It seems like only yesterday that I posted this piece on the declining relationship between bowling and harness racing. Nearly five years has passed and it seems that at least one of the two sports has found new life. In 2018, the Professional Bowlers Association signed a deal with Fox Sports to televise 30 events in 2019, with the majority broadcast live and many in prime time. Perhaps more importantly, bowling will return to network television, where it was a mainstay from 1962 until the late 1990s on ABC. FOX is scheduled to air four events in 2019 with three of them live. Prior to this new deal, bowling was edging close to the gutter, with live telecasts banished to the online streaming ESPN 3 network on many occasions and down to just 17 total broadcasts in 2018. The exposure certainly increases now with FS1 available in over 80 million households according to Wikipedia. Some will argue that being in front of millions of eyes alone is a plus for bowling and maybe they are right. For me, it comes down to whether the product is engaging. As a fan and participant in bowling since my early teens, there was a time when I wouldn’t miss the weekly telecast of the sport. I bowled dozens of games a week and enjoyed watching the sport played at the ultimate level on TV. But my interest waned over time, partially because I wasn’t bowling as much and due to the lack of innovation in the broadcasts. Bowling tried to innovate with background music and making the sport more ‘hip’ to no avail throughout much of the last 10 years. It was the same ol’ thing with loud music. While the equipment in bowling, like harness racing, has seen major advancements in the last 20 years, technology in the broadcasts was left behind (though at least it was being shown in HD, unlike many Standardbred races). That is where the PBA has rolled a 300 game in this new relationship with Fox Sports. It’s called Specto StrikeTrack technology according to this release from Fox Sports and it provides viewers with detailed data on how each bowler is attacking the lanes. You get everything from ball speed and revolutions per minute to a traced path of each ball down the lane. This information was especially enlightening on the January 27 broadcast when each of the two lanes used had different oil patterns, which resulted in the bowlers using completely different approaches to success. With the higher visibility and new “bells and whistles” bowling instantly went from a sport I haven’t watched regularly in decades to something I already set my DVR to record in case I’m not around for the next live event. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you work harder to engage your customers. What the PBA has achieved in terms of exposure and advancement is something that harness racing can certainly learn from. We have but one national telecast in the U.S. (the Hambletonian) and virtually no technology to entice viewers to pay attention. We’ve discussed ad nauseam the merits of harness racing being on TV. Meadowlands Chairman Jeff Gural is a staunch supporter of the sport being on TV while others feel that we have little to gain by exposing the sport to a wider audience without a clear plan in place. For my money, while it can’t hurt to be in front of more eyes, are we really displaying the best of our sport by simply doing the same thing we’ve been doing for years? Yes, a purist will say the race itself along with a feature on one of the participants should be enough, but it simply is not. This is where we need to get on board with incorporating more technology. Perhaps that is the missing piece to the puzzle to making harness racing more appealing to a general audience. Just off the top of my head . . . 1) Wireless cameras and mics on all drivers in the televised races with the ability to switch to those feeds at the director’s will. 2) Use of animation. Check out this great replay of the 2019 Prix d’Amerique as part of PMU Tracking. 3) Interviews with all trainers pre-race and all drivers post-race so people feel like they are behind the scenes. 4) On-screen graphics to provide a clear picture of where all horses are during the race and how the race is progressing. This makes the viewing experience easier for the novice. I’m sure there are many other options available to better display harness racing to both newbies and veteran players. With $429 million in purse money distributed in 2018 at U.S. tracks, certainly there are funds available to invest in the technology that could bring our sport to a new level in terms of visibility. One final area where bowling is doing a great job is sending a singular message to the public that the sport is fun and participation is easy. They created GoBowling.com where anyone can instantly find a bowling alley in their neighborhood. The site reminds me of the Harness Racing Fan Zone, except that GoBowling was clearly better funded and the goals are more focused – Go bowling and here is how to do it. It makes you wonder if the Fan Zone could’ve reached the same level if the industry continued to provide funding. It would be nice if anyone in the country could plug in their zip code and find the nearest racetrack along with getting a free $2 betting voucher or a program. It is possible to move the sport forward, but only if we innovate and work together.