March 2010

BOWLED OVER

El Paso prepares for invasion of 29,000 women bowlers

By Lisa Kay Tate

In bowling, it takes 12 strikes in ten frames to score a perfect game of 300.
In El Paso, it takes 29,000 women bowling in 110 days to score a perfect tourism bonanza of $49 million for the local economy.
The bowling invasion begins March 27 and lasts through July 3 at the El Paso Convention Center and throughout El Paso, thanks to the 2010 United States Bowling Congress Women’s Championships.
The bowling tournament is “the largest assembly of visitors El Paso has ever seen, and for such a large amount of time,” said Brooke Underwood, director of convention development for the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The bowlers will be arriving in the hundreds each day throughout the 14-week event, many bringing spouses or friends, typically staying four days at a time.
Not only will the Convention Center be transformed — turned into a mammoth bowling arena with 48 lanes, spectator seating, and state-of-the-art video and lighting — but all of El Paso will take on a special tourist appeal, from hundreds of banners displayed citywide and attractions such as top-flight traveling exhibits at the Museum of Art and the Museum of History.
A ripple effect of benefits from the upcoming USBC Women’s Championships already is being felt throughout the city, due to the hiring of vendors, hospitality professionals and local contractors who are preparing the facilities. Hotels, restaurants, local attractions and retail stores also will score huge increases in business. Local charities and other organizations as well will share in benefits from the influx of bowling aficionados.
“Of course, you can see the immediate benefits through restaurants, hotels and museums,” said Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce President Richard Dayoub, “but the longer, more significant effects need to also be taken into account.”
Those long-range benefits include the

word-of-mouth goodwill generated by the estimated 40,000 visitors (bowlers plus family and friends) who will share their El Paso experience with others.
“Our goal is to send 40,000 new ambassadors back to their home communities, and (have them) come back again bringing more friends and family,” said Veronica Castro, the Convention and Visitors Bureau director of tourism.
Another reward will be El Paso’s growing reputation as a host for large-scale events, including sports.
“One of the things we’ve seen a lot more of lately is a focus on sports, including the Texas vs. The Nation game that’s now in its fourth year and keeps growing in popularity,” Dayoub said. “We also have our Sun Bowl game (in December), and its parade each Thanksgiving. These are things people from all over look forward to.”
The word of mouth already has begun. The USBC already has been promoting the city’s climate, Spanish missions, Franklin Mountains hikes, regional cuisine and margaritas, shopping and nightlife to the incoming participants.
Dayoub credited Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Bill Blaziek and his entire CVB staff for bringing the tournament to El Paso and preparing the city for the event. If an event of this size is handled successfully, Dayoub added, that increases the odds that other major-event organizers will look toward El Paso as a host city.
“When you will build a sort of synergy that draws people to El Paso, it gives us more opportunities to tout ourselves as a community,” he said.

Bowling buildup

Planning for the tournament began years ago as El Paso bid for the event. Winning the bid also meant clearing the Convention Center calendar for several months, but the preparation turned intense as actual work started on the bowling facilities.
The entire tournament run is 110 days, with bowling delegates coming and going the entire time.
USBC’s Championship Director Brian Lewis said that the sites for the congress’s two main annual events, the Open Championships and Women’s Cham–
pionships, are awarded on a bid basis.
“El Paso got interested in bowling quite a few years ago,” he said. “Some of the requirements for the championships is a bid fee to offset the cost of installing bowling lanes in an arena setting, as well as having a large convention center, and enough flights and hotel space to accommodate the bowlers.”
He said that El Paso not only met the bid, but also showed an outstanding potential in all the required fields, particularly with the newly renovated convention center.
He said that location was also a factor.
“We try to expose these bowlers to as much of the country as possible, and we hadn’t been to that part of the country in some time,” he said.
The last time the event was held in the Southwest was in 1995 in Tucson, with the last Texas stop for the tournament in Houston in 1974.
“Last year’s event was in Reno and next year we will be in Syracuse, N.Y., so we try to move it around,” he said.
The tournament itself is the oldest all-women’s sports event, dating back to 1916 when the first official “national” event was held in St. Louis, Mo. Since then, millions of bowlers from all over the world have participated in singles and doubles events of all skill levels.
It’s not just about the bowling, either.
“Our lady participants like to do other things besides bowl,” Lewis said. “They like to get out and experience the city.”
When El Paso first put in a bid for the tournament, one of the attractive features was a “two-cities-in-one” binational appeal, and the mayor of Juárez even accompanied El Paso officials to the selection events. Even with the recent increase in drug-related violence in Mexico, Lewis said that El Paso’s multicultural appeal (and status as the second-safest city in the United States) is still a draw for potential tournament participants.
“We’ve been assured the participants will get plenty of Mexico exposure in El Paso itself and can enjoy all the cultural aspects of it,” he said.
Lewis said that El Paso has so far gone above and beyond in making the city welcoming for everyone involved.
“When you add everything up you look at the entire bid, not just the money,” he said. “El Paso had everything we needed, including a very nice and very welcoming convention center.”
Castro said that the CVB begin really promoting the event to bowlers a year ago, as they made sure El Paso had a very visible presence at the 2009 event in Reno.
“We had a visitors information center set up in Reno with three specially trained agents representing El Paso,” Castro said. “Since then, we’ve seen a huge increase in our Web site and phone listings from the bowlers who can’t wait to visit.”
She said that digital marketing has played a significant part in promotions, and special mailings to highlight the region’s unique features, with catchy titles such as “Mexico 101,” have been created in partnership with the USBC. Bowlers are also invited to become a fan of El Paso 2010 on Facebook for event-specific updates and giveaways. The advertising showed success early on.
“During (the time in Reno), we collected over 4,000 new addresses to our e-mail list,” Castro said.

