2020 PBA Tour season


The 2020 PBA Tour season, the 61st season of play for the U.S. Professional Bowlers Association's ten-pin bowling tour, began on January 14, 2020 with the PBA Hall of Fame Classic in Arlington, Texas.
2020 is the first full PBA season under the new ownership of Bowlero Corporation, the world's largest operator of bowling centers. Bowlero's acquisition of the PBA was announced in September 2019.
All PBA Tour events were suspended in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited return to competition began on June 6.

Media rights

All announced 2020 events are broadcast on Fox Sports channels, with a commitment for 24 first-run broadcasts on FS1 and five broadcasts on Fox network affiliates. Events after July 23 are TBA. Prize funds for the events on the Fox Sports calendar have increased $400,000 over 2019, with two major championships offering a $100,000 top prize in the new season. The PBA World Championship winner's share was later increased to $150,000.
CBS Sports Network will continue to cover the PBA Tour Finals in July, as it has since the tournament's inception in.

Tournament schedule

In 2020, all five majors were scheduled to be contested within the first three months of the Fox schedule. While the PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA Players Championship majors continued to be held in February, they were now followed in late February by the U.S. Open, which moved to the winter schedule for the first time since 2012. These three majors plus the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open on Feb. 29 and PBA World Championship on March 15 all offered a $1 million bonus for any player who rolls a 300 game in the championship match.
The PBA's World Series of Bowling XI was scheduled to take place March 6–18 in Las Vegas, while the season's fifth and final major, the USBC Masters, was scheduled to take place March 23–29 in Reno, Nevada. The PBA World Championship concluded March 15, but the match play and final rounds of the animal pattern tournaments were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the USBC Masters, PBA Tour Playoffs, and PBA League were also postponed.
On May 20, the PBA announced that it would resume competition beginning in June with several non-title, made-for-TV special events, including the PBA Strike Derby, PBA Summer Clash, and PBA King of the Lanes. These events will be held at Bowlero Jupiter in Jupiter, Florida with no fans in attendance. Regularly scheduled PBA Tour events such as he remainder of the World Series of Bowling, and PBA Tour Playoffs are tentatively being rescheduled for the fall and winter. The USBC Masters will not be contested due to the USBC cancelling all major tournaments through end of 2020.
The PBA announced on June 11 that the PBA Tour Finals, which features the top eight Tour points leaders over the last two seasons in an elimination-style tournament, will be held July 18–19 in Jupiter, Florida, despite the fact that top points earner Jason Belmonte of Australia will be unable to attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The #9 player in points, Norm Duke, will take Belmonte's place. This is the first title event to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic halt. CBS Sports Network will air all rounds of the tournament in live broadcasts over the two days.
The PBA Tour Finals will be followed immediately by the King of the Lanes event on July 20–22 in Jupiter. Wes Malott, who won his eighth and most recent King of Bowling defense in February 2018 over Jason Belmonte, will return in the initial "King" position. Two challengers will face each other in the first episode, broadcast live on FS1, for the right to face Malott, with the winner of that second match continuing as King. Two new challengers will compete head-to-head in each of the next five episodes, all broadcast live, for the right to face the reigning King. Challengers will include all eight bowlers in the PBA Tour Finals, plus PBA legends Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Pete Weber, along with PWBA members Clara Guerrero and Gazmine Mason. All matches are standard ten-frame games.
The PBA League held its draft on May 17, and announced that the League has expanded to ten teams. On June 23, following the cancellation of the, the PBA further announced that two all-women's teams will be added the to PBA League, bringing the team total to 12. The draft for the two women's teams was held July 7 from a pool of the top 35 PWBA players in 2019 season points. The day after the women's draft, the PBA announced that the PBA League will take place September 26–28 in Portland, Maine. Following the seeding rounds on September 26, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will all be broadcast live September 27–28 on FS1.

