One of the remaining questions regarding the 2013 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in Reno is how many lanes will be used for the tournament.
The National Bowling Stadium has 78 lanes but with the new squad arrangement to accommodate fresh oil on all squads, having 78 teams on the two team squads would mean too many bowlers to fit in the three minors squads under the arrangement USBC will use.
I most recently blogged about the arrangement here.
Brian Lewis, USBC Managing Director - Tournaments, said in an email that USBC will use a maximum of 64 lanes for the Open Championships and will have a limit of 112 teams per day.
“Minus a buffer, the high end of the Stadium will be used for the Bowlers Journal Championships,” Lewis said.
In addition, Lewis said, the 10 new Showcase lanes on the ground floor of the Stadium — where there was a restaurant — will be used for team practice and “we hope to have some additional side action down there, too.”
“Details on the Showcase lanes will be available soon, with the specifics of the side tournaments to follow shortly after,” Lewis added.
With the tournament being held in the Stadium, USBC could have the lane condition ready for release well before the tournament, which would allow early Open Championships bowlers to practice on the pattern at home before heading to the tournament.
However, Lewis said, “our initial plan is to remain consistent with recent years and make that (lane pattern) available in the same time frame. Last year’s kickoff show on BowlTV turned out to be a great vehicle for getting information out and may be in the plans again. This is all subject to internal discussion and change, of course, as we move forward.”
