of sixteen faced each other in one match, aired prior to the men's championship match. The Women's Series expanded from four events in 2007 to eight events in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, before being cancelled.
In 2009
, financial difficulties and the general state of the U.S. economy caused the tour to reduce the number of tour stops and overall events, while also reducing the number of live TV finals broadcasts. First off, the PBA combined its fall schedule of six standard PBA tournaments (plus qualifying for the PBA World Championship
) into a single World Series of Bowling event, held that year in Allen Park, MI
near Detroit
. All fall TV finals except the PBA World Championship were taped and aired at a later date on ESPN
, while all but one of the winter tour events continued to hold live TV finals. In 2010, the World Series of Bowling was moved to Las Vegas, NV
, and consisted of five tournaments with taped TV finals and qualifying for the PBA World Championship. The overall schedule that season was reduced to just 12 title events, with portions of three winter season events being taped and aired after the fact.
For the 2011-12 season, a total of 14 TV broadcasts were taped at the 2011 World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas to be aired on later dates. For the first time, the TV finals for the PBA World Championship will not air live. In fact, ESPN will only air the finals of the PBA's three remaining major tournaments (USBC Masters
, U.S. Open
and Tournament of Champions) in a live 2012 broadcast. All other ESPN broadcasts for Winter 2012 will be taped events from the World Series, while four additional non-major title tournaments will be available live via the PBA's "Xtra Frame" webcast service.
Along with reduced stops, prize funds for some standard tournaments were reduced, starting in 2010, with as little as $15,000 going to the winner. The 2011 Tournament of Champions, however, did offer a PBA-record $1 million prize fund and an unprecedented $250,000 top prize.
Ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, the PBA membership consists of almost 4,300 members worldwide. Members include "pro shop" owners and workers, teaching professionals and bowlers who compete in the various events put on by the Association.
The PBA also oversees competition between professional bowlers via the following tours:
- PBA TourPBA TourThe Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the PBA Tour consists of "exempt" bowlers who are a part of the almost 4,300 members worldwide...
- An annual calendar of events, running from September to April each year. Lumber Liquidators is the title sponsor of the PBA Tour through the 2010-11 season. - PBA Women's SeriesPBA Women's SeriesThe PBA Women's Series was a mini-tour for female professional bowlers. It was started in 2007 as a way to bring women's bowling back to television after the Professional Women's Bowling Association disbanded in 2003...
- Selected PBA Tour events include a separate event for female professionals. - PBA Senior Tour - Like the PBA Tour, PBA members 50 years and older are able to compete in their own events.
- PBA Regional TourPBA Regional TourThe PBA Regional Tour is a series of "mini tours", run by the Professional Bowlers Association, spanning across seven regions within the United States. The Tour allows exempt and non-exempt members, and amateurs to compete in weekend events...
- Allowing exempt and non-exempt members, and amateurs to compete in weekend events. The Tour consists of seven regions: Central, East, Midwest, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West.
Hall of Fame
The PBA Hall of Fame was founded in 1975 with eight initial inductees: six for Performance (Ray Bluth, Don CarterDon Carter (bowler)
Don Carter was a right-handed American professional bowler. Learning the game while working a childhood job as a pinsetter, Carter went on to become one of the legends of ten-pin bowling and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association in 1958. He was 6-time bowler of the year...
, Carmen Salvino
Carmen Salvino
Carmen Salvino is a professional ten-pin bowler and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association . Salvino won 17 PBA Tour titles –- among them the 1962 PBA National Championship. He also won two PBA Senior Tour titles, including the 1984 Senior National Championship...
, Harry Smith, Dick Weber
Dick Weber
Dick Weber was a famous bowling professional and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association...
and Billy Welu
Billy Welu
Billy Welu was a famous professional bowler, executive for the Professional Bowlers Association , bowling broadcaster, and a great ambassador for the sport. A founding member of the PBA, he won four PBA titles, including two ABC Masters championships...
) and two for Meritorious Service (Frank Esposito and Chuck Pezzano). Since its inception, it was located at the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame
International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame
The International Bowling Museum is located inside the International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas. It reopened there on January 26, 2010, after having been located in St. Louis, Missouri, until November 2008...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. It is now part of the new USBC headquarters in Arlington, Texas
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
.
Through 2010, there are 87 PBA Hall of Fame Members in three categories:
- Performance (44)
- Meritorious Service (27)
- Veterans/Senior (16)
Membership in the Hall of Fame was originally determined by annual elections. From 2000-2008, those in the Performance category had to have ten PBA titles (or two major championships) on their resume, as well as be retired from the tour for five years.
Another revision took effect in 2008. Bowlers can now qualify for the Hall of Fame based on five PBA titles on their resume, as long as two of those titles were major championships. Other active bowlers can now qualify for the Hall as well if they have 20 years of membership and are elected.
