Australia withdraws from hosting 2009 World Champs

[GeorgeF]

Tenpin Bowling Australia Ltd. (TBA) has informed the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) last week that the organization has to withdraw as host of the Women's World Championships and the WTBA Congress 2009.

According to Gillian Thompson-Rogers, CEO TBA, "Given the significant financial contribution required to host such an event we must at this stage regretfully decline the opportunity”.

The WTBA Presidium will immediately start the process to find a substitute host for WWC 2009 and the Congresses. A decision should be made at the next presidium meeting in April 2008 at the latest.

The process starts with discussions to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) as the Americans also applied for this championship and were the main opponent to Australia as host.

"Our intention is to keep the time period already planned for this championship", said Christer Jonsson, WTBA Secretary General. "As soon as we have made our decision we will inform you all."

I read this on www.bowlingdigital.com

 

[wchester]

Sad to see this decision, but probably a necessary move given the current state of the TBA. Hopefully this doesn't leave a black mark on Australia's reputation within the worldwide tenpin community.

 

[GBS]

Disgraceful.

 

[Andrew S.]

Why is it disgraceful?
It shows that the new CEO is taking responsible action with regard to our current financial situation.

 

[Andrew K]

with what it would have cost us there is no way we can afford it so why is it disgraceful if she is looking after australian bowlers not worrying so much about the world stage

 

[willey]

So none of our Big Bowling Companies could help or are they out of the loop.

willey

 

[mongoliantreesloth]

So none of our Big Bowling Companies could help or are they out of the loop

Which companies do you have in mind?

 

[steve jones]

Believe me when I say I have first hand knowledge of what it costs to run an FIQ Zone Championships [22 countries] and I understand well the costs associated with Singapore's hosting of the World Championships in the 1990's - so I can imagine the estimated costs of a Womens Worlds in 2009. This determination reeks of fiscal responsibility given what are clearly difficult times for the current TBA Board. Also "Willey" I'd suggest to you that sizable contributions from industry and non industry sponsors were well and truely factored into the mix from the outset - and the thing is still out of reach - letting it go is a tough call - but doubtless the right one.

 

[down and in]

better to walk away with head held high than to cop the flak after the tournament when there's no money left in the bank. responsible decision. and have to agree with wayne in hoping it doesnt leave a black mark. only time will tell.

 

[willey]

The Advertising to the game would be PRICELESS.

AMF stopped nearly all forms of Advertising many years ago, even local Paper Ads, I'm sure some accountant could show me the cost savings to the Company, the unfortunate thing is we now have no News or Tidbits printed in any form about Bowling, just maybe there is a Correlation there somewhere. I'm not a Genius but I think the Downturn in Bowling is Related to the Non Advertising of the Sport.

JMO
willey

 

[Tiger]

The Advertising to the game would be PRICELESS.

AMF stopped nearly all forms of Advertising many years ago, even local Paper Ads, I'm sure some accountant could show me the cost savings to the Company, the unfortunate thing is we now have no News or Tidbits printed in any form about Bowling, just maybe there is a Correlation there somewhere. I'm not a Genius but I think the Downturn in Bowling is Related to the Non Advertising of the Sport.

JMO
willey

Bowling still receives some advertisements in the TV Guide in the Sunday Tasmanian here as well as the Mercury when there are weekend specials at Moonah.
And that tends to (depending on the weather) bring in good numbers.
But for the sporting side of bowling, no there doesn't seem to be a great deal (if any) of advertising done.
When the Hobart Cup was on here back in 2006, there was no advertising in-house or outside, resulting in-part in poor playing numbers and very poor attendances and very little interest across the weekend.

The Nationals in the same year had Peter Coburn talk to 7ZR quite a few times promoting the event which was good, but the print media and TV chose to almost completely ignore it.
The best the Mercury did the entire week was take a shot of Paul Trotter standing on the approach and stuck it in some small, obscure part in the middle of the paper that hardly anyone would've seen with one line under it.
WIN and Southern Cross never went within a mile of the joint all month.
The best print article for that month would've been in the Glenorchy City paper, with a full page on the ATBSO Nationals, but that was ATBSO themselves that organised that.

In contrast to twenty years ago, the night Paul Lucock shot the state's first ever perfect game the centre rang up and had both Tas-TV and ABC (the only two major stations here back then) attending to do a story as well as it being front page news in the Mercury the next day!
Also getting good attention on breakfast radio programs on 7HO and 7HT.

Oh how times have changed!

Had a couple of vodka's with a couple of ex-bowlers last night and they said the reason they don't return to bowling is time (or therefore lack of) and that the game has gotten too expensive and just isn't professional enough anymore.
I can understand their reasoning.

