The problem is visibility. Back in the glory days bowling was on ABC (national TV) every weekend. Tournaments now are either taped and shown later, on weird channels that a lot of people don’t have, or are beyond a paywall on BowlTV. 1-2 majors a year on FOX with little to no promo isn’t going to get it done.

I'm 67 years old and right out of high school I worled at the local bowling alley for 5 years.... back then if you bowled a 300, 298, 297 game you were awarded a ring from the ABC... why? because it was so difficult and rare.... You could be proud of your accomplishments.... We had a local newspaper that compiled all the scores for league bowlers.... there were times when on a 16 5-man team that not one person got a 600 triple... if someone bowled a 700 series it was so amazing feat and that person would be regaled for their accomplismnent... In the early 1980's they came out with an oil pattern with heavy oil in the center and low oil towards the gutter...... it made it easy and the scores went up.... every bowling establishment wanted to be the place where the customer bowled higher and the customer was happy... that destroyed bowling!!!!! You are seeing the results of the easy bowling conditions..... PLEASE 220 agerage bowler?????? In about 1982 I ended the season with 193 average and I was second all ALL leagues that year... These easy conditions ruined bowing..... who wants to be a spectator and see 10 strikes in every game.... make the condtions harder where you can see competion.... make the oil pattern flat accross the lane for every sanctioned and pro bowling event... I would think after about 40 years you would have figured it out....... apparently not!!!! NOW, why are the pros not earning any money and bowling alleys going out of business.....I loved bowling and the easy conditons ruined it for me......

Your videos are the reason why I got back into bowling and now I'm going back to work in a bowling center for the first time in 10 years because of you thank you

Hello, 220 Bowler. Great video! The main problem is that there are too many people who are in charge of bowling establishments who are not bowlers, or do not love bowling. These people look at operating these centers just for profit, which is the reason these centers have opted for string bowling as way to cut cost on maintenance. Bowling has to have people who love bowling in position to run these centers. People who will cater to the league and tournament bowlers instead of catering to people who on bowl occasionally. These centers give too much attention to these casual bowlers instead of the league and tournament bowlers. Until this happens, nothing is going to change. Bowling centers have to be operated by people who love bowling! Be safe, 220!

No lie, you and Darren Tang got me back into bowling. I’m in my early 40s now, I last bowled in a league in high school, and I went bowling on my 40th birthday because it was the one place allowing parties during Covid as long as you masked up and stuff. That one time I went bowling was my first time bowling in 10 years or more. Family, work, etc. all got in the way. For whatever reason, I searched in KZfaq how to get better at bowling and I came across your videos first and then Darren’s. I haven’t joined a league yet because I’m still trying to improve, but I bought myself a Summit and a spare ball, I got a Hustle MM for my birthday and I love that the most, and I go bowing to practice once or twice a week now. I don’t think I would have done that if I hadn’t seen how much fun you were having in your videos. Thanks dude and I hope your subscribers keep growing and I hope your plan works. I’m curious to see what Darren and Mike, Forrest, Brad and Kyle, Packy, and others think can be done to regrow bowling. And I must be lucky. Where I live there are 4 bowling centers where only one of them is expensive, each of them is nice and pretty cheap (4 games for $12 at one of them seems good to me), and you can make a short drive to the next county over where there are 3 decent bowling centers.

A thing that’s also hurting bowling , in my opinion, is all of these bowling “purists” who have had the same average for 30 years and get rude and ugly with new bowlers because they’re getting better quickly. Same goes with 2 hands. I know people that don’t bowl anymore bc they don’t want to deal with people accusing them of sandbagging and being ugly every week. It’s sad.

My friends and I have recently gotten into bowling. I used to do it a lot as a kid because my mom was in a company league and we would have to be at the alley every week. Here are some things I have noticed in coming back that are way different. First of all I live in a major capitol city and we only have two bowling centers that are not arcade style places, that have leagues and a pro shop (its the same pro shop at both locations, odd and few open hours). Second, the prices for bowling are crazy high now, were talking $30 an hour during normal hours and just trying to practice would cost you an insane amount each month. We have had to restrict ourselves to only going on certain days in the middle of the night to aim for special promotion pricing. Third, as an adult there are little to no resources outside of KZfaq videos to try and get you into the sport and trying to improve. There are a youth leagues that have free practice hours but I would love for there to be an adult coaching style league where there are people there to help you with form and really just set in some basics. I can try to imitate a video to the best of my ability but at the end of the day my physicality and what is comfortable may not line up with what I'm watching. Overall, I really think that accessibility needs to come up and prices need to go down. This will allow more parents to get their kids into the sport and more adults to also play themselves. How we get there is the issue. Bowling does essentially no marketing and it's seen a birthday party activity at an arcade.

I think one of the biggest problems is the tour is basically a midwest swing. The other sports generate a ton of money in part because they take place in major cities. It’s great that people in Michigan and Kansas support the events but that’s not generating interest for the rest of America

220 Bro, love the videos. One of the biggest things killing the sport is how insane the prices are getting at local bowling centers. I’m a father with two daughters and one was extremely into bowling… for a local center to charge $92 for a few games for me and them it kills any chance for the younger generation to fall in love with the sport. Bowlero 3 games with my daughters and I cost me $116… how??? Why??? I can’t afford as a single parent to take them bowling often to build a potential future bowler.