Late in 2008, The PBA announced the launch of a new PBA Seniors Hall of Fame. John Handegard
John Handegard
John Handegard is a professional ten-pin bowler who has spent time on both the PBA Tour and the PBA Senior Tour. He is the all-time leader in Senior Tour titles with 14, and is a three-time PBA Senior Player of the Year . On January 24, 2009, Handegard became the first inductee into the...
, the all-time leader in PBA Senior titles (14) became the first inductee on January 24, 2009.
20th century
Prior to the PBA's inception, bowling was broadcast on television sporadically beginning in the early 1950s. NBC began with an early 1950s special telecast entitled Championship Bowling. Regular bowling shows, including Make That Spare and Jackpot Bowling with Milton BerleMilton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
began airing nationally.
At the same time, there was a desire to start a professional bowling division in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; an effort led by Eddie Elias
Eddie Elias
Edward G. "Eddie" Elias was best known as the founder of the Professional Bowlers Association ....
, a sports agent based in Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
. During the 1958 ABC (American Bowling Congress) tournament in Syracuse, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, sixty men, including Don Carter
Don Carter (bowler)
Don Carter was a right-handed American professional bowler. Learning the game while working a childhood job as a pinsetter, Carter went on to become one of the legends of ten-pin bowling and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association in 1958. He was 6-time bowler of the year...
, Frank Esposito, Buzz Fazio
Buzz Fazio
Basil "Buzz" Fazio nicknamed the "Buzzer" was a pioneer and early American bowling star during the mid-20th century....
, Matt Lebhar, Carmen Salvino
Carmen Salvino
Carmen Salvino is a professional ten-pin bowler and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association . Salvino won 17 PBA Tour titles –- among them the 1962 PBA National Championship. He also won two PBA Senior Tour titles, including the 1984 Senior National Championship...
, Billy Welu
Billy Welu
Billy Welu was a famous professional bowler, executive for the Professional Bowlers Association , bowling broadcaster, and a great ambassador for the sport. A founding member of the PBA, he won four PBA titles, including two ABC Masters championships...
, Steve Nagy, Harry Smith, Ray Bluth, Dick Hoover
Dick Hoover
Dick Hoover was an American professional bowler. He won two American Bowling Congress Masters titles in 1956 and 1957, and helped start the PBA in 1958 with founder Eddie Elias....
, Bill Bunetta and Junie McMahon, attended a presentation by Elias. After listening to his proposal, thirty-three of the men donated $50 each, totaling $1,650 to start the organization, which was incorporated in 1958, and headquartered in Akron. The investors then became charter members
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
of the PBA, basically giving them lifetime membership. Bill Bunetta was slated to be the first commissioner of the PBA by Eddie Elias but Bill was still a very active bowler and turned down the position to continue his bowling and teaching career.
Competition began in 1959 with three tournaments. Lou Campi of Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
won the first event (the Empire State Open), and Dick Weber won the other two (Paramus Eastern Open and the Dayton Open) Weber would become the first "face" of the PBA in the early years, as he won 10 of the first 22 events held.
Elias would also lead the effort to give the PBA a permanent home on television, which it would find on ABC Sports by 1965. (See also: Professional Bowlers Tour.) Coupled with the continued support of its charter members, as well as sponsorships by the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
(which sponsored eleven tournaments in 1963 alone), True Value
True Value
True Value Company is a retailer-owned hardware cooperative with over 5,000 independent retail locations worldwide. Members of the True Value cooperative own their individual stores and operate independently of True Value Company....
Hardware and Firestone Tire
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
, the PBA experienced growth in its tournament schedules and prize funds.
Schedules reached a plateau of 35 tournaments per year in the 1980s. The 1965 Tournament of Champions was the first to offer $100,000 in prize money; the 1982 event featured a $200,000 purse, and the 1987 U.S. Open, sponsored by Seagram
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...
distillery, offered a $500,000 prize fund as well as the first $100,000 first-place prize in PBA history.
By the 1980s, True Value pledged $100,000 to any roller of a perfect game on national television (increased to a $200,000 sum during its own True Value Open). Prior to this, the PBA would award a televised 300 game with $10,000 and a new Ford automobile. In addition, in the early 1990s the Miller Brewing Company
Miller Brewing Company
The Miller Brewing Company is an American beer brewing company owned by the United Kingdom-based SABMiller. Its regional headquarters are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the company has brewing facilities in Albany, Georgia; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas;...
offered $1 million to any bowler who could win all three of its sponsored tournaments in a given season.
As television exposure increased for the PBA, it spun off a Seniors Tour in 1981, with Bill Beach winning the first seniors' championship that year.
Elias continued to be involved in the PBA until his death in 1998.
Since 2000
The PBA was purchased in March 2000 by former MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
executives Chris Peters (chairman), Rob Glaser
Rob Glaser
Rob Glaser is the founder of RealNetworks which produces RealAudio, RealVideo, RealPlayer, and Helix, among other products and services...
