By Lucas Wiseman
The United States Bowling Congress announced the USBC Open and Women’s Championships will now start in the fall and be conducted with a drastic reduction in the number of teams per squad.
The USBC Open Championships are now scheduled for Sept. 21 until Nov. 21 at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, while the USBC Women’s Championships is slated for Sept. 19 through Oct. 18 at the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas.
The moves are being made in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, which has gripped the nation and shut down the sport of bowling as a result.
USBC had previously announced a pushback of the dates until May 1 and then another delay until May 23. Now, the events have been pushed by four months.
“Our first concern is the well-being of our members,” USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy said in a release. “Moving the tournaments to later in the year gives our bowlers and their families a chance to consider what is best for their circumstances. We appreciate the amazing patience and compassion that we have seen from all of our team captains throughout this process.”
USBC also announced it would increase social distancing for the events when they do kick off this fall. Team squads will be limited to one team on a pair instead of two.
Limiting the number of teams per squad will allow USBC to cut the number of participants in half for each squad, keeping areas like the squad room from being overcrowded. Typically, all bowlers on cram into the squad room before each squad, which would be the exact opposite of social distancing.
USBC also said it would eliminate early morning and late night doubles and singles squads at the events, which would no longer be needed as a result of hosting fewer teams per day.
USBC provided the following details in the release on rescheduling for teams:
USBC will provide pre-registration to Captain’s Club members – coordinators with five or more teams – starting April 17, asking them to submit a form with the dates their teams want to compete, which will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Registration will open to the public on April 27, at which time teams will be able to go into the Online Registration System and move their 2020 teams to any open dates/squads.
Teams that choose not to compete in 2020 may request to have their payment used for the 2021 tournament or they may submit a request for a refund.