One of the biggest hurdles is the lack of bowling centers, as you mentioned. Where I live(granted, I live in the boonies), the nearest bowling center is an 8 lane house, and it is about 30 minutes away(or about 25 miles each way). It is a house with old wooden lanes, but their prices are quite reasonable. The big issue they are having is that they want to upgrade to newer, synthetic lanes, but they don't have the revenue to be able to afford it. To gain said revenue, they would have to raise their prices. There is the downfall, as if they raise the prices to meet that goal, they will lose enough business that they won't be able to stay in business. They are stuck between a rock and a hard spot. About the only thing that would make upgrading their lanes possible would be a nice gift from some benefactor, but in a very rural area, that just isn't going to happen. On top of that, the cost of equipment is a major barrier to a lot of people. Sure, you can go out and have some fun with a house ball or even a cheap plastic ball if you want. The issue is the higher performance bowling balls running up in the $200 range. If someone wants to have something for lanes that are flooded, another ball for medium conditions, a ball for light oil, and then a plastic spare ball that can also work on dry lanes, they are looking at $500 or more. Add in the cost of practice, leagues, etc, and you run into it being a stretch for a large portion of the public(especially in these economic conditions). I used to bowl all the time back when I was in high school. Finished 9th in the high school state tournament my senior year. I kept at it for a couple years until I messed up my wrist pretty bad in an accident. After taking about a year off, I looked at getting back into it while I was in college, but the nearest house was around a 20 mile drive each way. Gas was 4 bucks a gallon, and I was driving a truck that got AWFUL gas mileage. The nearest houses were charging 4 dollars a game for open play to practice. At that point, just wanting to go throw a few games of practice each week was going to add up to over $100 bucks a month, and I just couldn't swing it while having a part time job and trying to pay for college. While I detest the idea of string pins, I think they may be a double edged sword. IF houses would actually reduce the prices to reflect the lower costs of string pins, it could act as a way to help people get their foot in the door and become more serious, and could help build the sport. The problem I am seeing is that houses that switch aren't doing anything with their prices, and it isn't really increasing the number of people that do business there. I would love to see bowling become as popular as it was back when I was a kid. I was excited every weekend when my mom and dad would take me to the bowling alley with them while they were bowling in leagues. Nowadays, the kids aren't there, and the leagues are going by the wayside, too.

I got 2 words. Mookie Betts. He has a decent YT following, and does some somewhat random IRL things. The people down here in LA are like 50/50 on his love for bowling. With the signing of Ohtani and the footage of him already working out at the stadium, there are haters saying he needs to get out of the bowling alley and onto the field. BUT he's a 'big star' that could bring eyes into bowling if he is able to get a shot at a TV show. He was literally in Kentucky yesterday bowling and watching the PBA Tour. BUT I do like that you see bowling as one community that should stick together, there's someone who's has shown distaste for your content and it sucks to see that type of selfishness in a community that is already very small. Instead of picking each other up and help the sport, they want to gripe and complain about how it's not what they're about.

Bowling youtubers (yourself, Darren, Packy, Forrest, JR Pro Shop, Brad, Kyle, Luis Napoles, JR Redmond are my bowling channels. Im subscribed and love the content. Keep up the great work. It is helping grow the sport.

One of the biggest problems in bowling is the cost. It costs wayyyyyy too much to go bowling. In my area it costs $60 for two people for two hours. $30 each! If I want to practice once a week, that's $120 a month!

Been bowling in recreation night leagues for over 30 years. When I started most of the folks were 40 and older (I was a baby at 20). And for years that group just kept aging. Didn't see much new blood. I think the "sport" was viewed as old fashion. But now in my 50s, in the last 2 years (after covid) I'm finally seeing more young teams, really young. And I'm glad. We need to pass the torch and I really think the bowling KZfaq "niche" is working and bringing new life, slowly but surely. Keep it up 220, use the power of the internet to save bowling.

Thanks! You inspired me with an out of the box bowling video idea. 🙌🏻

This video was very much needed Michael! Because of you and Darren, and many other bowling youtubers we started our channel to help grow bowling. We love the game just as much as you do, and we want bowling to be big again! Thanks for all you do! WE LOVE THE CONTENT!

My bowling center (52 lanes, 24/7) is busier than ever. Man oh man, it is busy all the time. We have leagues every day and night at our center. Most nights (except Friday/Sat), the entire 52 lanes is taken with leagues. I don't understand why professional bowling has so little money involved. They have to be doing something wrong with their marketing. Bowling is a sport that virtually anyone can play. Competitive bowling should be thriving!! .. the PBA needs to get their act together .. they are obviously failing at their sport marketing.

I just wanna say I am so thankful for 220 making these video and trying to save bowling. I graduate high school this year and I just got into bowling last year and I love bowling. I have a dream that I could be a professional bowler and I want to do that. As of right now from where I started to now, I average 170. I want to pursue a career in bowling. I want to open my own pro shop so at one point I can help other bowlers get better. We need to have bowling get better and help the sport grow for not only for people to want to potentially get big in bowling but for people who has already hit that ceiling in the professional world so everyone can have a better life when it comes down to bowling

I realized that bowling was setting itself for brutal times around 2010. I'm from the Detroit area and my teammate from my Wed league was taking our team down to a tournament called the Shammy Burt in Toledo. My friend works as a mechanic at a local center. I stopped by his center on a Saturday morning to give him my entry money. I was shocked. Back when I was growing up Saturday morning youth leagues would take up 40 of the 48 lanes with five on a team. When I saw Saturday morning youth leagues taking up six lanes with three on a team I knew that bowling's decline was only going to accelerate. My local center has closed and the leagues I used to be on that were strong have now gone away. It's going to have to be saving the sport for the long term and will take a ton of dedication, a realization that we're talking ten to twenty years to accomplish and also to realize that it will more than likely never return to the glory days. Let's hope it happens.

Im a young bowler who didn't really get serious until 2022. And even then i was really not doing well until mid 2023 where i started to get better. Since then ive basically gone from barely scratching 120 to breaking 200 all within 4 months. It was a very large growth and i fixed a ton of my biggest issues. But what helped me the most was watching Packy, you, Darren, and a few other bowlers. Always you guys having fun and doing cool unique things. And honestly even though i was barely scratching above 100 until like mid 2023 I still continued to play because i was reminded how fun this sport can be. With or without friends. Also what is fun and what basically anyone can agree on for a certain sport, is gettin that perfect thing. Like a home run in baseball, a 3 pointer in basketball, and hitting the pocket (or converting a split) in bowling. Watching pros, who have gotten those things down to a science basically, do it every time is quite a motivation and seeing them have fun just adds onto it.

