By BILL SNIER
FAIRLAWN — Tom Clark has been with the Professional Bowlers Association since 2008, when he was hired away from his position as United States Bowling Congress chief marketing officer.
The Syracuse, N.Y., native was involved in print journalism for nearly 10 years before branching out into the bowling industry.
He took over as PBA commissioner in November 2011 following the retirement of Fred Schreyer, being promoted from his role as deputy commissioner.
Recently, during the PBA50 Tournament of Champions at AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn, we sat down with Clark to discuss the PBA and what comes next.
Some of the answers have been edited for brevity.
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SOB: This (PBA50 Tournament of Champions) had to be a disappointment as far as fan attendance.
CLARK: Yeah, but I understand it’s the summer and bowling is not at the top of the mind and the regular leagues are not in here so you’re not able to talk to them. It’s a beautiful week weather-wise also. The final was OK … we had enough people to make it significant. But we had a good audience on BowlTV so a lot of people were watching there and we had a lot of interaction on social media. The disappointment is made up for by the fact we are here, hopefully starting a new tradition and getting this going every year.
SOB: Are you going to continue it here? Is that the plan?
CLARK: Yes, that would be the plan.
SOB: The PBA50 Tour as a whole. Events-wise, you probably had the most you’ve had in years. Where does this stand going into next year?
CLARK: We haven’t been able to put the schedule together as of yet, but it will be similar to this year. We really like that we brought back the TOC last year and then brought it here for the first time this year. I really like that as the end of the season event. We just love having the U.S. Open, the USBC Senior Masters and Players Championship, with that being a really special location in Bud Moore’s house (Virginia). Then we had the World Championship and World Series, which is something we also brought in last year and we will keep that going. A strong major championship season along with all the other events sprinkled in leads to a very thorough Tour. It’s impressive to me. I’m these guys’ age and I couldn’t do it. It’s really impressive the number of games these guys are bowling through the year. Tom Hess probably bowled almost 400 games this summer and that doesn’t include practice.
SOB: The stars on this tour are getting older, the recognizable names. Do you have the people coming up behind them that are going to be able to give the name recognition to this tour or will this become a tour of guys that waited and didn’t come out for the regular Tour and decided to give this a try?
CLARK: Yeah, I think it will be getting back to normal. Most of the history of the Senior Tour there were always a couple of guys that you knew, and a few guys you couldn’t wait to see how they would do given a chance to bowl on a Tour since you knew they were good players but they hadn’t been regular Tour players. But then we had the incredible stretch of 10 years with Norm (Duke), Pete (Weber), Walter (Ray Williams Jr.), Amleto (Monacelli) and Parker (Bohn III). That’s the best era of players in history and you’re never going to be able to duplicate that. Next year, I’m sure you’ll see Tom Daugherty come out and he’ll be tough. And I think you’ll see other familiar names each year emerge. The Wes Malotts, Tommy Jones, Bill O’Neill … these guys are coming. So there will always be a class coming in. But what you saw from John Janawicz, Tom Hess and Ron Mohr … you’re going to see a lot more of that. You will get to know some players, like Randy Weiss, who is the rookie of the year. He was always a solid regional player, but now he has an opportunity on a national Tour and they want to make the most of it. I think that is what makes the PBA50 Tour fun to watch.
SOB: Will Bowlero continue with Tour sponsorship?
CLARK: They own the PBA and we were able to add a couple of hundred thousand dollars to the PBA50 Tour prize fund with their support. I think they understand the value of the senior players. Half of our membership is over 50. We have 4,000 total members, including 2,000 seniors, and they are really important. They are really popular on YouTube to watch these matches. BowlTV grows with it. You see the ball companies sending representatives out here so they care about the results and get some pop from it. It continues to have value.
SOB: I know the PWBA has been on CBS Sports Network with some of their events. Would you like to see a broadcast network do the majors only on the PBA50 Tour?
CLARK: That would be fantastic. It’s a big price tag. The thing that makes it difficult to do that is one of the areas we have to improve is our demographics of who is watching on TV. Everyone knows the younger viewership is more valuable and so when you talk to a media partner about a senior event, they don’t understand there’s familiar names, faces and the bowling is just as good. That final match tonight was an example. But when you tell people who are not in tune with that and you talk about a putting a senior event on when in their minds they are trying to get younger it doesn’t necessarily match up. So that’s what makes it tougher than just doing it. But I’ve always tried to get certain special events on TV. We will keep on trying.
SOB: Will the regular PBA Tour be back here (AMF Riviera Lanes) for the TOC next year?
CLARK: Yes, The TOC will be here for sure. We love this place as the home of the TOC … it says it right on the wall.
SOB: The prize list for the PBA50 TOC. What is confusing are some of the super seniors who didn’t make the cut were paid identical to players who did make the cut, but didn’t get out of the advancers’ round.
CLARK: That’s really decided by the players’ committee. We talk a lot about having checks for 60-and-older players. There are a lot of players out here who fund this Tour that are over 60. So providing a check for them to get their money back a little bit, giving them something to shoot for the most part it’s a little tough to be that age and be able to beat these guys … I really have no problem with that. We might want to add another 60 check next year as well (there were eight among the 60- and 70-and-older players).
SOB: The PBA Tour is coming to an end with the team championships. How has the season gone and has it hit your expectations?
CLARK: I mean the overall the ratings were up year over year so we had more viewership on FOX. All five of the majors were won by different people and a diverse group of people. We had a first-time winner, a veteran winner and the match here during the TOC was as exciting as it gets. I think the excitement in the big matches and the big tournaments was high. Ratings for all those shows were high. Those were the two biggest metrics. There were a ton of players wanting to bowl out there in the PTQs and that’s why we’re having the Tour Trials this year and why we brought it back in the first place. That’s because of the amount of people who were traveling to bowl in pre-tournament qualifiers. I think that the participation is up, the ratings are up, the prize money is up and all those things are good. We were on big FOX eight times. The PBA lost its contract with ABC in 1997 and it was really the last time that we were on broadcast television. I think it was once in 2011 when Mika (Koivuniemi) won and we paid for that one. In 2019 was our first year at FOX, and every year since we’ve had big FOX shows broadcast TV. So after more than 20 years to have regular appearances on network television to me is a pride point. It’s one of those things that everyone in bowling should feel good about. We just have to make the most of those situations. If we do well every time, they will put more out there on big FOX.
SOB: With FOX having its various platforms, has that also been a benefit?
CLARK: That helps the overall ratings number for the year. If you support the PBA, you are not only going to see the first run of the shows, but each of the shows is re-aired on FS2 or FS1 and some of the re-airs do really well. The biggest jolt in the arm since I’ve been with the PBA is the FOX deal. And we are with them through 2025 and hopefully beyond that.
SOB: Are there any additional stops planned for next year at this point?
CLARK: We have a few really good ideas, but nothing concrete to confirm yet. There will be a few new wrinkles … there always has to be something. But in general we will be similar to this year.