Convention Center transformed

The Convention Center itself is also an attraction, both for the bowlers and the local spectators who will be able to watch the events for free. The USBC has been visibly promoting the bowling facility, as it will be a first for the bowlers in any town.
“In 2010, the USBC Women’s Championships moves to an arena-like setting that will exceed your wildest expectations,” the congress announced in its event promotions. “… The stadium will feature the world’s largest mobile LED scoreboard, newly installed synthetic lanes, exciting vendors, merchandise stands, great food and more.”
The completed temporary bowling alley will include 48 lanes with seating for 750 spectators. The video display and scoring system will be around 300 feet long, and video and lighting installed will be comparable to that of a large-scale concert event, suitable for televising the events.
The bowlers are ready to inaugurate the new arena format. As of January, more than 5,800 teams were registered for what USBC Communications Representative Matt Cannizzaro promoted as ushering in a new era of the game. Tthe congress will conduct three of major championships at the event: Women’s Championships, Queens and Senior Queens.
“The Women’s Championship is the highlight of the bowling season for thousands of USBC women members,” Cannizzaro said. “It’s a vacation as well as an opportunity to compete in one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments.”
The Convention Center will host two more events in the tournament lanes in April — Intercollegiate Team Champ-
ionships, April 14–17, and Bowling’s Clash of the Champions, April 17.
Turning the Convention Center into a bowling mecca is a $1 million project that is already putting money back into the economy, Castro said.
“All the materials purchased have come from area sources,” she said, adding that some of the hiring of workers for the project is also local. Most of the actual construction, however, is being done by construction workers representing the national bowling organization.
As the date for the event arrives, more and more El Pasoans will be hired for a variety of jobs during the tournament as well, and the USBC estimates around 50 to 75 people will be hired locally to help with the event.
The bowlers will also get to see other recent renovations to the center, including a 12,000-square-foot canopy for the Convention Center Plaza.