We all gotta do our part because if bowling goes to string pins.... I'm gonna have to quit for 5 - 10 years until 220 opens his own bowling center haha. Share the video y'all

For my part, I'm growing the sport through youth programs, a youth sports shot tour, coaching and getting kids into colleges with scholarships and bowling for colleges. My program started 4 years ago with 40 kids, I'm at over 100 this season. It works if you get the word and with the parents and the kids. We are growing as a sport, but centers closing faster than we need them to. Bowlero is killing the sport.

Lots of sports and activities are. It’s not just bowling. It’s insanely expensive to do anything these days

If we want to grow the sport we need to also get High schools across the USA to add it as a Varsity sport. Currently trying to do it in Maryland and the roadblocks are massive. If we want the sport to grow we need to very clearly present the difference between house leagues and sport conditions. Youth Bowlers that are doing amazing things through SYC, PBA Jr, or Junior Gold often times have their accomplishments diminished because there isn't an understanding of just how difficult sport patterns can be. Finally the recent increase in youth participation can be directly connected to the growth of 2 handed bowling, the old guard has to get over this and stop trashing the kids. There isn't a week that doesn't go by where I dont have some 30-50 year old trashing my kid (while he was 11,12, and currently 13) while the kid is out there bowling the same conditions as the Pros and putting up solid numbers.

I'm on the same page, Mike, Fitness and nutrition is big with me. Also, I've been trying to get people I know to bowl. I've got a guy and his wife near Londen UK starting up. He's really into it all of a sudden - really likes it. I'll subscribe to more bowling channels.

Building a bowling alley is super expensive. I helped work a real estate transaction for a brand new center built locally about 6-7 years ago. That project was about $17M for a multiuse facility with 24 lanes, bar, restaurant, and 6 screen theater. A new center with the basic 20-40 lanes, pro shop, bar and small kitchen, is going to cost $5-10M... still a pretty penny. Now on the other hand if you BUY an established center, you can find much better deals out there, especially when looking at smaller mom and pop centers. For example I found a 12 lane center, with arcade, small kitchen, 50 seat capacity bar in Missouri selling for $750k... with an annual revenue of $500k and total cost of operating expenses of $200k. Meaning you could buy it, and possibly pay itself off within 3 years. A lot of small houses out there can be had for very reasonable prices. Bowlero will happily snap them up for cheap and close them down, just to drive more business towards their houses.

Not disagreeing with you but in the interest of accuracy, it's important to realize DTang was dealing with neck and elbow injuries last season. He is already looking significantly better this year. I expect him to have a much better year this year.

Great video. I hope you and other you tube creators continue to grow the sport. I have got back into bowling after years away due to injury. Watching yours and other channels has got me motivated to bowl every week. I bought a new ball and enjoy watching all of the demo and review videos. I was planning on joining a league this past September but I aggravated an injury to my elbow. I've been rehabbing and continuing to bowl with the goal of getting back on a league this year. I think that a possible content stream for you might be in the intersection of physical fitness and bowling to highlight what exercises can help rehab or prevent injuries that can keep some people from bowling. It makes me sad seeing a lot of centers close down. I know of four centers that I have bowled at that have closed down. I hope this is a trend that can be reversed. I take my sons with me and they are enjoying bowling. While they like to goof about more and aren't taking it as serious as I do, my hope is that I'm creating a love of the sport within the that will grow throughout their lives. With regards to the tour, it's too bad they can't have a minimum level of pay for the pros with the tournaments providing the additional earnings for the top players and winners. Maybe there has to be a pro league that has teams but this would need a lot of funding and viewership to really get going. Maybe if they showed this at all bowling centers, KZfaq, etc. Maybe it can come about as the sport grows. Keep up the great work and keeping fighting the good fight.

3:35, yo 220Avg tricked my brain for a moment

I think we need to start the trend of bowling centers just for leagues and practice and coaching. Basically one where you could pay either by the hour or have a “membership” for unlimited use. Basically having bowling alleys just for fun and just for people who want to learn the game or play it seriously. I think also those alleys can host tournaments and pba events and I think having discounts for tickets for members of said place would really increase attendance for big pba events.

Just got back into bowling in my Senior years because I ran across a Brad and Kyle KZfaq video. The sport has changed so much since my younger days and I’m back in the swing. Just recently took my first lesson and am on a discovery of what the heck 😅pin-up/pin-down actually means.. Thanks for this informative video. You certainly have my support. I’m currently getting my friends and family back into the sport. 😊

Just started bowling for high school 2 years ago and I’ve had times when I wanted to quit but your videos and my friends made me stick with it and I love it

Michael I agree, PBA bowling Players were making more money back in the 80's ( Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete Weber, Norm Duke, Parker Bohn the 3rd all made over $100K in a Season ). They need advertisers like for PGA Tour and the WTA to raise the 1st place prize money to $1M. League bowling is the BIGGEST problem. All the people eating food, drinking Alcohol during League is NOT serious bowling. At Best, Bowling was on the Olympic Trials but never became an Olympic Sport. String Pin bowling is just a symbol that this is ONLY a recreational Sport. SAVE BOWLING ! Paul

