PBA And Fox Sports Announce Dramatic Expansion of Bowling Telecasts

elsie

Active Member
News of a ground-breaking expansion of TV coverage of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour series is exciting the sport’s fans around the globe.

The joint announcement by the PBA and Fox Sports in Los Angeles overnight details a robust multi-platform agreement featuring 30 telecasts including a new PBA Playoffs series featuring ten televised events. The 2019 TV schedule includes 60 hours of coverage, nearly double last year’s schedule, and the most in decades.

Kicking off the multi-year partnership will be a bonus event, the PBA Clash, to be aired on Sunday, 23 December offering a US $100,000 first prize. The 90-minute special will feature top PBA stars in a unique competition, plus a preview of upcoming events scheduled on FOX and FS1 in the new year.

Other highlights of the 2019 PBA on FOX Sports schedule include:

● The CP3 PBA Celebrity Invitational moves for the first time to network TV as FOX airs the event on Super Bowl Sunday, 3 February 2019.

● Live coverage of four PBA major championships: the PBA Tournament of Champions; the PBA Players Championship; the PBA World Championship and the United States Bowling Congress Masters between February and April.

● Revolutionary coverage of professional bowling’s biggest event, PBA World Series of Bowling X - five nights of prime-time WSOB coverage will air consecutively between 18-22 March.

● The PBA League team competition will conclude the 2019 PBA-FOX Sports schedule with four live prime-time telecasts for three consecutive nights on 16-18 July.

In addition to the 60 hours of broadcast television, FOX Sports digital also will play a key role in expanding the visibility of the PBA Tour and the sport worldwide.

With a swathe of PBA titles, including nine Majors, the sport’s legendary Aussie star, Jason Belmonte, is guaranteed another hectic year of competition, and travelling. A typical ‘commute’ for the 34 year-old involves a four-hour drive from his home in Orange, New South Wales to Sydney, a two to three hour wait before a 16-hour flight to Dallas, another three-hour wait for the next 3.5 hour flight to Philadelphia, another two-hour wait for the next leg - a short 1.5 hour hop to Portland, Maine - before calling a Uber for a ride to his hotel.

Grand total: roughly 16,000 kms – one way – over a span of 32 hours. With modifications, something he and other PBA international players repeat every time they compete in the U.S.

“It is a long way to commute to work, but the desire to stay the best player in the world motivates me to push past the long travel times and keep pushing myself on the lanes,” Belmonte said.


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