Who said stats weren't important?

Are promotions really a positive plus? 

With the Traveling Masters league DOUBLING IN SIZE in three seasons,

I'd say a POSITIVE YES!!

Why Promote?

By Alan “Mr. Stats” Brizee © 2014  Rev. 2024  Author of The Path to Excellence and

      From Excellence to Success

      Promotions can be a positive plus for any league. What's offered has to interest enough to keep promotions going for the entire season. Time for the work and printing flyers and money to cover additional costs to create interest. As you'll read, I donated about half of my secretarial fees to make the Vantage Miller Lite Traveling Masters the BEST LEAGUE around. To me, it was well worth the time and money I spent for the added excitement!!

      NOTE (May 2024): Social media has made an impact on promoting bowling in general. It can also be used to fill teams that need a bowler, or to start a new team as I have just done. NEVER underestimate the different ways that can make a HUGE distinction in waking bowlers up as why they SHOULD be bowling in your league.

      Almost no league secretary today in 2020, will go out of their way to help the bowlers and more important, the league as a whole. It’s not required per their responsibilities by the rules for league play. With computers, doing the secretarial work is really super easy. Some centers will do the standings and awards for the league. So the secretary is now more of a title instead of a job. Less work for the same money. Why would you not want the job? Well, you still have to pass out standing sheets and envelopes if you’re also the treasurer. Leagues are losing bowlers and many leagues have folded. Bowling centers are closing and there fewer options if you were at a center that just closed for good. There are plenty of reasons why bowlers won’t or don’t bowl the following season and several reasons why they don’t finish the season. Financial, league prize fund, league’s weekly fee being raised, the local association’s decisions with the league, marital, work, friends, injuries, lack of enjoyment, teammates, other members of the league, personal problems, disputes about league rules, league officer’s behavior, center manager, center staff, league changing centers, time of the league, day of the week, traffic getting to and from the center and finally the time involved to bowl three game of league including travel time. At least 20 ways that any bowler may say they had enough and stop showing up to bowl. There are maybe more ways to justify why they don’t want to bowl than reasons to bowl.

      So I’ll ask you again, why promote?

      The real question is what is a bowling league? Isn’t a league like a business? The finances are the prize fund. The customers and employees are the league bowlers. The league officers and team captains are the board of directors. And like any business, when there is money involved, there are usually problems. It may not be a major problem, but even a minor problem can hurt a league. In my 40 years, at least half of the adult leagues, had some problem with what I’ve have already told you about. So a league is like an independent company where employees may quit to find a better job. You need to hire an employee to take his job so you advertise that you’re a great company to work and offer a good salary. When a league member quits or gets injured and can’t finish the season, the team advertises by word of mouth that they need a bowler. It’s somewhat hit and miss with mostly miss. A missing bowler really doesn’t make the league better. It actually creates more stress with the team that has to use a vacancy. Missing bowlers are part of the team’s finances. Prize fund fees and lineage are sometimes at the discretion of the league’s board of directors, and some of the cost may be put back on the team. So, you’re wondering why I’m writing a lot of negative stuff when you thought it was about promoting. Some not so good things happen in bowling, and there were times when I was even going to throw in the towel. Promotions aren’t all about getting new bowlers, but getting new bowlers means a higher salary. It is also to retain bowlers so your salary isn’t reduced. But another reason, is for all the negatives I’ve explained before, to give bowlers a reason why they want to continue to bowl in the league.

      What a league offers to the members is sometimes more important the day of the week. The size of a league can be factored in with brackets and 50/50 tickets. Secretaries as well as league officers should wake up because good jobs at times are hard to come by. Some bowlers have to pick job over bowling because you can’t bowl without some income. After a job change, it could be about what some leagues offer over other leagues. If your league offer very little for a competitive bowler, they would probably bowl a different league. This article has 39 ways to promote a league and using several ways could make your league unique over other leagues. These ideas create interest within the league and could be the start of something you never expected. It’s called word of mouth advertising. The good thing is, it’s free J. Secretaries should have flyers at the center and advertise why new bowlers would pick their league over another. If you don’t promote, who will? The center gives minimal info on leagues. When I was elected secretary/ treasurer of the Traveling Masters in its first season, promoting a 12 team scratch league, would be the only way it could grow or possibly even survive. As you’ll read here, I didn’t make it happen. With the help of the league president, you could say we helped make it happen. It’s because it’s what the bowlers wanted and were willing to participate to make it happen.

Why promote? The league may fold if it doesn’t. Members and teams may move to another league that does. New members may never join if you don’t. League members won’t tell outside bowlers what a great league you have. Sponsors may not renew for following season. It’s the best way to attract sponsors and get their business noticed so they willing to sponsor. It’s the best way to get your league noticed. And of course, it’s the right thing to do.

      I wrote this when I was elected secretary/ treasurer of the Cactus Bowl Men’s League on Friday nights. I was trying to build a handicap league up that was losing bowlers and one season after moving the league to the new Cactus Bowl, the league lost a few more teams. Even though the league folded after one season, nobody can’t say I didn’t try my best to create interest in it. I tried to use the same principles when I was secretary of the Vantage Lite Traveling Masters League. The T.M. (Traveling Masters) league was a scratch league that bowled the last shift at 9 P.M. and traveled to the five Vantage centers. It was originally the Tucson Bowl Masters that filled the 24 lane center with 24 teams. After the 95- 96 season with only 16 teams, there was a possibility the league would fold partly because of lane conditions. This was just during the beginning of the reactive resin ball explosion. Reactive resin ball will pick up some of the oil from the lanes as they are like sponges. Reactive resin are also designed to hook as soon as there is no oil on the lanes. Typically the ball dry the lanes out resulting in what’s known as break down. But they can still carry a small amount of oil, after they get though the oiled area, resulting in carry down and the ball not hooking as soon. When the lanes break down and makes the area that the bowlers play drier, bowlers now need to learn to adjust faster than in past years. Some centers were in the experimental stage of figuring the amount of oil needed to keep the lanes from breaking down too much and still keep the shot playable for most bowlers. Since we bowled the second shift after another league, the lanes were drier as they didn’t oil for the scratch league. Scores were sometimes determined by who bowled on your pair the first shift. It was more about where they played the lanes because it was a handicapped league with only a couple of 200 average bowlers.