Your videos are great keep them coming and keep up the great work. I think you need to add more league bowling content to go along with the fun ones you do. Show the fun we have on league nights. Several of the league nights I bowl in are just for fun most of the people don't care about the scores. Yes, we all want to win and bowl good but we all also understand we're not the next Earl Anthony or Dick Webber, yes, we're going to have some bad nights where things just don't workout no matter what adjustments we make but we're going to have those great nights as well. It's mainly about the fun and making new friends. Bowling is fun and if you show both the fun things you do and more league nights, I think folks will catch on and jump in on all this fun. I think a lot of people won't bowl or join leagues because they've one either not done it and are afraid to dip their toes in the water so to speak, or they're not good and think they can't bowl in leagues. What most folks don't understand is that's what the handicap leagues are for, it gives the average Joe/Jane bowlers a chance to go up against those of us who can actually bowl. Heck there are leagues for beginners only out there, that is another thing I think all bowling alleys should have and advertise beginner bowling leagues. I think they could do a promotion for these leagues by say giving each bowler who finishes the league a free pair of bowling shoes or a free ball or something to pique interest in the public in giving it a try. Once they've done it and sees how much fun they had they'd probably keep it up and join in a handicap mixed, men's or women's league. Bowling alleys needs to pick up and do their part to get folks to come in and bowl. The house I bowl at here where I live does a Tue. late afternoon bowl as many games as you want for a small price (which I could remember what the price is) I want to say it's like $6 but I think that's wrong. They also have several other promotions that they do throughout the week to get folks to come in. Advertising is key and everything especially on the internet and social media sites. League bowlers need to do their part as well and get their friends to come in and give it a try and get them to join in on some leagues. Our house that we bowl at is a 32-lane house, on Mon. the house if full with two leagues a women's league and a mixed league which I bowl in. We have a Tue. morning league that's for 50+ aged bowlers which I bowl in. On Wed. night the house is full with a mixed league which I bowl in as well. I then bowl out at the Airforce base on Thur. nights. I'm new to this area, we just moved here not long ago, but I've managed to bring a few folks in to give it a try and I don't know that many folks around here yet. Well, that's my 2 cents worth hope some of your followers and supporters as well as you see and read this. You and your family have a good, safe and blessed rest of your day and weekend.

One thing I think should be done, bowling centers need to be connected to each other over internet, with live video and features like LaneTalk, but they need to improve their software to make it easier for people to use. They also need to have that content displayed live on screens at the centers so that I can bowl with Mr. 220 and Forrest Kritzer at my bowling center while they are at their own bowling centers. I would LOVE being able to do that. We should be able to play handicap tournaments, LIVE, between centers, with people like Mr. 220, Brad & Kyle, etc. I would pay for being able to bowl a series of games with these guys. Even just practice games. It would be so much fun if I could interact with them, live, while bowling together. I don't know why nobody has put that together yet. That seems to be like a gold mine of $$$ for doing those kinds of things.

First off great content and I hope you continue to make wacky videos!! 8 personally love them. Second maybe try to reach out to other sport stars like a challenge or collaboration video ? I believe there are other big name sports stars who love bowling also

I did the exact same thing as you did,I went to work and didn’t even think of going on the pro tour after seeing how little money they were making!! String pin bowling will destroy the game of bowling forever!

I stepped away from bowling for more than 20 years. Recently joined a league with my daughter and am really enjoying the sport again. The youtube bowling community has been awesome. Keep up the good work!

Build your own bowling center? .. THAT would be totally AWESOME Michael !!! .. I would LOVE to go bowl at your center! .. if you build it, I will come!

i worked at an alley when i was younger, my stuff was sold(illegally) by the owner of the alley, and i bowled a 298 shortly after with rental shoes and a house ball. i quit after that. got toe surgery to fix my feet, and fell back in love with bowling after watching your fun vids about bowling. i now work in an alley as head mechanic, bowl a mens only league, and have gotten my sister and other into bowling using positive reinforcement and showing people how to improve themselves without me coaching them. thanks man, youve done so much already, cant wait for the years to come

Thank you for all you do for bowling. I never miss a video, I do switch to my tv to watch the videos instead of my phone but that’s because the content is great. My daughter and I absolutely love bowling and we can never get out and bowl enough. The centers around us in a very small area are never open unless it’s for leagues so we get zero time to play or practice unless she gets a day off school or we get creative and go bowl in a bigger town but that’s an hour and a half away and it’s the same as centers here we never have oil, so it’s always dry lanes or extreme push down from the night before so it makes it less fun for making scores. We have talked about wanting to start a channel about us bowling, doing similar but not the same concept as you and all the other KZfaqrs but I have no clue how to get that started but we do have a professional in our hometown coldwater mi and maybe he would be able to help get that started bc he is very knowledgeable about the sport where I know what I’ve learned over the years from you Darren Brad and Kyle and packy. Would be so much fun to get something like that going and thanks for the ideas and content, never stop.

I'm here for it bro!! Let's go!! I also workout and I am trying to bring the fitness side of my life into bowling too. It's necessary to help elevate the game anyway. My buddy and I have been wanting to build a bowling center as well....the right way without string pins lol Let's do this man. I'll support any way I can to help make this all a thing.

Growing up, tournaments were $50,000+ for first place. Now titles are so poverty that the PBA sometimes doesn’t even mention the prize money to the winner. They just hand the bowler some trophy. 🏆

Great presentation Michael. Well spoken. As a product of Saturday morning junior leagues 60 years ago, it is key to preserving the sport that we reach our youngest bowlers. We need to teach them the values of the successes that come from sportsmanship, scheduled interpersonal connection, team participation and overall improvement that comes from practice. Today, I'm in a senior men's league and average over 200 for the first time EVER. My long-term interest in bowling didn't happen overnight but it did have a starting point.

now that i think about it, if you and a coach came up with excercises to do specificly for bowling, like strength and balance exercises, id bet it would be super popular. it might break that fourth wall and hit fitness and bowling. i know i could benefit from some strength exercises

I can't agree more with your plan! As a kid, my first time taking interest was watching a collaboration between Dude Perfect and Jason Belmonte. We really need to find a way to reach out to new kinds of people. There's a vast majority of people we could touch and share the love of our sport with as long as we are welcoming with open arms.

Your comments are excellent and they sound like they're coming from the heart. I've enjoyed this game from about 1955 or so and took a 30 year hiatus during a time when there were lots of changes in the game including urethane balls, synthetic lanes, reactive resin, modern release, etc. I'm still struggling with muscling the ball down the lane even though I'm not a young guy any more. Just watching all you youngsters makes me want to get out there and just keep at it. It's been very entertaining to see your fun on the lanes. In the 60's bowling seemed to be fun and quite a bit of money. There were lots more bowling establishments in and around Chicagoland than any where. Polk Brothers used to sponsor live TV bowling at their stores with some big name PBA bowlers. They used to build new lanes at what I think was called the Chicago Colliseum for tournaments where Don Carter and Dick Weber competed for the championship. It was broadcast on national networks across the nation. It was challenging, interesting and fun. That's what it's all about. Get people interested again in a sport that most all can participate in... Best of luck Mike...

