Is league attendance really down, or what? Just wondering if it only is here.

I am bowling in 2 leagues. My monday league started with 8 teams, 4 person teams. A team dropped on week one, and then another team dropped week 2 or 3. So we're down to 6 teams as of now. And now one another team is talking about dropping. FYI - This league has 2 "stacked" teams with 4 people who can all bowl 200+, and then there's everybody else. All the teams that dropped were newer bowlers, which I also realize is kind of bad. On one hand, I know its bad to drive out the newer bowlers, but on the other hand, we also really can't dictate who is on a team with who. If they put a good team together, then don't they deserve to win? Yes, but its costing the league, because nobody wants to bowl. And the fewer teams there are, the more often the lesser teams have to bowl the killer teams, so in the end, this league may go to 4 teams or less. I'm not on one of the stacked teams, and I will probably leave this league myself if it goes to 5 or fewer teams. That's no fun.

My Thursday league also only has 8 teams (still. We started with 8 and still have 8. different center)

I remember bowling years ago with way more teams than this. We used to have 2 divisions and divisional playoffs and stuff.

So is it just here? How many teams are in your league?

Our sport league is up from 12 teams to 14 this year (and 10 this summer).

In my Adult/Jr league I am way up--to 22 teams from 10 this summer.

My Saturday numbers are probably up a little overall, but because of kids aging from one division to another, some age groups are smaller than before, and others are huge compared to "normal."

It takes quite a bit to keep a league going, including keeping the current bowlers happy and making sure those bowlers do some recruiting themselves. In the case of the A/J, there are several teams responsible for several teams starting. With the sport league, it's a case of making sure that the people interested understand what they're getting into and that they won't burn out after 3 weeks. People will blame the house, the secretary, or the president, but honestly it's an entire group effort.

I bowl in a 16 lane center and on Tuesday Nights, I bowl on a 12 team 4-deep league. In the same center on Wednesday night, I bowl on a 10 team, 4-deep league. There's a league there on Monday ngiht but I don't know the size for sure, though I think it's 10 teams as well. The nice thing about the three leagues is that there are only a few "repeat" bowlers in that I mean such as myself, where I bowl in two of the leagues as does my wife. Our junior program is a tad smaller than it was last year (52 kids this year) and that's even with combining two centers. We had a handful of kids leave for various reasons (graduation, moved to adult league, other sports). We still plan on taking 40+ kids to state as we have done for the past 4 years, though.

I'd say our league participation is not bad considering I live in an area not known as a bowling hotbed. Saldy, though, there aren't enough bowlers interested in a scratch or sport bowling league. Thats about the only drawback here.

The only league I bowl in this year has nine teams plus the dreaded VACANT team. It is a 24 lane centre with two or three leagues a day,Monday through Thursday and a couple on the weekends. Most are around the 10 team mark, although one doubles league is at about 20 teams (down from 24 at the start of the season). There are quite a few bowlers who bowl two or more leagues, so the numbers look reasonably high but actually are down from previous years. As this is the only centre in the city (pop. 400 000), there are not all that many bowlers at all!

I bowl in 3 leagues, and know of others. 32 lane House, in a town of 15,000.
Monday Night men's, 16 teams, 5-man; 2, 8-team leagues at the same time as us. One is a short Ball League.
Wednesday Night men's, 12 teams, 4-man, we lost 2 teams; 1, 16-team mix league at the same time, it grew 2 teams.
Friday Night mixed, 14 teams, 4-man. A lot of Wed men bowl with wives on Fri.

The women's league on tuesday Night has 24 teams, 4-man.

In another 40 lane House, 10 miles away, I tried to get on the Monday Night men's, but it was filled. 24 teams with 5-men. I was on the waiting list since May. In a town of 20,000.

A popular event has been to run short, 10 week or so, Ball Leagues to fill the house. There is no prize money, but a nominal fee to bowl, plus an added amount each week to pay for a new ball. The House, Brunswick, offers Brunswick Balls in this promo.
I bowled in the Summer version and got my Scorchin Inferno for $10 a week, 16 weeks, drilled and grips included. Most bowlers paid the ball money up front to get the ball early. The Ball was selling for $200-229, plus drilling at the time. Internet price was $169, plus shipping, plus drilling. It's a good deal.

We have 12 Teams in my league. I think the most teams in a league that i bowled in were about 32 teams but that was in Junior Leagues.

One of the interesting stats I've read recently was how many bowlers the respective states had, how many lane beds, and how many leagues. Oddly enough, while Michigan still has the most bowlers and the most lanes, California had the more youth leagues and more leagues overall (adult and youth combined). Of course this means there are smaller leagues in California, but in all my years, I've never gotten to say we kick Michigan's butt in anything bowling related....so wooohooo!

And for those interested, the data is at http://www.bowl.com/downloads/pdf/05_06_membershipnumbers.pdf

I only have the time to bowl in one league and it's a Men's handicap league with 30 teams of 5-man teams for a total of 150 bowlers. There's a waiting list of teams trying to get it and there is a franchise fee for a team to join the league. Sandman knows since he and his team just joined the league this year. The league would like to expand but there's a mixed league filling up all remaining lanes and they don't seem to be going anywhere. And this house is wall-to-wall leagues and special events weekend nights and all day Saturday.

I bowl on two 5 man a team leagues. Wednesday night is a 12 team league, and on Thursday night we have an 18 team league. Its nice to have even numbers in both leagues , I hate bowling against that VACANT team. On the wednesday night the other half of the center is filled with a womans league. So at least in this center, its busy with leagues all winter.

I bowled in two leagues. Both are comprised of 30 teams of 4 members each. Pretty much you get to bowled every team only once. In both nights we are up from last year, 3 mores teams on wednesday and 2 more teams on friday.

The house has 32 lanes so already happened a couple of times with a couple of pair of lanes breaking down and people having to wait until some lanes open up.

I am only bowling in one league so far and it has 40 teams.

Coach Jim,

40 teams is a huge number. Are you divided into 2 divisions? In a 35 week schedule, you can't even bowl all of the teams once.

I am in a 30 team league and we do not bowl every other team at least once since there are 3 segments and a position round every six weeks. Seems to be a lot of concern about a handful of teams dominating the league. The cream does eventually rise to the top, it just takes longer.

Our Monday night mens league is up from 8 teams to 12. Friday night mixed up from 7 teams to 8. The summer leagues were non-existant though, the one I was in last year dropped from 8 teams (4 bowlers per team) to 7 teams (2 bowlers per team) and half of those teams didn't show up each week. I think 12 teams with quarterly roll-offs is the best number for any league.

It is divided up into first half and second half, we have 4 position rounds our first is next week. We have a long way to go I think we are in 34th place now.

My monday night league ( we have to watch football on the screens there)is 26 five player teams, our Thursday night league ( al Doctors) 26 five player teams also, and our friday night league is 36 five players teams.

I’m in several leagues this winter. The largest takes all forty lanes and has a waiting list for teams. I believe the house is full Monday through Friday from 6:00 to 9:00 (no open bowling) and close to 75% for late leagues that start after 9:00 PM. Local rumor has it that a new house will open in the area in the next year. Hope so.