      One thing that made bowling at 9 P.M. worth it, the prize fund would be bigger, as the center isn’t charging the prime time rates of the 6:30 P.M. leagues. This added about $1 per bowler per week and over $2000 for the entire season for the league. The draw back was getting done at 11:45 P.M. and getting home after midnight to go to work. When the league was full with 96 bowlers, there was really no sweeper because nobody wanted to take the time to make it the reason why you’re bowling in one of the best scratch leagues in Tucson. Opportunities if only someone wanted to make a difference. Well I got a call about the meeting for the league, the summer of 1996. I went and very few actually showed up. Some felt there wasn’t enough interest to continue. The league did continue with just 12 teams as you’ll read, and what I did to transform the league. A lot of the ideas and concepts I used were new to Tucson, and the others, I created to make the T.M. league the most unique and the biggest prize fund for any 24 team league in possibly the United States. Promoting is about getting more involved and one reason, Tucson Tribute & Honor, honored me in March 2011. I have to thank Roy Tietz for making it special. No matter what you may have heard, I put a lot of work to double the league in three seasons. I always applied the principle of what was in the league’s best interest in any of my promotions.

I was only secretary for over nine full seasons and had to resign after taking a job in northern Arizona. It was partly due to the president of the league who didn’t agree with several things that helped the T.M. grow. If you’re not getting the respect you feel you deserve for doing your job, it might be time to move on. It really wasn’t a surprise that the league folded the following season. I did receive thanks from many bowlers who appreciated all my hard work and effort. Since this article is about promoting, it’s not just the big picture that people notice, it’s the little things and the help from others that made it enjoyable. I don’t feel there will be another league like the T.M. Most secretaries will feel it’s not worth the effort. But what you’re about to read, some ideas won’t take much time. My theory was to promote to retain bowlers and attract new faces, as your salary depended on the number of bowlers in the league. More bowlers means bigger salary and a few more dollars to promote the league. Not promoting the league may mean that bowlers quit, and now are you not only out of a job that pays for your bowling because the league folded, but you now have to pay for a league. How I attracted some of the best bowlers in Tucson is the same reason that average bowlers also wanted the T.M. And yes, I’ll say it again, it comes down to having fun and enjoying what you’re doing. Now you’ll read why I spent the extra time and some of my secretary’s salary to make the T.M., Tucson’s best scratch league.

      Webster’s says Promote is “to further the growth”. To advertise is “to promote sales”. Promotions and advertising are tools to make bowling leagues better, retain members in your league and attract new members. Promotions are a good thing and very few leagues take the time to help their league by promoting. The real question is why don’t more Secretaries promote? Why don’t persons running brackets & optional events promote? Why doesn’t your league have a sweeper? Why do some leagues keep losing bowlers? Time and money is the answer to those questions and will be discussed later in this article. Promotions for the leagues that have them, can be different from your league. Promotions may work better in certain leagues based on the number of bowlers in the league as well as on each team. Obviously, the bigger the league, the better chance that promotions will work. The type of league is a huge factor for optional events, such as senior leagues as they are mostly retired and watching every dollar they spend. But some of may realize, they are those bowlers who will get into optional events if offered. As an added note, there also other ways to promote such as optional events that aren’t included here. But what you’ll read here, is more than what most leagues will offer to its members. Most of you will have to agree, these 12 pages of information if all were offered in your league, would make your league better. If enough bowlers knew these events were available, the league could grow to capacity.

      Secretaries get a salary and it’s based on the number of bowlers. The league grows because of promoting the league and the secretary will make more money. Now people doing brackets and other optional events is another story. They may not make as much with promotions at first, but could still earn decent money. Promoting optional events will make the league better and more exciting. The current members that enter optional events will appreciate what is being offered and members that either don’t enter or participate once in a while in optionals may become an optional bowler for life. So promotions are a good thing. As you will see, I may have had a few too many promotions but at least I offered some mind blowing events that no other leagues have ever tried. The Vantage Lite Traveling Masters league became Tucson, Arizona’s best league because of the way the league was promoted. I’ll let you know the reasons to promote and what was offered in the 9 seasons plus that I helped build a league to double its’ members and increase the sweeper prize fund five times over. I’m writing this article so others can benefit from trying new things that can make your league more successful. I started slow with a few new optionals to create interest and when the bowlers responded in a huge way, they kind of snowballed to the upcoming list. These promotions were done in a scratch league and with small changes will work for handicapped leagues.

       For the bowlers that do don’t know me, I have been a league secretary 4 times and a tournament director 3 times so I have been around the block a few times. The good thing is that I did things differently from other secretaries and know that promoting the league, your member’s good scores, offering weekly optionals and the season ending sweeper keeps bowlers not only interested, but excited to participate in the league. 30 years ago, bowlers would only see their name on the standings sheet if it was in the three scores for the season. There was no high scores for the week. Not much on the line in sweepers because there were no brackets. Several times I shot scores in the middle or late in the season that just missed the top three, so therefore my name didn’t make the standings sheet. American Bowling Congress had generic standings sheet and secretaries had to hand print or type them in. My first job at secretary lasted 2 seasons before Iceland Bowl closed the doors and I put the standings for the league on a 11” by 17” sheet because I had a computer. The 4 Stars Major league was a scratch league and I listed the top 5 games and series for the week and the top 20 games and series for the season. It had individual and team points listed to show the value of winning those team points. It had the bowler’s and team’s average over the last 4 weeks to show who was bowling the best for the last month. I did a small newsletter each week recapping last week’s results along with strikes thrown, number of opens and bowlers stringing strikes. It also listed league information like when the last two weeks were due. Most bowlers appreciated the extra work I did. Imagine with 63 other bowlers in the league and eight told you that you did a great job in your very first season. It showed the extra work made an impression.

      A short history on the league where promotions gave new meaning to it. The Tucson Bowl Masters had just 12 teams for the 1995-96 season, losing 10 teams from the previous season due to a new traveling scratch league that formed, bowling at two centers. The secretary had the impression that nobody wanted to bowl the following season so the center had to call the members to inform them on a meeting date. The Masters had the most unique format for any league I’ve ever been in so I went to the meeting. None of the current officers showed up as well as some of the Masters bowlers who jumped ships to bowl in this new league. That meant all new officers had to be elected. John Baab was elected President and I was elected Secretary/ Treasurer. The members decided to start a traveling league due to some complaints about conditions at Tucson Bowl. Now with a competing scratch league that also traveled, promoting the league was not only necessary, but MUST HAPPEN for the league’s survival. The reasons to promote are what had to happen that first season I was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Vantage Lite Traveling Masters league.