Being a professional bowler is like being a professional gambler. You only get paid if you win. Also, bowling is a very expensive sport to get into. You can play basketball, baseball or soccer in any field, in order to practice bowling, you have to pay to participate. "Gate keeping the sport" with a pay wall will limit accessibility/interest.

I know it's painful, but I would rather have string bowling than no bowling at all. In the past 10 years, 3 bowling alleys in my area have shut down. Now I have to make a commute for league. If they went the string route, they might still be open.

Biggest problem is the pricing. Luckily my center I bowl in league still offers under $20 for 2 hours of bowling. Most centers now are charging over $50/hr. Some are even string bowling as well. I'm in is now $30/week for a USBC sanctioned league for 33 weeks. That's just under $1000 per year and may get about $400 back at the end of the year. It's not just the centers that bowling is expensive. Look at cost of all the balls today. Practically anything SPI makes is $175+. Then add in over $50 for standard drilling and it gets extremely expensive.

I really want to get back into bowling, but its pretty inconvenient (and expensive) where I'm at in Brooklyn. I grew up in Jersey close to a bowling alley, it was my first job, bowled junior leagues etc. When I was moving to NYC 12 years ago, I had my car packed to the brim with my stuff, and I still stopped at that bowling alley, dug my ball out and bowled one last set of games before I drove up here. It's been collecting dust since then and I wanna get back to it. Not sure how bowling content has popped into my algo but I've been watching you, Darren, and some others here and there. I really hope bowling can start to grow again. I put a lot of energy into skateboarding while I still can, (I'm mid 30s) but I hope to be able to get some of that energy back into bowling soon, I miss it. Good luck!

Thank you for your content! I only bowled occasionally for most of my adult life and last year my then 14 year old son, along with my wife and I started playing weekly with the intention of joining a league together. We did a summer league and my good friend started bowling with us too. Now my son is on the high school varsity team and competing well! I just made the switch to 2 handed bowing, you helped give me the hope that I could do it (I'm 44 years old). Thanks again, I love your content and plan to get some of your merch soon, maybe it will be our new summer league shirt!

I remember when bowling took a huge decline back in the early 2000s. I know most of the time bowling is affected by the economy/inflation. String is not the way to go. I also remember watching bowling every weekend on ABC which highlighted the sport on a major TV network. I never want to see this sport die off either, hence why I started posting content as well. I do like the bowling niche and trying to expand into the entertainment niche as well. So thank you for that piece of information.

Are you open to the possibility of taking over a failing bowling center and making changes rather than building a new one?

Hi Michael....I don't know you well but our paths have crossed several times at regional competitions. I appreciate what you're trying to do and your comment regarding 'giving back' really hit home to me. This 'giving back' concept was programed into me by my first coach Robbie Tanaka and I continue to echo this concept to the athletes I coach at the university level. I encourage you to continue to strive to improve/save our game. The 'in the box' ideas haven't brought the game to a healthy place, perhaps 'out of the box' ideas will be able to. Soldier on young man!

PBA adding an exclusion to REGIONAL LEVEL bowlers on the rules regarding independent bowler sponsorship would go a long way in building the sport. Let those players work with their local businesses to be able to afford to attend regional events -- without taking a cut, forcing high dollar value requirements on player sponsorships, etc. Let that local credit union, law firm, home center, grocer, bowling center, or pro shop....work with a player and that player put their logos on their jersey. Not only does this help the individual bowler, but it is a grassroots way to rebuild bowling as something the community can take pride in being a part of. Sure -- restrictions are there because of the national level TV sponsorships, but let the little guys eat. Keep the regulations on the national tour if they must but let the sport have a chance to add value to local bowlers and local communities. Bring people in...keep them interested in bowling...grow the sport.

Everything you said is pretty much spot on. As so mentioned in the comments already, there’s a plethora of gatekeeping and Bowling. Not to mention the fact that people get so nasty upset because they see all these youth wanting to do two-handed, but then are the same ones to turn around and complain that nobody wants to do Bowling. It’s not that we don’t want to do. Bowling is the fact that it kills sometimes to Bowl. Everybody’s not gonna step the same, everybody’s approach is not the same, everybody’s not gonna do a straight traditional swim. If more of the older bowlers were OK with, the new methods and techniques that Youth and young flavors used nowadays, some more may open up. And, like you said, in your video, there’s no sense to really go past leagues. I know people who make killer money doing just tournaments all week. The type of people I’d love to see go pro , but many of them state there’s no money in it. An ugly sad truth. As a high school, Bowling coach, this is the first year I’ve struggled to keep a team bigger than five. I barely had seven boys this year and only three girls. Even the big teams have gotten smaller and smaller. If you’re not a private school or in a homeschool group, your team is minimal unless your school is known for bowling. However, I have seen a rise in collegiate Bowling. So maybe there’s some hope .

You, Packy, and DT have really gotten me into bowling! I started last June with no idea of anything about how to perform well then I started finding videos and I have been working hard to improve my game!

Love your videos and your personality man. Your videos are always exciting and definitely bring a unique feeling to the sport. Keep up the awesome work. I support your views on string pins and that they're rough, but I feel throwing shade in a community that's so close to our own is a bad play if your goal is for a larger community over all. Yes it isn't the ideal end state, but if it's what get people in the door of bowling in general, that's a win. You don't need to have it in your future lanes and express that you don't plan to play them, but I believe the best play will be completing the bridge between these communities and not burning it. If people do string pin and get good, then hear fall pin is tougher, they may want to lean into that challenge 😊 they own the ball and the shoes, they're bought in. Let's work on giving them the right push

I work at a Bowlero, and the amount of league bowlers that have left our house is insane. it was so much more packed and fun here when it was an Amf Star Lanes.

I agree.. I bowled 20 plus years ago. Got out and recently rediscovered it. I had dreams of going pro.. and just started a bowling channel (shorts only for now) I don't have the prettiest form (yet).. but want to show how truly fun bowling can be. You, Darren tang and everyone you mention make GREAT videos... Keep it up! I'm on board...

