United States Bowling Congress (USBC), which has been hosting its bowling events for six decades, has extended its agreement to host the Open Championships and Women’s Championships through 2038. The event, which runs from March to July, is the most attended USBC since 2011, with 55,000 bowlers expected to attend.
While several elements of Robert D. Putnam’s 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community may be true, such as the decline of civic participation, club meeting attendance, religious participation, among many other downtrends, since the mid-1960s, Reno Tahoe is telling a different story.
Although United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a step beyond your Saturday recreational bowling with friends and family, its increase in participation over the years tells a story of increased interest in team sports and the events that highlight them.
USBC has extended its agreement to host the Open Championships and Women’s Championships through 2038, with the Open returning to the city every third year from 2026 to 2038; the Women’s Championship will be held in 2028, 2033 and 2036.
Bowling in Reno
USBC hosts the largest participation sport in the world in the two championships, and this year is seeing the most participation since 2011, with more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers.
“We have been working with USBC going on six decades now,” says Mike Larragueta, president and CEO for Visit Reno Tahoe. “Back before when it was even USBC, and when the city of Reno approved to build National Bowling Stadium 30 years ago, that provided the venue to be able to host the largest bowling tournament in the country.”
Larragueta says the city is forecasting $84 million in economic impact, and that demand for the two championships has been so overwhelming that USBC extended the tournament by an additional 2 weeks through July 19.
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Preparing for a three-day long event comes with its own struggles and hurdles to overcome. USBC is a four-month event, which requires its own unique form of preparedness. “We meet, we meet and then we meet again,” Larragueta says. “We focus on safety and security, as well as on advertising and marketing.
“We look at Reno as it relates to value on their food and beverage and the cost of rooms throughout the downtown area, and from the airport, from the time of arrival, welcoming the bowlers to the destination. We talk to Uber and Lyft, as well as public transportation and taxis to make sure the entire community, to the best our ability, is educated about USBC and the Open Championship because they have such a huge impact on our community.”
Larragueta says it’s easy to focus on the airlines and hotels, but you also must think about the restaurants, bars, retail and bowlers who arrive before the event starts and days after it ends.
And bowlers aren’t only arriving early and staying late in the city, they’re also bowling early and bowling late during the day. “They will be bowling from 7 a.m. until 3 a.m., so National Bowling Stadium will be very busy for that entire time period.”
And how are bowlers eating late at night? Larragueta says Caesars’ three downtown Reno hotels have made a conscious effort to ensure 24/7 availability. He credits the 50 or so team captains who provided feedback about what they value and how the city can upgrade the bowlers’ experience.
“You get done bowling at 12 a.m. or one in the morning and you might want to grab a pizza and a beer or breakfast or whatever it may be,” he says, adding they must make sure they have availability.
“You want to make sure that, from a safety and security standpoint, you’ve checked all the boxes,” he continues. “We want to assure that we communicate that we know when the bowlers are here, we know what time they’re bowling, and we know what time they are walking from the stadium back to their hotels or utilizing transportation or shuttles that are provided by our hotel partners.
“We’ve learned a lot from the years of hosting this event. Practice makes perfect. I think we’ve got it down. You can always get better, but we’ve had a pretty good run.”
The Weight of It All
Of all the challenges that come along with a four-month-long event, one of the most challenging Larragueta references is the weight of bowling balls, which are hauled to and from airports and hotels. Most competition bowlers—again, of which there are 55,000—carry more than one bowling ball, which can weigh upwards of 16 pounds each.
Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) even changed its flooring from tile to concrete and harder surfaces to prevent cracked floors from dropped bowling balls.
The Stadium
When National Bowling Stadium opened Feb. 3, 1995, it was nicknamed the “Taj Mahal of Tenpins” by The LA Times. The 1996 movie “Kingpin” was filmed at the venue.
National Bowling Stadium features 78 lanes on the main level and 32,000 sq. ft. of event space across several venues such as Kingpin Club by Brunswick, which features 10 lanes where groups can disco bowl; Stadium Club, a private, speakeasy-like bar on the stadium’s fourth floor that can room 64 attendees; and Theater in the Dome, a 172-seat IMAX theater with stadium-style seating, fitting for film screenings, corporate presentations and private events.
