Bowling Industry unites to keep Intercollegiate Team Championships on television in 2011

Industry partners have joined together to keep the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships on television for the 10th consecutive year in 2011. The men's and women's finals of the event will air on ESPN2 on May 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern.

The USBC, Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, Professional Bowlers Association, Strike Ten Entertainment, The Bowling Foundation and the YES Fund are all contributing to broadcast college bowling's biggest event.

The YES Fund, a joint initiative of the BPAA and the USBC, is made possible by many of the leading brands in bowling including Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, 900 Global, Hammer, QubicaAMF, Roto Grip, Storm and Track.

The Intercollegiate Team Championships will feature 16 men's teams and 16 women's teams competing for collegiate national titles from April 21-23 in Columbus, Ga.

"This event is the crown jewel of college bowling, and I'm very excited the bowling industry was able to come together and keep the Intercollegiate Team Championships on television," International Bowling Campus Director of Youth Development Chad Murphy (pictured right) said.

I would like to personally thank Steve Johnson at BPAA, Stu Upson at USBC, Frank DeSocio at Strike Ten, Fred Schreyer of the PBA and, of course, our YES Fund partners for their efforts to make this a reality."

Dave LaMont will handle play-by-play duties with Team USA and PBA standout Chris Barnes providing color commentary for the televised finals, which will be taped on April 23 when the final two men's and two women's teams meet in their respective brackets.

The format will remain the same as past years with the first team to win two games in the Baker system format matches winning the title.

ESPN2 will provide two hours of coverage for the second consecutive year, bringing college bowling to 100 million homes across the United States. The event will be produced by the PBA for the first time.

Leading up to the finals, BOWL.com will provide free live streaming coverage of the event, including all qualifying and match-play rounds.

ESPN2 also will broadcast coverage of two other major events this year. The finals of the USBC Queens will be shown live on April 27 at 7 p.m. Eastern, while the championship round of Bowling's U.S. Women's Open will be taped for broadcast on July 2 at a time to be determined.