      The last sweeper of the Tucson Bowl Masters league wasn’t organized and had only 33% of the league participating. Only 2 pair of lanes besides the Roll-Off teams were needed. I cashed for a 2nd high game and lost money. It wasn’t a good feeling. With being secretary, I now have a chance to make things happen. The GREATEST thing that happened that first season of the Traveling Masters (To be referred to as T.M.s) was that John, our new president supported and approved my promotions because he also felt they would make the league stronger. I told him we needed changes to get more bowlers interested in the sweeper which would help retain members for future seasons. I started selling weekly strike pots with about $10 a week going into the league’s sweeper fund. $350 in added money for the sweeper will get more bowler involved in the sweeper. After a month of bowlers buying $1 and $2 each week, I went to John again. I told him the league should give $4 in tickets for $3 in sales (FREE $1 in tickets) and $7 for $5 in sales (FREE $2 in tickets) just like they do in Color Pins promotions. He said that sounded good and the very next week, ticket sales doubled and continued for several weeks. Now $15 to $20 was going into the fund depending on sales. With the added money from increased sales, the sweeper would have more prize money in ticket sales that the past sweeper’s total prize fund. Strike pots are now bigger with many weeks having two tickets being called. Some leagues have a 50/50 pot, but I felt that since it is a scratch league that bowlers should have to earn it. This also meant that pots not hit for that week, we would have money carried over for the following week and bowlers will spend a little more with two pots to start the evening. What the strike pots did was just the start of the explosion of optional events and promoting the league. The sweeper prize fund in the T.M.s first year was $1600, over 5 times that of the last Tucson Bowl Masters sweeper. Participation from the members doubled so just the promoting from within the league was astronomical. With the added money from the league’s sponsors’, Vantage Bowling Centers and Miller Lite beer, a lot was at stake to keep the league going as with 24 teams in the league, there would be an added $9400 into the prize fund. The start of the Stats Plus exclusive Tournament of Champions for bracket winners also helped get the members attention with added prize money coming from money deducted from weekly brackets that all persons in other leagues running brackets line their pockets with every week. The T.M.s league was known as the league of optional events.  So now you know a little about me and why I went beyond what most secretaries will do. Read my mission statement about promoting.

      A league secretaries’ job is sometimes thankless. They are to do weekly standings, turn in awards, furnish averages when needed and keep minutes for meetings. No where does ABC or USBC state that they have to promote their league. Most secretaries will not do any more than they have to. That’s not the way I ever have done the job. Promotion is a lot of work. If it was easy and didn’t require a lot of time, more secretaries would do it in a heartbeat. I’ve been asked this summer if I’m trying to compete with the league at Fiesta Lanes? I answered, ‘The league really can’t compete because of the teams in the league at Fiesta, because most bowlers have been there for over 15 years. I’m just offering an alternative for bowlers interested for Fridays and maybe can’t get on a team at Fiesta. This was after my article in Desert Bowler promoting the league. I also had a bowler call to join the league. So I spent less than one hour writing the article with an added $3000 in league sponsors and caught 2 bowlers attention. I’m sure many have read it but I was only informed by 2 bowlers. As some of you know, I bowled in the Fiesta league until I wasn’t having fun in it. Lefthanders winning the majority of brackets, no scores posted online and sometimes 45 minutes to drive there got old. Many bowlers have thanked me for what I did in the T.M.s league which is one reason the promotions had a snowball effect. After several seasons, that snowman was built by T.M.s members who were grateful for what I offered them and showed it by the increased entries. 

     My 13 reasons for promoting the T.M.s league not only made the league better along with the other 12 reasons, but it also made it Tucson’s BEST LEAGUE while I was secretary. It attracted Tucson’s best bowlers which help make the T.M.s’ the fasting growing scratch league in Tucson. The league STILL HOLDS THE RECORD for Tucson’s BEST SWEEPER which grew from $1600 in its first season in 1997 to $8478 seven seasons later. 83 of the 96 members for 86% entered the sweeper which paid 300 cash spots. $2573 in total added money from sponsors and the league secretary. Another example showing that promoting the league worked. Without promoting the league, it might have had as many as 18 teams, not 24.

     The members were offered many Stats Plus exclusive optional events that became an imprint for the T.M.s. Thanks to the GREAT SPONSORS of optional events, the T.M.s gave away more FREE money and had more free events than bowlers ever dreamed of. There was more free events offered than most leagues running optional events. It was a great feeling when the other officers of the league supports your ideas on how to make the league better and the bowlers let you know you were doing a great job. 

     Now I’ll show why promoting the league makes good business sense with my 13 reasons  why every league should promote their league and what the T.M.s offered the bowlers and sponsors to become Tucson’s best league ever as all 13 reasons took place:

     1. To keep your members coming back for more. Even just one member can cost your

           league a full team. He bowls another league and takes part of the team with him. If

           the remaining bowlers of the team feel that the league has nothing to offer them, 

           they will find another league to bowl in. Competing in optional events are why some

           bowlers made the T.M.s their home. I went beyond just a few optionals, I offered FREE

           ENTRIES and FREE EVENTS to optional bowlers to keep the excitement level high and

           had suggestions from members on what I should offer next. I will cover promoting

           from within the league later.

     2. To let your GREAT Sponsors know that the league appreciates their added money

              season after season. Use their name in the league’s name and paste their logo and

           standing sheets, recaps, league flyers, banners and league boards. GET THEIR NAME

              OUT THERE. That’s what they want for their buck and league should make sure it’s

           being done to keep them for the following seasons. The T.M.s had their own recaps

           printed with league sponsors’ logos and the league’s website address. The league 

           board at the 5 centers, the weekly boards that traveled with us, the weekly 

           newsletter and the standings sheet as well as any flyers the public would see our

           GREAT Sponsors logos on them. One of the few things that didn’t have logos was the

           league rules because of the number of rules, (didn’t have room).

     3. To make your league better. Even with everything the league offered, I tried and

           offered ways for more bowlers in the league to bowl in optional events and be 

           competitive. If there are enough seniors, offer senior events. Have over and under

           brackets and eliminators. The Traveling Masters had 3 divisions in the Eliminator,

           open, 205 & under and seniors. If you have an under division like we had, a bowler

           that booked 220 shouldn’t be allowed in a 205 & under at any time during the 

           season. In another league, a 218 book average was allowed in 200 and under early

           in the season and was winning almost all the brackets because he bowled bad for

           a few weeks. Having that happen doesn’t make your league better. It could keep 

           under bowlers from ever participating again. I also GUARANTEED under bowlers 

           additional cash in the sweeper. If the league is fun to bowl, members will continue

           to return the next season. If they get a bad taste in their mouth, they won’t.

    4. To make the league unique. To have its very own idenity. The T.M.s already had a

            unique format with Qualifying and Divisional action. Offering Stats Plus exclusives

            with FREE ENTRIES, FREE OPTIONALS, FREE TOURNAMENTS, a FREE SWEEPER, Travel 

            brackets and eliminator, the first optional Doubles league in Tucson and two 

            chances to cash in for 2 divisions in the eliminator is without a doubt making the 

            league unique. $700 in FREE CASH went to bracket Champions during the sweeper

            and that started with just a $5 Tournament of Champions with added cash from

            the weekly brackets. I still have not heard of a league that offers a T. of C. during 

            their sweeper. 

     5. To create excitement week after week. With everything that was offered, there was

            always something to look forward to every week. Missing just one week and you 

            might have to bowl preliminary rounds for the $700 T. of C., as only 16 could bowl 

            sweeper night. The most weeks that a bowler won a bracket during Qualifying gave

            him an automatic spot for sweeper night. The $10 Andy Clark’s Pro Shop bracket on

            sweeper night was seeded by the number of rounds you advanced in brackets. 

