2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour Schedule Announced
SEATTLE - 6/26/2007
The PBA announced the 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour schedule today, with 21 stops included in the September-March season.
The 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour – its third in a row with Denny’s as the title sponsor – will return to 14 venues from the 2006-07 season and will feature venue changes for two of its four Majors with an arena final for a third.
Headlining the changes to the 2007-08 schedule is the move of the 2008 PBA Tournament of Champions, which moves to the $31 million Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas, Nev. The event also moves from the last event of the schedule to early in the second half. In addition, the 2008 PBA World Championship heads to the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Masters finals will return to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, after holding the event’s finals at that venue in 2004.
New hosts on the Denny’s PBA Tour include Red Rock Lanes, which will host both the PBA Tournament of Champions and a special exempt field doubles event, Shamrock Lanes in Spartanburg, S.C., Thunder Alley in Omaha, Neb., and Norwich Bowling & Entertainment Center in Norwich, Conn.
The Tour will also return to two centers that have recently hosted non-national PBA tournaments, but not a Denny’s PBA Tour event. Stardust Bowl II in Merrillville, Ind., has been the host of the Denny’s PBA Tour Trials three times, including the most recent Trials. In addition, Sequoia Pro Bowl in Columbus, Ohio -- host of the 2007 Motel 6 Roll to Riches – will also host a national event this season.
”This is the most exciting Tour schedule we’ve had in recent years, highlighted by our four Major events,” said PBA Commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer. “Hosting the finals of the USBC Masters in a unique venue like Miller Park is the perfect way to kick-off the domestic portion of the season, while moving the Tournament of Champions up in the schedule and to one of the nation’s most impressive new centers will benefit our bowlers and fans alike. Finally, we’re very enthusiastic about hosting the PBA World Championship at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno and we think ending the year with our signature event —the U.S. Open — will be a perfect climax to the 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour.”
Additionally, the 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour will feature a PBA Women’s Series at four locations on the first half of the Tour. Taylor, Mich., Cheektowaga, N.Y., Merrillville, Ind., and Grand Rapids, Mich., will host PBA Women’s Series events.
For the sixth consecutive season, the Tour will kick off with the Dydo Japan Cup in Tokyo, Japan. The Tour picks up in the U.S. with the USBC Masters in Milwaukee, the first of four Major events on the schedule. The Masters will serve as the season-opener on U.S. soil for the third time in the last four years.
The Masters will be followed by a stop in Taylor, Mich., for the seventh consecutive season, then the Tour heads to Cheektowaga, N.Y., Merrillville, Ind., and Vernon Hills, Ill. The first half of the season wraps up with stops in Wyoming, Mich., Baltimore and the PBA’s first-ever visit to South Carolina for a stop in Spartanburg, S.C.
After a two-week break during the holiday season, the Tour will pick up again with its seventh-consecutive trip to Lava Lanes in Medford, Ore., followed by a return to the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., for the second of four PBA Majors, the PBA World Championship. For the third year in a row, the Dick Weber Open will be held the following week in Fountain Valley, Calif.
The Tour continues with a two-event stop in Las Vegas for a special exempt field doubles event followed by the 2008 PBA Tournament of Champions. The Tour will then take a week off before heading to El Paso, Texas and Omaha, Neb.
The PBA returns to Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis for the 24th time followed by events in Columbus, Ohio and Norwich, Conn., before taking a second week off.
After the week off, West Babylon, N.Y., hosts an event for the second straight year before the season concludes with the final Major, the 65th U.S. Open in North Brunswick, N.J.
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