by Bill Vint

Four champions in four unique areas of elite bowling competition – Professional Bowlers Association Regionals, PBA50 Tour, PBA Women and Teen Masters – will be crowned in a two-hour ESPN telecast emanating from the PBA World Series of Bowling VI in Las Vegas this fall, Commissioner Tom Clark announced today.

The new PBA Champion’s Challenge will culminate with the tops stars of the PBA50 Tour, PBA Regional Tour, the new PBA Women’s Regional Tour, and the Teen Masters boys’ and girls’ division champions bowling in the four-match television show at the South Point Casino complex over the Nov. 1-2 weekend. Preliminary rounds in the PBA50, Women’s and Regional competitions will be covered live on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

PBA World Series of Bowling VI will take place Oct. 24-Nov. 2 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas. The World Series will include the PBA Cheetah, Scorpion, Chameleon and Viper Championships along with the PBA World Championship in addition to the newly-announced special competitions.

“The new PBA Champion’s Challenge telecast gives us an opportunity to showcase the diversity of competition the PBA provides,” Clark said. “It will focus attention on our senior players, the legion of players who compete in our extensive regional program, women bowlers who have had very few opportunities to bowl on national television over the past few years, and the future stars of bowling. It’ll be a very entertaining two hours of television, and it will add another dimension to our already popular World Series of Bowling.”

The PBA50 Tour Finals will feature the top six players from the 2014 PBA50 Tour competition points list. All six will receive a free entry into WSOB VI. The PBA50 players will compete in a six-game Champion’s Challenge Match Play Round on Friday, Oct. 24. The top two players at the end of the match play round will advance to the ESPN-televised PBA50 Tour Finals.

The PBA Regional Tour Finals will feature the 2014 competition points leader from each of the seven PBA regions (East, South, Central, Midwest, Southwest, West and Northwest) as of Oct. 12. All seven will receive a free entry into the WSOB. On Friday, Oct. 24, the West and Northwest points leaders will bowl a two-game match with the winner advancing to a six-player PBA Regional Champion’s Challenge Match Play Round. The top two players after the six-game match play round will advance to the ESPN televised PBA Regional Tour Finals.

The PBA Women’s Regional Tour Finals will feature the points leaders from six PBA Regional Women’s Tour programs (East, South, Central, Midwest, Southwest and West/Northwest combined). Each will receive a free entry into the World Series. The six qualifiers will bowl the same Champion’s Challenge Match Play Round format as the PBA50 and PBA Regional players on Friday, Oct. 24 with the top two advancing to the PBA Regional Women’s Finals match.

The fourth match on the PBA Champion’s Challenge ESPN telecast will be a non-PBA event: the 2014 Teen Masters Grand Championship featuring the boys’ and girls’ division champions who survive preliminary competitions conducted by Killer B Promotions.

Additional details concerning the time of the finals in Las Vegas and the ESPN air date will be announced later.