Love your content michael, keep up the great work

Jimmy Kimmel already attempted stage 4 😂 He tried to hook her up with Troup and Smallwood 🤣 Hilarious video!

You got some points there. I'm trying to give to the sport too, but from a more science perspective. I try to add humor but i don't have the resources to make pure fun videos yet. Keep it up and if you have any ideas you'd like to work with me, i'm all ears. (even though i'm not in the USA).

The little town I live in have one of the last few all wooden lanes in Arkansas, just found your channel but definitely look forward to seeing more

I myself have been bowling ever since i was old enough to throw a ball. Now i bowl in 3 or 4 different leagues and usually 3 or 4 different tournaments. Sure i could do more tournaments or whatnot but its soo expensive to register for a big time event. I dont have the 500 dollar plus entry fee every other week. On top of spending alot of money on travel and lodging(aka most tournaments are in another state and span several days). Bowling at a mid to high level is basically impossible unless youre extremely good or have alot of money.

Hey Michael! It’s me, Scott Ashley ( Sincere’s stepfather) from Delta bowl. you are absolutely right about us needing to reestablish/rebuild this sport. hero. Two Nice young kids that have started their own KZfaq bowling videos/ channel that you might want to meet. Brodie and Kian ( brodieandkianbowl). The bowl on the Saturday morning League @Delta Bowl. If you get a chance to get over there one Saturday, please tell them that I sent you. They are about 12 or 13 years old, somewhere in that age group. Very smart kids.🤙🏿🤙🏿💯💯

Hey Michael, We met once at the Antioch alley last year. Just want to say this video resonates so much. We all want to see this sport grow. Eye-catching Instagram reels can be powerful in reaching the younger gen. As youth bowlers get better and better, it will be more entertaining to watch on TV. I just had a crazy idea, but if spares were suddenly worth 10 + 1.5x the next ball, I’m thinking spare shooting would become that much more important; recurrent split conversions on tv would draw more viewers, because pros would see the value in converting those in order to make the cut, and certain channels could make really cool videos with spare practices. .5 pins is definitely doable by the current machines with a slight tweak, and I’m yet to find an issue with scoring since you can’t score another decimal than .5’s. Imagine a final score of a final decided by .5 pins instead of 10… if nothing else, and you think this would be a good video idea, I’d be down to bowl with you in Dublin or Antioch one of these weeks to try out this scoring manually. Keep up the hard work Mr220, you’re killing it!!!

I know I've seen this mentioned elsewhere so obviously not something I came up with, but it's shocking to think that pinsetter technology has not been updated in what, 20 to 30 years? I wonder if there's a way to make freefall pinsetters with better tech, something that doesn't breakdown as often and doesn't require so many moving parts that current pinsetters. I think it's still tough to beat strings in terms of cost cause we all know businesses will learn towards the cheapest option but I think creating a viable alternative can only help.

I expose both of my children pretty extensively to the sport of bowling. Be it taking them to junior league. Having them help clean a bowling ball. Watching videos (like this one). I'm hoping I am doing my part to keep the sport of bowling alive. Great points and excellent ideas, 220

One thing that would help the PBA tour is emphasizing sport shots vs house shots. I could go to the alley right now and shoot 260 and the guy next to me ask if I’m a pro. 99 percent of people don’t understand how difficult it is to even shoot 200 on a sport shot. And they see people on tv shoot 180 and think man that guy sucks, professional bowling is a joke. We need to educate people on why sometimes score are low on tv.

As was reiterated here, the prices going up has been extremely detrimental to the average family going bowling. In my part of CA, so many were waiting for a bowling center to open, just to face such ridiculous prices that the only ones who can really afford it are the wine country elite, or at least it becomes a special occasion instead of a weekly routine. Most sports you can just go play for free, and that builds up kids from youth who love and play the sport. For me, I have a lifelong dedication to teaching and working with kids. I have heavy bias, but I think it all starts there. We played football in the streets. We played in high school. We carry that love into watching the best of the best. It is incredibly rare for kids to bowl as a % when compared to basketball, baseball, and football in the US. Part of that is the financial aspect. High school sports work because they don’t cost these kids a lot of money. Bowling is such an expensive sport. Sure, they have “free” use bowling balls at centers, but we all know that a ball with a core makes you enjoy bowling so much more. Success makes you want to go back. I would love to see a model where us bowlers with dozens of balls can create a core set for youth to use. As a kid bowling, it would be a dream to try different bowling balls through my youth league. Every kid I bowl with would find just access to such an array of bowling balls to be a huge reward of bowling. My second thought I have had for a while now is around doing a better job of gamifying bowling for kids. Right now, bowling has this big leap from being a beginner to becoming good enough that you just can’t wait to get back on the lanes. Consider as well for children that this leap is even larger. Our solution right now is bumpers, which are a great concept for providing opportunity for kids to not throw gutter after gutter, but the reward system for bowling is still solely a score based one. As someone who works in the field of motivating children to learn, the world has drastically changed. Think video games. For us, we would struggle forever to get past a nearly impossible level, because that was what we had. Now kids can do amazing things with little effort. And so much of it is visual. I agree, the KZfaqrs have a tremendous influence and are a huge part of making this grow amongst the youth. However, the sport in general could do so much more. Some centers are approaching the entertainment value in general of this, with hyper bowling, but they also are the expensive centers with string pins. To me that is subtracting from bowling to try and add a new niche that moves into entertainment. I have felt for a while that a well designed gamifying of the sport that teaches these younger kids to focus on something other than score and at the same time rewards the fundamentals could have a tremendous impact on participation and better scoring. Think rewarding the things we know make you a better bowler, disguised in a fun game. When I was a kid, I would create my own games to get better at football. Throwing through tight spots and creating my own challenges. Even saying it I feel like the old man saying we used to have a stick and a rock and be happy! 😂 . I design these types of learning experiences as a profession, and we need the backing of those who have a voice and face in the sport to make it popular, but the potential is there. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. This is something youth leaders can use when working with young kids to get them excited about bowling. If more and more young kids go to bowling, the problems all work themselves out. If other sports adapt better, bowling can die out with those playing it. Long wait lists mean we need more centers. And more young people mean more KZfaq watchers, and the future of those who create the need to televise and sell products to them, increasing money in the sport. I am certainly biased, but I think there is huge opportunity here to engage these kids in this sport I have grown to love over my last couple years learning to bowl.