            The top 16 were offered first chance and went down to the 22nd seed to fill the 16 

            spots. With 25 ways to promote from within the league, each week was different.

     6. To get more members involved in optional events during the season, the under

                bowler division happened and later the seniors had their own division. They

             competed against their own division until the finals because of being a scratch

             league and as some of you know, anyone can beat anyone in a one game match.

             With different lane conditions at the five centers, the under bowlers won their share

             of the money offered. With more cash offered for under bowlers in Tucson’s best 

             sweeper, over 85% of the league participated in the optional sweeper that was

             scratch for all bowlers who entered.

      7. To give all members a chance to make extra money. It’s always nice to get decent

             money back from the league before you bowl Nationals, but to double or triple

             your winnings during the sweeper made bowling the T.M.s even more enjoyable. 

             There has been at least four bowlers who have won over $1000 just on the 4 games

             they bowled sweeper night. There were three four game events held on sweeper.

             The Air Excellence FREE ENTRY $700 T. Of C., the $10 Andy Clark’s Pro Shop bracket 

              where Andy threw in a $50 gift certificate and a $5 Line-X Eliminator with $50 from

              Line-X. The $15 sweeper entry fee and winning these three events would have you 

              taking home an additional $355 in your pocket for over 20 times your entry fee.

     8. To get higher and lower averages bowling against their own average group. I‘ve

              already covered the under and senior divisions to increase participation in 

              optionals. The under division could change from season to season depending on 

              teams added and new bowlers. The under should be around the middle average

              (mean average) not league average. The T.M.s started with 203 and under and 

               when I resigned, it went up to 205 and under. At 205, the league had 37

               averaging over 205 and 59 under 206.

     9. To have more participation in the sweeper. I helped make Tucson’s best sweeper

               by offering what I thought bowlers wanted and the bowlers responded in a big 

               way. It grew at least $460 for seven years and jumped $2000 when it went from

               $4340 to $6340 in 2001 with 24 teams both years. It’s the bowlers that made

               organizing the sweeper fun when they spend more money than the previous year

               showing that they wanted a tournament type atmosphere. It was also the

               bowlers who made Tucson’s best sweeper by their participation in it. $150 was

               GUARANTEED 1st place in singles for most of the years. $100 for a $5 entry “Pick

               your Partner’ Doubles for $250 if you won both. Both had some added money with

               singles paying 1 in 4 and Doubles was paying 1 in 6 entries. Another Stats Plus 

               exclusive was offered and help increase prize funds each year, the Prize fund 

               reduction. Bowlers would fill out a sign-up slip with optionals available to sign-up

               for and they would fill in the blanks with number of brackets, doubles, eliminator

               and Andy Clark’s bracket. In the nine seasons, only one bowler failed to call when

               he was unable to bowl that night and was given some of his entry fees back.

               There were a few who spent over $200 hoping to have a big night and took home

               over $1000. I won lucky enough to win $866 in 2003.

     10. To get word of mouth advertising from your members to bowlers in other leagues.

               Some bowlers talk to others about what they got back after the season was over

               and learned that with the added $9400 from our great sponsors, Vantage and 

               Miller Lite that all bowlers were guaranteed 40% of the weekly fees back at the

               end of will the season. Some teams in the other scratch league were getting 

               maybe 20% back. Then bowlers were talking about Tucson’s best sweeper and 

               jumped back to the T.M.s. Word of mouth advertising is the best advertising as

               the bowler’s experience and expectations would hold a lot of weight with friends

               and fellow bowlers and grab their attention.

     11. To attract new members and teams in an attempt to fill the center. More teams 

               always means a bigger prize fund. AND A FULL CENTER CAN ATTRACT LEAGUE 

               SPONSORS or another league sponsor. Bigger usually means better and the T.M.s

               with the promotions I did, had no problem getting teams and individuals to see 

               what the league had to offer them. Having a league website can help a league 

               grow because friends all over the U.S.A can now find out how well you’re doing.

     12. To obtain sponsors for league, teams and optional events. 10 years ago, it was

               somewhat easy to ask sponsors for $30 to $40 to help the T.M.s because I had a

               promotional book that had some of the website pages in it and they knew that

               bowlers could bring them more business. And bowlers new to their business,

               could be return customers. I’m working on the sponsor’s page for the T.M.s and 

               have some sponsors on there now. Thanks go out to all sponsors that helped

               Tucson’s best league in any way to not only help promote their business but to 

               make the T.M.s a better league with their support. Sponsors and the league

               should work together so both can benefit and grow from the partnership.

     13. And finally, to let everyone know you’re willing to go the extra distance to get ALL

                  OF THE ABOVE ITEMS to create more interest in the league. With the Desert

              Bowler magazine, I was able to write articles about the league, the sweeper, the

              great sponsors and I offered tips on the mental game to help bowlers improve on

               that part of their game. I was able to fill a team that quit halfway in the season

              due to an article in Desert Bowler, the league’s website and flyers at all 5 Vantage

              centers stating it was a win-win situation for the team. They would be guaranteed

              80% of the weekly fees back just by taking over and paying the remainder of the 

              season. A week after the article, the spot was filled but without promoting the 

              league, that team may not have joined and the league would have had a

              vacancy the remainder of the season. The power of promoting is prominent

              and possible.

      These 13 reasons grabbed the attention of a lot of Tucson’s bowlers and made it enjoyable for the first seven seasons to show up every week. Promotions are a way to let others know you’re alive and doing well. If the secretary won’t promote the league, who will? Some of you say the bowlers? Some bowlers will if the league has good competition, offers more than other leagues with the number of brackets and number of bowlers getting in the Eliminator, having more optional events, has a good prize fund because of the number of teams and league sponsorship, has a unique format to make the Roll-Offs, has sponsors for optional events to increase interest, has a sweeper with added cash, the sweeper has more events than other leagues, bowling is fun due to the bowlers that are in the league and because of the FREE events and FREE entries. The T.M.s league offered members all of these. It’s why the league doubled in size four seasons later and now bowlers may never see another league like it. I can only hope that the majority of the leagues in the future will promote and offer events to make their league enjoyable to the masses.

Message me, Alan Brizee  @Path to Excellence  w/ Q's

       As some of you know, very few secretaries help promote the league they are getting paid for the work they do. Why is this? Most promotions don't take a lot of time, and some don't need a lot of extra cash for the prize fund! This article shows what I did to create so much interest in the league that it doubled in 3 seasons by promoting in the state's bowling newspaper. So, I doubled my secretaries fee in three seasons. That meant I could take some of the extra money I earned and add some of it into events to retain bowlers and attract new bowlers when a few bowlers left the league. More prize fund makes for better events and creates more interest for that event! If you read my Why promote article (Above), you'll know that it's the only way to show your members that you want to do a GREAT job!