, and Mike Slade, and its corporate headquarters were moved to Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Together with CEO Steve Miller
Steve Miller (athletics)
Steve Miller is an American athlete, coach and businessman from Chicago.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Miller attended college in his home state of Illinois at Bradley University in Peoria and Governors State University in University Park, earning respectively Bachelor of Science degrees in English...
, a former Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
executive, they are recognized for rescuing the PBA from the brink of extinction. As of 2011, Geoff Reiss currently serves as the PBA's CEO and Tom Clark serves as Commissioner. These two assumed the shared CEO/Commissioner post that was held by Fred Schreyer
Fred Schreyer
Fred Schreyer is the CEO and Commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association . Schreyer joined the PBA in October 2002, serving as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. He later became the PBA Commissioner in 2003...
since he took over over for Miller in 2005.
The PBA was featured in the 2005 sports documentary, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is a documentary film about ten-pin bowling that was released on DVD on March 21, 2006. It was written and directed by Christopher Browne and stars PBA Tour players Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes, and Wayne Webb...
. The documentary, filmed during the 2002-2003 season, enjoyed a limited release in theaters before being released in a DVD format in March 2006. The PBA was also featured and acknowledged in 2007 film 7-10 Split
7-10 Split (film)
7-10 Split is a 2007 American film starring Ross Patterson, Tara Reid, and Vinnie Jones. It has been released in a few European markets in 2007, and Japan in 2008. It has been renamed as Strike for its U.S...
.
The PBA, in conjunction with the USBC
United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress, Women's International Bowling Congress, Young American Bowling Alliance, and USA Bowling...
, inaugurated the PBA Women's Series
PBA Women's Series
The PBA Women's Series was a mini-tour for female professional bowlers. It was started in 2007 as a way to bring women's bowling back to television after the Professional Women's Bowling Association disbanded in 2003...
in 2007. Following ESPN telecasts of the U.S. Women's Open, it brought back women's bowling to the airwaves for the first time since the defunct PWBA
Professional Women's Bowling Association
The Professional Women's Bowling Association formed in 1960. After the organization struggled, a group of female professional bowlers left the PWBA to form the Ladies' Professional Bowlers Association in 1974. The two merged again in 1978, forming the Women's Professional Bowlers Association,...
(Professional Women's Bowling Association) folded in 2003. The top two seeds out of a field of sixteen faced each other in one match, aired prior to the men's championship match. The Women's Series expanded from four events in 2007 to eight events in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, before being cancelled.
In 2009
PBA Bowling Tour: 2009-10 season
- Tournament Schedule and Recaps :In a cost-cutting move, the PBA held the first half of the 2009-10 season in Allen Park, MI under the name PBA World Series of Bowling. Preliminary rounds of the televised tournaments were held in August, with television tapings on Labor Day weekend...
, financial difficulties and the general state of the U.S. economy caused the tour to reduce the number of tour stops and overall events, while also reducing the number of live TV finals broadcasts. First off, the PBA combined its fall schedule of six standard PBA tournaments (plus qualifying for the PBA World Championship
PBA World Championship
The PBA World Championship is one of the four major PBA bowling events. Prior to 2002, the tournament was called the PBA National Championship. The PBA National Championship was first contested in 1960, then called the First Annual National Championship...
) into a single World Series of Bowling event, held that year in Allen Park, MI
Allen Park, Michigan
Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,210. The suburb of Detroit was recognized in Money Magazine's list of America's Best Small Cities. Allen Park is part of the collection of communities known as DownriverFord Motor...
near Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. All fall TV finals except the PBA World Championship were taped and aired at a later date on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, while all but one of the winter tour events continued to hold live TV finals. In 2010, the World Series of Bowling was moved to Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, and consisted of five tournaments with taped TV finals and qualifying for the PBA World Championship. The overall schedule that season was reduced to just 12 title events, with portions of three winter season events being taped and aired after the fact.
For the 2011-12 season, a total of 14 TV broadcasts were taped at the 2011 World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas to be aired on later dates. For the first time, the TV finals for the PBA World Championship will not air live. In fact, ESPN will only air the finals of the PBA's three remaining major tournaments (USBC Masters
USBC Masters
The USBC Masters is a championship ten pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 2000....
, U.S. Open
U.S. Open (bowling)
The U.S. Open is one of the four major tournaments in the Professional Bowlers Association. The first modern-day U.S. Open tournament in the PBA took place in 1971 and was won by Mike Limongello. With four victories, Pete Weber holds the most modern-day U.S. Open trophies.The U.S...
and Tournament of Champions) in a live 2012 broadcast. All other ESPN broadcasts for Winter 2012 will be taped events from the World Series, while four additional non-major title tournaments will be available live via the PBA's "Xtra Frame" webcast service.
Along with reduced stops, prize funds for some standard tournaments were reduced, starting in 2010, with as little as $15,000 going to the winner. The 2011 Tournament of Champions, however, did offer a PBA-record $1 million prize fund and an unprecedented $250,000 top prize.