As a bowler I love to see the sport get more popular by each and every year. It would make everyone in the bowling community be happy if this sport got popular as something like basket or baseball. I'm glad we have people like you who want to spread the sport all around and hopefully get a lot of people to enjoy the sport. Thank you Michael and I love your videos!

Love your videos. I am a league/ tournament bowler and am subscribed to alot of different channels including Brad&Kyle, you, House bowling, Forrest

Keep it up! Love the content

How about a video on bowling specific fitness or exercises? General strength is of course good, but i see golfers working out for golf specific purposes. That would be an interesting bridge as well as helpful.

This video is very interesting regarding your plan to save the sport of bowling. I live on the East Coast of the United States, and the sport is seriously dying where I am, so I'm planning on doing the same thing as you, but from a different perspective, such as developing PBA 2.0 (preferably PBA Second Edition in simple terms), to tackle to reverse the rights between Bowlero and the PBA. I actually made a Facebook page called "PBA 2.0" and it is in its developing stages, where I am creating my own website. I need more supporters on that page whatsoever because I'm running out of bowling centers locally to see what we can do. My main objective of PBA 2.0 is to use family-oriented bowling centers, not big corporations like Bowl 360, Bowlero, AMF, etc. They are ruining the sport with string pins. We must put a stop to it! And I love your content!

ive been bowling since i was 5 and your videos made me find more appreciation for it!! thank you

I grew up bowling in league every week. From 3 or so til i was 16. I got a job and did that instead. Didn't pick up a ball for 10 yrs. Went a handful of times the last few years, but a month ago, I started getting reccomended all the bowling youtubers. Ended up buying a ball and plan to go more often now. (My old ball was cracked open when i went to grab it from my parents haha)

Ive been bowling about 30 years. Seeing you have fun makes me want to bowl better

Great plan. Nice that someone cares. I think the one thing that really could make a difference is finding a way to get Jason Belmonte involved in just about everything bowling. Not just the fact he’s the best in the world, but he’s a fantastic individual. He’s humble, interacts with people after tournaments and will do interviews with the media. Need to blowup is channel.

Nice video Michael. Your Stage One is spot on. I'm an old timer and I remember back in the 1970s it was impossible to go open bowling in the winter season because every house had full leagues day and night. Not so much anymore. A lot of centers don't even open up during day and have some leagues in the evening hours, and "glow" bowling as a recreational activity. There's nothing wrong with keeping bowling recreational for some people, but leagues have severely dwindled, causing closure to bowling centers. You are absolutely correct in saying bowling as a sport needs more exposure. I may be wrong here, but my opinion is the very beginning downfall of bowling was when ABC Sports dropped airing professional bowling on Saturday afternoons......a long time running show with many people watching and good ratings.. After that, ESPN picked it up, but sometimes it was hard to find when they aired. I bowled all my life, junior leagues, adult leagues, pro tour, managed a bowling center, etc. In my home town, we had about 11 bowling centers, now down to 4 and I'll bet they are struggling to stay afloat. I since moved to a different state and lost all interest in bowling, haven't bowling in 23 years. I really like that people like you, Forrest, Darren, and others are promoting bowling via KZfaq and other avenues, whether competitively or for just fun. You are absolutely correct in saying professional bowling needs more exposure, higher prize funds, and more tournaments. I think that would help in bringing back the average bowlers to the game, create more leagues, the need for more bowling centers, etc. If string pins become the norm, then bowling has totally died as I knew it. I really enjoy your videos and your thoughts on the game of bowling. We need more people like you in this world and in the bowling world. Sorry for the long comment, but I just had to get it out of my system. I may be done with bowling, but maybe you can save it. Oh, and say hi to Taylor Swift for me. 😃

Old schooler here who discovered you about the same time I returned to bowling after a long layoff. I had heard about the possibility of string pinsetters being the future and, since I am an inventor of sorts, set about to come up with a new free fall pinsetter technology in hopes of staving off the switch. I never expected the approval process to move ahead so quickly but now understand that it was in the works behind the scenes for much longer than anyone suspects. I am still in the development phase of a new freefall technology. Hopefully, by the time you get ready to build your center, I will have a safe, energy efficient, free fall pinsetter tech ready for you.

More importantly than just viral bowling content, is that the content be positive towards the sport, and gets outsiders to go bowl. It's one thing to have fun like 220AB does, but most of the content with millions of views out there is negative towards the sport. So many of the truly viral bowling related videos are jackasses running down the lane, or breaking the equipment, or throwing a ball through the ceiling.

Started watching a year ago with you, Darren, Brad and Kyle. Keep it up!

I watch your videos before and I just started bowling 10 months ago because of you and Darren tang And I invited 5 of my friends to play bowling and they still play to this day I wish the sport of bowling will be better over the years!

I bowled in high school because it was a perfect combo of activity and socializing with friends. I was pretty good, maxing out around a 195 average at the time. Bowling on wood lanes with one ball and no spare ball, that’s not too shabby. That was 15 years ago. I got back into the sport in 2023 for one reason- KZfaq. Even though the PBA was much harder to find on TV, I could watch KZfaq to get to know the current game and its top stars. I can learn about bowling balls and oil patterns at the snap of a finger. That didn’t really exist in 2008. I joined a league and bought new equipment. I bowled tournaments and have started to make some decent money sometimes. It’s not going to be a career but I’m really enjoying the game again and learning more about the sport. Who knows maybe I will bowl a regional soon, although I think the entry fee of $400 is insane considering the winner gets maybe $10,000. What I’m trying to say is KZfaq got me back in the sport, and maybe it can for others like me.