       These 28 ideas for promotions was the reason why the Traveling Masters league (will be known as T.M.s) was the GREATEST LEAGUE EVER! The optional events offered were 2nd to none! Some take little time, some with added money attract bowlers and be the first to offer something new to the league! These four ideas not only made the league grow, but the other scratch league folded due to what I saw, a top-heavy prize fund. My prize fund reduction was HUGE has it gave bowlers the chance at participating in more sweeper events and they helped the sweeper prize fund grow at least $500 every season I was secretary! Offering something that worked, shows that doing things to increase participation and the prize fund is what made the Traveling Masters league GREAT!

     Have you ever won a FREE ENTRY into your league sweeper? It was what I offered my

members, and then offered FREE TOURNAMENTS! Something FREE will get bowlers

attention. The FREE ENTRIES were based on the stats I kept for the league. 

PROMOTIONS made the Traveling Masters the GREATEST league ever!

By Alan Brizee  (c) 2014  Rev. 2024  Author of The Path to Excellence and

      From Excellence to Success

     Did promotions make the league GREAT? The answer is maybe. Promoting helped attract bowlers, but it really the bowlers who participated in what I offered that other leagues did not, is why the league became GREAT!

     A balancing act of time and money is needed before you enter the promotion zone. All but one of the promotions will require some time but a little time now can get huge rewards in the future. Quite a few promotions will pull some money from your pocket, but it’s not about the present situation you have, it should be about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that you shooting for. How much time you ask? Time doesn’t stand still and I definitely was not accused of standing around. Some can be just a few minutes at the computer. Others like a website that can take weeks, optional events that take several weeks and the weekly newsletter can take a half hour or more. The promotions didn’t use up all my extra time. I did spend some time talking to optional bowlers on ideas I had to keep events fresh and exciting for those that would enter. It’s all about making the league fun for the majority of the members. Of all my promotions, only two bombed, the pro fantasy league and the 30 frame league game. I believe that a lot of bowlers were at their maximum spending limit in the league when these events started. They were two attempts at offering something new and with all the rest of the optional events offered was just too much. One thing members of the T.M.s can’t say is that I only did what I had to do. Is it worth it? (It’s been said that businesses will advertise at least once, when they’re going out of business.) Trying to promote after several teams dropped last season may be too late to replace those teams. Promoting the league lets the members know that you will do more to keep the bowlers and make it better in the future if new bowlers join the league. A lot of promotions cost money and to spend let’s say $120 a year for the league’s website if the league grows even one or two teams per season it is worth the money. Two more teams work out to $140 or $20 more in my pocket. FREE entries and events can cost as little as $40 to over $100. If I only get 60% of my secretaries fee supporting a few optional events, I consider it a great season and the bowlers had a great time competing in events that few leagues would think of offering. If people running brackets would give just $10 into a sweeper bracket, over $300 would be added and first place could pay $100. It would attract more bowlers and make the league more exciting. I promote my leagues because I love the sport and it makes it better for all the members of the league, future members and the great sponsors the league will have. As the T.M.s league responded with huge number of entries from the bowlers, all bowlers would agree that it’s very well worth it.

     There are two methods to promoting a bowling league and both should be used. First you need to promote within to get members involved and then promote outside the league to create interest for bowlers wanting to join the league. Also start small to think about the big picture. Think about the averages of the bowlers and what’s in it for them. When I was secretary of the Traveling Masters, I always did what was in the best interest of the league and with the response from most of the bowlers, it shows that is the only way to promote your league. There are some bowlers out there who may tell you different stories, but when you look at the final results you’ll come up with the same answer, that what happened was for the majority of the league and not just for a few bowlers. When a league has an $8478 sweeper prize fund, it shows that promoting from within the league and then outside the league proves that offering what the bowlers wanted and giving them a way to prepay was the biggest promotion of any league ever. I did some exclusive promotions and was the first in Tucson to offer some promotions. The Traveling Masters wasn’t Tucson’s best league because of offering promotions. The Traveling Masters was Tucson’s best league because promoting the league by all avenues possible got bowlers attention and that the majority of bowlers participated in optionals and filled the 24 lane Tucson Bowl. “You can only fail if you give up.” –Unknown. I never give up, I might not make the best decision, but I’m always willing to do what will make the league better.

     Promoting from within means offering the members an event that hopefully they will not only be willing to participate in but be excited about. Cost is one way to promote events. Everybody thinks of $5 brackets and Eliminators. You could have $5 brackets for over bowlers and $3 for under bowlers. Think about it, just running brackets really doesn’t create excitement or for that matter promote the league. It is of course better than nothing. If all bracket winners earn a spot in your super bracket in week 15 of the season, you have added excitement. Give all bracket bowlers in week 19 of the season a FREE ENTRY into the mega bracket with each round a best 2 of 3 match and takes 4 to 5 weeks to find the winner and you’ve added even more excitement. NOW top all of that with (a Stats Plus Exclusive), a FREE ENTRY Tournament of Champions where all Champions compete for a $700 prize fund on sweeper night and now the league has excitement to the maximum. There was also two FREE ENTRIES in the sweeper Eliminator for the top Eliminator bowlers from the regular season to stimulate the members.

      With my list of 28 promotions, the designations are:

 T= time.  Requires some or little extra time, outside of league.

 $= money. Requires sponsors or using Secretaries fee to guarantee prize fund offered.

 1st= 1st in Tucson to offer event. 

 SP= a Stats Plus exclusive event started in the T.M.s.

      T,                  SP.    1. No other league has a full 8 1/2 by 11” weekly newsletter. It’s a recap

                                     of the best scores for last week, information on upcoming optional

                                     events, results of winning prize funds, reminders for when fees are

                                     due and had a mental section to help bowlers become better by

                                     gaining insight of their mental game. It took about a half hour on

                                     the computer.

      T,  $,           SP.    2. The weekly recap sheets I had printed for the league had the logos

                                           of league sponsors, listed the website address and had my phone

                                           number on it to give the T.M.s a more professional image. It took 2

                                     hours to design the recap and $100 for the 3-part paper. There was

                                     no cost to print recaps except for the ink in the printer.

      T.                       3. Standings sheet with league sponsors’ logos on them. Putting

                                     Vantage Bowling Centers and Miller Lite logos took about 5 minutes

                                     and gave the T.M.s its own identity.

      T.                              4. Keep statistics for the league. Even in handicapped leagues,

                                     bowlers can improve their game if the secretary passed out a stats

                                     sheet. Opens and strikes per game, single pin spare percentage and

                                     no-taps per game would show the bowlers strengths and what they

                                     need to work on. Time involved was 1 to 2 hours.