Yes, the staging of that tournament might well be good exposure.
But would you honestly trust our rather dumbed down national media to give it much exposure? I'd be sceptical and would expect them to more than likely make a complete mockery of it.
'It ain't footy, it ain't crigget, it ain't League - we're not fuggin' interested!" seems to be the rule of thumb now.
And if by staging this tournament, that it could seriously jeopardise the National governing body of the sport in this country financially (IE: sink them), then it's probably a rather wise move to not hold it.

Just my two-pence worth

 

[CHIN]

All well & good taking responsible action & withdrawing but maybe somebody should have done the maths before sticking there hand up to host the event. Now the whole world knows we cant afford to run S.H.I.T.

 

[GBS]

Hoooray

Thank you Chin, my point exactly. I knew somebody would get it. Thank you.

And finally .... its still Disgraceful.

 

[Peter Coburn]

Without Prejudice

It is very sad that the current hierarchy have decided to withdraw as the host of this fantastic centre piece of tenpin bowling. Hosting such an event places a lot of pressure on volunteers, finances and all resources, no doubt.

What is even more depressing is that we have to learn of this withdrawal from an overseas based website, there is no mention or announcement on the TBA website.

Regardless, withdrawing in this manner will certainly hurt Australia’s status at WTBA, FIQ and CTBF level. This was one chance TBA had to firmly plant ourselves on the world stage both as a host and a competitive tenpin bowling nation.

We certainly have the people here who have had extensive experience in running international events and I’m sure that if this decision had not fallen, then we would have hosted a fantastic memorable event.

IMHO, withdrawing in this manner is a knee jerk reaction quite obviously driven by the cost to host such an event. I know that some key people had already sort and received significant sponsorship monies to help lessen the burden. With 18 months to go before this event was due to start I, for one, am disappointed that it was easier to withdraw then put in an effort to raise the required sponsorship monies to bridge the gap.

I truly hope that the cost to withdrawal in this manner is less expensive than if TBA had accepted the challenge.

 

[Jase]

I agree Peter it’s a Shame really, very sad indeed…

But I also thought that Oz Tenpin were to be in a position to support TBA in this exciting venture!

I thought that they had funding commitments from Vic tourism, Melbourne City Council, Brunswick International and Cadbury Schweppes...Not to mention support from the Premier of Victoria and Hobson’s Bay City Council…

I also agree that the exposure generated in the general community through Newspapers, Radio and TV of our great sport can only serve as bonus, but in saying all of that I also tend to agree with Andrew, that Gillian TBA’s CEO, is taking responsible action with regard to our current financial situation…

I have no doubt that this withdrawal will certainly hurt Australia’s status at WTBA, FIQ and CTBF levels...

 

[Mark L]

For the dumb people like myself we are all talking about the cost. Can anyone tell us how much was too much?

 

[CHIN]

Thats exactly what I was trying to say Peter. I just shortened it a bit.

 

[steve jones]

Jase - the negative impact internationally for TBA will be just a blip on the screen compared to the long term financial rub running such an event could have given that clearly balancing the budget is now assumed to be impossible. Peter - how long should TBA have waited before they advised they could not run the event - another 3 months..6 months - a year? - expectations of optimism are great - but reality sets in pretty hard the closer to a deadline things move. I'd say giving an alternative host 18 months to take over was about as lean as they could cut it. I appreciate your comments Peter - but I guess we don't share a similar degree of pragmatism when it comes to this particular topic...but in a perfect world - it would have been great to host the thing.

Finally Mark - just 2 numbers from my fuzzy memory - Asian Zone FIQ - Craigie, Perth WA 1991 [or was it 1992?] - ground transport - all countries hotels to Centre and return over the period $17,000 - lineage $42,000 - the host country pays for these and much, much more - add 3% PA from 1992 to 2009 for current best guess estimates.

Steve

 

[Jase]

For the dumb people like myself we are all talking about the cost. Can anyone tell us how much was too much?

Mark in the previous WTBA congresses it was mentioned that these events run at a loss… from all reports TBA ran the Commonwealth Championships with a $50K lose… and this was tabled and minuted at the CTBC Congress when no one put up their hands for the next event and that was only for 16 countries…

 

[CSP]

This decision is not to fall on the head of the new CEO Mrs. Thompson-Rogers. The state of financial affairs must solely be responsible on the previous CEO for the push to host the 2009 Women's World Champs when TBA could simply not afford to host the event. That is disgraceful!

Having a loss of $50k for the Commonwealth Champs shows Australia should not have hosted that event either. I would have to agree with GBS and CHIN on what their point of view was.

Sorry to say and it's sad for Australian Bowling but by the looks of things Australia won't be hosting an FIQ International Event for a long time.

There needs to be a plan in place for the future by TBA to improve the financial status of Australian Tenpin Bowling. A plan to recruit, the more bowlers, the more income.

The saying goes " you cannot afford it, don't buy it"

Why does everyone think our economy is in trouble and people are losing homes, because the public are purchasing things on credit card when they cannot afford it and then cannot pay their mortgages because of paying high credit card debt.