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High-tech execs spare PBA
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March 22, 2000: 5:50 p.m. ET
Tech trio, led by former Microsoft exec Peters, buy venerable bowling league
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A trio of top U.S. high-tech executives agreed Wednesday to purchase the ailing Professional Bowlers Association for an undisclosed sum and immediately vowed to broaden the league's marketing and distribution efforts.
Former Microsoft Corp. (MSFT: Research, Estimates) Vice President Chris Peters, RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK: Research, Estimates) Chairman and Chief Executive Rob Glaser, and Mike Slade, past president of Paul Allen's Starwave venture, agreed to assume control of the nearly 3,000 member league, widely considered the "major leagues" of professional bowling.
The group faces an uphill challenge returning the 42-year old, non-profit league, which includes a national, senior and regional tours, to profitability. The PBA has struggled financially since losing its 36-year television contract with ABC in 1996.
Some published reports put the league's current debt level at more than $3 million, which the investment group has agreed to pay off in full as well as contribute an additional $1 million in prize money.
Still, Peters, who shocked his Microsoft colleagues in 1998 by resigning to pursue a professional bowling career that never materialized, called the league "a diamond in the rough" that he believes could grow substantially simply through a heightened level of marketing.
 "We see this organization as a tremendous turnaround opportunity," Peters said. "We're very serious about this task. We see this as an opportunity that others have missed."
Along those lines, the new investment group intends to build "one of the most innovative sport sites on the Internet," that will include Webcasts of the league's tournaments. (291K WAV or 291K AIFF)
Given the investment group's credentials, such an effort is certainly not beyond their capabilities.
Slade's Starwave was a pioneer in bringing live sporting events to the Web, and currently provides services to ESPN.com, as well as the official Web sites of the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, NASCAR and the Women's National Basketball League.
Glaser's RealNetworks software will provide the league the platform its needs to broadcast such events.
"I think there is a huge opportunity to take bowling into the next century," Slade said.
Peters to chair PBA
PBA Commissioner Mark Gerberich said the league talked to several suitors before settling on Peters, who has spent his free time since leaving Microsoft in an aging bowling alley outside Seattle attempting to raise his average score to 200 -- the level needed to qualify for the PBA tour.
 Peters, who will serve as the league's chairman, said the PBA will be run much like a start-up Internet company from this point forward. The investment group intends to turn the league into a for-profit organization, invest heavily in marketing, and even offer stock options to employees.
Peters noted that despite the lack of a major national television contract, the league still regularly draws higher television ratings than the National Hockey League or the WNBA. What few bowling matches are broadcast at present are shown on cable channels such as ESPN or Fox Sports Network.
Peters did not say if he intended to pursue a national television contract again, in addition to moving some matches onto the Web.
The investment group intends to run the league's marketing, sponsorship and Internet efforts from an office in Seattle, where Peters resides, although the company's headquarters will remain in Akron, Ohio.
Peters will serve as the league's chairman, and lead the search for a new president to run the PBA's day-to-day operations.
"We consider this a serious investment and plan to manage the association like a start-up business," Peters said. "We think with the right expertise and resources behind it, the PBA will have its first real shot at success." 
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