      T,        1st.           5. Offer an Optional league (Doubles, Singles, Trios). The T.M.s was the

                                     first to introduce an optional doubles league to Tucson and now

                                     several leagues have realized the value to its’ members to continue

                                     to offer another exciting league within a league with 100% prize fund

                                     as the regular league already pays lineage. With the league being on

                                     the computer, it took less than a half hour to punch in scores and a

                                     little time to submit prize funds for the league to vote on and the

                                     treasurer to pay out. This would be a great way to get a sponsor’s

                                     name out there if more than half of the league participates in it and 

                                     would increase the prize fund.

      T.                       6. Sell strike pot tickets instead of the regular 50/50 tickets. A bowler

                                     must strike to win the pot and if he misses, it gets carried over to the

                                     next pot or even next week where ticket sales would increase if 2 to 3

                                     pots were to be drawn. A $25 pot with a bowler getting $9 for his 9

                                     count would leave $16 to be carried over to the next pot. If two pots

                                     are carried over, there could be at least double the normal weekly

                                     sales and more money for the prize fund or sweeper fund. Only a

                                     small amount of time would be used and that would be to post

                                     amount of carry over on standings sheet, newsletter and the

                                     weekly board.

           $.                       7. Sell 50/50 tickets and reward members who will buy more tickets. If

                                     they buy $3, they would get $4 in tickets for a FREE $1. Buying $5 and

                                     they will receive $7 in tickets for a FREE $2. They do this in color pins

                                     no-tap events at the center to get bowlers to spend a few more

                                     dollars. To increase sales, have the center announce the amount

                                     bowlers could win. Very few leagues do this. When I sold strike pot

                                     tickets in the T.M.s and there was carryover, I’d let everyone know and

                                     bowlers who never bought tickets before, would spend $3 for a

                                     chance at $50. Bowlers will get excited when more money is up for

                                     grabs so the league should do its’ part and let them know about it.

                                     The cost would be the extra tickets being given out if the league buys

                                     tickets but with the cost could be reimbursed, there is no cost.

      T,                  SP.    8. Run a FREE Super bracket to reward bracket winners with a

                                           guaranteed spot in the FREE entry T. of C. With all the Champions of

                                     brackets over most of the season, this bracket will give a bowler

                                     wining just two different weeks a way to the GUARANTEED cash spots

                                     on sweeper night, instead of bowling in the preliminaries to get in the

                                     16 bowler FREE entry T. of C. sweeper bracket where all 16 are

                                     GUARANTEED to cash. Most of your time will be when you will seed the

                                     bowlers for the matchups and that could take 5 minutes.

      T,                  SP.    9. Start FREE Mega brackets to give past bracket participants, another

                                           chance at no cost to them, a shot at becoming a champion and

                                           participate in the FREE entry T. of C. A few minutes to randomize

                                     bowlers and great when a non-champion wins to qualify for the

                                     T. of C.

        T,  $,  1st.           10. Run a few FREE brackets. Reward bracket bowlers with extra money.

                                      Run brackets for bowlers who never get in brackets to show that they

                                      have a chance to cash and pay out $10 and $5 or $6 and $3. There

                                      are many ways to run free brackets and get new bowlers a chance

                                      to feel the rush after winning one. Do these after about a third of the

                                      season because if you hook new bowlers, they will want to have a

                                      chance to qualify for the T. of C. As you can see, very little time and

                                      money is needed.

      T,                  SP.   11. Have a Non Champions bracket. With the added money in the $700

                                      FREE ENTRY Tournament of Champions, bowlers without a bracket

                                      win would get excited to enter this for $5 and get their name added

                                      to the list of champions after winning. Just a few minutes is needed

                                      to randomize bowlers who haven’t won yet.

      T,  $,           SP.     12. Hold a League wide bracket. It gets every member involved and

                                       bowlers who never spend a dime on brackets are checking the 

                                       board to see if they advanced to the next round. It could be one

                                       game matches or best 2 of 3 if you want to stretch it out over

                                       several weeks. The time is for inputting scores and winner could 

                                       receive a free week.

       T,  $,  1st,  SP.     13. Give bowlers FREE entries into brackets and eliminators. Run free

                                       brackets for those that entered half of the weeks for another

                                       chance at the T. of C. Draw for a free entry into the brackets before

                                       league starts so bracket bowlers will feel like they’re getting their 

                                       money’s worth with another opportunity to cash in. The same goes 

                                       for the eliminator. Very little time and a small reward may get more

                                       member’s attention.

         T,  $,  1st,  SP.   14. Travel leagues could have Travel brackets & Travel eliminator. I 

                                       ran 16 bowler brackets and a few eliminators over 4 weeks. These

                                       were for the die-hards and did fill up after I let the bracket bowlers 

                                       get in both halves if 16 didn’t enter. A little time to promote at what

                                       center it would start at and punch in scores.

        T,  $,  1st,  SP.   15. Add excitement with the 2nd Chance in your Eliminators. I started

                                       the 2nd chance in my 6thseason to increase participation and it

                                       worked in a big way. About 60% of bracket bowlers spent the $5 in

                                       the Divisional Eliminator because the last game had everyone 

                                       together and 1 of every 4 weeks won by an 205 and under average

                                       bowler. But now they miss a cut and can still win their entry back 

                                       made a huge difference. The following season it was changed to

                                       opens and seniors with their own 2nd chance and the 205 and under

                                       bowlers now competing against their own division for their entry fee

                                       back. Now 85% were participating. The Eliminator my first season in 

                                       the T.M.s was the only four game event in the sweeper and that

                                       started two other events with 4 games, the T. of C. and the $10 Andy

                                       Clark’s Pro Shop bracket.

        T,       1st,  SP.     16. Offer a 16 bowler $10 sweeper bracket during the sweeper. That’s

                                       $160 in the prize fund without a sponsor. It was offered to the top 16

                                       bracket bowlers of the season by division and gave bracket bowlers

                                       another reason to enter every week to qualify for this event. The

                                       bowlers were based on the number of rounds bowlers advanced.

                                       Again, not much time is used to post standings and seed bowlers

                                       for sweeper.

        T,       1st,  SP.      17. On sweeper night, bowlers may be interested in a Doubles bracket

                                             with random draw. Ran 2 to 3 brackets needing 16 bowlers to

                                       participate for a few sweepers. I was the first in Tucson to offer this

                                       unique event and another opportunity at cashing in the sweeper.

                                       Some time is needed to upload names into program.

      T,  $,           SP.    18. Start advertising your Tournament of Champions the first week of 

                                             the new season. This is the King of all Stats Plus promotions and

                                       helped create Tucson’s best sweeper. At the time I resigned, it was

                                             the GREATEST promotion of the league that offered all bracket

                                      champions a FREE ENTRY at a $700 prize fund. I have never heard of

                                      any other league to offer their members who participated in brackets

                                      and won at least once, their own tournament on sweeper night. All

                                      added money came from deducting $3 from every $5 bracket paying

                                      out $37 of the $40 for a full bracket and deducting $2 on brackets

                                      with 7 bowlers. For the $3 under brackets, $2 went into the T. of C. fund.