Perfect strikes on
and off the lanes

Underwood, the CVB’s convention development director, noted that bowlers are scheduled to spend an average of four days in El Paso, up from two days each in Reno last year.
Making the stay memorable and fun for the bowlers has been a collective responsibility of city and county leaders, as well as working with private business owners and tourism-minded organizations.
“We’re partnered with a lot of groups and businesses around town, so that we can present each person with a wide menu of activity choices during their stay,” Underwood said.
This not only includes special tours and events, but also specials and welcoming signs at local eateries and stores, not to mention the tournament experience itself.
“This is the world’s largest participatory sport for women, and there will be bowlers from all 50 states here, as well as from nine foreign countries,” Underwood said. “This is the first time these bowlers will bowl in an arena setting, so they are very excited about it.”
The economic impact the bowlers should have during the event, based on a food and lodging estimate, is $49 million over the three-month period.
Underwood said that bowlers treat the tournament as a “girlfriends’ getaway,” with women and their friends coming to bowl, shop, eat, and take advantage of a couple of days to just have a good time, which may include non-bowling activities such as a golf outing at Butterfield Trail Golf Course.
Retailers such as Dusty Henson of El Paso Saddleblanket are already preparing a special inventory to get ready for these enthusiastic tourists, Underwood said, and Downtown’s newer hotels, including the Doubletree Hotel, are awaiting the women and their guests with open arms.
Even out on the town, the bowlers will receive a special welcome, as 169 banners will decorate lampposts citywide, with additional 28-foot banners and a handful of custom-made, 7-foot piñatas to greet bowlers in the Convention Center.
Henson and other local shopping opportunities, Castro said, will help give the bowlers their “Mexico experience” without needing to leave the country.
“Our job has been easy, since several Juárez restaurants and businesses have moved to El Paso,” Underwood added. “This will be very good for the visitors to enjoy the area’s culture.”
“We have several restaurants and attractions that have that ‘cultural flair,’” Castro agreed. “You don’t have to go very far to find that here.”
Castro explained that the city also would get national television attention as well.
“Another area where El Paso will shine during this event is through three major events on television, including one live event on ESPN,” she said.
In April and May, cable sports networks ESPN and ESPN2 will showcase specific competitions within the event, including the live cablecast on April 28 of “The Queen” event on ESPN2. This highly watched bowling event features 300 of the world’s best women bowlers. The Intercollegiate finals and Clash of Champions will be taped and shown at a later date.
In anticipation of the tournament, many of the city’s departments have scheduled special events or focused their services around the hefty wave of visitors.
Museums and Cultural Affairs Department Marketing and Tourism Coordinator Victor Guerrero said that the city’s museums are ready.
“The department decided to really rev up the quality of the exhibits during these months,” he said, “not just for the bowlers coming in, but for our own residents as well.”
He said that the tournament was definitely a factor in the current da Vinci exhibit at the Museum of History as well as the upcoming “Bedazzled” jewelry exhibit at the Museum of Art. Guerrero said that the 5,000 years of history and jewelry on display not only would complement the permanent exhibits, but also appeal to a fun and energetic audience of women.
“We really want them to have a good taste of El Paso, and what it can offer.”
Other local attractions are taking advantage and adding to their list of features. Lynx Exhibits co-owner and Marketing Director Laurie Paternoster said that the exhibit space will open its new El Paso Artisan Gallery in conjunction with the bowling tournament.
“We will feature a small collection of artists whose work reflects El Paso, Mexico and the desert Southwest,” Paternoster said. “Bowlers will have easy access to shopping and will receive special discounts to the ‘Extreme Deep’ exhibit, as well as exclusive use of an after-hours, on-location lounge.”
The invasion of bowlers in El Paso also coincides with the opening of Phase One of the El Paso Zoo’s African expansion project, which includes four new lions, the Masai Mara Research Station and the Meerkat Exhibit
Beginning in April, free live entertainment will be offered twice a week at the Convention Center Plaza, and spring events, including Jazz on the Rocks and Viva El Paso at McKelligon Canyon, are being heavily promoted.
“We’re extending our Alfresco Fridays as well, and plan to do a longer concert series that begins in April,” Guerrero said. “This will give everybody a chance to enjoy it more.”

A lasting impression

Once the lanes are dismantled, the awards are announced and the bowlers depart from the Sun City, event organizers believe the effects of their visit will linger for some time, with the most immediate benefit from the dismantling of the lanes.
“Once the bowlers pull out, the taking apart of the lanes will begin and lumber will be donated to Habitat for Humanity,” Underwood said. “This is enough lumber that can be used for five three-bedroom homes in the future.”
She said that USBC wants to leave a good, lasting impression on the community, and is working with groups like Habitat for Humanity, the local Susan B. Komen Foundation (USBC hosts nationwide Bowl for the Cure events year-round) and Special Olympics chapters on related partnerships as well.
Young area bowlers also will reap rewards, as the USBC’s El Paso Chapter projects that at least $10,000 will be raised during a local scholarship tournament at the event.
Castro said that the tournament is a great way to promote El Paso in the future, especially in terms of building the city’s “résumé.”
“Showing that El Paso is capable of (hosting) large amounts of women and other visitors is very appealing for other events looking for a host city,” Underwood said. “The versatility of the convention city is very attractive to groups needing a build-out for their events.”

By the numbers

• People in United States who bowl during a year: 66 million
• Current USBC members: more than 2 million
• Number of lanes built at Convention Center: 48
• Colors available in the LED scoreboard’s enhanced graphics: 4.4 trillion
• Carpenters, elections and laborers on bowling alley construction: 30
• Length of wiring needed to meet alley’s electrical needs: 6 miles
• Years a Women’s Championship has been held: 91
• Years when there were no events: 3 (1943-45 during WWII)
• Number of different cities that hosted the championships: 56
• Most frequent host city: Reno, Nev. (Hosted 6 times… and will again in 2012 and every third year after that)
• Number of times in Texas (including this year): 4; Dallas (1948), San Antonio (1968), Houston (1974) and El Paso (2010)
• Prize fund for first championship in 1916: $225.
• Prize fund for 2010 championship: around $2 million
• Most teams competing in a championship: 16,704 (1997)
• Number of days of El Paso tournament: 110
• Bowlers and companions estimated to arrive each day: 600 to 800
Sources: USBC and El Paso CVB.