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By John Hilton and Dale Heberlig, January 27, 2008

Last updated: Saturday, January 26, 2008 11:53 PM EST

A Shippensburg bowling alley has initiated a class-action lawsuit claiming the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is conspiring to make the game easier to attract more casual bowlers.

The result is putting bowling centers like Shippensburg Park Lanes at a competitive disadvantage, says owner James Salisbury.

Jimbo Bowling Group Inc., Salisbury’s incorporated business name, filed the class-action complaint against the USBC in U.S. District Court. He is represented by attorney J. Chad Moore of Millersburg.

“The suit is an attempt to address two main issues,” Moore says via e-mail. “The first is the lane certification process, the second is the integrity of the game itself and the long-term viability of the bowling business, particularly for independent proprietors.”

While higher scores may attract more bowlers, Salisbury some bowling centers are profiting at the expense of others.

“High scores may look like great thing, but it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” says Salisbury, who says he bowled professionally for 24 years.

The lawsuit claims the USBC engaged in a “desperate conspiracy to make the game easier so as to try to keep more participants interested.”

Filed on behalf of anyone owning a bowling center between 1980 and 2007, the lawsuit claims the USBC engaged in unfair competition, restraint of trade, negligence, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

The lawsuit asks for “restitution of defendant’s wrongful profits, revenues, and benefits, to the extent and in the amount deemed appropriate by the court.”

USBC officials did not respond to numerous phone messages and e-mails seeking comment.

Simmering controversy

At issue is how bowling lanes are oiled.

Few conditions in the sporting world are more persistently controversial than lane conditioning in bowling. The sport has endured infighting for years over the application of oil to bowling lanes.

With 38 years in the bowling business, Salisbury estimates he has “conditioned” more than 250,000 lanes. He says the application of oil to the lanes in certain ways can make it much easier to maneuver the ball and roll a strike.

His lawsuit reads: “The USBC has failed to maintain the integrity of the game by allowing the playing surface — referred to as ‘lane conditions’ — to be artificially enhanced for normal league play so as to inflate bowling scores based on lane conditions rather than on the skill of the bowler.”

Salisbury claims that many USBC officials in charge of lane certifications have a financial stake in certain bowling centers.

“This inherent and undeniable conflict of interest constitutes a core flaw of the certification process,” the lawsuit reads, “thus interfering with the rights of all bowling center owners to engage in fair and equitable competition in an open market.”

Even if some bowling alleys wanted to make their lanes easier, Salisbury’s lawsuit says many can’t due to “an inherent ceiling on the ease of play due to various factors with the facility itself.”

In addition, many bowlers do not realize the game is being made easier for them. They only see high scores, Salisbury says, and will flock to the bowling alley that yields those scores.

“Leagues are leaving small centers for those with artificially high scores,” Salisbury says. “When those leagues shut down and leave not all the bowlers go with them. Many just quit.”

Salisbury has the numbers to back up his claim that participation in sanctioned bowling leagues is declining.

Figures from USBC’s Web site — at www.bowl.com — show that more than 188,000 people bowled in various leagues in 2000-01. Those figures have declined each year since — to 141,900 in 2006-07.

Buzz Martin of Shippensburg has been bowling for 45 years and agrees with Salisbury. He managed Park Lanes for 30 years and bowled a 300 game in 1969.

“I was very proud of my 300 game,” Martin says. “I used an old hard rubber ball. Now the lanes are all set up and the balls are made of soft materials. You just throw the ball out there and it walks right into the pocket.”

Martin travels to tournaments around the country and says the impact of lane conditioning, or the lack thereof, is readily evident. Bowlers with inflated averages often fare poorly at lanes that are dressed differently, he says.

“I just sit back and laugh, not at the bowlers, but at how things have changed,” Martin says. “To be a good bowler, you have to make adjustments for lane conditions.”

Different opinions

Local bowling alley owners disagree on the merits of Salisbury’s lawsuit.

Jay Mowery says business at Midway Bowling Lanes used to be 75 percent leagues. Today it’s about 25 percent.

“It’s a can of worms,” he says of the lawsuit. “This has been brewing in the industry for some time and it’s a sticky business, no pun intended. I think (Salisbury is) absolutely right. I admire what he’s trying to do. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist when you see all these 240 averages all over the place.

“We’ve been here 52 years and never seen a 240 average. There has to be something driving it besides skill and practice.”

Mowery says the sport has been damaged by oil practices and equipment advances. Furthermore, he says business also suffers because long hours of practice are no longer necessary.

“We used to have bowlers practicing during the day, to improve their game,” Mowery says. “No more.”

Gary Bowers, owner of ABC Lanes East and West, says the “integrity of the game is suffering a bit” because of lane conditioning practices, but adds, “I don’t see that the lawsuit is justified.”

Good management practices for the bowling center and its leagues are more important to bowlers than scores, Bowers says. About 60 percent of ABC Lanes business is leagues.

“Everyone wants to bowl good, and if you bowl well at a place down the street, you may want to go there, but if a center is clean, and the leagues start when they’re supposed to and finish on time, that‘s more important,” Bowers says.

Bowers concedes that the USBC “has become more service-oriented and more lenient” and many scores slide through “loopholes.”

Traditionally, when a bowler rolled an “honor score” — a 298, 299 or 300 game, or an 800 series — the lane had to inspected by the sanctioning authorities before it could be used again. Now, Bowers says, if the lane has been inspected within 30 days before or after the score, the score is valid.

Salisbury says he is not trying to cripple the USBC, but is trying to spark necessary changes in the bowling industry.

“The suit is not to take down the USBC, it’s to bring together the participants who are affected and the minds of bowling to try to protect the integrity of the game.”