                                      The T. of C. went through some changes from the first year. The first

                                      time was just 8 champions paying $5 and they were seeded by the

                                      number of weeks won. The next year after 4 more teams jumped on

                                      the bandwagon to enjoy the T.M.s competition, 16 champions

                                      qualified paying $5 making this a 4 game event. The third year was

                                      the start of FREE ENTRIES as the league now had 20 teams which

                                      meant more bowlers competing in brackets, so there was no need to

                                      charge an entry fee. The time involved is ranking bowlers by the

                                      number of weeks they won. I’ll post one of these pages on the

                                      league’s website. There is no out of pocket expense, it’s just the

                                      person running brackets put some of his earnings into the T. of C.

                                      fund for the champions to shoot for some great cash on sweeper

                                      night. The number of champions depends on the size of the league

                                      and the top four champions get seeded while the other spots go to

                                      champions competing the week before the sweeper in preliminary

                                     rounds to qualify for the remaining spots on sweeper night. The

                                     reason to go to four games is to allow members to finalize the

                                     sweeper payouts. Bowlers could now watch some serious matches

                                     with as much as $50 to $100 on the line for winning instead of the rest 

                                     of the league looking over the shoulders of members getting final

                                     results and offering advice that they should be placed higher.

       T,  $,  1st,  SP.  19. Contest for free weeks. In the newsletter, ask trivia questions and

                                           draw out of the correct answers a free week for the winner. Usually

                                     75% or better of the members will participate when free money is

                                     involved and only a little time is needed to find the answer. My way of

                                     free weeks now will be to find something on the website to get

                                     members involved in going online to find information they won’t see

                                     at other sites.

       T,       1st,  SP.   20. Using Stats for free sweeper entry. I started with 3 bowlers and after

                                     two seasons, gave our four free sweeper entries into Tucson’s best

                                     sweeper. It got more members looking at more stats than most

                                     bowlers cared about. The stats show why the higher average

                                     members are the league’s top bowlers. The little time I spent for a

                                     leader board got more involved in noticing my many stats.

       T,       1st.             21. High score building pot. With today’s equipment and conditions, this

                                    pot may never build up. It starts at 300 and drops 1 or 2 pins per week

                                    until a bowler shoots the score or better for that week. Bowlers not in

                                    half of the weeks can shoot for 50% of the pot to keep subs from

                                    bowling one week and taking home all the cash. Even for $1, I got a

                                    little less than 50% of the members interested. This pot was great 30

                                    years ago when scores were much lower, but for some leagues it

                                    would work. Some league have a 300 pot for $5 and must shoot 300

                                    and be in the pot to claim the money. 

       T,                SP.   22. Clean set building pot. This pot was hit almost every week when I first

                                    tried it so it didn’t build the pot to get more bowlers interested. The

                                    next season was a 1 open pot for 2 weeks which did build quite often

                                    because of the 5 centers the T.M.s bowled at. Checking the telescores

                                    doesn’t take up much time.

        T,  S.                   23. Have a drawing for Double Cross or Triple Cross. I did these drawings

                                    the opening week to spark interest in the many optional events and to

                                    have members read the newsletter for upcoming optional events. The

                                    winner would give his team a free week.

       T,              SP.     24. Poker hand based on first ball counts. Obviously 5 strikes would be a

                                    good hand, but a straight beats it due to the difficultly of getting a 6, 7,

                                    8, 9 and a strike. The poker hand pot was tried for a season and you

                                    guessed it, no straights were thrown. There can be 6 hands per week

                                    or use just the final 5 frames. Time involved is checking scores and

                                    standing sheet.

      T,  $,  1st,  SP.  25. 30 frame league game tournament. After bowling in the 40 Frame  

                                    Game Tournament at Nationals, I decided to convert it to a league

                                    format. Even though this didn’t get the entries that I hoped for, I ma

                                    try it on Fridays my second season as secretary since it is a

                                    handicapped league and may interest the members. The majority of

                                    the time involved is to design a score sheet based on the bowlers

                                    count each frame. Then some time to input scores and produce a

                                    standings sheet. 

       T.                           26. March Madness. Is there anything crazier than the three weeks of

                                    NCAA Basketball that starts in in March. Bowlers makes their picks on

                                    who will win each round and the Championship. I charged $1 to enter

                                    and could submit up to 3 brackets and I added $20 to interest more

                                    to enter. It was open to anyone that wanted to enter. 100% plus the

                                    $20 was paid out and the players could see their brackets online and

                                    find out which of their teams needed to win for them to win 1st place

                                    in the pool. Time involved is uploading all entries to the madness

                                    website for their computer to determine who still has a chance to

                                    take home the 1st place money. NOTE: This can only happen to

                                    legaues on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays due to bracket

                                    show on Sunday and March Madness starts on Thursday morning!

       T.                           27. Draw a Mystery Score. For only $1, all bowlers have a shot at throwing

                                    the score to win this building pot. BLS has a program to make sure a

                                    different score is used for the number of weeks you punch in. Share

                                    the wealth and have at least 2 to 3 bowlers claim the pot instead of

                                    just one winner. Announce the carryover each week so the league can

                                    get excited when over $100. Have the scores from 170 to 250 so that

                                    anybody can win the pot that’s sure to get the majority of the

                                    members involved in. Only 5 minutes are needed. 

       T.                          28. Vote for the All-Star team. For three seasons, the members voted for

                                    the league’s best four bowlers to get elected to the All-Star team. The

                                    last year bowlers voted, it was more a popularity vote and not based

                                    on the current season. With the stats I kept and passed out with the

                                    voting slips, it should have obvious who should make the team. So the

                                    next season, bowlers were ranked by their weekly position of high

                                    series. The time involved took about 15 minutes to design a ballot slip.

    What a list I have, 28 ways to manufacture excitement, and it doesn’t have regular brackets or an eliminator listed, partly due to most leagues already offer it to members. I wanted to show others what can be offered to make the league more entertaining. When I started to promote the T.M.s, I never would have dreamed the list would have been 28 methods to increase interest in a league. 25 of them were used in the T.M.s with 20 being used every season. It shows that I didn’t mind taking the time and spending some cash to promote the T.M.s because when you have the best league around, promotions helped keep it the best league because the majority of the bowlers participating in them enjoyed what I offered and attracted members when teams needed bowlers to fill their team.