Tournament summary

The 2020 PBA tournament schedule is shown below. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parenthesis. Winner's share prize money is shown in US dollars.
Tour points are awarded for most events. Besides the season-ending Harry Smith PBA Points Winner award, points are one consideration for Player of the Year voting, and also affect eligibility for the PBA Playoffs, PBA Tour Finals, and the 2021 DHC PBA Japan Invitational. Points for tournaments are awarded differently based on a "tier" system. The tier of each qualifying tournament is shown in the Notes column on the tournament schedule, and is explained below.
EventAirdateCityPreliminary roundsFinal roundOil patternWinnerNotes
PBA Hall of Fame Classic
Jan 19 FS1Arlington, TXJan 14–18LiveLeft lane: Dick Weber 45
Right lane: Mike Aulby 38		Tommy Jones, USA Open event. $30,000 top prize.+
PBA Oklahoma OpenJan 26 FS1Shawnee, OKJan 21–25LiveLeft lane: Dragon 45
Right lane: Wolf 32		Sean Rash, USA Open event. $30,000 top prize.
PBA Greater Jonesboro Open
Feb 1 FS1Jonesboro, ARJan 27–31LiveLeft lane: Shark 48
Right lane: Viper 36		Kyle Troup, USA Open event. $30,000 top prize.
PBA Tournament of Champions
Feb 9 FoxFairlawn, OHFeb 4–8LiveDon Johnson 40Kris Prather, USA Invitational event. PBA major. $100,000 top prize.
PBA Players Championship
Feb 15 FS1Columbus, OHFeb 11–14LiveWayne Webb 38Bill O'Neill, USA Open members-only event. PBA major. $75,000 top prize.
76th U.S. Open
Feb 23 FoxLincoln, NEFeb 16–22LiveU.S. Open Jason Belmonte, Australia Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize.
Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis OpenFeb 29 FS1Indianapolis, INFeb 25–26LiveLeft lane: Mark Roth 42
Right lane: Marshall Holman 37		Jesper Svensson, Sweden Open event. $30,000 top prize.
Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship
Mar 8 FS1Indianapolis, INFeb 27–28Feb 29Left lane: Mark Roth 42
Right lane: Marshall Holman 37		Jesper Svensson, Sweden & Kyle Troup, USA Open event. $30,000 top prize.
PBA WSOB XI Go Bowling! Cheetah ChampionshipTBD FS1Las Vegas, NVMar 8, 14LiveCheetah 33Open event. $25,000 top prize. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.
PBA WSOB XI Chameleon ChampionshipTBD FS1Las Vegas, NVMar 9, TBDLiveChameleon 39Open event. $25,000 top prize. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.
PBA WSOB XI Scorpion ChampionshipTBD FS1Las Vegas, NVMar 10, TBDLiveScorpion 42Open event. $25,000 top prize. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.
PBA World Championship
Mar 15 FS1Las Vegas, NVMar 8–12LiveQualifying: Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion
Cashers round thru finals: Earl Anthony 43		Jason Belmonte, Australia Open event for WSOB XI entrants. PBA major. $150,000 top prize.
USA vs. The WorldTBD FS1Las Vegas, NVMar 8–10TBDNon-title team event held at WSOB XI. Participants based on 30 qualifying games from Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion events. $40,000 prize to winning team. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.
PBA Strike Derby
Jun 6 FoxJupiter, FLJun 6LiveJupiter 42Kris Prather, USANon-title event. $25,000 top prize.
PBA Summer Clash
Jun 13 FoxJupiter, FLJun 7Jun 7Jupiter 42Sean Rash, USANon-title event. $20,000 top prize.
PBA Tour FinalsJul 19 CBS SportsJupiter, FLJul 18–19LiveJohnny Petraglia 46 & Marshall Holman 37Kyle Troup, USA Invitational event. Top 8 in points from start of 2019 season through 2020 PBA World Championship. $30,000 top prize.
PBA King of the LanesJul 22 FS1Jupiter, FLJul 20–21LiveJupiter 42Kris Prather, USANon-title event.
PBA LeaguePortland, MESep 26–28LiveMark Roth 42Non-title PBA team event.
USBC MastersTBD FS1Reno, NVTBDLiveUSBC Masters Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.
2020 PBA Tour PlayoffsRd. of 24: Norco, CA
Rd. of 16: Lone Tree, CO
Quarterfinals: Euless, TX
Final Four & Finals: North Brunswick, NJ		TBDLiveDon Carter 39Top 24 in points through YTD 2020 events, with the top 8 earning byes into the Round of 16. $100,000 top prize. Event is currently suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak.

+ Tommy Jones won an additional $10,000 for rolling a 300 game in the title match.