Big changes on tap for Open Championships
The 2008 event at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M., will mark the return of a special side tournament that will be conducted on a 12-lane setup adjacent to the 48 lane installation being used for the Open Championships.
The event will feature a unique two-game format and will be contested on a USBC Sport Bowling lane condition, similar to the satellite events that were part of the 2000 Open Championships in Albuquerque and the 2003 tournament in Knoxville, Tenn. Competition will be divided into two average-based divisions with daily and optional year-long prize funds.
One noticeable feature of the side event will be state-of-the-art LED scoreboards that will be in a testing phase on six of the lanes. Should the tests go as well as hoped, these new scoreboards would make their official Open Championships debut on the 56-lane installation at the 2009 event in Las Vegas.
"It's time for the Open Championships to get a new look, and what better place to unveil the new scoreboards than Las Vegas, which is already famous for its glitz and glamour," Open Championships Tournament Director Brian Lewis said. "This is going to change the face of the tournament and give us endless possibilities with video and graphics to help enhance the tournament experience. We are very excited about the new look and all of the possibilities, but definitely will not lose sight of the long-time traditions that make the tournament special and unique."
The new scoreboards are comparable to the oversized screens often found in sports venues and arenas across the country, but will offer a clearer picture thanks to the latest 10mm technology. They will feature enhanced graphics with 4.4 trillion colors and streaming video capabilities and will be tagged as the world's largest mobile scoreboard of its kind. The setup also will include a 12 feet by 9 feet, high-definition video display screen over the tournament's traditional Center Aisle.
The last modification to the look of the scoreboards came when computerized scoring was used for the first time at the 1979 event in Tampa, Fla., and the three-color, digitized flip dot scoreboards now used in non-Reno years replaced the boardmen and bookmen who manually tracked scores. The last time the Open Championships had a change of this magnitude was when synthetic lanes were used for the first time at the 1980 event in Louisville, Ky.
"The current scoreboards are nearing the end of their life expectancy, and despite upgrades over the years, that technology continues to age," USBC Chief Officer of Tournaments and Events Roseann Kuhn said. "Our bowlers deserve the best experience and the best presentation we can offer. Our tradition has been to keep up with the latest technology available, and this is an example of that. All USBC championships continue to evolve, and this is just the next step for us."
Presenting sponsors for the 2007 USBC Open Championships are Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus Hotel/Casinos in Reno, Nev. Other participating sponsors are Kegel, official lane maintenance provider, Sands Regency Casino and Hotel, official brackets sponsor and supporting sponsors Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa and Harrah's Casino and Hotel.