          Promoting outside the league primarily takes time and some will involve money. It will show other leagues that you’re willing to let the world know what the league has to offer after promoting from within. Remember that if your league is full and can’t expand this season, you may feel that promoting is a waste of time. Team(s) may drop due to circumstances and with all those promotions, new teams will have your league in mind when an opening occurs. 11 ways to let bowlers know you care:

       1. Get a domain name website. The T.M.s didn’t have a domain name website 10 years

             ago, but now it’s under $100 a year and a great way your league gets noticed. The 

             software to put pages on are not that good as 10 years ago, but you will be able to

             make it look professional in almost no time. This will be a big help in getting

             sponsors for optional events. More exposure could lead to bigger sponsors and 

             more league sponsors. Make sure you have a sponsor’s page and again thank the

             sponsors who are helping the league. If the sponsor doesn’t feel appreciated, it 

             may be the last season of their sponsorship.

       2. Put league standings online. Bowl.com and leaguesecretaries.com will publish

             standings sheet uploaded by the league secretaries programs. Bowlers moving 

             into town can now search for leagues they might be interested in on these two

             sites. Bowlers that may retire in your city can look up leagues they will want to join.

       3. Put a league board up at the center. The T.M.s had five league boards, one at each

             of the five centers we traveled to. A lot of bowlers noticed the boards because I 

             went to the 5 centers every week and updated them and saw bowlers reading 

             them. Some bowlers asked me questions about the league as I was updating

             them. It shows that putting your league where all can see makes good 

             business sense.

       4. Put together a weekly board. This board will serve both promoting inside and

             outside the league. It will have current league sponsor logos on the top of it,

             league standings, weekly newsletter, bracket and optional event results from last

             week, point leaders in optionals, statistics, high scores and upcoming

             tournaments. You should buy an easel so the board is at eye level so bowlers can

             read it.

        5. Print up some business cards with the league on it. There are two reasons for this. 

             The secretary is really the spokesperson for the league. Give cards to the team 

             captains of each team. Give cards to bowlers who may want to bowl in your 

             league. Give your card to potential sponsors of optional events when you first talk

             to them. Leave some at the front desk of the bowling center. The second reason

             is that business cards even printed by the computer will give the league an image

             of professionalism. I don’t know any secretary that has ever had them printed. I 

             have impressed lot of people by giving my cards out. They think it’s only a bowling 

             league, but if you really think about it, it’s also a business with elected officers.

       6. Obtain sponsors for sweeper events. This will help secure more bowlers for an

             optional sweeper. More money makes more memories and excitement which

             turns into more entries. And with additional members participating, the overall 

             sweeper prize fund increases. Some of the sponsors were businesses I went to on

             a regular basis. I gave them my business card and asked if they could help. I was

             only turned down by of couple of businesses. Most were not only surprised, but

             were flattered that I asked them.

        7. Thank all sponsors, big or small with either a letter or a certificate of appreciation

                when they pay fees or hands the league a check. I did this all nine seasons and I 

             noticed some sponsors put up the certificate at their place of business. The little

             things like this can go a loooooong way in the league’s partnership. The image the

             league presents to sponsors should be more businesslike than to potential

             bowlers. Remember that both sponsors and bowlers can make or break your

             league. 

       8. Write Articles for the bowling newspaper. There was not a month that went by 

             without an article in the Desert Bowler for the T.M.s. The winter time is to promote

             scores shot by members and summarize the standings of each segment to get

             other bowlers attention that the league is willing to take the time. The summer

             time is to inform others that your league may be a better fit for their team and has

             more excitement by the number of optional events offered. It’s a great way to get 

             exposure for the league. The article for the month may only take a half hour. Print 

             up the monthly highlights from the last 4 weeks of newsletters.

        9. Print flyers to let everyone know what the league has now and what may happen

                 in the future if there is no league board at the center. I know that some will use it 

              for scratch paper but there will be bowlers that notice the flyers when getting 

              change or paying for money madness.

       10. You don’t see many banners these days. If you have a big name league sponsor,

              they may be able to get a banner for the league. You’ll need to find out from the 

              center if and where they will display it. The T.M.s at one time had a banner at all

              five centers that Miller Lite printed up for the league.

        11. Have a shirt embroidered with the website on it so others will enquire about it.

                 The shirt could be worn during tournaments or when subbing in another league. 

                  Another example of promoting by all avenues possible! 

       Remember this article asked why promote. Now the question is, should I continue to promote? The answer is of course I will. Your job as secretary should be to retain and attract new bowlers.

       Just for everyone’s info, after John resigned due to leaving for Las Vegas, a newly elected President in my 7th season of the T.M.s didn’t have the same views I had. What I helped build over 6 seasons meant nothing to him. He didn’t support what the league had to offer and didn’t enter optional events. He listened to a few bowlers instead of the majority of the league and the league folded 5 seasons later and 2 ½ seasons after I had to resign due to working in Northern Arizona. He tried to change Tucson’s BEST SWEEPER to a high-low doubles event (in the season of the RECORD $8478) and the league wanted nothing to do with the high-low doubles. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. He changed strike pot sales where bowlers were no longer rewarded free tickets for spending a few more dollars which resulted in less money for the sweeper. He had bracket bowlers record their own score in brackets and eliminator or bowlers would receive a zero. This record your score led to another league meeting. The last two seasons being secretary of the T.M.s led to two bowlers submitting top heavy prize fund proposals that were always late by USBC standards. He wouldn’t let me submit a proposal. Those proposals were the beginning of the end as teams in the lower divisions were getting less prize fund back. With the added league sponsor money, teams were guaranteed getting back 40% until the top heavy prize funds that only guaranteed teams 25% to 30% back. In 2008, the league folded after losing 8 teams the previous season. The new secretary didn’t promote the league and the president changed the league where it wasn’t fun to bowl and I took off to work in Las Vegas. Years ago I did make one mistake due to listening to a friend, but after I went into the Army and changed my life, I will never go down that road again.

        It has been said, “Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down.”- Unknown. (Unless you are at your computer putting the best promotion in action. I do believe I have left footprints with the promotions I ran in the Traveling Masters because of the way the bowlers responded by the entries into optional events.) “Enjoy the little things in life; one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”- Unknown. (The T.M.s had a lot of little things which made it Tucson’s best league and most bowlers enjoyed it while I was still secretary of the league. It was the few who didn’t realize that the T.M.s was the best league and didn’t take long to destroy it. As long as I was an officer of the T.M.s, I always did what was best for the league and the future of the league, not for just a few bowlers. When I resigned due to work, it was partly due to being tired of fighting the league president trying to change the T.M.s to the way he wants it. If we would have worked together, I might have stayed close to home working and the league might still be running today.)

        Thanks for reading my novel. It took a month to write and gives new insight for the leagues with optional events. This shows that promoting a league can have a huge impact in a city of 1 million people and ONLY IF ALL league officers are on board to support you. If anyone has questions on promoting, I will be happy to assist you to make your league better.

        Thanks for being interested and good luck with your league.

Message me, Alan Brizee  Path to Excellence  w/ Q's