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.

USBC Women's Championships gets underway in Syracuse

With the glitz and glamour of an opening night worthy of Broadway, the curtain was raised on the 2011 United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships at the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, N.Y. on April 7.

Twinkling scoreboard lights and pulsating music welcomed the first of nearly 6,000 teams during the official opening ceremonies at the newly constructed 48-lane Oncenter venue. The festivities included the ribbon cutting featuring New York's Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney (center), USBC Executive Director Stu Upson (left) and USBC President Darlene Baker (right).

"There is an incredible buzz as people have been excited for this tournament to start," Mahoney said. "You have created a lot of excitement in our city and county, and we welcome you."

Onondaga County legislator Kathy Rapp, dressed in a light blue bowling shirt, rolled the ceremonial first ball. Entertainment was provided by The Mandarins, an all-female acapella group from Syracuse University.

Opening night also featured the presentation of the inaugural gem series championship trophy to Missy Klug of Macomb, Mich. Klug, a three-time Team USA member, won the Scratch Doubles title with Carol Gianotti of Henderson, Nev., last year in El Paso, Texas. This was Klug's first time bowling on opening night.

"I was excited to be a part of opening night," Klug said. "It was awesome to be recognized in front of such a large group of people, and this is something I will remember for a long time."

The Women's Championships has three average-based divisions, which will be contested using 100-percent handicap. The divisions are named Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire.

Nearly 29,000 bowlers, plus family and friends, from 50 states and several foreign countries are expected during this year's 88-day event. The tournament is expected to provide an estimated $40 million boost to the local community. This is the third time in the 92-year history of the Women's Championships that Syracuse has hosted this event. It previously was held there in 1940 and 1954.

This year marks the second consecutive time the tournament is being held in a convention-center setting, similar to the one used for the USBC Open Championships, which was held in Syracuse in 1999. The 2010 Women's Championships was held in El Paso.