Survey of USBC Open Championships Shows Positive Response

Satisfaction with the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships continued its upward trend, according to survey results of competitors at the 2019 event, and early registration numbers show the 2020 event in Reno, Nevada, projects to be at least a 17% increase in participants compared with the last time the event was held at the National Bowling Stadium.

USBC introduced significant changes to the Open Championships in 2017, including the three-division structure for better peer-to-peer competition, average requirement and team roster qualifications, and decided to withhold publication of lane patterns until after the event. The changes were designed to improve the experience and competitive environment for all participants.

The 2019 Open Championships in Las Vegas, the third year of the changes, marked the event’s largest turnout in seven years, with 10,440 teams with more than 52,000 competitors. A survey of those participants showed more than 90% were either satisfied or neutral in regard to key operations of the event, including customer service, host city and venue, pace of play, event operations and online registration.

The survey also found more than 91% of participants planned to compete at the 2020 event in Reno, and the registration trend supports this finding.

The 2020 Open Championships already has surpassed the number of competitors who took part in the 2016 event in Reno (8,063 teams), and the 2020 event at the newly renovated National Bowling Stadium is trending to surpass the 2016 total by at least 17% (9,400 teams).

Other key takeaways from the survey:

• 87% either agree or don’t have an opinion regarding the use of Championships Average as the entering average for the event, with 74% in the Standard Division agreeing it was a positive change for the tournament
   
• 79% agree or don’t have an opinion regarding whether the lane conditions were appropriate for a national championship tournament and the majority (56%) agree with not revealing the lane pattern until after the event, an increase of 12% from the 2018 survey
   
• 94% were satisfied or neutral when asked about their satisfaction with brackets

USBC conducted the survey of 2019 USBC Open Championships participants between March 21 and Aug. 28, 2019. Based on 52,200 total bowlers in the Open Championships, 5,212 survey respondents, and a confidence interval of 95%, the survey has a margin of error of +/- 1%.

Visit BOWL.com/OpenChamp to learn more about the Open Championships.

United States Bowling Congress - The United States Bowling Congress serves as the national governing body of bowling as recognized by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). USBC conducts championship events nationwide including the largest participation sporting events in the world – the USBC Open and Women's Championships – and professional events such as the USBC Masters and USBC Queens.

Founded in 1895, today USBC and its 1,638 state and local associations proudly serve more than a million members. USBC is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, working toward a future for the sport. The online home for USBC is BOWL.com.