So I did get more serious into bowling from watching stuff like your videos, Packy's and Darrens. The ridiculous concept games are hilarious. But what got me really into it was League nights on my Air Force base. We are very small very rural area and there isn't much to do. But I started doing league for the fun. Then I started learning and buying balls and all sorts of stuff. Now I am pretty serious. Went from about a 120 average to 190 in a year. Regarding string pins though...my on base alley HAS to get them or they will shut down. We are a small base and cost is everything. Without it the alley will be forced to close. I see it as a necessary evil because mechanics are scarce and expensive here. I dont know much about free fall setters mechanically, but potentially there needs to be improvements and efficiencies built into the machines so that operating costs are on par with stringsetters. Money is everything. If the strings are cheaper, alleys will move to that because it helps reduce costs. It sucks but maybe focusing on improving free fall setters is another area to look at.

I really do hope bowling has a renaissance. I love bowling, and have so many great memories surrounding it… but I just don’t know what the answer is. I’m from Cincinnati, which used to be a huge bowling town. I bowled for 20+ years, but walked away in the mid 90s… around the time I got married, bought a house, started my “real” career, etc. Bowling had become way too expensive… bowling 2/3 nights a week, leagues ran 34/35 weeks at $15-$35+/each per week, tournaments, resin balls were starting to hit the market ($$$), coming home smelling like an ashtray, beer frames (and I don’t drink!), split-the-pots, locker rentals, etc… it was just too much for me. I was a 210 bowler, but became disillusioned. I decided to pour my time and money into my family and home. Still have the blue (urethane!) Hammer, pearl U2, and those pure-white Lind’s shoes, though! 🤣

After playing bowling for the first time in 7 years late last year, I feel like I really enjoyed the sport. Therefore, I really wanted to do a bowling get together with some of my colleagues at some point. Like in your country, there are a bit less bowling alleys compared to a decade or two ago at my home city. I searched for bowling-related content in recent weeks after playing 2 games of bowling, and I come across 2 Japanese channels, Darren Tang's channel and finally your channel. Thank you for this informative 4-stage plan on saving this sport. My suggestion would be to bring some kind of competition tour worldwide to attract a large audience. That could potentially increase the number of people wanting to do the sport. Greetings from Thailand!

Ngl, the side view camera in the beginning got me lol

Love it bro I’m sending this to all my friends I’m a youth bowler and I love the practices and tournaments and just bowling for fun and I would hate for bowling to spiral down at all I’m subscribed to all the bowling KZfaqrs to support this mission

Hey Michael! I support everything you’re saying and doing. I totally agree that our sport needs and deserves a big boost and a lot more support.🤙🏿🤙🏿💯💯💯🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

Like I said before, I'm working on it too. Something big is coming, I'll do my part, you do yours, we'll getrdone.

Need a LIV tour for the bowling guys!

Dude keep going. I’m a collegiate bowler and we need more support especially at schools with smaller less known programs.

Hi, I am a bowler and a subscriber. Your vision is the first part of your journey. My son has a mountain biking channel here on You Tube. I believe it’s probably the most popular. He used his influence in building a free public mountain biking park with monies from Patreon and from sponsors. If you are as passionate as he is, you can do it. You’ve taken the first step here. Keep up the good work. Love your videos!

One more element to the plan - Video Games! I can say on my part that I never even would have thought about searching for the PBA if I didn’t have fun “bowling” in Wii Sports. Right now, there aren’t any big blockbuster bowling games, Switch Sports is not even on par with the OG Wii Sports, and VR bowling has even less visibility than bowling itself. If there’s another blockbuster bowling game out there, MAN would that help! (Sidenote, of all the YT Shorts out there, the Wii Sports bowling IRL ones with the ball dropped backwards gag remains one of the funniest)

Thanks for this video!!! I agree that we need to treat our pros better, but also need to build from the bottom up. I am not an avid bowler, but have played many individual sports like racquetball, tennis, and running. Racquetball is hard to get into because of the few facilities. Tennis is expensive but does have ways to cut down with public parks (although a lot of the courts are being converted to pickleball now). Running just has big events typically on Saturday mornings. You can get running advice, but most of it is just getting out and doing it and improving conditioning. Tennis does have lessons and I feel it has more outlets than bowling. I don't even know how to begin to get bowling lessons here in Louisville. We have a fair number of facilities, but there does not seem to be any tournaments and all the leagues are social leagues and kid birthday party events. My father had some concept of how to bowl, but I am not any good. I typically bowl 60-80 with just a couple games over 100. I feel that most future pros in bowling (unless things change) are just going to be bowling families where the pro bowler parents teach their kids and friends. Unless you have that connection, it will be extremely difficult to become a pro. The string bowling thing makes the sport more luck based too and can make a drastic impact on scores, especially if it is the difference between getting a spare or strike or not. Internet content does help (coaching videos, fun videos, top pro versus random people, etc...), but I feel that the infrastructure needs to improve. Pros need to be treated better, but beginner level coaching and coaching opportunities across the country need to improve. Bowling is very individual and the opponents cannot impact the way you play in a manner similar to tennis, but I believe that competition helps push others. For example, in tennis, the beginners improve and push the low intermediate players. The low intermediate push the high intermediate. The high intermediate pushes the advanced players, etc... up to the middle of the pack professionals pushing the top professionals. That forces our top pros to be at the top of their game. Those top pros learn from the competition (as does the players aspiring to beat them) and helps them improve enough to potentially contend for major tennis championships. If the beginner pool is very small (or non-existent), there are no beginners to push the intermediates. Very few intermediates to push the advanced all the way up to the pro players. In bowling, they can make goals based on their averages, but there is little to no motivation for the sport to grow unless we start treating the pros better, make it an easier sport to get into and learn basic technique (i.e. avoid gutterballs), and create opportunities to develop and grow in the sport. Internet content can be a great marketing tool and maybe get someone to go to an alley and try it, but they would give up quickly if every ball they roll is a gutterball and have no way to learn how to improve.